Tristram Rutherford (1758 – 1810) and Hannah Wait (1773-08-22 – 1810) were my 5th-great-grandparents, being the parents of Philema Vadakin. They married on 1791-05-11 in Bernardston, Massachusetts, and later moved, along with other Rutherfords, to Addison County, Vermont, settling in Bristol. Tristram was the son of Andrew Rutherford and Mary Davis, while Hannah was the daughter of Gad Wait and Hannah Brown.
Tristram’s name has various spellings, including Trustum and similar. I conventionally use the spelling found on records he is likely to have authored himself, particularly his marriage and the 1800 census.
Although I have found no birth record for Tristram, his associations with other known children of Andrew and Mary, their common residences, and his uncommon forename, which is Mary’s father’s, strongly suggest these parents.
According to the 1800 census, Hannah was born between 1755 and 1774, so I searched that window for birth records. One that formerly seemed promising was Hannah, daughter of Moses Wait and Hannah Kellogg, born in Springfield, MA on 1767-10-04, which would make her 23 at marriage.⟮1⟯ However, she may have been the husband of John Dickinson, married 1788, as the age is a good match,⟮2⟯ although I don’t know of any further evidence connecting them. In any case, there is now a much clearer candidate.
The Hannah daughter of Gad and Hannah was born 1773 in Whately, MA, so 17 at marriage.⟮3⟯ Gad’s father Simeon died in 1790, and in his will he calls himself Simeon Wait of Hinsdale (in Vermont; later renamed to Vernon), and names among his grandchildren a Hannah Wait.⟮4⟯See transcription in Gad and Hannah Wait. A 1793 probate record mentions that Gad and his family are living on Simeon’s estate and are thus in Hinsdale.⟮5⟯ The 1791 marriage record is between “Tristram Rutherford of Bernardston & Hannah Wait of Hinsdale”.⟮6⟯ There are no other Wait families listed in the 1790 Hinsdale census, a town of only 482 people. Bernardston is between the towns of Whately and Hinsdale, which are all fairly close together. So it appears unavoidable that Hannah Wait of Hinsdale is this known daughter of Gad.
Tristram and Hannah had at least four children:
This accounts for all children listed with them in the 1800 census. There are younger children in the 1810 census, by which time both Tristram and Hannah appear to have died. It is not clear whether they are more children of theirs or children of Champion, who was listed as head of household presumably as oldest sibling.
There is an Electa Rutherford who married 1813-11-21 in Bristol, who may be another daughter.
Little is known.