Research Summary - Timothy Vibbard (last updated 11/3/2007)

Timothy Vibbard was apparently the youngest child and only son of John Vibbard and his wife Mary Arnold. He reports his date of birth as 20 Oct 1750 (in Connecticut) in his Revolutionary War pension application but the only birth-related record found in Connecticut was a record of baptism for a Timothy Vibbard in the First Church, East Hartford on 25 June 1749. This Timothy was listed as a son of John. It is possibly that the Timothy who removed to New York State after his marriage and fought in the revolution was a different person. If so, he could have been a child of either John Vibbard (a second Timothy) or his brother James.

For the time being, I have chosen to put him with John and treat the two Timothys as the same person. Although James Vibert was apparently married to his wife Dorcas Dix in the early to mid-1740s, they apparently had at least 5 children born before 1752 so it seems a little crowded to place Timothy in that family

Timothy married a woman named Rebecca (--?--) before 01 Jul 1770 when they owned the covenant together in the First Church, East Hartford, possibly in anticipation of the birth of their first child, a daughter also named Rebecca who was baptized in the same church on 09 Sep 1770. Their son Leonard also claimed to be born in Connecticut (on 12 Oct 1772) but sometime after that the family moved to New Canaan, Columbia County, New York where Timothy enlisted for the first time in 1775.

Timothy and Rebecca eventually settled in the Saratoga County, New York area and apparently had somewhere between ten and fifteen children. They seem to have been the progenitors of almost all of the families in the United States today who spell their name Vibbard. However, the exact composition of their family has been difficult to establish and is still a work in progress.

The family appears in all censuses from 1790 through 1830, all in Saratoga County with the exception of 1810 when they were in Schenectady, then in Albany County, New York. Rebecca (or someone closely resembling her in age) appears on all of the censuses. Timothy was still alive on 09 Apr 1833 when his affidavit applying for a pension was dated but apparently died by 04 Sep 1833 when the last payment was made. Presumably Rebecca predeceased him since she did not apply for the pension.

Some Facts

1. Timothy Vibbard, son of John is listed in the Church Record Index at the CSL as being baptized at First Church, EH on 6/25/1749.

2. Timothy Vibert and wife Rebecca owned the covenant in First Church, EH on 7/1/1770

3. Rebecca Vibert, daughter of Timothy was baptized in First Church, EH on 9/9/1770.

4. Timothy Vibbard of NY reports his birth date in his Rev War pension application as 10/20/1750 in Hartford, CT.

5. The 1790 Federal Census for Ballstown, Saratoga County, NY includes the following:

Timothy Vabbard with 2 males over 16, 4 males under 16 and 6 females

6. The 1800 Federal Census for Albany County, NY includes the following:

a. (Albany County) – Timothy Vibbard with 1 male 45+, 1 female 45+, 1 male 16-26, 1 male 10-15, 2 females 10-15, 1 male under 10, 2 females under 10 [Noah(?), William(?), Reuben (age 9), 4 younger daughters(all < 16)]

b. (Galway) – John Vibbard with 1 male 26-44, 1 male 16-25, 1 female 16-25 [his wife just died – who are the two extra people?]

c. (Saratoga) - Timothy Vibbard with 1 male 16-26, 1 female 16-26 [newlyweds]

7. The 1810 Federal Census for Saratoga County, NY includes the following:

a. (Providence) – Timothy Vibbard with 1 male 45+, 1 female 45+, 1 male 16-25, 1 female 16-25 [Reuben and 1 daughter still at home]

b. (Greenfield) – John Wibart with 2 males 45+, 1 female 45+, 1 female 26-44, 3 males 16-25, 2 males 10-15, 1 female 10-15, 2 females under 10 [who in the world are all these people? Is it possible this is not John Vibbard?]

