Moses Wadsworth 1774 - 1851

Moses Wadsworth was born on February 26, 1774, at Stoughton, Massachusetts, probably at the family home at the corner of York and Pine streets. He was the eighth child of John Wadsworth and Jerusha White. Moses was only two years old when his father died during the Revolutionary War. Three years later, Jerusha White married Levi Hawse but she died when Moses was just ten years old. At fourteen, Moses went to live with a married sister living in Winthrop, Maine. In 1792, at the age of 18, his name appears as one of the founders of the Friends Society at Winthrop. Moses was married to Hannah Stevens on May 27, 1798 at Winthrop, Maine. Hannah was the daughter of Ephraim Stevens of Winthrop and Sibbel Foster. Hannah was born just six months after her parents wedding and was just 15 at the time of her marriage to Moses. At 16 she gave birth to the first of their 12 children. Moses and Hannah lived in Winthrop until 1808-09 when they moved to Litchfield, Maine after selling their Winthrop property. In 1850, the Litchfield property became part of the newly incorporated township of West Gardiner. Their home their bordered Lake Cobbosseecontee, a 5000 acre lake in central Maine. Moses Wadsworth was a farmer, carpenter and a merchant of goods he sold or traded to his neighbors. After his move to Litchfield, he became a minister of the Friends Meeting, a responsibility he assumed for forty years. Moses Wadsworth died on Decembr 21, 1851 at the age of 77 years. Moses and his wife Hannah are buried in the Friends Cemetery in West Gardiner.