vital records sources
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bio in progress

Edward is thought to have been the son of George and Perne (Rawson) Broughton. They a had son Edward born in 1673, but he didn't sell a right in his father's property in Maine in 1701 with his sisters. Edward of Lancaster, Massachusetts, first appears there on 25 March 1722, when he joined the church. His wife, Martha Wheeler, was born about 1705. She doesn't have a birth or baptism record, but her last child was born in 1751. If she was in her mid 40s, the normal end of female fertility, she was born about 1705-1707. Her first child was born in January 1723. She most likely married before May 1722. If born in 1705, she was about 17. Girls occasionally married this young, but she was likely not younger than this. If Edward was born in 1673, about thirty two years separated them in age. Couples with this much age disparity were rare. Given that there is no record of an Edward in nearly fifty years between 1673 and 1722, it makes more sense that he was born much closer to Martha. No alternative Broughton parents were found for him. He wasn't the son of his uncle John, whose heirs are named in a 1704 document. There was an Edward Broughton, physician, living in Boston in 1720, who vouched for the quality of care of William Blodgett, a lay doctor.
     Edward became Lancaster's schoolmaster about 1724. Whomever his parents were, they had enough money to educate him beyond the norm. He didn't attend Harvard University, where many ministers and teachers were educated. He may have immigrated from England as an adult and was educated there. If he was the physician of Boston, he may have gone west to look for work and didn't find any. He probably had been schooled well enough to offer enough services to satisfy a small, fairly remote town. He didn't teach school long. The town's taxes paid for him for a limited time divided between several locales within the town's large land area. In 1726 he called himself a trader, and sold a variety of goods, especially cloth. Debt cases show some particulars.
     Some time in 1729 he moved to Farmington, Connecticut. He is on record as buying land in Hartford in 1726. There is nothing obvious to suggest why he had any connection to Connecticut. Presumably his wife and children were with him. There may be a record of him in Farmington, but his death isn't recorded. His widow married James Wilder in 1735, showing that she had returned to Lancaster. Her children were with her.
Records are missing for the Congregational Church in Farmington within the time-frame that Broughtons were there.
     John Moore sold him land on 10 April 1725. 25:501 His father-in-law Josiah Wheeler sold him land in Lancaster on 29 October 1725. same

children of Edward Broughton and Martha Wheeler:

i. Sarah, b. 13 January 1722/23
ii. Copia, b. 28 October 1724
iii. Patience, b. 27 January 1726/27

vital records sources:

1.