52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #10 Arvin Nash and His Family Record

Note that William Perkins Miller Nash was the son of William Miller
and Martha "Patty" Vinton. Patty, sister to Arvin's wife, Lucinda, died
 in 1818. Arvin was appointed guardian to two-year-old  William,
as well as two of William's older sisters. 

 

Arvin Nash was a name I never knew before I began researching his mother, Joanna Reed (#9), who is said to have been a sister of my fourth great-grandfather, Benjamin Reed (#1). I am researching Joanna Reed Nash’s family, along with the families of others said to be Benjamin Reed’s siblings, in hopes of finding clues to help me piece together Benjamin’s life. Often, this kind of collateral research leads me in unexpected directions as I learn more about the children and grandchildren of these families. 

Arvin Nash of Plainfield, Massachusetts, was a farmer and a longtime member of the Congregational Church in Plainfield. Much of what is known about Arvin comes through his daughter Martha’s descriptions of her childhood. Those accounts suggest that he maintained a home where education and moral character were valued.

The first page of Arvin Nash’s family register appears above, with the remaining three pages following this narrative. This four-page family register, found using FamilySearch's Full-Text Search, is the most comprehensive record I have found for Arvin Nash, who had children by three wives. I believe it will also be helpful to other family researchers. On the last page of the register, it is indicated that this transcript came from a register that appeared to have been taken from a family Bible.

If you would like to learn more about the families I research, follow my Facebook page , where I share each post along with other genealogical finds.

Diana

© 2026

Arvin Nash, guardian of Miller children, “Hampshire, Massachusetts, United States records,” images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4R-T95K-G?view=fullText  : accessed 21 March 2026), image 509 of 700; citing Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives & Records Preservation. Image Group Number 102197774.

Congregational Church (Plainfield, Massachusetts), Church records ca. 1786–1850, Plainfield, Massachusetts (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1960), microfilm of manuscript at Plainfield, Massachusetts; FamilySearch Catalog.

Charles N. Dyer, History of the Town of Plainfield, Hampshire County, Mass., from Its Settlement to 1891, Including a Genealogical History of Twenty Three of the Original Settlers and Their Descendants, with Anecdotes and Sketches (Northampton, Massachusetts: Press of Gazette Printing Co., 1891), digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/historyoftownofp01dyer/page/n13/mode/2up  : accessed 13 February 2026).

John Ludovicus Reed, The Reed Genealogy: Descendants of William Reade of Weymouth, Massachusetts from 1635-1902 Vol. I  (no publisher named, 1901).

“Family Register of Mr. Arvin Nash,” images 478–481, in “Massachusetts, United States records,” images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-13RK-YFQ2?view=fullText : accessed 19 March 2026); citing Daughters of the American Revolution (Massachusetts), Image Group Number 008977924.

Mary Collins, “The History of Martha J. Lamb: Her Origin, Rise, and Progress” (2020), in CUNY Academic Works (https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3545  : accessed 13 July 2024).

Martha “Patty” Vinton and William Miller, in John Adams Vinton, The Vinton Memorial, Comprising a Genealogy of the Descendants of John Vinton of Lynn, 1648: Also, Genealogical Sketches of Several Allied Families … With an Appendix Containing a History of the Braintree Iron Works, and Other Historical Matter (Boston: S. K. Whipple and Company, 1858); HathiTrust Digital Library catalog (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011531178  : accessed 21 March 2026).