By Muriel Bristol | October 5, 2025
Reuben Jones Witham was born in the Northeast Parish, Rochester, NH, December 4, 1801, son of Josiah and Mehitable “Hitty” (Jones) Witham. He was a namesake for his maternal grandfather, Reuben Jones.
Reuben J. Witham’s Witham and Jones grandfathers were said to have been among the first settlers of the Milton “Branch” section about 1785.
Paul Jewett, Amos Witham, Reuben Jones and others were the first settlers of the section near the West Branch river. They came probably about 1785 or 1786 (Mitchell-Cony Company, 1908).
Reuben J. Witham’s father, Josiah Witham, as well as both his grandfathers, Amos Witham and Ruben Jones, all signed the Rochester, NH, division petition of May 28, 1802, seeking the establishment of the town of Milton from Rochester, NH’s Northeast Parish. (See Rochester Division Petition – May 1802).
Reuben J. Witham, and his father, Josiah Witham, signed the Milton Militia Division petitions of November 1820. (See Milton Militia Division Petitions – November 1820 and Milton Militia Dispute – 1820).
Paternal grandfather Amos Witham died in Milton, August 9, 1823.
Reuben Jones Witham married in Milton, July 4, 1825, Mercy Walker. Rev. Herschel Foster performed the ceremony. She was born in the Northeast Parish, Rochester, NH, August 23, 1801, daughter of Joseph and Sally (Pray) Walker.
R.J. Witham headed a Milton household at the time of the Fifth (1830) Federal Census. His household included one male aged 20-29 years [himself], and one female aged 20-29 years [Mercy (Walker) Witham]. His household appeared in the enumeration between those of Josiah Witham and John Witham.
Whig party adherents from the various Strafford County towns sent delegates to meet in Conventions in Rochester, NH, January 16, 1838, for the purpose of nominating Whig candidates for the various offices.
Whig Ticket. AGAINST – Extravagance and Corruption; Against the interference of the Executive or the Office Holders in Elections; Against unnecessary expenditures of the People’s Money; Against Monopolies, Political Pet Banks, Sub Treasury Projects, Rag Money, Executive Usurpations, Vetoes in advance, and the Reign of Humbug and Experiment. FOR – Reducing our State Expenditures to an economical and republican standard; For bringing State Prison Bondsmen and Treasury Peculators to an account; For repealing unnecessary, vexatious and anti-republican laws; For Retrenchment, Economy and Reform, and for a salutary and Constitutional administration of the Government in all departments (Dover Enquirer, January 23, 1838).
The main Strafford County Whig Convention convened at Jonathan T. Dodge’s Inn in Rochester, NH, at 10 AM, but subsequently moved to the Strafford County Court in Rochester, NH. Dodge’s Inn was then the regional stagecoach hub. (See Milton on the Mail Stage Line – 1830). Strafford County delegates came also from towns now a part of Carroll County, which was a later creation. The Milton delegates were Stephen M. Mathes and Edward Hart.
The delegates for the subsequent NH Senate District 5 candidate selection met separately at the Strafford County Court in Rochester, NH. The Milton delegates were Reuben J. Witham and Asa Fox. The Hon. Andrew Pierce of Dover, NH, was chosen as the Whig candidate for the NH Senate District 5 race (Dover Enquirer, January 23, 1838). Rep. Andrew Pierce would lose to George Nutter by 2,357 votes [48.8%] to 2,470 votes [51.1%] when the election took place (Dover Enquirer, May 28, 1839). (See Milton’s Ante-Bellum Party Affiliations).
Ruben J. Witham headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixth (1840) Federal Census. His household included one male aged 30-39 years [himself], and one female aged 30-39 years [Mercy (Walker) Witham]. One member of his household was engaged in agriculture. His household appeared in the enumeration between those of Josiah Witham and Nathan Jones.
The Milton Selectmen of 1841 were J.M. Twombly, R.J. Witham, and Ephm. Hayes. [In the following newspaper accounts R.J. Witham was misread in 1841 as R. Whitehouse, and Robert Mathes‘ terms as Town Clerk do not seem to match those in other sources].
TOWN OFFICERS. Milton. Robert Mathes, Town Clerk; James M. Twombly, R. Whitehouse, E. Hayes, Selectmen (Dover Enquirer, March 23, 1841).
The Milton Selectmen of 1842 were J.M. Twombly, R.J. Witham, and Enoch Banfield.
