THE KIDDER FAMILY of Note
- westmohney
- Oct 13, 2025
- 11 min read
He (Abel Kidder) there built a log cabin, for some years having as his only neighbors small remnants of the Cayuga tribe of Indians. ~ Morgan Hewitt Stafford
Our grandfather James Kidder (9GGF) came to America ca. 1649. He married Anna Moore (9GGM) ca. 1650. The couple moved to Billerica in 1756. Billerica would be home to many generations of Kidder's while many others of the prolific Kidder family moved far and wide around the burgeoning country. Our Kidder line ended in 1793 when Sarah "Sally" Kidder (4GGM) married Azariah Procter Sherwin (4GGF). Azariah and Sarah's daughter Susannah (3GGM) married Ezra Parrish (3GGF) and together they traveled across the United States from New York to California.
Below are some stories of noted Kidder family members.
Kidder's Ferry
Our cousin Abel Kidder (3C6X) was born in 1744 in Coventry, Connecticut. When he was 12, he moved with his parents to Nine Partners, New York. By the time he married and began his family, he was living New Marlborough, MA where all of his eleven children were born. Shortly after the birth of his last child in 1794, Abel and his family landed back in New York on the shores of Cayuga Lake where he "acquired either through purchase or military service a soldier's lot of six hundred acres."
What we know of Abel's life there we learn from the A Genealogy of the Kidder Family by our cousin Morgan Hewitt Stafford (6C3X), son of Catherine Kidder Stafford (5C4X).
He there built a log cabin, for some years having as his only neighbors small remnants of the Cayuga tribe of Indians. He is said to have served as a captain in the Revolutionary War from Dutchess or Columbia County. He is remembered by descendants as a very tall, erect, fine looking old man, who wore a broad brimmed hat, and his wife a plain bonnet, both of the Quaker type, which may account for the assertion by some of their family of a later generation, that they were Friends, while others are quite as positive that they were "real Methodists."
Abel's oldest child, son James (4C5X) was born in New Marlborough, MA in 1769. He may have been the first of the Kidder family to move to New York. In 1790, he was in Lebanon Springs, NY where he married Jennett McCall, sister of the man James would eventually go into partnership with. Their first two children died young, Abel (5C4X) at two weeks and Abigail (5C4X) at a year and five months. By the time the couple's third child was born, they had joined James's father Abel at Lake Cayuga. James and Jennett would have six more children, two of which would also die young, Livia (5C4X) at age two and Charles Wesley (5C4X) at age 14.
In August of 1898, James, along with his brother-in-law, Ansel McCall established a ferry business to take travelers across the lake. From the New York Assembly records:
The petition of James Kidder and others, praying for the exclusive right of keeping a ferry across Cayuga Lake, was read, and referred to the committee on roads and bridges, and the incorporation of turnpike companies.
In 1801, the Court licensed James to keep a ferry across Cayuga Lake at the following rates: "Double team and loaded carriage $1.25, Single $1.00, Single without a load $.75, Man and horse $.50, Single horse or cutter $.25, a sheep $.06, a hog $.09."
In 1818, After 17 years of running his business, James branched out a bit with a ferry that could also transport horses. From the History of Cayuga County by Elliot G. Storke:
In 1818 David Ogden, James Kidder and Matthew N. Tillotson built the first horse boat. It was of vast proportions, propelled by twelve horses and capable of carrying eight wagons and twenty horses at a load.
We learned a bit more about James' horse ferry operation from an article by Gordon Cummings in the 1990 Genoa-King Ferry Tribune:
Three years later, the first Horse boat ferry was built by James Kidder from the west side, and Tillotson and David Ogden from the east side. An advertisement in an Auburn paper at the time reads:
"We furnish good horses (to propel the treadmill) and experienced hands. The crossing will take between 20 and 40 minutes. The boat carries eight wagons and twenty horses. The distance from Albany via Cherry Valley, Sherburne and Homer is 160 miles, and from Albany to Cayuga Bridge via Utica, is 178 miles - and it is presumed that the turnpike ferry is even better than any other great road leading into the western country. Persons traveling from the east to Bath, Angeica, Lake Erie, New Connecticut, etc., will find it for their interest to cross at this ferry. The rates of toll are the same as have been established and taken for eighteen years past, with said boats."
Below is a photo of a horse ferry on Cayuga Lake much like the one James would have used:
About the time he began his horse operation, James had gone into partnership with Amos Goodwin. Below is an 1819 ad they took out promoting their business:
The Cayuga Lake, at this place is 3 miles wide, nearly. The horse boat used at this ferry is 54 feet long, by 40 feet wide on deck. The time occupied in crossing, for the most part is 30 minutes with six horses. The greatest passage yet made with six horses is 20 minutes--with eight horses we do not hesitate to say she can be taken across in 15 minutes--eight horses in the most that can be used. This boat has performed a trip back and forward in 40 minutes, including the time taken in unloading and loading. James Kidder, Amos Goodwin, part owenrs, John Hager, Edward Howel, hands employed on board.
