Gurney Genealogy Library Updated 15 July 2026 by Allen Gurney

Benjamin Gurney (c. 1676 – 1738/9)

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Married Rebecca Staples at the First Church of Braintree in 1701; landholder at the Abington–Bridgewater line; will proved 1739.

Born
c. 1676, Weymouth, Massachusetts. Son of Richard Gurney (G12) and Rebecca Taylor. 1
Died
Between 4 May 1738, when he made his will "very sick and weak in body," and 2 July 1739, when it was proved at Plymouth. 2
Occupation
Farmer / landholder, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. Active across the Abington–Bridgewater line and Middleboro. 3
Marriage
Rebecca Staples — born 1682, daughter of John and Sarah (Atkins) Staples; married 30 December 1701 at the First Church of Braintree, Massachusetts, by the Rev. Moses Fiske. 4

Highlights

  • "Granny Gurney's Swamp." A stretch of low ground near the Abington–Bridgewater line still carried the family's name generations later. As the local historian Cyrus Nash told it, Rebecca — "Granny Gurney" — went looking for Benjamin, found him asleep in a field, and in vexation tipped her lit pipe into the dry grass to give him a scare; the blaze got away from her and burned over many acres, leaving the swamp its name. 5
  • A working farmer's land trail across Plymouth County. On 8 September 1726 he bought the Richard Williams farm on the Abington–Bridgewater line from Samuel Staples of Scituate — his wife's own brother — and sold it to Abraham Pierce in October 1730 when he moved to Middleboro. He also held a parcel bought from Joseph Richards that his will later left to his son Benjamin. 3
  • A will that names his household. Dated 4 May 1738 and proved 2 July 1739, his will gave wife Rebeckah the use of the homestead, left son Benjamin the land bought of Joseph Richards, and set aside forty pounds for daughter Rebecca, wife of Daniel Taylor. Too weak to write, he signed with a mark; he named Rebeckah and Benjamin his executors, and it names only those two children — the documentary anchor for his death and his family. 2
  • Married into the Staples family at Braintree. His 30 December 1701 marriage to Rebecca Staples was performed by the Rev. Moses Fiske at the First Church of Braintree, the kind of well-documented Massachusetts Bay congregation whose registers survive today. 4

Children

Name Dates Notes
Rebecca Gurneyb. 22 November 1702Married Daniel Taylor of Kingston, 24 August 1731; named in her father's will. 7
Benjamin Gurneyc. 1704 – before 1771G10 in the direct line. 6

Narrative

Benjamin Gurney G11 lived his life among the working farms of the Abington–Bridgewater corridor of Plymouth County. He was born around 1676 at Weymouth, the son of Richard Gurney (G12) and Rebecca Taylor, and on 30 December 1701 he married Rebecca Staples — born 1682, daughter of John and Sarah (Atkins) Staples — at the First Church of Braintree, the Rev. Moses Fiske officiating. As a young married man he moved to South Abington around 1707, lodging for a time with his cousin Samuel Gurney, who had married Rebecca's widowed mother; he slipped back to Weymouth about 1710 and then settled for good on the Abington side.

His traceable property dealings are concrete and small in scale. On 8 September 1726 he bought the Richard Williams farm on the Abington–Bridgewater line from Samuel Staples of Scituate — his wife's brother, so a transfer kept within the family (Plymouth Deeds 25:79). When he moved to Middleboro in 1730 he sold that farm to Abraham Pierce on 20 October (Plymouth Registry 31:69, 70). He also held a parcel he had bought from Joseph Richards, which his will would pass to his son Benjamin. With that son, Benjamin (G10), he jointly bought Samuel Tinkham's Middleboro land on 28 October 1730 — a glimpse of the household's working partnership carrying into the next generation.

