Jobe, Saul Family
Saul Jobe (1778-1861) & Family
Alstead, NH
When Saul and Floranna Jobe moved to New Hampshire in the 1810s, they were most likely the only family of color in town. The US Federal census lists the couple, with their children, in Alstead, NH as early as 1820. It is unclear how long the Jobe family may have lived in southwest New Hampshire before they moved back to Hampden County, Massachusetts.
Saul Jobe was born in New Braintree, MA, in about 1778, the son of Saul and Experience (Sampson) Job. At the age of 21, he married widow Floranna White of Palmer, MA on November 30, 1798. Some secondary source records in Massachusetts indicate that Saul was a doctor at the time of his marriage but this has not been verified.
Jobe may have had a sister. Experience Jobe, negro, married Samuel Bounds, negro, on November 25, 1799 in New Braintree, MA. Their father Saul Jobe Sr. died on August 20, 1807 in New Braintree, MA. His mother Experience died in New Braintree on Sept 22, 1813.
Following the death of his parents, Saul Jobe appears in Rockingham, Vermont where he enlisted in the army during the War of 1812. On April 30, 1814, Jobe enlisted and was sent to Plattsburgh, NY, where he served as a private in the 31st US infantry. The details around his desertion at Plattsburgh is largely unknown; however, Jobe was court marshaled and ordered to do hard labor for the duration of his service. He was discharged in June 1815 at the age of 37.
On December 6, 1817, the US government granted Saul M. Jobe a 160-acre tract of land in Hancock, Illinois, in honor of his service in the 31st US Infantry. Whether or not the family moved out to Illinois is unclear. Jobe, his wife, and children appear, instead, in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, residing in the town of Alstead by 1820.
At some point, the family moved back to New Braintree, MA. Saul Jobe died of old age at the age of 85 on November 27, 1861 in that town. He was listed as a pauper and single.
SOURCE MATERIALS
Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, U.S., Compiled Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, 1700-1850 [database on-line]
Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, U.S., Death Records, 1841-1915 [database on-line]
Ancestry.com. U.S., Army, Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914 [database on-line].
Ancestry.com. U.S. Federal Census, Alstead, NH 1790, 1820 [database on-line].
Ancestry.com. U.S., General Land Office Records, 1817.
Carbalho III, Joseph. Black Families in Hampden County, Massachusetts, 1650-1865. (Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011) p.142.
New Braintree, MA. Vital records of New Braintree, Massachusetts, to the year 1850. (Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1904)
GENEALOGICAL SUMMARY
SAUL JOB was born in New Braintree, MA, c.1779, the son of Saul and Experience (Sampson) Job. In 1798, he married FLORANNA (WHITE) in Pembroke, MA. Saul and Floranna had at least one son and three daughters. Saul died in New Braintree, MA, in 1861.