Joseph Lambert Genealogy

52. JOSEPH LAMBERT, if his age is correctly stated on his gravestone as 59, was born about 1731. He was a mariner and sea-captain. A list of vessels insured by Timothy Orne contains, under date of Apr. 30, 1758, the "Brigg Maria Theresa, JoS Lambert, Jr., owner, Jno Gardner, For Eustacia was Taken & Re-Taken." Also Nov. 3, 1758, "Brigg Mary & Sarah, Jo" Lambert, Jr., Owner Rd Darby, For Medara & Gibralter." In the Salem Notarial Records, under date of Sept. 1, 1759, appears the following protest: Joseph Lambert, master of the brigantine " Mary & Sarah" of Salem, 7 0 tons, made declaration that on August 6, he sailed from Monte Cristo, with 6 hands bound up the straits of Gibralter, but said Vessel proving very leaky and her sayles Bad and being unfit to proceed sd Voyage they put away for Salem and on the 26th of August they got on Shore upon the back of the Vineyard and laid there about four hours, that they arrived at Salem last night."

In 1777, 1778 and 1779, he was agent for a number of privateers, and sold a quantity of stores and cargo as well as shipping.

He owned a part of the schooner "Sea Flower" in 1778, in partnership with Miles Greenwood and Henry White, the former a brother-in-law of his second wife, the latter her brother.

Aug. 29, 1780, he bought the sloop " Providence ", 75 tons, for £ 14,000, of the agents of the ship " Jack ".

The " Otter ", brigantine, Edward Smith, jr., master, Salem to Guadeloupe, cargo: fish and lumber, owned by Joseph Lambert of Salem, about 120 tons, no guns, nine men, was libelled by the private ship of war " Lord Cornwallis ", Nov. 28, 1781, having been captured in Boston Bay.

He owned the schooner " Polly & Betsey ", of which his son Joseph was master, at the time of his death.

Miles Greenwood, his partner, was assessor in Salem in 1785, and the names of Joseph Lambert and Joseph, jr., as well as that of Mary, the mother of Joseph, sr., appear in the tax lists.

The Salem Marine Society, founded in 1766, has on its membership three Lamberts, one of these, Joseph Lambert, a founder and charter member. The East India Marine Society, founded in 1799, had a Lambert for the first signer of its rolls, Jonathan (No. 59), Joseph, jr. (No. 68), and Jonathan, who was one of the three members of its governing board for its first six years.

June 10, 1760, Joseph Lambert bought of Samuel Fisk of Salem, clerk, and Anna his wife, for £48:6:10, land in the East Parish in Salem, on Becket's Lane. He gave a mortgage on this property June 19, 1760. Dec. 12 of the same year he took of Fisk, as collateral on a sum of money, some more land in the same locality, and Nov. 18, 1761, Fisk sold it to him for £53:14. Mar. 15, 1771, he sold, for 56s. 2 far., to Nathaniel Sparhawk of Salem, gentleman, a small tract on Sparhawk's rope walk. In 1779 he bought more land adjoining his own of Benjamin Browne of Salem, joiner, and Mar. 10, 1779, he sold, for £400, to Edmund Kimball of Salem, mariner, some of this land, and Apr. 14, 1784, for £30, he sold to Jonathan Twiss of Salem, husbandman, land on the road leading to the Neck, which his father had conveyed to him Aug. 5, 1763.

Joseph Lambert married, first, Jan. 9, 1755, as her second husband, Mary, baptized Aug. 24, 1729, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Foot, who died Oct. 10, 1773, in the same epidemic of small-pox in which Joseph's uncle Jonathan (No. 29) died. He married, second, pub. June 4, 1774, Mary, born about 1734, daughter of John and Mary White, and widow of John Scollay of Boston, who died Nov. 5, 1802, at Wenham.

He and Joseph, jr. are in a list of house-holders in 1787. His estate was on the northerly side of Essex street, nearly opposite English street. His house was on the lower corner of Essex and Beckford streets, the garden formerly extending far down the latter street. Bentley says under date of Mar. 18, 1789:" A Building, the property of the family of Lambert, having one room upon a floor, and the entrance in a range with the chimney at the eastern end, the whole building facing the western end of English's Lane nearly, taken down." He also gives this family in a '1 List of such Persons, who have been so frequently visited that their families can be recollected." Aug. 18, 1790, he says:-,, Last evening Capt. Joseph Lambert departed this life very suddenly. He drank Tea in the family & went to bed as usual, tho' under infirmities of long continuance. He was heard to rise from bed, but upon his friends entering the chamber he laid down & expired at 1/2 past nine o'clock. He was a man of great virtues & great vices. He was the best of sons, the most kind of fathers, the most tender relation, & charitable to all who applied in their distress. He has left an aged Mother about 80 aet. A widow, his second wife. One son & five daughters, all married but one. He has many Grandchildren. He has left five sisters behind him. He will be sincerely regretted by a numerous train of dependent relations."