The most distinctive single trace of the household is "Granny Gurney's Swamp," a stretch of low ground near the Abington–Bridgewater line that took the family's name from a moment in Rebecca's life. The local historian Cyrus Nash preserved the story: Rebecca went out to find Benjamin, who had not come home when he was expected, and discovered him asleep in a field; exasperated, she tipped the lit pipe from her mouth into the dry grass to startle him awake, and the fire ran away from her, burning over many acres of low ground that was known ever after as Granny Gurney's Swamp. It is the kind of small, unverifiable, but persistent name that ties a family to a stretch of land long after the deeds and probates have eroded away. Benjamin's will is the formal close of the record: dated 4 May 1738, when he was "very sick and weak in body," it was witnessed by three neighbours — James Whaley, Gershom Sa[m]son, and Nehemiah Bennett — and proved before Judge John Cushing at Plymouth on 2 July 1739. Too weak to sign his name, he made his mark, and left his wife Rebekah and son Benjamin to settle the estate.

Citations

  1. Born c. 1676, probably at Weymouth, Massachusetts, son of Richard Gurney (G12) and Rebecca Taylor. Jean Gurney Rigler, The Gurney Family from Aaron to Zuinglius: A Genealogical Dictionary, rev. ed. (Honolulu: J. G. Rigler, 1994), Benjamin-3 (Richard-2) entry. Source ID: rigler-gurney-family-aaron-zuinglius-1994. ↩
  2. Will of "Benj.a Gurney Sen.r" of Middleborough, dated 4 May 1738 and proved 2 July 1739, Plymouth County Probate, vol. 8, pp. 98–99: to wife Rebeckah the use of the homestead and the moveable estate, to son Benjamin the parcel bought of Joseph Richards, and forty pounds to daughter Rebecca, wife of Daniel Taylor; signed by mark; wife and son Benjamin named executors; witnessed by James Whaley, Gershom Sa[m]son, and Nehemiah Bennett; proved before John Cushing, Judge of Probate. Image in "Massachusetts, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1635–1991" (Ancestry); Source ID: ma-wills-probate-records. Corroborated in Jean Gurney Rigler, The Gurney Family from Aaron to Zuinglius, Benjamin-3 entry (Source ID: rigler-gurney-family-aaron-zuinglius-1994). ↩
  3. Plymouth County Deeds 25:79 (Richard Williams farm bought from Samuel Staples of Scituate — Rebecca's brother — 8 September 1726); Plymouth Registry 31:69, 70 (sale to Abraham Pierce, 20 October 1730); Plymouth Registry 39:79 (Samuel Tinkham land bought jointly with son Benjamin, 28 October 1730); and the parcel bought of Joseph Richards passed to son Benjamin by the 1738 will — all as compiled in Rigler, Gurney Family from Aaron to Zuinglius, Benjamin-3 entry. Source ID: rigler-gurney-family-aaron-zuinglius-1994. ↩
  4. Married 30 December 1701 at the First Church of Braintree, Massachusetts, by the Rev. Moses Fiske, to Rebecca Staples (b. 1682, daughter of John and Sarah (Atkins) Staples). Rigler, Gurney Family from Aaron to Zuinglius, Benjamin-3 entry (citing NEHGR 59:155, 116:20, 121:244). Source ID: rigler-gurney-family-aaron-zuinglius-1994. ↩
  5. "Granny Gurney's Swamp," as recounted by the local historian Cyrus Nash and quoted in Rigler, Gurney Family from Aaron to Zuinglius, Benjamin-3 entry: Rebecca found Benjamin "lying asleep in a field" and "set fire to the grass around him to give him a good scare," starting a fire that "burn[ed] over many acres of low ground, which thereafter was known as Granny Gurney's Swamp." Source ID: rigler-gurney-family-aaron-zuinglius-1994. ↩
  6. See the Benjamin Gurney (G10) fact sheet. ↩
  7. Daughter Rebecca Gurney, b. 22 November 1702, married Daniel Taylor of Kingston on 24 August 1731 (Kingston, Massachusetts, vital records) and is named in her father's 1738 will; Rigler, Gurney Family from Aaron to Zuinglius, Benjamin-3 entry. Source ID: rigler-gurney-family-aaron-zuinglius-1994. ↩