c. (Half Moon) – John Vibbard with

d. (Galway) – Timothy Vibbard with 1 male 26-44, 1 female 26-44, 1 male 16-25, 3 males under 10, 2 females under 10 [looks like we need at least three more children for Timothy and Abigail (besides Timothy and Chauncey); who is the 16-25 year old? (they didn’t have children in the 1800 census)]

e. (Galway) – Noah Vibbard with 2 males 26-44, 1 female 26-44, 1 female 10-15, 2 males under 10, 2 females under 10) ]Noah must have married just after 1800 and had four kids right away but the 10-15 year old is iffy (could just be wrong age)]

f. (Providence) – William Vibbard with 1 male 26-44, 1 female 26-44, 1 male under 10

8. Timothy mentions a son Reuben on his pension application in 1833. He may be born 8/29/1791(info from Earl Vibbard).

9. A Timothy Vibbard Jr. is reported as the father of Chauncey Vibbard (the railroad guy) in his published biographies. This probably is a son of Timothy.

10. A Timothy Vibbard is buried in the Bliss Road Cemetery, Galway, NY (where Chauncey was born) (1777-8/31/1823, AE 46y, 3m, 2d). This is Timothy Jr. His wife Abigail is buried with him (1/23/1780-10/19/1848, AE 68y).

11. Also buried in the same cemetery are Colonel Noah Vibbard (1780-3/20/1853, AE 73y) and his wife Margaret (1780-7/15/1857, AE 77y, 1m, 13d).

12. A John Vibbard (d. 12/19/1843) is buried in Waterford Rural Cemetery, Waterford, NY along with his wife Eliza (d. 8/28/1830).

13. An Anna Keeler, wife of John Vibbard (1771-1799) is buried in Grenell Road Cemetery, Milton, NY

14. A John Vibbard “of Waterford, NY” married Esther Rainey in Middletown, CT on 8/7/1831

15. Timothy died sometime after his pension application in 1833.

Timothy’s Timetable (from the pension file) with some additions

Timothy born 1749-1750 East Hartford, Hartford County, CT

Timothy marries about 1769 Rebecca (--?--)

Rebecca born 1770 East Hartford, Hartford County, CT

(John born) about 1770 East Hartford, Hartford County, CT

Leonard born 1772 East Hartford, Hartford County, CT

Moved to NY 1772-1775 New Canaan, Columbia County, NY – resided there at

enlistment, stayed until (1832 – 43 years) = 1789

Enlisted 1775 New Canaan, Columbia County, NY

Timothy Jr. born 1777 New Canaan, Columbia County, NY

Noah born 1780 New Canaan, Columbia County, NY

5 other children born 1780-1790 probably in New Canaan, NY

Rebecca marries 1787 John Harwood of Bennington, VT

Moved to VT 1789 Wilmington and Bennington, VT - resided there 7 years

1790 Census 1790 Ballstown, Saratoga County, NY

Reuben born 1791 possibly in VT

John marries 1790-1799? Anna Keeler

Moved to NY 1796 Waterford, Saratoga County, NY – resided there 1 year

Moved 1797 Ballston, Saratoga County, NY – resided there 6 years

1800 Census 1800 Albany County, NY

Noah marries after 1800 Margaret?

Leonard marries 1803 Betsy Klumph

Moved 1803 Glenville, Schenectady County, NY – resided there 5 years

Moved 1808 Saratoga, Saratoga County, NY – resided there 6 years

William marries about 1808?

