For many years, applicants to the DAR and SAR who claimed descent from Ezra Winslow of Dartmouth MA achieved membership based on two things---one, the assertion by Holton in his Winslow Memorial [1:422] that Ezra was a veteran of the Revolutionary War, and two, an Ezra Winslow of Dartmouth is listed as a sergeant in Captain Thomas Kempton's company of minutemen in the Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the Revolutionary War [17:630].

Evidence will be presented here that there were two Ezra Winslows living in Dartmouth at the start of the Revolution, and that it was the second Ezra who should be credited with this service.

First, a brief recap:

The first Ezra Winslow, so of Josiah and Sarah (Hayward) Winslow, was born around 1736, and married Rachel Fenno. He moved to Dartmouth in the early 1760s, as his son was baptized there in 1762 [Vital Records of Dartmouth, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1850, 1:309, hereafter cited as VR Dartmouth]. He and his family moved from Dartmouth to New Vineyard ME about 1795, where he and his wife died [Holton, op cit]. This is the Ezra Winslow from whom applicants to the DAR and SAR claim descent.

The second Ezra Winslow , born in 1751, was the son of Hezekiah and Elizabeth (Paine) Winslow, and a third cousin to Ezra, son of Josiah. He married in Dartmouth in 1773, Rosamund Spooner [VR Dartmouth, 2:559] and his daughter Susanna was baptized there in 1774 [VR Dartmouth, 1:309]. By 1776, he had moved to Hardwick MA, where his son Thomas was born, and where he died in 1789 {Holton, 2:756-757].

The key piece of evidence that it was Ezra, son of Hezekiah, who served with Captain Kempton's company, lies in the following payroll receipt, found in Bolles' "History of New Bedford and its Vicinity, 1602-1892", p. 86:

"Dartmo', April ye 10th, 1776"

"Received of Thos. Kempton Twenty Eight shillings & ten pence on half penny, itt Being in fool for myself and my brother Ezra Winslow for our Travel and Time of service att the Lexington Alarum in April, 1775."

"Received by me, Job Winslow"

Note the phrase "and for my brother Ezra Winslow". Ezra, son of Josiah, did not have a brother named Job [Holton, 1:136-137]. However, Ezra, son of Hezekiah, did [Holton, 1: 211-212].

It is possible that Ezra, son of Josiah, did serve in the Revolution as Holton suggests. There were three other entries for Ezra Winslow in the MSSRW. One served as a sergeant in Captain Joshua Wilbore's company, another served as a private in Captain Benjamin Read's company, and a third served aboard the Alfred under Captain John Paul Jones.

Comments welcomed.