Captain Ephraim Deuel
Chapter 4 - Coping With The Possibilities
One possible clue as to this family's past out of these names is Copeman L. Deuel. There are no Copemans at all in the
marriage index for Bedford, which covers Missisquoi, Shefford and Brome Counties. Indeed, searching ancestry.com resources,
there don't seem to be any Copemans at all in Canada or the U.S. at that time, except for one place, Dutchess County. One
child is Seth G[riffith] Deuel, named after his first cousin once-removed, who was the administrator of his father's estate in
South Hero.
Johannes/John1 Copeman (or Coopman, Koopman) arrived in Philadelphia in 1729, he was in East Jersey then in Beekman
Patent before 1761. He moved to Poughkeepsie before 1775, which borders Crum Elbow where Silas4 Deuel was. There are
several records for this family in the Dutch Reformed Church for Poughkeepsie. Of course, Rhinebeck is also not too far from
there to there, where you have Abraham Deuel, the father of Halfmoon Henry and the first Joseph Merritt, recording the births
of his children in the Reformed Church. The chances are fairly good that there is some family connection between Captain
Ephraim and the Copemans, maybe his wife was a Copeman. I'm not sure exactly where Timothy4 lived, it was in Nine Partners
somewhere but this includes several towns.
The Alburgh Deuels, although in close proximity to Ephraim, are only distantly related to him. The Alburgh Deuels are dealt with
extensively by Stratton in his history of Alburgh, which he completed just before he died in 1985. The Alburgh Deuels were
Tories, most likely, as Alburgh was settled by people under the mistaken impression that they were in Canada. (The fact that
they received grants in Sutton and Hemmingford also supports that conclusion). South Hero, on the other hand, was granted to
Ethan Allen to reward his "Green Mountain boys" and other patriots. A couple of the Alburgh Deuels, Tabor and Pardon,
strayed north into Clarenceville and Noyan, directly north of Alburgh. Henry Slocum Deuel's mother killed his father with an axe
while he was in bed (my cousin Lizzie Borden was pretty handy with an axe herself, but she had a better lawyer).
So I think it's quite possible, all in all, that Ephraim Deuel spent some time in Dutchess. And if he was in Nine Partners like his
brothers Timothy4 and Silas4, he has to be regarded as a possible father of Abraham Deuel of Rhinebeck, having been born
ca. 1725 I think he would be old enough to be the grandfather of (Abraham's)children born in the 1770s, and naming a son
after his brother Abraham4 would make sense. Another possibility, wild though it is, is that Ephraim4 was the father of Jonathan
Deuel, the great-grandfather of Jay Clarence Deuel. Silas4 has been given as the father of Jonathan, but there are some
problems. If Jonathan was born in 1764, then his mother, Mary (Wilbore) Deuel, who we know was born in 1718/19, would have
been 45, a bit old. And several sources that list the children of Silas4 don't list a Jonathan, I think the last recorded child was in
1757 or something like that. And in a history of Dutchess there is a biographical entry for Phoenix Newton Deuel, who gives his
ancestry --- up to Jonathan, but not before.
Richard Gifford
April 19, 2002
Chapter 5 - Quaker Roots
One possible clue as to this family's past out of these names is Copeman L. Deuel. There are no Copemans at all in the
marriage index for Bedford, which covers Missisquoi, Shefford and Brome Counties. Indeed, searching ancestry.com resources,
there don't seem to be any Copemans at all in Canada or the U.S. at that time, except for one place, Dutchess County. One
child is Seth G[riffith] Deuel, named after his first cousin once-removed, who was the administrator of his father's estate in
South Hero.
Johannes/John1 Copeman (or Coopman, Koopman) arrived in Philadelphia in 1729, he was in East Jersey then in Beekman
Patent before 1761. He moved to Poughkeepsie before 1775, which borders Crum Elbow where Silas4 Deuel was. There are
several records for this family in the Dutch Reformed Church for Poughkeepsie. Of course, Rhinebeck is also not too far from
there to there, where you have Abraham Deuel, the father of Halfmoon Henry and the first Joseph Merritt, recording the births
of his children in the Reformed Church. The chances are fairly good that there is some family connection between Captain
Ephraim and the Copemans, maybe his wife was a Copeman. I'm not sure exactly where Timothy4 lived, it was in Nine Partners
somewhere but this includes several towns.
The Alburgh Deuels, although in close proximity to Ephraim, are only distantly related to him. The Alburgh Deuels are dealt with
extensively by Stratton in his history of Alburgh, which he completed just before he died in 1985. The Alburgh Deuels were
Tories, most likely, as Alburgh was settled by people under the mistaken impression that they were in Canada. (The fact that
they received grants in Sutton and Hemmingford also supports that conclusion). South Hero, on the other hand, was granted to
Ethan Allen to reward his "Green Mountain boys" and other patriots. A couple of the Alburgh Deuels, Tabor and Pardon,
strayed north into Clarenceville and Noyan, directly north of Alburgh. Henry Slocum Deuel's mother killed his father with an axe
while he was in bed (my cousin Lizzie Borden was pretty handy with an axe herself, but she had a better lawyer).
So I think it's quite possible, all in all, that Ephraim Deuel spent some time in Dutchess. And if he was in Nine Partners like his
brothers Timothy4 and Silas4, he has to be regarded as a possible father of Abraham Deuel of Rhinebeck, having been born
ca. 1725 I think he would be old enough to be the grandfather of (Abraham's)children born in the 1770s, and naming a son
after his brother Abraham4 would make sense. Another possibility, wild though it is, is that Ephraim4 was the father of Jonathan
Deuel, the great-grandfather of Jay Clarence Deuel. Silas4 has been given as the father of Jonathan, but there are some
problems. If Jonathan was born in 1764, then his mother, Mary (Wilbore) Deuel, who we know was born in 1718/19, would have
been 45, a bit old. And several sources that list the children of Silas4 don't list a Jonathan, I think the last recorded child was in
1757 or something like that. And in a history of Dutchess there is a biographical entry for Phoenix Newton Deuel, who gives his
ancestry --- up to Jonathan, but not before.
Richard Gifford
April 19, 2002
Chapter 5 - Quaker Roots