1810 Census 1810 Providence, Saratoga County, NY

Moved 1814 Galway, Saratoga County, NY – resided there until at least

pension application

1820 Census 1820 Providence, Saratoga County, NY

1830 Census 1830 Galway, Saratoga County, NY

Applied for pension 4/9/1833 Galway, Saratoga County, NY

Died abt 9/4/1833 date of last pension payment

My Conclusions

1. Timothy, son of John Vibbard and Mary Arnold, was born in East Hartford, CT by 10/20/1750.

2. He married Rebecca (--?--) (who was also born in the Hartford area) before 7/1/1770.

3. Their first child, Rebecca was born in East Hartford before 9/9/1770.

4. Their oldest son John was born in East Hartford around 1771.

5. Their second son Leonard was born in East Hartford on 10/12/1772.

6. Sometime between 1772 and his enlistment in 1775, they moved to New Canaan, NY.

7. They had a son, Timothy Jr., in 1777 and another, Noah, in 1780.

8. They had at least 5 other children between 1780 and 1790 including a son, William, and 4 daughters.

9. They had a son Reuben whose birth date may be 8/29/1791.

Rationale for above conclusions

1. This is Timothy’s stated birth date. The child baptized 6/25/1749 may have died in infancy and they may have reused the name. I wonder why they would have been so set on a Timothy – there don’t seem to have been any on either side of the family. There is also a possibility that Timothy is a son of James Vibert and Dorcas Dix who were most likely married after 1740 and well before 1750. I have left him in the John Vibert – Mary Arnold family based on their reported use of the name and on the fact that Timothy named his first son John. [I wonder if Mary (Neell) Vibert could have remarried a man named Timothy?]

2. He and Rebecca owned the covenant on that date. It seems as though couples often did that around (after) the birth of their first child. [I think the churches were requiring it as a prerequisite for baptizing the couple’s children.]

3. See #2. She was baptized on 9/9/1770 and we have an unsubstantiated DOB of 9/4/1770.

4. Just a guess based on the fact that his first wife Anna Keeler was born in 1771. He could have been born between Leonard and Timothy Jr.

5. Kathy Kuroda has information that Leonard Vibbard was born in East Hartford, CT on 10/12/1772 from the Klumph family history. It has not been substantiated but, if true, it makes him a strong possibility as Timothy’s second or third child. His cousin James Vibert Jr. was also having children during this period but (at least at this point) it looks like he may have had children who are definitely his during the 1772 period. No other Vibert males have been identified at this point as being the right age to have children born in 1772. Perhaps Rebecca’s father’s name was Leonard – it’s not a real common name back then.

6. This is based on Leonard’s presumed place of birth and Timothy’s pension statement.

7. Timothy Jr. and Noah’s DOB based on cemetery data.

8. This is based on the data from the 1800 Census. It might include non-family members but I have just taken it at face value.

9. Reuben’s DOB was provided by Earl Vibbard and needs to be substantiated but it is looking more likely based on the census data. The 5 children presumably born in the 1780s nicely fill up the 11-year gap that previously existed between the births of Noah and Reuben.

Rationale for Identification of Timothy’s Children

General comments

Only 3 children can be tied back directly to Timothy and Rebecca – Rebecca by her baptismal record, Timothy Jr. by his name and Reuben by his being mentioned in Timothy’s pension affidavit. Since Rebecca also appears to be the first child, she provides a starting point from 1770 for Timothy and Rebecca’s children. Can we set an end point? Timothy must have been barely 20 when Rebecca was born so his wife would most likely have been younger than that and she could have had kids to age 45 or so. Somewhere between 1790 and 1800 probably. During that time period, it does not appear that any other Vibbard (or Vibert) family had relocated to NY. Even later, CT emigrants seem to have located farther west than the Saratoga area. In fact, it appears that, without exception (so far), any individual living in the Saratoga area or tracing his ancestry back to that area is descended from Timothy and Rebecca. Furthermore, all known descendants of John and James seem to be accounted for in CT at this point. Therefore it appears that any person who was born in NY in that window must be suspected of being a child of Timothy.

In addition, the Vibbard spelling of the name strongly correlates with Timothy’s family. With the exception of Epaphras, we have not seen anyone consistently spelling the name that way other than Timothy’s clan. Again, anyone born during the window period who spells the name that way must be considered as a possible child of Timothy. Another name issue is that Timothy’s children seem to have often named their children after their siblings (this is particularly so in the Timothy Jr. family).

