Moses & Rhoda Man Guild, 18th Century Roots in South Dedham

Moses Guild (1725-1789))

Rhoda Man Guild (1735-1797)

Moses Guild was born on May 14, 1725. He was the son of Nathaniel Guild and Mehitable Hartshorn Guild, one of ten children, eight of whom lived to adulthood. His mother, Mehitable Guild was a midwife for many years before her death in 1771.

On December 9, 1752, Moses Guild married Rhoda Man. She was born in Wrentham on May 13, 1735 to George Man and Ziporah Hall Man. on December 9, 1752. The Guild family were farmers.

According to South Dedham records, Moses and Rhoda had fourteen children between 1753 and 1779, when Rhoda was 44 years old. Most lived to adulthood, including Abner Guild (lot 65) who founded a tannery (at today’s Endicott Street) and Moses Guild Jr. (lot 55), born in 1755, who founded a Freight Express business and became one of the wealthiest men in the village.

Moses Guild died on September 29, 1789; his wife, Rhoda Man Guild, died on July 24, 1797. Both are interred in a crypt near the Washington Street entrance to Old Parish Cemetery; only families of significance were interred in crypts. The Guild crypt is beside that belonging to Rev. Jabez Chickering.

Old Parish tombs near Washington St. entrance