William ONTHANK

William ONTHANK, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Photograph of this gravestone of William ONTHANK (Jr.) was taken in the 

Old Southborough Burial Ground in Southborough, Worcester, Massachusetts on 21 June 2011.

Sacred
to the memory of
Mr. William Onthank
who died
Jan. 6, 1820
Et. 62

The first thing I noticed about this gravestone was the name and dates of birth and death on the flag holder. I sat on the ground looking at both his stone and his wife's. He is nearby to Capt. Seth Newton of yesterday's post. {Yes, they knew each other] It took quite some time to connect this man to my husband's line. The name Onthnak is often written as Unthank. Both this William, Jr and his father William, Sr. served in the Revolution. 

My new friend, Molly Leavitt of the Southborough Historical Society send me these words in an email when I told her that I had visited this cemetery:

"I wanted to give you a little info I found connected to Mitte Newton who married William Onthank Jr. that I thought might be useful to you.
According to what I was able to find in Vital Records of Southborough to the end of 1849 :
Mitte (spelled Metey) was born to Joel and Lydia on October 14, 1764 (page 61)
Joel and Lydia had only one other child, another daughter, Zibah, who was born March 21, 1768 (page 64)
Joel and Lydia Beary (spelling of her surname on both page 93 and page 129) were married June 3, 1762
Mitte died January 28, 1812 (page 178)
Mitte Newton and William Onthank Jr. had 13 children:

Joel b. August 14, 1781 (pg. 66)
Lydia b. Oct. 29, 1783 (pg. 66)
Barbara b. June 22, 1785 (pg. 65)
Sabra b. Dec. 18, 1786 (pg. 66)
Emerson b. Aug. 2, 1789 (pg. 65)
Lovel (a son) b. June 15, 1791 (pg. 66)
Mitte b. May 7, 1793 (pg. 66)
Bille (a son) b. Dec. 28, 1794 (pg. 65)
Curtis b. Nov. 6, 1797 (pg. 65)
Nabby b. January 29, 1799 (pg. 66)
Sally b. April 30, 1801 d. March 26, 1822 (pg. 66)
Gulielmus ( a son) b. May 31, 1803 d. June 16, 1804 (pg. 65 + pg. 178)
Gulielmus b. March 28, 1805 (pg. 66)

Oh ! and I looked up "Gulielmus" online and found that it is Latin for William. "


Thanks, Molly for all the research help! Having this information let me have the time to search Footnote.com for his Revolutionary War Service record and to find his service reacord in the Mass Soldiers and Saliors [Vol XI, p. 653]
This is one page of that record. Can you see why I was excited? Wow, Valley Forge.