TOWN OFFICERS. Milton. Robert Mathes, Town Clerk; James M. Twombly, Reuben J. Witham, Enoch Banfield, Selectmen (Dover Enquirer, March 15, 1842).
Reuben J. Witham made his last will, September 23, 1845. He devised his lands, excepting the homestead formerly occupied by his father and its lot, to his wife, Mercy Witham. He devised $50 to his mother, Mahitable Witham. He devised his horses, horse carriages, and farming tools to his wife, Mercy Witham, his sisters, Lucy Witham and Martha Witham, and his mother, Mahitable Witham. He devised the rest and residue of his estate to his brother, Josiah N. Witham, whom he also named as executor. Nathan Jones, Cyrus F. Hart, and James Berry witnessed his signature (Strafford County Probate, 61:219).
Reuben J. Witham died in Milton, October 26, 1845 , aged 43 years, ten months, and twenty-two days.
DEATHS. In Milton, Oct. 26, Mr. Reuben J. Witham, aged about 44 (Dover Enquirer, November 18, 1845).
The last will of Reuben J. Witham was proved in a Strafford County Probate Court held in Rochester, NH, February 3, 1846 (Strafford County Probate, 61:220).
Father-in-law Joseph Walker died of lung fever in Milton, January 22, 1850, aged eighty-one years. He was a farmer.
DEATHS. In Milton, 22d u’t., Mr. Joseph Walker, aged 81 years (Dover Enquirer, February 5, 1850).
His last will was proved in Strafford County Probate court held in Dover, NH, February 5, 1850 (Strafford County Probate, 61:414).
Mercy (Walker) Witham married (2nd) in Milton, December 25, 1850 [1849?], Joseph Coleman (per Joseph Coleman’s War of 1812 Pension File). He was born in Newington, NH, 1791, son of Joseph and Mary (Godwin) Coleman. (His first wife, Olive C. (Adams) Coleman, had died in Portsmouth, NH, June 3, 1850).
Joseph Coleman, a joiner, aged fifty-nine years (b. NH), headed a Portsmouth, NH, household at the time of the Seventh (1850) Federal Census. His household included Mercy [((Walker) Witham)] Coleman, aged forty-eight years (b. NH), Eliza Ann Coleman, aged nine years (b. NH), Alena Coleman, aged seven years (b. NH), and Olvia Manson, aged twenty-nine years (b. NH). They shared a two-family house with the household of Wiley Coleman, a joiner, aged twenty-seven years (b. NH).
Joseph Coleman, a farmer, aged sixty-eight years (b. NH), headed a Milton (“Milton Mills P.O.”) household at the time of the Eighth (1860) Federal Census. His household included Mercy [((Walker) Witham)] Coleman, aged fifty-eight years (b. NH). Joseph Coleman had real estate valued at $400 and personal estate valued at $100. (The resided in close proximity to the household of her brother-in-law, J.N. Witham, a farmer, aged forty-four years (b. NH).
Mother Mehitable (Jones) Witham died in Milton, May 10, 1863.
Mother-in-law Sarah “Sally” (Pray) Walker died of old age in Milton, April 18, 1867, aged ninety years, six months. [Her gravestone says 1868]. She was a widow.
Mercy ((Walker) Witham) Coleman died in 1869. (Her husband’s War of 1812 pension records note that she had predeceased her second husband, who died in 1878).
Joseph Coleman, a carpenter, aged seventy-nine years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Ninth (1870) Federal Census. His household included [his daughter,] Olivia Manson, keeping house, aged forty-eight years (b. New Brunswick). Joseph Coleman had real estate valued at $500 and personal estate valued at $200. Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of Mary Wentworth, keeping house, aged seventy-five years (b. NH), and [his brother-in-law,] Josiah N. Witham, a farmer, aged fifty-four years (b. NH).
Joseph Coleman died of paralysis and old age in Portsmouth, NH, May 26, 1878, aged eighty-seven years. He was a carpenter.
OBITUARY. JOSEPH COLEMAN of Portsmouth, N.H., a soldier of the War of 1812, died recently, aged 87 years. He served in a New Hampshire company which was ordered to the defence of Portsmouth harbor (Boston Post, June 4, 1878).
References:
Find a Grave. (2016, July 3). Joseph Coleman. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/166367181/joseph-coleman
Find a Grave. (2010, June 5). Joseph Walker. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/53278620/joseph-walker
Find a Grave. (2013, September 24). Sally Pray Walker. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/53279078/sally-walker
Milton Observer 