Nedson, Edward, - 1847
Edward (Ned) Nedson may have been the son of Edward and Mary Nedson of the Eastern Pequot community at what is now North Stonington, Connecticut and a brother to James, Richard, and Robert Nedson.
In the summer of 1778, he enlisted as a private in Colonel John Topham's Regiment, a neighboring Rhode Island regiment. The following year, on November 14, 1779, in North Stonington , Reverend Joseph Fish married Nedson to an Eastern Pequot woman, Sarah Sunsamon (born Sowas, she was the widow of Nathaniel Sunsamon). The couple had at least one son.
As the war continued, the Town of Stonington recruited several Native men into the Continental army on May 2, 1781, paying them a bounty of thirty pounds -- Edward Nedson, his kinsman Robbin (perhaps Robert) Nedson, Williams Skeesucks, Jacob Sowas, Benjamin George, Daniel Harry, Thomas Poheage, Jacob Robin, and Peter Apes.
Not much is known about Nedson's life after he retuned to North Stonington until 1825 when he appears in Dudley Wheeler's account book. In the summer 1832, he received six yards of cotton sheeting. Three years later, he was provided with more sheeting and a scythe and a stick, possibly a measuring device, which suggests he was a laborer. His acquisition of sturdy boots the next few years reinforces that presumption. In the winter of 1836, he added a pair of thick boots to his inventory and three yards of beaverteen cloth. Nedson received another pair of thick shoes from George Hewitt & Company's store in 1838 and yet another pair of boots for his son the following year. In the winter of 1840, he got one more. In the summer of 1847, the state-appointed overseer provided him with shirting, a coat, and a hat.
At least in his older age, Nedson was a servant of the widow Mrs. Nancy Williams of Ledyard, described by a local newspaper reporter as an inoffensive and a rather respectable character. On Sunday, August 1, 1847, he was grievously assaulted by George and Isaac Jackson of Groton, at Betsey Squib's house at Mashantucket. He died of his injuries at Mrs. Williams' residence three days later. (For more on this, see Awful Consequences of the Fiery Curse of Rum.)
Benjamin Cowell, Spirit of '76 in Rhode Island (Boston, MA: A.J. Wright, 1850), 77
Revolution Returns and Lists, Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society 12 (1909), 281. Connecticut, U.S., Church Record Abstracts, 1630-1920, North Stonington, Ancestry. Brown and Rose, Black Roots, 265. Trial and Conviction for Murder, New London Morning News, September 29, 1847. Sources for this biography come from the Related Digital Heritage Items listed below.
Born:
c. 1760Died:
August 3, 1847Tribes
Ethnicity