An American Family History

Keene, Cheshire County, New Hampshire
Manlius (now DeWitt), Onondaga County, New York

Israel Dwinnell married Eunice Davis on November 27, 1787 in Keene, Cheshire County, New Hampshire. The Reverend Aaron Hall performed the ceremony. The 1790 census showed Israel Dwinnell in Keene. The household consisted of a man and a woman.

Four of their children were recorded in Keene, Cheshire County, New Hampshire. Esther Dwinnell Robbins was born on February 28, 1791. Leafee Dwinnell was born on August 23, 1792. Isaac Davis Dwinnell was born on July 14, 1794. Clarre Dwinnell was born on May 20, 1796 and died on April 18, 1796. Israel Dwinnell, Jr. was born in 1804.

According to C. G. Sorenson in Warner Manor II, the Dwinnell family migrated
from Keene, New Hampshire to Cavendish, Windsor County, Vermont and on to Manlius, Onondaga County, New York.

In 1800, an Israel Dwinnell was in Cavendish, Windsor County, Vermont. The household consisted of:

a man and a woman between 26 and 44 - Israel age 35
a girl between 10 & 15 - Esther age 9
2 girls under 10 - Leafea age 8.
This household did not include Isaac Davis age 6.

A tax of four cents on the dollar was voted to build the church [in Cavedish about 1802]. The following, who were of different sentiments from those who voted for the tax, are recorded as dissenting from the action of the town: Salmon Dutton, Amos Pierce, Israel Dwinnell, Salmon Dutton, Jr., Clark Aldridge, Samuel Wyman, Joshua Tilden, Asaph Fletcher, Jr., James Hall, John Swift, Joseph Page, and William Swift. (from The History of Windsor County Vermont, "History of the town of Cavendish.")

The Dwinnells moved to Onandaga County:

Israel Dwinnell, Jr. owned property on part of Manlius Lot 93. These are 600 acre survey lots and Lot 93 is in the western part of the Town of Manlius that later became the Town of DeWitt. I believe your Dwinnell family lived either in the hamlet of Jamesville or on the road (now Route 173) east toward Manlius village. (Barbara S. Rivette, Manlius Town Historian, October 30, 2002)

According to A Gazetteer of the State of New-York, by Horatio Gates Spafford, LL.D., 1824:

The Post-Village of Jamesville, 5 miles W. of Manlius, is on Butternut creek, and has mills and about 35 houses. Near this is an extraordinary cavern in the earth, discovered by digging a well, which opened into a cavity that has been traced 30 rods under ground.

Israel was in Manlius, Onondaga County, New York by 1806 when on December 26, 1806 Lebbeus Ball received a promissory note owed to George Denison by Israel Dwinell for $122.74.

On August 6, 1807 Lebbeus Ball sued Israel Dwinell for non-payment of a promissory note in the amount of $150.00 in Manlius. On January 6, 1808 Israel Dwinell offered Lebbeus Ball $47.03 to settle the suit.

A Herman Dwinnell was born in 1809. When he enlisted in the army in 1833, he was living in Onondaga County.

In February, 1813 an Israel Dwinnell enlisted in the army in Boston and served until September when he went on furlough in Salem and never returned to the army.

Charles Dwinnel was born about 1815 in New York.

On March 11, 1818, they were having still having financial problems in Manlius.

By order of Joshua Forman, notice is hereby given to all creditors of Israel Dwinnell of Manlius" a legal notice of insolvency.

Their son, Davis Dwinnell, was arrested for grand larceny and convicted in Onondaga County, New York on November 27, 1818 for a term of five years. The records on file at the County Clerk’s office in Delhi, Delaware County, New York show he had a light complexion and was five feet and seven inches tall. He was pardoned in 1819 when he was 24 years old. He was released on October 24, 1819 with time remaining in his sentence of four years, one month and three days. (New York State Prison Pardons 1819 by Linda Ogborn)

The 1820 census showed Israel Dwinnell in Manlius. One person in the family was engaged in commerce. The family consisted of:

one man over 45 (Israel),
a woman between 27 & 45 (Eunice who was 39).
a girl less than ten (?),
one boy under ten (Charles?).

Their daughter, Esther, married about 1825 probably in New Hampshire.

Manlius property sale records show: "Dwinnel, Isral, Jr. to J. M. Thomas 1826 (GG,388) lot 93" and “Dwinnell, Israel to I. Dwinnell, Jr. 1826 (GG,391) lot 93."

Esther married Adams Robbins in Marlborough, New Hampshire on May 24, 1826. 

The 1830 census showed that Israel was still in Manlius. The family consisted of one man between twenty and thirty, and a man and a woman between 60 and 70. 

There was also a William Dwinnell in Manlius in 1830. The household consisted of a man between 30 and 40, a woman between 20 and 30, a boy and 2 girls under five, and a girl between five and 10.

Many researchers believe that Israel died in Manlius about 1853, but he not appear in Onondaga County in the 1840 census or after that.

Three daughters of William Towne and Joanna Blessing were wrongly accused of practicing witchcraft in Salem. Rebecca Towne Nurse, Mary Towne Estey, and Sarah Towne Bridges Cloyes were persecuted in 1692. The children of people in the line below are all descendants of Mary Estey.
	William Towne, Mary Towne Estey, Isaac Estey, Aaron Estey, Mary Estey Dwinnell, Israel Dwinnell, Isaac Davis Dwinnell, Sr., Isaac Davis Dwinnell, Jr., Victoria Zellena Dwinnell, Robert Wilson Miller, Sr., Robert Wilson Miller, Jr.

Keene, Cheshire County, New Hampshire was settled after 1736 and was a fort protecting Massachusetts during the French and Indian Wars. It was called Upper Ashuelot. When New Hampshire separated from Massachusetts in 1741 it became Keene, New Hampshire. During King George's War, the village was attacked and burned.