Individual Details

Russell Anson Butler (1807-1883) son of Ezra Butler (1763-1838) wrote for the Hemenway's Historical Gazetteer, aka Vermont Historical Gazetteer, Volume iv, 837, 840, 870: "David Atkins commenced on the farm now owned in part by Wm. Kneeland, in 1796. The Atkinses were numerous as well as of powerful frames, altitude over 6 feet, weight over 200, and some of them were men of wit, as most were of genial humor and good mental endowments... David was one of the town [Waterbury] officers in early days, and, as well, a good deacon, I doubt not, as he married my father's [Ezra] sister [Mindwell], and belonged to his church."
Convincing evidence for David having been John's son is contained in Cheshire County Deeds: 22: "on 16 February 1789 David Adkins, acting as executor for the estate of John Adkins, conveyed lands in Claremont which the original grantee had formerly deeded to 'my hon(ore)d Father deceased." David's name appears on three other deeds 1790-1793 which also bear the signatures of John's other children.
David was between twenty and thirty years of age when John Adkins and his family removed to Claremont, New Hampshire. He was a farmer and miller during his years in Claremont. He married, probably in Claremont, Mindwell Butler, sister to Ezra Butler who later became governor of Vermont. The birthdates of their children are unknown; their names, according to Guy Jerome Atkins and John Craig were "David, Mindwell, Amos, Orren, Clara, Chauncey and others born in Vermont. Another child died young."
The 1790 census reports David living in Claremont, New Hampshire, his household consisting of one free white male sixteen or over, including the head of the family, 4 free white males under sixteen, and three free white females, including a head of the family.
David Adkins signed the New Hampshire Declaration of Independence 30 May 1776 and belonged to the New Hampshire militia during the Revolutionary War. His name appears on a list of the names in Captain Wetherbee's Company in Colonel Isaac Wyman's Regiment dated Mount Independence [note: Mount Independence was a fortified embankment at Orwell, Vermont, on the east side of Lake Champlain opposite Ticonderoga, New York] November 5, 1776. The company of 90 men included 85 that were on the ground - 2 dead - 3 never joined. Records in the National Archives indicate David was one of the three men who "never joined" this unit. The following summer however, David and his brothers Samuel and John were all at Ticonderoga; David as a member of Captain Ashley's Company, Colonel Bellows Regiment who went and reinforced the garrison when it was besieged by the enemy in June 1777. The time of the engagement was 28 June and David served for eleven days.
The earliest mention of David in Vermont is in a deed signed 23 February 1795, in which Caleb Munson of Waterbury deeded to David Atkins of the same place husbandman 31 acres in the second division. The deed was signed by Ezra Butler, Town Clerk. On 23 April 1796 the report of a road survey was signed by David Atkins as Selectman; and in 1800 'Deacon David Atkins, his wife and child Orren' were listed as members of the Baptist Church in Waterbury. The 1800 census for Waterbury shows David's household as consisting of nine people; a father and mother both over 45 years of age, two males and a female under ten, two females and a male ten to sixteen years of age, and one male between sixteen and twenty-six. The family does not appear in subsequent Waterbury censuses.
David followed his father's example by moving to the frontier with his family fairly late in life; by 1811 he and his wife and several of their children were living in Ohio. This was David's third encounter with the frontier and he was then between 58 and 68 years of age. The following excerpts are from letters of John Craig to Ezra Butler:
"Springfield, Ohio 16 Aug 1811: Mr. Atkins his wife and daughter are well. The boys have gone back to the Lakes. Springfield, Ohio 23 Jan. 1811: Amos Atkins came here, stayed two weeks and left a few days ago for Cincinnati. His father Mr. David Atkins arrived in two days afterwards at my house and appears well with the country. He has engaged a good comfortable house to live in about a mile from me and has set out (with) his son Chancy this morning for Columbia for his family who landed at Columbia together with Mr. Borman's family. Orin Atkins still abides at Chetachway [Note: Chautauqua County, New York] to (dispose) of the property they left. They brought nothing with them except their bedding and waring apparel. Amos calculates to return to Chetachway in the month of March and .....his property. The house Mr. Atkins is about to live in is the house of Mr. Van Den?in [Note: could be Nicholas Van Deusen who married Rachel Atkins] where he and myself were several times when he was here to eat watermellons. Mr. Van Denfin has got his house comfortably fitted up with floors and chimney. Springfield, Ohio 19 May 1813: Your brother (note??, brother-in-law John Craig was himself apparently a brother-in-law of Ezra Butler. In one of his letters he urges Judge Butler to come to Ohio, but not to carry any money in his jackets on the trip. "???? yourself a girdle and lash it around your waist." The unpublished letters are in a collection of Butler's papers given to the Waterbury, Vt. Historical Society by ?? Wheeler.) Atkins' family all well - they have moved about 20 miles toward the Ohio River. Rachel is married."
It would seem from the foregoing that David and Mindwell may have had a second daughter also named Rachel but research results are confusing. It is not unusual to name a child after a pre-deceased child in this case Rachel passing away in April 1798. It would make sense that a second Rachel would have been born after April 1798. The Rachel Atkins who married Nicholas Van Dusen was married in Clark County, Ohio on 3 May 1812 making her around fourteen at the oldest; however, a later census record has her birth year as about 1793..

Birth	3 Mar 1751	Farmington, Hartford County, Connecticut
Burial	Aug 1825	Sinking Creek Cemetery, Clark County, Ohio
Death	3 Aug 1825
Marriage		Mindwell BUTLER

Spouse	Mindwell BUTLER (1753 - 1824)
Child	Clarissa (Clara) ATKINS (1787 - 1844)
Child	Rachel ATKINS (1789 - 1798)
Child	Rachel ATKINS (1792 - 1856)
Child	David ATKINS (1777 - )
Child	Orrin ATKINS (1785 - 1850)
Child	Amos ATKINS (1780 - )
Child	Chauncey ATKINS (1789 - )

Father	John ATKINS (1717 - 1787)
Mother	Elizabeth JEROME (1724 - 1794)
Sibling	Living ( - )
Sibling	Living ( - )