2434.Elisha Bisbee. Born in England. Elisha died ca 1689. Occupation: cooper, planter.
Elisha’s surname was variously spelled Besbedge, Bisby, Besbey, Besbeach, etc.
“Elisha Bisby ... kept the first ferry where Union Bridge now [1831] stands, in 1644. His house stood near the bridge on the west side of the river, and the south side of the way.”53
Elisha was among men of Scituate found fit to bear arms in 1643 [Plym. Col. Rec., 8:192], and admitted a freeman 3 Jun 1652 [Plym. Col. Rec., 2:167, 3:7]. Later, in 1658, he was listed as a freeman of Marshfield, MA [Plym. Col. Rec., 8:201]. He was taxed in Scituate on 5 Jul 1666 [Plym. Col. Rec., 7:130], and he was appointed 7 Jun 1679 to "looke after the Minnesters Rate" in Marshfield [Plym. Col. Rec., 5:37].
Elisha’s father is commonly claimed to be Thomas. Thomas was in Scituate in 1637, later in Duxbury, Marshfield, and Sudbury. Thomas’s will of 1672 doesn’t mention Elisha, and Anderson14 finds the chronology impossible to support that claim.