Enoch Stedman

• Sex: M
• Born: 5 NOV 1734 in South Kingstown, Washington Co., RI
• Died: BET. 1744 - 1762
• Notes:

  Enoch Stedman's birth in 1734 is reported in the South Kingstown records. He is listed in 1744 among the heirs of his grandfather Daniel McCoon. However, his is not listed among the heirs of his father Thomas Stedman in his 1762 will. He is not recorded in the 1774 or 1782 Rhode Island census.
  
  About 1762, his brother James has a son named Enoch. Later, James has a daughter named Martha about 1767 who is recorded having a son named Stephen in 1783 who lived in Newport. There has been little mention of who was Stephen's father, but some speculation has been that his name was John.
  
  In the 1790 census there is listed a John Stedman who cannot be accounted for. He is listed in a group with James Stedman and his sons Job and Enoch, and his family is recorded as 2 males over 16 and one female.
  
  In an 1936 letter from Murray S. Stedman, Jr., to Mr. John J. DeMott that is in the Stedman geneaology manuscript in the Berkshire Atheneaum Library, Mr. Stedman states that he is a descendant of Stephen Stedman. "It is from James, and probably Enoch (by a marriage of first cousins) that we are descended. The daughter of James, Martha, married the son of (probably) Enoch, who was born at S. Kingston, Nov. 5, 1734."
  
  I suspect that Enoch was a sailor and he married to a woman yet to be identified, and he was lost at sea sometime around 1761 or 1762. She gave birth to a son she named John. I presume the seafaring context based on the fact that Stephen ended up in Newport.
  
  Enoch is a family name that comes from the Place family ancestors. However, Enoch was the first known Stedman with that name. James's wife gave birth in 1762, and they named their first son Enoch. And Enoch's oldest brother had a son about 1761 whom they named Enoch. These factors strongly suggest that Enoch had died recently.

1. John Stedman, b. BET. 1762 - 1765

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