What do we know about M?
Revised October 2014



Shortly after Aquidneck Island (RI) was settled in 1639 it was divided into two parts, Portsmouth in the north, and Newport in the south. In 1743 the northern, more rural part of Newport was split off as the town of Middletown. For this reason, records before 1743 refer to people and events occurring in present day Middletown as being 'of Newport'.

Although Samuel Hubbard is described in the records as being 'of Newport', he lived in the Middletown area. The literary diary of Ezra Stiles contains the following statement: "I took this inscription off a gravestone in a family burying place on Bp. Berkleys White Hall farm on Rh. Isld about A.D 1763." The gravestone was that of Samuel Hubbard, and gave an account of his children and grandchildren. So it's reasonable to assume that Samuel Hubbard and his family lived at or near this place. The Whitehall farm still exists and is in the National Register of Historic Places. You can find it on googlemaps at 311Berkeley Ave., Middletown, Rhode Island.

On April 15, 1672 Samuel Hubbard had his land recorded. He states that his land was bounded on the west side 'by the land of Andrew Langworth' (Rhode Island Land Evidences, Vol 1, p14, Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970). A deposition of Joseph Crandall on Nov 26, 1716 says that Samuel Langworthy and his wife lived at Newport, RI near Turners Lane, and died at Pettyquamscott. Today Turner Avenue lies just to the west of Berkleys Whitehall farm. So it seems probable that the family graveyard at Whitehall was the burial place of Andrew and Langworthy and family members who died nearby.

Again according to Stiles' diary, "Collector Robinson bought the Lease (of this property) about1765 and demolished the gravestones and put them in a wall: so that all is now lost". This is a real loss for descendants, because few other records of these families exist.

As it turns out, three stones or fragments have been found at the site and are stored at the Whitehall farm. Photos have been published online by the Rhode Island Historical Cemeteries Commission, and two of the three were also photographed by Jennifer Geoghan.

One stone is said to be that of Samuel Hubbard, ca 1607 - 1688, but it is more likely that of his son Samuel, born 1649 and died 1670.

A second stone is only a fragment, too small to contain useful information.

The third is that of M Langworthy, and the photos can be seen using the links below:


My best guess for the 6 lines of inscription is:
ERE WAS M
_ANGWORTH
ED 25 DAY OF
AGED 16Y
MONTHS 11D
1676

Which I'd translate as:
HERE WAS M
LANGWORTHY
DIED 25 DAY OF
AGED 16 Y
MONTHS 11D
1676
If you'd care to make a guess, I'd like to hear it!

Who was M?

There appear to be two options: either she was a daughter of Andrew and Rachel, or she was otherwise related to Andrew. The latter seems unlikely: she was born around 1659 - 1660, and at that time there were no other known Langworthy families she could have belonged to by birth or marriage. It is possible that she was born in England and came over to live with Andrew, but that seems a bit far-fetched.

On the other hand it's not unlikely that was the daughter Andrew and Rachel: they were married on Nov 3, 1658, and so their first child might have been born in late 1659 or 1660. (Recall that Samuel Hubbard's three daughters had 30 children, Rachel having 10.) This web site will place M as the daughter and first child of Andrew and Rachel, pending of course any new evidence to the contrary.

We do not know the birth years of any of the Langworthy children, but we do know that Samuel was the oldest son, and John's wife was born ca 1663, so the site will assume that Samuel was born ca 1662 and John ca 1664.




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