Shearjashub Bourne

Shearjashub Bourne (1751-1821) was the second child of Shearjashub Bourne and Ruth Church. He was baptized in the Congregational Church in Bristol. He worked as a tavern keeper. He married Ruth Waldron in 1773. Shearjashub and Ruth had nine children: Elizabeth, Ruth, Hannah, Shearjashub, John Waldron, Allen, Hannah, Martha, an Benjamin. In 1774, as part of a town-wide effort, he sent a sum of 18 shillings to support the people of Boston (that city’s port having been recently closed by the British). During the Revolution, Shearjashub served as quartermaster for the Bristol Militia. His wife Ruth died in 1793. Later that year, he married Rachel Kent, with whom he had five children: Charlotte, Mary Ann, Shearjashub, Ezra, and Elizabeth. In the early 19th century, Bourne’s tavern hosted meetings of the town government. Shearjashub had a business partnership with Samuel Wardwell and was heavily involved in the slave trade. He owned a distillery in Bristol which made rum to trade for enslaved people.