Ebenezer Down(s), John and Mary Downs’ fourth child and second oldest son, was born on April 3, 1667 in either New Haven or in West Haven.  The reason for the speculation is that John Downs was said to have completed his home off Savin Avenue south of the West Haven Green in that year.  In that Ebenezer was born in April, perhaps he was brought to the new house when it was likely completed later in that year during warmer weather.  Ebenezer died at the age of 45 years on March 20, 1711 and is said to likely be one of the first buried in the new burial ground on the West Haven Green.  Mary was first married to Thomas Mallory and, after he died, she married Ebenezer.  Following Ebenezer’s passing in 1711, Mary again married, this time Thomas Carnes in 1713. In that I haven’t found Mary’s resting place as of yet, I may find it where Thomas Carnes is buried.

In the “Thompson Working Papers”, notebooks with handwritten notes made in the late 1800s, early 1900s, the Downs’ are mentioned quite often as among the earliest landowners and farmers of West Haven.  Ebenezer and his family lived at the family homestead on Savin Avenue – in the house built by his father John in 1667 – while older brother Samuel and his family built their own home a few hundred feet up Savin Avenue.  The combination of the Downs and Kimberly Families (Nathaniel Kimberly Senior and Nathaniel Kimberly Junior – Nathaniel Kimberly Junior married John and Mary’s daughter Hannah – the Kimberlys and the Downs were neighbors) were said to own most of the land located between the Lamberton Farm (2nd division) and Malbon’s Cove, today known as simply, “Cove River”.

So, Ebenezer and Mary’s children suffered the same fate as Ebenezer’s father John when Ebenezer died at the age of 45 years.  Although Ebenezer’s six children were much older than Elizabeth, John and Samuel, they were put in guardianship of others.  The older three – Esther, Hope and Mary – were put under the guardianship of one man, while the younger three – Seth, Ebenezer and Mehatibel, were put under the guardianship of another man (I have the two names, I just can’t find them at the moment!).