Cummings continued his article on the Cayuga Lake ferries with a description of the beginning use of steam power:
In 1825 Amos Goodwin from Ovid joined Kidder, Tillotson and Ogden in replacing horse power with steam to propel a boat in calm waters. The rates for ferriage were announced as $1.50 for a four-wheeled vehicle drawn by two horses or mules; 25 cents for every head of neat or fatting cattle, and 6 cents each for hogs or sheep. One notable difference in the franchise for this boat was that no other ferry could be launched within one-half mile from their landing sites. And they obtained the longest franchise yet awarded, fourteen years, presumably to allow them a longer time to recover their cost for installing the more ex- pensive steam power.
In 1827, James' wife Jennett died. Most of his children were grown by that time and, in 1829, he married Pauline Barker. At the time of their marriage, James was 61 and his new bride only 27. Their only child, Amy Jennett (5C3X), was born in 1830.
James' father Abel died at Cayuga Lake in 1831 at the grand old age of 87. Sometime between the death of his father and the 1840 census, James had moved with his new family 140 miles west to Ellicottville, NY.
The only child from James' first marriage to go with him to Ellicottville was his daughter Paulina (5C3X) who never married. She died in Ellicottville in 1840 at age 33.
The 1850 census shows James living in Ellicottville with his wife and daughter Jennett. Also living in the household were Jenette's husband and new born baby, Walter (6C2X). James died a year after that census at age 83.
The landing where James ran his ferry on Cayuga Lake for over 30 years was ever after called Kidder's Ferry. You can find many postcards of the area on the internet. Below are three of them:
Two Kidder tragedies
Our cousin Cyrus Kidder (1C5X) was the son of Isaac Kidder (3C6X) and our aunt Susannah Sherwin Kidder (4A). Isaac, originally from Chelmsford, MA, married Susannah in her hometown of Townsend, MA and that is where they made their home. Also living in Townsend was Susannah's brother, our grandfather, Azariah Proctor Sherwin (4GGF). Grandpa Azariah married Isaac's third cousin, our grandmother Sarah Kidder (4GGM).
Note: Azariah and Sarah's daughter, our grandmother Susannah (3GGM) married our grandfather Ezra Parrish (3GGF).
Isaac and Susannah had two children born in Townsend. By 1785, they had pulled up stakes and moved to Norridgewock, Maine where their third child was born in July of that year.
Four more children were born in Norridgewock for a total of seven. Cyrus, the fifth child was born in 1789. He married Mary Sylvester in October of 1813. Mary was evidently in the family way at the time as their first child, Mary Ann (2C4X), was born four months after the wedding. The couple had five more children with another on the way when tragedy struck.
According to the Norridgewock town records:
Cyrus Kidder, aged 36, and Ellis Tobey, aged 22 years, were drowned in Martin stream, May 16, 1826. They had been washing sheep, and were bathing, when Tobey ventured beyond his depth. Kidder endeavored to save him, and both perished.
Mary was left with six children ranging in age from twelve to three. Little Cyrus, Jr. (2C4X) was born two months after his father's death. Mary died at 49 when young Cyrus was only 15 and he died eight years later at age 23.
Another Kidder cousin who died in a drowning accident was Calvin Kidder (3C6X). He was born in New Ipswich, NH. At some point before his 1798 purchase of a partial share in the Harmony Sawmill, Calvin moved to St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada.
In January of 1799, Calvin and his wife Mercy welcomed their first child, Joseph Calvin (4C5X). Not three weeks after his son's birth, Calvin was killed in a mailboat accident on the St. Croix River. A Boston newspaper noted the tragic event:
Calvin's son, Joseph lived to the ripe old age of 92. We learn a little about his life from the book Calais Maine Families by Thelma Eye Brooks:
Hardy lumberman and river man, a man of marked industry and integrity. During a great fire which devastated wide stretches of territory in New Brunswick, he was in the deep woods at Miramichi, where he narrowly escaped death from the flames, and later from starvation owing to the loss of all nearby settlements with their stores of provisions.
Note: The massive Miramichi fire "devastated forests and communities throughout much of northern New Brunswick in October 1825." Over three million acres were burned.
Joseph had seven children. His son Jonathan (5C4X) drowned at sea in 1789 at age 52. His son Joseph, Jr. (5C4X) was badly wounded in the Civil War.