There are two deeds on record, one made in 1765 and one after the death of Joseph Lambert, in 1796, which are too long to quote here, but they make clear many relationships in this family and may be briefly stated to cover land bought in 1694 by Samuel, the grandfather of Joseph, of John Warner's widoty. His son Jonathan (No. 29), who died in 1773, lived in the house, having with his brother Joseph (No. 28) inherited it as residuary legatees of their father. Joseph died intestate, in 1764, and his share was inherited by his widow Mary and her children, who, in 1765, sell their interest to their uncle Jonathan, mariner. In 1796 some of the children again sell another part of the property which their mother had inherited, the daughter Sarah having, since the former deed, married her second husband, George or John Un4erwood, who had also died, and the daughter Elizabeth having likewise married and lost her husband, Henry Phillips.

Administration of the estate of Captain Joseph Lambert was granted to his son Joseph, Mar. 18, 1791. The inventory, which included the mansion valued at £395, a pew and a half in the Eastern Meeting House, and onehalf of the schooner " Betsy & Polly," amounted to £1,461:6:3, with about £633 in United States loans, and was taken Apr. 8, 1791. In an account, among the items, are " articles of mourning supplied to Mrs. Lambert mother of the deceased by desire of the widow & heirs. Ditto for Mrs. White sister of the deceased."

The estate was divided Nov. 14, 1794, but the d:,ision was disapproved and finally settled by giving Joseph the house and land on Essex street; Lydia Townsend, the land on Cromwell street and a pew in the meeting house; Hannah Rice, land on Cromwell street; Mary Crowninshield, land on Cromwell street; and Priscilla Lambert, two Common Rights in the Great Pasture. Joseph was to pay various sums and also a payment to the legal representatives of Elizabeth Wellcome, deceased.

His widow Mary, by will dated Jan. 27, 1776 (apparently an error for 1796, as she was not a widow in 1776,) and probated January 10, 1803, bequeathed unto my sister Elizabeth Greenwood (Elisabeth, daughter of John and Mary White married Jan. 12, 1772, as the widow of Thomas Elkins, Miles Greenwood), all my estate, real or personal, my friend Mr. Thomas Saunders, son-in-law to my kister Greenwood, to be executor. The widow is called " Late of Wenham formerly of Salem."

Since the dates of birth of the children cannot be found, they cannot be definitely assigned to the two wives, but as Priscilla, the youngest, was married almost 19 years after the death of the first wife, it is probable that all were the result of the first marriage.

Children, born in Salem:

