Maj. Ephraim HILDRETH^{[1, 2]}

c.1681 - 1740

• Name	Ephraim HILDRETH
  Title	Maj.
  Prefix	Maj.
  Birth	c.1681  [2, 3]
  	The estimate for Ephraim's birth year has been calculated from his guardianship records, dated July 1695, that state that he was 14 years of age.
  Gender	Male
  guardianship	Jul 1695	Middlesex Co, Province of Massachusetts Bay   [2]
  	In July 1695 in Middlesex County Court, Ephraim was named as the orphan of James Hildreth. He chose his uncle Ephraim Hildreth of Stow as his guardian.
  comment	4 Nov 1696  [1]
  	On 4 November 1696, the estate of James Hildreth was divided among his five living children. "To Ephraim Hildrith £27.10.0 £16.7.2." The first amount noted is the value of the land he received from his father's estate. The second amount is his share of the estate's movable assets.
  military service	Before 1740	Dracut, Middlesex Co, Province of Massachusetts   [4]
  	Ephraim successively rose through the ranks of the local militia from sergeant, to lieutenant and finally to major.
  OFFH	1713 - 1740	Dracut, Middlesex Co, Province of Massachusetts   [4]
  	Ephraim served as Dracut town clerk during most of the years from 1713 until his death in 1740. During those same years he served periods as a selectman, a surveyor of highways, Dracut town treasurer and a tithingman.
  Death	26 Sep 1740  [3]
  	Ephraim died on 26 September 1740 at the age of 59, or in the language of the time "in the 60th year of His Age".
  Burial	Dracut, Middlesex Co, Providence of Massachusetts   [3]
  	His body was interred at the Hildreth Ground in Dracut. This family cemetery was later deeded to the town of Dracut by the Hildreth family.
  Person ID	I3788	mason
  Last Modified	22 Jul 2026

  
  

  Father	Leftenant, local militia James HILDRETH,   b. c.1631, England d. 14 Apr 1695, Chelmsford, Middlesex Co, Province of Massachusetts Bay
  Mother	Margaret WARD,   b. c.1636   d. Aug 1693, Chelmsford, Middlesex Co, Province of Massachusetts Bay
  Marriage	1 Jun 1659	Dorchester, Suffolk Co, Massachusetts Bay Colony   [5]
  	The couple was married at Dorchester on 1 June 1659.
  Family ID	F433	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  Ephraim married and had ten children. The family resided at Dracut, MA, a town located about 10 miles to the North East of Chelmsford. For more on this line see Vital Records of Chelmsford & of Dracut [NEHGS online (http://www.newenglandancestors.org)], S1650 & S4243.

  
  

• Sources

  [S1646] James Hildreth, Middlesex Co, MA probate file no. 11331 (1695). . [S1649] Richard & Ephraim Hildreth, Middlesex Co, MA guardianship file no. 11333 (1695). [S1592] NEHGS, online (http://www.newenglandancestors.org). Cemeteries [downloaded 3 March 2008]. [S4243] William Richard Cutter, Cutter, Historic Homes and Places and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, ((New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co, 1908) Four Volumes), Vol. II, p. 588. [S144] Vital Records of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849, ((Salem, MA: The Essex Institute, 1914)). p. 248 [Middlesex Co. Quarterly Court Records].