Joshua Kidder's epitaph
Our cousin Joshua (4C5X) was born in 1768 in Billerica. His was a member of one branch of the Kidder family that remained in Billerica through six generations. His grandfather Ephraim Kidder (2C7X) died "from the effects of hardship and exposure while in camp at Fort William Henry" during the final French and Indian war.
Joshua waited until he was 40 years old to marry Mary Wilson on March 10, 1808 then died a mere seven months after his marriage in October of 1808. It appears that no children were conceived in the seven months of their brief life together. In his will, which was written and signed four days before he died, Joshua left his entire estate to his new wife save $40. That he left to his namesake, Joshua Kidder Bowers, most probably his godson.
Joshua was buried in the Old South Cemetery in Billerica. His gravestone epitaph, which it appears he wrote himself, reads:
Sacred to the memory of
Mr. Joshua Kidder
died Oct 22 1808
Life is short
Lord I commend my soul to Thee
Accept my sacred trust
Receive this noble part of me
And watch my sleeping dust
John Kidder, "perished in a terrific gale"
Our cousin John Kidder (3C7X) was born in 1797 in Billerica. John, fifth cousin of Joshua Kidder, above, was from a different branch of the Kidder family that had also been in Billerica for six generations. In 1823, John married Harriet McLellan, the daughter of his employer. Shortly after the marriage, he went to sea for his health. What we know of John we learned from A Genealogy of the Kidder Family by Morgan Hewitt Stafford (6C3X):
Following his father's death in 1814, John Kidder went to work in a store owned by Genl. James McLellan, his wife's father. After some years, failing health induced him to take to sea, and he detrmined to make navigation his life work. Ten days after his marriage he left home for Philadelphia intending to sail from there for Fayal, in the Azaores. He is supposed to have sailed instead from New York on his own brig "Alert," purchased from him by a Mr. Dabney, who, after Captain Kidder had completed his voyage to Fayal, and thence to Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires, desired him to take his vessel to St. Petersburg, which, because of his long absence from home he declined to do. Instead, he sailed from Boston in the old brig "Len," and perished in a terrific gale which destroyed that of many other ships.
John died on August 10, 1824 at age 27.
the many iterations of Isaiah Kidder's store
Our cousin Isaiah Kidder (3C6X) was born in New Ipswich, NH in 1770. He was the son of Reuben Kidder, one of the main movers and shakers in in the early days of New Ipswich's history. We wrote extensively about Reuben in our "Reuben Kidder" post.
From a history of New Ipswich we find that "[i]n 1799 a single event shaped the future history of New Ipswich and Center Village. That year the Third New Hampshire Turnpike was chartered. The impact of the Turnpike in New Ipswich was vast."
Isaiah just happened to own property near the newly built turnpike and decided to take advantage of that fact. In 1808 he built a store with living quarters above. Sadly, Isaiah didn't live long enough to enjoy the fruits of his labor. He died three years later and the property was sold to Joseph Newall who converted it into a tavern. The structure went through many iterations over the years and thanks to photographer John M. Poltrack and his blog "My Strange Life" we're able to see some of those iterations.
While the year isn't known, it appears that the tavern was purchased by the Clark family of New Ipswich. Peter Clark, who coincidentally married our cousin, Sarah Barnes Patten (4C6X) , ran the hotel for ten years. In addition to their hotel duties, Peter was a well-known musician and Cousin Sarah taught music at the Appleton Academy in New Ipswich for 17 years.
At some point in time, the hotel then passed into the hands of the Silver family. Below is a picture of the Silvers posing next to the hotel.
By 1929, the hotel had once again been transformed into a tavern. Known as the Willowbrook tavern it was a staple in New Ipswich for many years. Below is a postcard adverdising the tavern:
By 1950, the house was purchased by the Hammond family and ping-ponged back into an inn called the 1808 House, honoring the year that cousin Isaiah built the house. The Hammond's put out a brochure advertising upgrades to the structure since the year of its birth:
The 1808 House has been catering to the desires and welfare of the travel-weary public for almost a century and a half. Today it may be appreciated considerably more than when originally built in 1808 by Isaiah Kidder as it now contains all of the conveniences of a modern home with comfort and good taste in evidence throughout.
Below is an 1808 House postcard also from the 1950s:
When John Poltrack moved to New Ipswich in the 1970s, the house had been turned into a restaurant. Poltrack described his experience there:
It was our favorite place for the Friday “all you can eat” fish and chip dinners. The building was a bit run down at that point. The bathrooms were located on the second floor which was so sloped that you felt like you were in a fun house. The septic system was inadequate to support a restaurant and eventually the building was closed and fell into disrepair for several years.
Happily, the dilapidated building was eventually restored and now houses the New Ipswich Re/Max Town Square Realty offices:
Of all the taverns and hotels built along the turnpike in the early 1800s, Cousin Isaiah's is the only one still standing!
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