The next parameters are provided by the censuses. The 1790 gives us a set of 5 sons and 5 daughters plus Reuben who was born in 1791 always assuming that all the younger individuals are Timothy and Rebecca’s children. Reuben is not born yet. They lay out as follows:

1790 – Balls Town, Saratoga County, New York

– (no Rebecca)

son age >= 16 (born before 1874) – probably John or Leonard

– (missing John or Leonard)

son age < 16 (born from 1775-1790) – probably Timothy Jr., Noah, William or Chester

dau born from 1770-1790) - Lucy

dau born from 1770-1790) – Philomelia (b. 1788)

dau born from 1770-1790)

In 1800, Rebecca (Crapo), John and Timothy Jr. are enumerated separately. Again, the breakdown assumes that the younger individuals are children of Timothy and Rebecca. This is especially an issue for the two females born after 1790. John’s first wife Anna Keeler died in 1799. There don’t seem to have been any children but he does have two extra people in the house – both younger but not young enough to be children. Could be a brother and sister helping out.

1800 – Schenectady, Albany County, New York

dau age 26-44 (born from 1766-1774) – Rebecca (enumerated with Hezekiah Crapo) (age 30)

– (no Leonard)

son age 26-44 (born from 1766-1774) – John (enumerated separately but possible child of

Timothy)

son age 16-25 (born from 1775-1784) – Timothy Jr. (enumerated separately and definitely

identified as child of Timothy) (age 23)

son age 16-25 (born from 1775-1784) – probably Noah, William or Chester

son age 10-15 (born from 1785-1790) – probably Noah, William or Chester

– (missing Noah, William or Chester)

son age < 10 (born after 1790) – probably Reuben (age 9)

– Lucy is gone (m. abt 1798)

dau age 10-15 (born from 1785-1790) – Philomelia (b. 1788)

dau age 10-15 (born from 1785-1790)

dau age < 10 (born after 1790)

In 1810 Rebecca disappears again (Hezekiah Crapo died in 1806) and John, Timothy Jr., Noah and William are enumerated separately. Chester is missing and Reuben is the only son still living at home. One odd thing is that both John and Noah have males their own age living in their households. John in particular has a whole bunch of extra people.

1810 – Providence, Saratoga County, New York

– (no Rebecca)

– (no Leonard)

son age >= 45 (born before 1765) – John (enumerated separately but possible child of

Timothy) – age is bad

son age 26-44 (born from 1766-1784) – Timothy Jr. (enumerated separately and definitely

identified as child of Timothy) (age 33)

son age 26-44 (born from 1766-1784) – Noah (enumerated separately) (age 30)

son age 26-44 (born from 1766-1784) – William (enumerated separately) (b. 1780-1784, probably

1782-1784)

– (no Chester)

son age 16-25 (born from 1785-1794) – probably Reuben (age 19)

dau age 16-25 (born from 1785-1794)

In 1820 all the sons are enumerated separately. Timothy and Rebecca do have two youngsters under 10 still with them (grandchildren?).

1820 – Providence, Saratoga County, New York

– (no Rebecca)

– (no Leonard)

son age >= 45 (born before 1765) – John (enumerated separately but possible child of

Timothy)

son age 26-45(born from 1775-1794) – Timothy Jr. (enumerated separately and definitely

identified as child of Timothy) (age 43)

son age 26-45(born from 1775-1794) – Noah (enumerated separately) (age 40)

son age 26-45(born from 1775-1794) – William (enumerated separately) (b. 1780-1784, probably

1782-1784)

– (Chester enumerated in three times in Montgomery and

Cattaraugus County)

son age 26-45(born from 1775-1794) – Reuben (enumerated separately) (age 29)

In 1830 there are lots of missing people.

