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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 1999-09 > 0938655248


From: Reedpcgen< >
Subject: Re: Am. Colonist, Robert Abell [LONG]
Date: 30 Sep 1999 01:34:08 GMT


Since the Gateway Immigrant Web Page is not yet available (I've had a bad chest
cold these last two weeks which has delayed everything), I post the following
for discussion:

ROBERT ABELL (B. ABT. 1605, D. 1663), OF WEYMOUTH & REHOBOTH,
MASSACHUSETTS

ROBERT ABELL, son of George and Frances (Cotton) Abell, of Stapenhill, co.
Derby and Lockington, co. Leicester, born c. 1605, died at Rehoboth, Plymouth
Colony, Massachusetts, on 20 June 1663{1}. He was in Massachusetts by 19
October 1630{2}, at Weymouth by 4 December 1638{3}, and at Rehoboth by 1643,
where he kept an inn{4}. His estate inventory was taken 9 August 1663 and the

estate distributed to his widow and children on 3 March 1663/4{5}. He
married,
either in England or after his arrival in Massachusetts (as her first husband),

Joanna [surname undetermined]{6}, who survived him and married (2) at Rehoboth
4 June 1667 William Hyde of Norwich, Connecticut{7}, to which place several of
her children by Robert Abell removed.
The will of Robert's father, George Abell, dated 8 September 1630 and proved 7
February 1631, includes the following important wording: "I bequeath to
my second sonne Robert Abell onelie a Twentie shillings peece for his childs
parte in regard of ye charges I have beene at in placeing him in a good trade
in
London w[hi]ch hee hath made noe use of since in furnishing him for newe
England where I hope he now is."{8} This proves the identification of Robert
Abell as son of George Abell of Lockington, co. Leics.

Children of Robert and Joanna (---) Abell:
i. Abraham Abell, born c. 1638, buried Weymouth 14 November 1639.{9}
ii. Mary Abell, born Weymouth 11 April 1642{10}, married by March 1663/4
Rev. Samuel Luther of Rehoboth.{11}
iii. Preserved Abell, born Rehoboth c. 1644, married Rehoboth (1) 27
September 1667 Martha Redway{12}, (2) 27 December 1686 Sarah
Bowen{13}, and (3) Boston 7 January 1706/7 Mrs. Anne West of Boston.{14}
iv. Caleb Abell, born c. 1647{15}, married (1) Norwich July 1669 Margaret Post,

and (2) 25 June 1701 Mary (Miller) Loomer.{16}
v. Joshua Abell, born c. 1649, married (1) Norwich 1 November 1677
Mehitabel Smith, and (2) November 1685 Bethiah Gager.{17}
vi. Benjamin Abell, born c. 1654, married by 1679 Hannah (---).{18}
vii. [Child, name unknown, mentioned in father's estate settlement, probably
b. c. 1654.{19}]
viii. Experience Abell, born c. 1660, married at Guilford, Connecticut 1680
John Baldwin.{20}

SECOND GENERATION:

GEORGE ABELL (father of the immigrant), son of Robert Abell of Stapenhill, co.
Derby,{21} was born c. 1561, and buried at Hemington, in the parish of
Lockington, co. Leicester 13 September 1630.{22} He matriculated at Brasenose
College, Oxford 8 December 1578 and was admitted to the Middle Temple in
1581.{23} He was styled "gentleman" in his will, dated 8 September 1630 and
proved 7 February 1630/1.{24} George married c. 1598 Frances Cotton, born
Combermere, Cheshire, c. 1573, living September 1630 (when mentioned in her
husband's will), but probably dead by 16 April 1646.{25} Frances was daughter
of Richard and Mary (Mainwaring) Cotton of Combermere, Cheshire.{26}

Children of George and Frances (Cotton) Abell:
i. Mary Abell, born c. 1600, living unmarried 16 April 1646 (when mentioned
in the will of her unmarried aunt Dorothy Cotton).
ii. George Abell, born c. 1602, married St. Mary, Nottingham, co. Notts. 9
August 1634 Mary Stanford, formerly of Laxton, co. Notts.{27}
iii. ROBERT ABELL (the immigrant) [see above].
iv. Richard Abell, born c. 1610, was living 8 September 1630 (when
mentioned in his father's will, then an apprentice).


FOR MORE DETAILED ACCOUNTS OF THE ANCESTRY, SEE:

Horace A. Abell, The Abell Family in America (Rutland, Vt., 1940), passim. [A
transcript of the will of George Abell is included in the account of George
Abell,
pp. 43-6.]

Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New
England 1620-1633, 3 vols (Boston, 1995), 1:3-6.

Neil D. Thompson, "Abell-Cotton-Manwaring...", The Genealogist 5(1984):158-
71.

Carl Boyer, 3rd, Ancestral Lines, 3rd ed. (Santa Clarita, Ca., 1998), 1-8
[which
presents a ten generation ancestral table of the immigrant].

David Faris, Plantagenet Ancestry... (Baltimore, 1996), 1-2.


NOTES:

1. Rehoboth VR 1:50.
2. Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England,
1628-1686, ed. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, 5 vols. in 6 (Boston, 1853-54), 1:80.
He was admitted a freeman on 18 May 1631 (Id. 1:366).
3. Id. 1:247.
4. See the summary by Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins:
Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, 3 vols. (Boston, 1995) 1:3-6.
5. Plymouth Colony Probate Records 2(2):14-15; also Mayflower Descendant 15:239
(1913).
6. Her name appears for the first time in her husband's estate record. Her
surname and parentage are still to be determined.
7. Rehoboth VR 1:44.
8. PCC 10 St. John.
9. Weymouth VR 2:229.
10. Id. 1:11.
11. Horace A. Abell, The Abell Family in America (Rutland, Vt., 1940), 46-7
[Hereafter cited as Abell Family]. A primary source record for this marriage
still needs to be found.
12. Rehoboth VR 1:45.
13. Id. 1:48.
14. BRC 28:7.
15. He died at Norwich 7 August 1731 in his 85th year. See George S. Porter,
Inscriptions from Gravestones in the Old Burying Ground, Norwich Town (Norwich,
1933), 32.
16. Norwich VR 1:18.
17. Id. 1:30.
18. Abell Family 54-6 explains the evidence.
19. Plymouth Colony Probate Records 2(2):14-15.
20. Abell Family 56, which discusses the evidence.
21. Will of Robert Abell, dated 18 March 1587/8, proved 17 May 1588 (PCC 33
Rutland).
22. Parish Register, Lockington, co. Leics.
23. Joseph Foster, Alumni Oxiensis, 1500-1714, 4 vols. (London, 1891), 1:2.
24. PCC 10 St. John. In his will, George Abell mentions "my brother Andrew
Cotten of Cumbermeer in ye Countie of Chester gent[leman]" and "my brother
George Cotton of Cumbermere aforesaid esquier".
25. The will of her unmarried sister Dorothy Cotton, dated 16 April 1646,
probably proved 22 April 1647, mentions Frances's daughter Mary Abell, and the
testator's sister Mary Bulkeley, but not Frances [Original will, Consistory
Court of Chester].
26. For a discussion of her parentage, see Neil D. Thompson,
"Abell-Cotton-Manwaring...," The Genealogist 5(1984):158-71.
27. Parish register, St. Mary, Nottingham, co. Notts.; and marriage license,
issued the same day [Marriage licenses, Consistory Court of Lichfield, 1634].

I see no reason to question the identification.

pcr

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