We know for certain that Abraham was in North America by 1638 when he became one of the founders of Hampton, Rockingham, New Hampshire. His land is located where the arrow points in the old map below.
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| Early New Hampshire Settlers geni.com, Hampton Historical Society at http://www.hamptonhistoricalsociety.org/index.htm |
Abraham and Mary have had varying numbers of children attributed to them (anywhere from 10-14). Whatever the actual number, it was clearly a large family. I've decided to go with the following 13:
- Abraham (1639-1677)
- Mary (1639-1670)
- Luke (1640-1708/09)
- Humphrey (1642-1643) - one of the first burials at Hampton
- James (1644-1644)
- Timothy (1646-1657)
- James (1647-1731)
- Jonathan (1650-1688)
- David (my 8X great grandfather 1653-1736)
- Timothy (1657-1659)
- Sarah (1659-1683)
- Humphrey (1661-1711)
- Abigail (1665-1675)
Five of the children died in childhood and some of the names were recycled for subsequent children, a practice common at the time. It seems that the oldest two, Abraham and Mary, were twins born probably 2nd June 1639 in Hampton, certainly among the first English folk born in the new settlement.
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| Baptisms of the first two children (Mary and Abraham) on the 15th day of the 10th month of 1639 Hampton Town Records, Volume 1 |
Sadly, one of the children, Humphrey (1642-1643), had the less happy distinction of being among the first buried here. The earliest burials are all thought to be in the Pine Grove Cemetery, Hampton, but any stones this old are long gone.
Abraham was considered a well-educated man with fine penmanship often put to good use for the town. I wonder if he might have been responsible for writing any of the town records - even though I must say we might find this penmanship difficult to read. He was an active participant in town life. On 10 May 1648, he was granted the right to build a water mill on the nearby falls.
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| Hampton Town Records, Volume 1, page 38/73 |
He appears often in the records for early Hampton, including as a collector of fines imposed on those who failed to perform their share of labor for upkeep of roads and being named to the Grand Jury to serve for a year. Over the course of time, we start to see his adult sons also being named in the town records. Son David (my 8X great grandfather) married Elizabeth Brown about 1675 and settled in Bridgewater, Massachusetts where they raised their family. David and Elizabeth's family was not as large as his parents: just 4 (all sons) survived to adulthood.
Abraham died 31 August 1683 at the age of 70 and Mary on 29 May 1706 at the age of 88. Both are buried at the Pine Grove Cemetery near where they had raised their large family.
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| Pine Grove Cemetery Photo courtesy ParkerMoulton, Find a Grave website |
Some Resources:
- Dow, Joseph, History of the Town of Hampton, New Hampshire: From its Settlement in 1638, to the autumn of 1892, Vol. 1; Salem Press Publishing and Printing Company: 1894, available online at Google Books: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=iZU3N3rAtlQC&rdid=book-iZU3N3rAtlQC&rdot=1
- Hampton, New Hampshire Lane Memorial Library website located at http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/history/hazlett.htm
- Sawyer, Reverend Roland D., "The First Burials in Hampton" article, 1956, located at this website: http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/graves/sawyer.htm
- Hampton Historical Society webpage located at: http://www.hamptonhistoricalsociety.org/index.htm
Wow, such a great blog! I can't imagine having such a large family. I have several in my lines and I always wonder how they fed them all.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments, Valerie. I agree - and where did they all sleep???
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