The Pulsipher Connection

Zerah and Mary Ann (Brown) Pulsipher


Zerah, also often spelled as Zera, Pulsipher is my fourth great grandfather.  Just to help you out with understanding how we all fit in this family, Zerah is the great grandfather of my great grandfather, James William Burgess, husband to Dina Elizabeth Crow.  Zerah was first married to Mary Polly Randall.  They had one daughter, Harriet but Mary died soon after.  Zera married second Mary Ann Brown and together they had at least twelve known children.  It was with Mary Ann that Zera joined the LDS Church in 1832 and then eventually arrived in the great Salt Lake Valley after moving with the saints through all their persecutions in Kirtland, Jackson County, Nauvoo, and Winter Quarters.
Much has been written about this good man and we also have copies of his personal family history.  I will share much of this information and some amazing stories in the next few posts.  For today, I would like to establish the lineage of the Pulsipher family here in America.

Benedict Pulsephar (original spelling of Pulsipher) was the first of our line arriving here in America around 1655.  In the history of Newton, Massachusetts, it is recorded that Benedict Pulsephar bought land in Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1655.  We do not know for sure which country Benedict emigrated from but most family historians agree it was probably Ireland, perhaps with some of his ancestors coming from Italy.
According to The Early Pulsipher Family History, researched and arranged by Adah Mackleprang Wood, "It has been claimed by some that Benedict changed his name when he reached America from Pulford, a well-known English family name , to Pulsepahr according to his spelling, in order to escape the emissaries of Charles II, whom it was thought Benedict feared, as Benedict was a Puritan in England and was perhaps connected with Cromwell's army that was responsible for the beheading of Charles I."  This is more speculation as to where Benedict originally came from.  We have no known records to verify any theory.

Benedict was married twice but we know only the name of his second wife, Susanna A. Waters.  Their son, David married Susanna.  Their son David married Elizabeth Stowell.  Their son John married Elizabeth Dutton.  Zera is a son of the union between John and Elizabeth.  Both John Pulsipher and his father, David fought in the battle of Bunker Hill during the Revolutionary war.   Grandfather David died due to either injuries sustained during the war or from illness contracted at the time.  He never returned home to his family.
So we see that Zerah  is the fourth generation of Pulsiphers born here in America.
From Massachusetts, Benedict's son, David went to Boston and it was there that his six children were born.  His son, David went to Pomfret, Windham County, Connecticut.  His son, John eventually moved to Rockingham, Windham County, Vermont.  It was here that Zerah was born the 24 of June 1789.

Zerah's grandfather, David came to Rockingham County in 1766.  He built the first log cabin "Inn" in the town, located on the site of the dwelling now standing west of the old church.  Town meetings were held in his home, also church meetings previous to the building of the first meeting or "town" house.
When the first church was organized in October, 1773, David and Elizabeth Pulsipher were among the first nineteen members and later David joined with others in presenting the town with the land which, for a century and a third, has been occupied by the old meeting house and the burying ground adjoining.
After the first church, organized in 1773, was discontinued in 1839, the Record Book as well as the Communion Service, the table cloth and one napkin were preserved by members of the Pulsipher family to whom much credit is given for their faithful care.
Zerah's mother, Elizabeth Dutton Pulsipher was the daughter of Thomas Dutton and his first wife, Mary Hill.  She was a descendant of the Thomas Dutton and his wife, Susanna, who settled in Reading, Massachusetts, and were the fourth great-grandparents of our "Beloved Prophet Joseph Smith."  This same Dutton family are said to be the family of Duttons who came to Chester, England, in 1066 with William The Conqueror.