68. JOSEPH, b. abt. 1759; d. Jan. 16, 1830.
69. MARY, who was born in Nov., 1760, and died June 19,1850, in Charlestown, Mass., married Nov. 9, 1780, Benjamin, born Feb. 16, 1758, died Nov. 22, 1836, in Charlestown, son of Jacob and Hannah (Carlton) Crowninshield of Salem. He was a ship-master and collector of customs for Marblehead, and lived on Essex street in Salem, opposite the head of Union street. He and his son Benjamin, as captain and passenger respectively, went on the famous voyage of the yacht " Cleopatra's Barge," to Europe. He commanded many celebrated ships, and his portrait hangs in the Peabody Museum in Salem. Children, born in Salem:
            BENJAMIN, b. abt. 1782; d. Dec., 1864, s. p. He was known as "Philosopher Ben".
            A SON, b. Apr., 1786; d. Apr. 23, 1786.
            MARIA, b. abt. 1787; bapt. June 28, 1789; d. Sept. 15, 1870; m. Apr. 4, 1814, John Crowninshield.
            HANNAH, bapt. June 28, 1789; d. May 4, 1834; m. Mar. 29, 1819, Lieut. James Armstrong, afterwards Commodore.
            ELIZABETH, bapt. Nov. 16, 1794.
            JACOB, b. abt. 1796; bapt. Mar. 10, 1799; d. June 15, 1849, at sea, near Panama; m. June 9, 1825, Harriet Wallack.
            ELIZABETH BOARDMAN, bapt. Nov. 18, 1804; d. Mar. 17, 1870; m. Nov., 1836, Commodore James Armstrong, widower of her sister.
70. ELIZABETH, was born about 1764, and married Sept. 16, 1782, Thomas, baptized Jan. 25, 1758, son of Stephen and Sarah (Beadle) Welcome of Salem. He had previously married, Sept. 26, 1776, Priscilla Webb, born about 1758, died Jan. 11, 1781. Children, born in Salem:
            SARAH, b. abt. 1778; d. Mar. 28, 1859; m. Aug. 12, 1799, Capt. George Southard.
            MARY (POLLY), b. Dec. 12,1780; d. Aug. 19, 1864; m. Feb. 3, 1805, Robert Deland; d. Aug. 20, 1869.
            THOMAS, bapt. Mar. 2,1783; d. Feb. 4, 1805, at Guadeloupe. Bentley says:-" Thomas Welcome was the only son of T. W. by a Lambert. He was an amiable, industrious & well informed young man &the public hopes were indulgent to him."
            BETSEY, b. Feb. 29, 1788; d. 1871, at North Andover; m. Dec. 13, 1812, George Hodges. Bentley records the death of their son George, Sept. 25, 1818, ae. 8 mo.; they then had one child left.
A daughter Betsey was baptized Oct. 30, 1785, who doubtless died young. The birth of the second daughter of that name was taken from the Hodges Genealogy, but according to a member of the family she celebrated March 4th as her birthday and not February 29th.
71. LYDIA, was born June 27, 1767, and married Apr. 7, 1785, Moses Townsend, born May 17, 1760, died Feb. 14, 1843. Moses Townsend's father was present at the siege of Boston and at the capitulation of Fort Washington. They were both captured by the British, and Moses, sr., died of disease while a prisoner-of-war in Mill prison, near Plymouth, England, in 1777. Moses, jr., probably was buried at Wallingford, Conn. Bentley notes the death of their daughter Mary and says they lived on Derby street, below Turner; he also records the death of the son Joseph Lambert, whose father was then at sea. He likewise states, "Capt. Townsend preparing to remove his house in Derby street upon his Lambert lot in Becket street, to build upon his present lot." Lydia died Sept. 7, 1833. Children, born in Salem:
            LYDIA, b. Dec. 16, 1787; m. Nov. 18, 1810, William Rice.
            PRISCILLA, b. Nov. 1, 1790.
            MARY, bapt. Apr. 14,1793; d. Oct. 19, 1801.
            ELIZABETH, b. Dec. 11, 1798.
            JOSEPH LAMBERT, bapt. May 3, 1801; d. Sept. 19, 1802.
            WILLIAM, b. Mar. 22, 1806.
            JOSEPH, b. May 3, 1809.
            GEORGE, b. July 20, 1812.
72. HANNAH, whose birth does not appear, married June 3, 1784 (Dec. 28, 1783, church records), Matthias Rice. Bentley visited Saco, where they lived, .June 6, 1787, and on Sept. 19, 1802, records the death of their daughter, Priscilla Lambert, in which note he says that Matthias Rice was a physician of Saco, who removed to Blackpoint, Maine, and that he died several years before, leaving three sons, the children born at Scarborough, and the widow having returned to Saco the previous year. Rea's Journal, under date of June 4, 1807, notes "News of death of Hy Rice drowned at sea, 22 years, father Matthias Rice, physician, Saco, she dau. of Capt. Joseph Lambert." Children:
            HENRY, b. abt. 1785; d. June 4, 1807, at sea.
            WILLIAM, bapt. Aug. 18, 1793.
            GEORGE, bapt. Aug. 18, 1793.
            ELIZA FOSTER, bapt. May 22, 1797.
            MARIA, bapt. Nov. 3, 1801.
            MARY ANN AUGUSTA, bapt. Nov. 3, 1801.
            PRISCILLA LAMBERT, bapt. Nov. 3, 1801; d. Sept. 19, 1802.
73. PRISCILLA, b. July 13, 1770; d. Dec. 10, 1852; m. Aug. 30, 1792, Samuel Lambert (No. 75).

Parents: Joseph Lambert Genealogy