┌── Daniel Henshaw
                                                      │    1701-1781 
                                ┌── William Henshaw ──┤
                                │    1735-1820        │
                                │                     └── Elizabeth Allen Bass
                                │                          1703-1774 
Ruth Henshaw ───────────────────┤
B: 1772                         │                     ┌── Dudley Wade Swan
D: 1846                         │                     │
No Issue                        └── Phebe Swan ───────┤
                                     1753-1808        │
                                                      └── Beulah (Swan)
M: Dr. Asa Miles

M: Rev. Ezekiel Lysander Bascom

Ruth Henshaw     [ID 04584]

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Ruth Henshaw^1,2,3 [Ruthy Henshaw^4,5].

Born Dec 15 1772, Leicester, Worcester County, Massachusetts.^1,2,3,6  

Ruth was schooled at Leicester Academy.¹  

On Dec 18 1803, in Westminster, Massachusetts, Ruthy Henshaw of Leicester and Dr. Asa Miles published their intention of marriage.^4,5  

She married Dr. Asa Miles, 1804.^1,2,5,7  Asa was born 1762.¹  Asa was a physician graduated from Dartmouth College.¹  

Asa died 1805.¹  

Ruth and Asa lived in Westminster, Massachusetts, until Asa's death in 1805, after which Ruth returned to her family in Leicester.¹  

She then married Rev. Ezekiel Lysander Bascom, 1806.^1,2,7  Ezekiel was born 1779.¹  

Ezekiel served as minister of the Congregational Church in Phillipston, Massachusetts, for 21 years.  In 1820 he was dismissed by his congregation and the family moved to Ashby, Massachusetts, where he served a church for 14 years.¹  

Ruth and Ezekiel had no children, but Ruth raised his only child by his second marriage, Priscilla Elvira Bascom [Philbrick] (1803-), as well as the son of Rev. Bascom's sister, Eunice Loveland (-1810), after she committed suicide.  The child took the name Lysander Bascom (1803-).¹  

Around 1839 they moved to Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, where Rev. Bascom seems to have served a church on a semi-retired basis.¹  

Ezekiel died 1841, Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire.¹  

After Ezekiel's death, Ruth spent her remaining years boarding in Ashby, MA, and traveling throughout Massachusetts and Maine.¹  

Ruth Henshaw died Feb 16 1846.⁶  

Ruth kept an extensive diary, which she maintained from 1789 through 1846.  Her diary is archived at the American Antiquarian Society, Manuscripts Department, Worcester, Massachusetts.¹  

For an excellent vignette of Ruth and her works, including a self-portrait of Ruth herself, see Dan and Rachel Noel's wonderful page devoted to Ruth: http://www1.shore.net/~dnoel/bascom.html

Sources

1. Library of Congress, National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC), http://lcweb.loc.gov/z3950/rliname.html
2. "History of the Henshaw Family", a handwritten manuscript identified as a copy of a letter written August 16, 1829 by Daniel Henshaw of Boston (probably #4588 to Joshua Henshaw Hayward of Boston (probably a son or grandson of Sarah Henshaw Hayward); part of the manuscript collection titled "Henshaw family Papers, 1757-1892" archived at the American Antiquarian Society, Manuscripts Department, 185 Salisbury Street, Worcester, MA 01609-1634.
3. Massachusetts Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988; http://www.ancestry.com.
4. "Vital Records of Westminster, Massachusetts, To the Year 1850",
   New England Historical Genealogical Society, 1908, Boston, MA.
5. "Westminster Marriages. To the Year 1850", "Massachusetts Town Vital
   Records, Update and Compilation", New England Historic Genealogical
   Society, Boston, MA, 1923.
6. Contribution from Lizbet119 () citing:
   Henshaw family bible archived at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
7. Contribution from Tom Henshaw.

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