Can the parents of Samuel Trask m Elizabeth Lindsey m Hannah Stewart be identified? Samuel Trask was associated with only 1 other Trask in Salem, namely John Trask, guardian of Elizabeth Lindsey's brother. Can this John Trask be identified? Did Samuel Trask return to Salem? William D Romanski February 2021 wdromanski @ hotmail.com * * * The Parentage of Samuel Trask Samuel Trask was called "junior" at the time of his first marriage in 1727, suggesting he was-if not the son of a Samuel Trask-the youngest Samuel Trask in Salem. There were 3 Samuel Trasks thought to be living at this time. 1. Samuel Trask m Susanna was born in 1671, and would be the eldest man of that name in 1727. 2. Samuel Trask m Mercy Bell married in 1714 and was born in 1690. He could be considered "junior" if he were the only other in the town. 3. Samuel Trask s Elias Trask m Hannah Marston was known to be living as late as 1741. He was born some time after the marriage of Elias in 1701 and, no probably later than 1707. The youngest known Samuel Trask in Salem was Elias's son, who could be the same. Nothing is known of Samuel s Elias after his father's will in 1741. That document only reveals that he was still living at the time, and gives no further information about him. Apart from cash bequests, the whole of the estate of Elias was left to his widow for her care and the care of his two youngest daughters, presumably not yet of age. Furthermore, on the decease of his widow, the estate and any remainder was to go to those two daughters. The eldest children, including all his sons, were not further provided for. No record of any of Elias's children can be found after 1749. There is nothing to demonstrate that Samuel Trask Junr was Elias Trask's son. However, there is nothing to contradict the claim. With no further evidence of another Samuel Trask in Salem at the same period, that Samuel Trask m Elizabeth Lindsey m Hannah Stewart is s Elias Trask m Hannah Marston is the best working hypothesis. Men Named Samuel Trask of Age in 1727 who were born or connected to Salem. Samuel Trask b 1671 d 1739 m Susannah Samuel Trask b 1690 m 1714 Mercy Bell s Samuel Trask m Susannah Samuel Trask b bef 1710 s Elias Trask m Hannah Marston Samuel Trask b 1702? s William Trask m Ann White r Braintree probably bur 1722 Samuel Trask b 1671 d by 1729 s John Trask m Abigail Parkman * * * John Trask Guardian to Eleazer Lindsey 1728 In February 1728, John Trask of Salem was appointed guardian to Eleazer Lindsey, a minor of 13 years of age, a son of Eleazer Lindsey, and a brother to Elizabeth Lindsey m Samuel Trask. Who was this John Trask? He was certainly of age at this time, ie b before 1707, and lived in Salem. The probate documents of the guardianship reveal Trask's signature. If his signature could be matched to that of a known John Trask in another document would reveal his identity. The Essex County Probate Files hold many Trask documents, including the mention of many John Trasks. Most can be eliminated. The probate file of John Trask m Hannah Osborn holds numerous papers regarding his estate. His sons John and William were his administrators, and so there are several examples of the signature of John s John. His signature does not resemble the signature of Eleazer's guardian. Deeper in the file there are several bonds that were signed by John deceased, that his administrators needed to settle. These signatures bear a striking resemblance to the signature of guardian John Trask. So we can conclude that John Trask m Hannah Osborn was the guardian of Eleazer Lindsey. * * * Was it coincidence that Samuel Trask Jr m Elizabeth Lindsey and John Trask were both connected to the settlement of Eleazer Lindsey's estate? Were Samuel and John closely related? John's son Samuel was named in his own probate file in 1737 as a minor, so he would have to be born after 1716. Thus Samuel who m Elizabeth Lindsey in 1727 could not be his son. Was Samuel a nephew of John? John's brother George was born in 1690, and married in 1714, excluding him as Samuel's father. His other brother William had moved to Braintree by this time. He did have a son Samuel though, but it appears that he died in 1722. The next closest family of Trasks were John Trask m Abigail Parkman. The sons of this couple could have sons of their own who were of age to marry in 1727. Nicholas s John was not known to have a son Samuel, but the composition of his family is uncertain. Jonathan s John was not married until 1710. Only Elias s John was known to have a son Samuel, as described above. It is a viable conclusion that John Trask who was guardian to Eleazer Lindsey was first cousin once removed to Samuel Trask who married Eleazer's sister Elizabeth. * * * Did Samuel Trask return