WILLIAM5BUSHNELL, (William4, John Jr. 3, John2, Francis1) born Boston, MA 2 DEC 1716, died it is believed about 1739, married Thankful Higgins, born Truro, MA 17 AUG 1717, died Hartland, CT 16 MAR 1792, aged 76, daughter of Beriah and Desire (Cooke) Higgins; grand daughter of Joseph Higgens; great grand daughter of Jonathan Higgins; great great grand daughter of Richard Higgins. She married 2nd 09 MAR 1741, Daniel Rathbun (or Rathbone), of Lyme, CT, born 30 OCT 1708, died Hartland, CT, 07 OCT 1789, aged 83, by whom she is said to have had four children. She is thought to have been a great grand daughter of Joseph Rogers, a Mayflower passenger.
William Bushnell, born Boston, MA in 1716 was taken by his parents to Norwich, CT about 1717, and then to Hartford, CT about 1725, where they made their permanent residence. The records also show that he and his father William, were witnesses to the will of Nathaniel Marsh dated 19 JUL 1736. No further record where he is mentioned is known to me, but it is said that he became a mariner and was Captain of a small cargo vessel plying along the Connecticut River and Long Island Sound, and that at Lyme, CT he became acquainted with Thankful Higgins, who was on a visit to her uncle, Captain Joseph Higgins, who had a wharf and warehouse there.
According to an alleged statement made in 1875, by Mrs. Phebe Bushnell Borden, his youngest daughter,"Her grandfather was a seaman and lost his life at sea before her father was born, and that later his mother married a man named Rathbone." As confirmation of this statement, the records at Lyme show that Thankful Higgins married Daniel Rathbun of Lyme, CT and had four children, the eldest being named William Rathbun. It is also stated that Daniel and Thankful went to Hartland in their old age and resided with her eldest son, Alexander Bushnell, where Daniel died 07 OCT 1789, aged 80, and his widow Thankful, died in MAR 1792, aged 76, both being buried in Hartland. The 1790 census apparently confirms this, as Alexander is shown to have had in his family, 3 males over 16, none under 16, and 6 females, and a count shows Alexander and his sons Sterling and Alexander Jr. his wife and mother, and daughters Mary, Hannah, Lucy and Phebe. His older sons Thomas, Daniel, and William had apparently established their own homes, as the census of Daniel and William checks with their records, and Thomas, while his census record is missing, had been married for some 9 years and was presumably established in his own home.
William Rathbun also went to Heartland where he bought a 40 acre tract of land from Samuel Banning, and died there 16 OCT 1804, and it has always been supposed by residents there, that he was a half brother to Alexander Bushnell.
William Rathbun had two wives, Francis(?), who died 21 NOV 1793, and his second wife, who died 01 NOV 1847, aged 94. There is also a record of a Mary Rathbun, perhaps his sister, who married 03 FEB 1779, Daniel Banning. Much time and labor has been devoted to the search to establish the parentage of Alexander Bushnell, and while Phebe Gilder ( a daughter of Chloe Bushnell Gilder who was sister to, and 16 years older than Phebe Bushnell Borden), who died in 1897 at the age of 95, stated in a letter dated 1874 that she "had no knowledge of her grandfather's ancestry of his pedigree," the above theory seems to be the most probable that has so far been advanced, as no further record is known to me of William Bushnell, and such other theories as have come to my attention, do not have the least bit of evidence to support their claim.
Children, 1:
1. Alexander, born 02 DEC 1739."
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