1830 – Galway, Saratoga County, New York

– (no Rebecca)

– (no Leonard)

son age 50-60 (born from 1770-1780) – John (enumerated separately but possible child of

Timothy)

– (Timothy Jr. died 1823)

son age 40-50(born from 1780-1790) – Noah (enumerated separately) (age 50)

– (no William)

son age 40-50(born from 1780-1790) – Chester (enumerated separately in Cattaraugus County)

– (no Reuben)

Who are the candidates

1. Rebecca – She is identified in East Hartford Church records as the daughter of Timothy and Rebecca.

2. Leonard – He is listed in the Klumpf family history as having been born on 10/12/1772 in East Hartford, CT. If this date and place are assumed to be correct, then there don’t appear to be any candidates other than Timothy and Rebecca to be his parents. Only James Jr. was also married and having children and his son James Jr. was baptized 4/4/1772. He also had several other children in the same timeframe. Leonard is not listed among them. James’ children (with the exception of Epaphras) do not appear to have used the Vibbard spelling.

3. John – His first wife Anna Keeler was born in 1771 and died in 1799 so he was born early in the family (but we don’t know exactly where in the order). He is associated with the Saratoga area and he spells his name Vibbard.

4. Timothy Jr. – His father was likely (but not definitely) named Timothy. He was born in 1777 according to his gravestone and the family bible. He is associated with the Saratoga area and spells his name Vibbard.

5. Noah – He is born in 1780 according to his gravestone and is buried in the same cemetery as Timothy Jr. He is associated with the Saratoga area and spells his name Vibbard.

6. William – He is listed in the Saratoga area in the 1810 and 1820 censuses and is born between 1770-1784. He spells his name Vibbard.

7. Chester A. – He was born about 1786 in NY according to the 1850 census. He spells his name Vibbard.

8. Reuben – He is identified in Timothy’s pension application as a son.

9. Lucy – this is the Lucy Vibbard who married Richard Ogden. We don’t have much corroboration of the way she spelled her name but Richard was born in 1760 so if Lucy is indeed a daughter of Timothy, she would be one of the older children. Based on the DOBs of her children, she would have been born in the 1775-1780 range which puts her in Timothy’s “window”.

10. Philomelia – She is the wife of Job Almy and was born around 1788. She is reported in an Almy genealogy.

Note that there is a problem with this list in that there are too many candidates for Timothy’s assumed number of 5 sons in 1790. Even assuming that Reuben was born after the census, we still have 6 candidates for 5 positions. The simplest explanation is that one of the 6 is not a son of Timothy but since all of the evidence about John, Noah, William and Chester A. is pretty circumstantial, it is hard to decide which to eliminate. The evidence for Leonard is pretty slim too.

Another possibility is that one of the older sons was already out of the household by 1790. However, we have found no evidence of another Vibbard in New York at this time. A related possibility is that an older son was “boarded out”, working for another family with whom he was enumerated or that he was simply not at home when the census taker arrived.

We now have names for two other daughters in addition to Rebecca, both probably born before the 1790 census. There are 5 of them on the 1790 and an additional 2 on the 1800. It is possible that one of the 1790 ones is Rebecca since she was widowed in 1789 but that would mean that one of the males < 16 would likely be her son John, age 1-2. That would make our male problem even worse! Rebecca would not be on the 1800 since she remarried in 1793. It is possible that the 2 new females in 1800 are grandchildren (Rebecca is enumerated as age 45+ in that census and I don’t think she could have been born after 1755 since that would make her under 15 when Rebecca was born) but that is not likely to be the case with the 5 1790 ones except as noted above.

Areas for Further Research

1. The biggest issue for this family is the identity of Timothy’s wife Rebecca. But there isn’t much to go on unless she turns up in another genealogy.

2. It would be nice to nail down a few more of the girls but, again, in the absence of a will for Timothy, about all we can do is wait for them to turn up, like Lucy and Philomelia, in someone else’s genealogy.

3. I need to go over to Saratoga and look for probate and land records for Timothy and Rebecca.