to Salem? Samuel Trask r Salem of age in 1760 Samuel Trask s John Trask m Hannah Osborn r Sutton Samuel Trask s William Trask m Ann White bur 1722 Elias Trask, carpenter of Salem, sold his house and the land it was on to Samuel Trask, sailor of Salem. Twenty five years earlier, Elias Trask, blacksmith of Salem, mortgaged the same house and land to John Shillaber, presumably his sister Mary's husband. Also Elias Trask s Elias Trask m Hannah Marston is not known to have married or had any children, the fact that the younger Elias Trask (who lived into the 1790s) retained the homestead, had the name Elias, and was called Junior, suggests he may have been the son of Elias s Elias. Who was Samuel Trask who bought the farm? Samuel Trask appears in the Salem yearly valuations in the same ward as Elias in 1755 and is listed every year through 1764. Was he another unrecorded son of Elias s Elias? If so, his appearance in 1755 may indicate his arrival at the age of 21 years that year, or since the previous valuation. If that was the case, he would have been born about 1734. It is unclear just when the youngest Elias was born, but the latest he could have been born, judging from the 1760 deed, would have been 1739. There is no record of Samuel Trask disposing of the Salem land, or any other records that could refer to the same person. There is a marriage record of Samuel Trask of Salem to Mary Mason in 1755. There are no records in Salem for baptisms of any children of this couple, nor any death or probate records. It is possible that Samuel Trask, another son of Elias emerged in the record in 1755, and died after the valuation in 1764? It is possible, but there is another compelling alternative. In October 1754, Samuel Trask was a signer of a petition praying the incorporation of the town of Wiscasset in Maine. We do not hear from him again until January 1762, when he signed another petition, this time seeking a grant of land on Penobscot Bay. Samuel Trask appears in the Salem valuations from 1755 through 1764 in the same ward as Elias Trask and his relatives. Did Samuel leave Maine and return to Salem? Perhaps to escape the rising violence of the war with the French and the Indians? Despite his family's long residence in Edgecomb, we have no clear evidence that Samuel Sr owned any land there. His son Samuel had begun work in the settlement on a mill dam in 1760, and settled there (according to lore) in 1764. Samuel Sr signed petitions regarding that town in 1766, 1767 and 1774. The gap between the 1754 petition and the 1766 petition can be neatly filled by a return to Salem as described by the valuation records of those intervening years. With the possibility of Samuel Trask Sr returning to Salem by 1755, we are further intrigued by the fact he may have married yet again, that same year to Mary Mason. We find no information about Mary Mason, whether she may be a widow, the names of her parents, no probate or land records. Was Mary Samuel's third wife? Again, we have no evidence to confirm this hypothesis, but it should be noted that there is little trace of Samuel's second wife, and presumably the wife of his children, Hannah Stewart. No deeds record Hannah Trask releasing her dower right. No headstone exists. There are no probate records for Samuel or his wife. In fact, the one record that we assume refers to Hannah is the mention of her burial in May of 1790 in Moses Davis's diary. That note, however, simply calls her "old Miss Trask." We know very little about Samuel Sr's wife's life in Maine, so little, in fact, that Samuel may have remarried, a fact that has remained unknown for hundreds of years. * * * Conclusion The best working theory of Samuel Trask's origins is that he was born some time in the first decade of 1700 to Elias Trask m Hannah Marston. There are several records that refer to him in Essex County before his removal to mid-coastal Maine. The one record that associates him with another Trask is the guardianship record of his first wife's younger brother. John Trask who was appointed guardian would be his father's first cousin, in the case that Elias was indeed his father. Although it has been assumed that Samuel Trask lived the remainder of his life in Maine, there exists the possibility that he returned to Salem for a period. During the French and Indian War, from 1755 through 1764, a Samuel Trask with no progenitors nor successors in record appears in Salem. He married in 1755, bought a house from Elias Trask, and was assessed in the same Ward as Elias. This period exactly corresponds with a gap in the record of Samuel Sr in Maine. If Samuel Sr did remarry, the burial of "old Miss Trask" in 1790 may refer to Mary Mason and not Hannah Stewart, as has always been assumed.