Ebenezer Abbey Sr.
Ebenezer Abbey Sr. was born July 31, 1683, in Salem Village, Essex Co., Massachusetts Bay Colony, and died December 5, 1758, Windham, Windham Co., Colony of Connecticut, at age 75. Buried in Buried in Windham Center Cemetery, Windham, Windham Co., CT. He is the son of Samuel Abbey of Wenham, Essex Co., Massachusetts Bay Colony, and Mary Knowlton of Chebacco, Ipswich, Essex Co., Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Mary Allen was born June 10, 1688, in Windham, Windham Co., Colony of Connecticut, and died August 25, 1765, in Windham, Windham Co., Colony of Connecticut, at age 77. Buried in Windham Center Cemetery, Windham, Windham Co., CT. She is the daughter of Joshua Allen of Barnstable, MA, and Mary Crowell of Salem Village, Essex Co., Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Ebenezer Abbey Sr. and Mary Allen were married October 28, 1707, in Mansfield, Tolland Co., Colony of Connecticut.
Ebenezer Abbey Sr. and Mary (Allen) Abbey had twelve children:
Ebenezer Abbey Jr.: Born July 27, 1708, in Windham, Windham Co., Colony of Connecticut; Died April, 1758, in Colony of Connecticut (age 49). Buried in Windham Center Cemetery, Windham, Windham Co., CT. Married February 7, 1730, in Windham, Windham Co., Colony of Connecticut, to Abigail Goodell: Born about 1714, in Salem Village, Essex Co., Province of Massachusetts Bay; Died about June 21, 1745, in Windham, Windham Co., Colony of Connecticut (about age 30). Buried in Windham Center Cemetery, Windham, Windham Co., CT.
TIMELINE
Molly Shannon's website: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/58047097/person/290247563407/facts
Wendy Mulligan's The TreeDR website: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/89316435/person/430025106130/facts
The "Warwick Patent" is dated the "Nineteenth day of March in the Seventh/ yeare of ye reigne of our Sovergne Lord Charles by ye grace of God/ Kinge of England Scotland Ffrance and/ Ireland defender of ye ffaith &c Anno Dom/ 1631." Although not double dated, the historical context indicates that the date as recorded was "Old Style." If double dated, it would have been recorded as March 19, 1631/2; if recorded "New Style," it would be March 19, 1632.
Some Ebenezer Sr. Abbey family Records.
The Massachusetts Bay Colony (more formally The Colony of Massachusetts Bay, 1628–1691) was an English settlement on the east coast of America in the 17th century around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the Province of Massachusetts Bay.
Essex County was created by the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony on May 10, 1643, when it was ordered "that the whole plantation within this jurisdiction be divided into four sheires." Named after the county in England, Essex then comprised the towns of Salem, Lynn, Wenham, Ipswich, Rowley, Newbury, Gloucester, and Andover.
Massachusetts Bay Colony reverted to rule under the revoked charter until 1691, when a new charter was issued for the Province of Massachusetts Bay. This province combined the Massachusetts Bay territories with those of the Plymouth Colony and proprietary holdings on Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. Sir William Phips arrived in 1692 bearing the charter and formally took charge of the new province.
The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a crown colony in British America which became one of the thirteen original states of the United States from 1776 onward. It was chartered on October 7, 1691 by William III and Mary II, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland. The charter took effect on May 14, 1692 and included the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Plymouth Colony, the Province of Maine, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick; the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the direct successor.
The township of Scotland, lying in the southwestern part of the county, is about six miles long from north to south, and about three miles wide. It lies on the southern border of the county, being bounded on the north by Hampton and a small part of Chaplin, on the east by Canterbury, on the south by Lisbon and Franklin, in the county of New London, and on the west by Windham. It comprehends about eighteen square miles of territory, much of which is hilly and in a wild condition. This is particularly true of the northern part of the town. In the central and southern parts there is a great deal of good farming land, and the improved farms and residences give a very attractive and home like appearance to the country. The surface is sufficiently rolling to make the rural landscape fascinatingly picturesque. Merrick’s brook runs down through the middle of the town, joining the Shetucket in the southwest corner of the town. The Providence Division of the New York & New England railroad also runs with the Shetucket river across the southwest corner of the town.. Here is Waldo’s station, a locality surrounded by swamps and woods, an ancient saw mill having once been in operation near by on the stream already mentioned. Scotland presents to the passer-by one of those ripened communities in which the people are quietly and peacefully enjoying the fruits of labor performed in former years, rather than living on the sweat of present activities. The surrounding forest growth affords considerable timber, which is utilized in railroad ties. Scotland in 1870 had a population of 648; in 1880 the population was reduced to 590. As the history of the town is but little more than the history of the ecclesiastical society out of which it grew, we shall address ourselves at once to the consideration of that subject.
The territory of this town was originally a part of the extensive domain of ancient Windham, being the southeast section of that town. Settlement began here about the year 1700. The first settler was Isaac Magoon, a Scotchman, who gave to his adopted home the name of his native country. He was admitted an inhabitant of Windham in 1698, and chose to establish himself east of Merrick’s brook, in a remote and uninhabited part of the town. The brook of which we have spoken is supposed to have been named in honor of an early Norwich land owner. In 1700 Magoon purchased of Mr. Whiting several hundred acres, in the southern extremity of Clark & Buckingham’s tract. The first rude hut built by him in this locality is said to have been destroyed by fire, whereupon his Windham neighbors helped him to rebuild it. He afterward bought sixty acres on both sides of Merrick’s brook, and crossed by the road from Windham to Plainfield, of Joshua Ripley, and this is supposed to have been his homestead. This road becoming a great thoroughfare between more important points, and the good quality of the soil here, as well as the natural beauty of location, soon attracted other settlers to the spot. In 1701 Magoon sold farms to Samuel Palmer, John Ormsbee, and Daniel and Nathaniel Fuller, all of whom came hither from Rehoboth. In 1702 Josiah Kingsley, John Waldo, Nathaniel Rudd, Josiah Palmer and Ralph Wheelock purchased land of Crane and Whiting and removed to this new settlement. Waldo’s land, in the south of this settlement, is still held by his descendants. Many Mohegans frequented this part of the town, clinging to it by virtue of Owaneco’s claim to it as Mamosqueage. A hut on the high hills near Waldo’s was long the residence of the Mooch family, kindred of Uncas and the royal line of the Mohegans. The settlement made quite rapid progress. Among others who soon followed were Josiah Luce, Thomas Laselle, Robert Hebard and John Burnap. Luce and Laselle were of old Huguenot stock. Burnap came from Reading, Mass., purchasing a tract of land of Solomon Abbe, by Merrick’s brook, April 13th, 1708.
The demand thus incited here caused valuations of real estate to rise considerably. A saw mill was already in operation on the brook, and in 1706 a highway was ordered to be laid out for the farmers of Scotland, above the mill-dam, for the convenience of getting on and off the bridge which was then about to be constructed, and thence it was to run to John Ormsbee’s land. With the destruction of the forests and the accompanying decadence of the streams this mill site has long since been powerless for the purposes to which it was once appropriated. And the same may be said in regard to Wolf Pit brook, the privilege of which was granted to Josiah Palmer in 1706, ” to set up a grist mill-he building the same within three years and ditching and damming there as he thinks needful on the commons, not to damnify particular men’s rights.
In 1707 the town of Windham regarded its southeastern quarter as’ of sufficient importance to be allowed a burying ground, and at that time Samuel Palmer, George Lilly and William Backus were appointed to view the ground here and consult the people with regard to laying out a burying place in this locality.
The Scotland settlers still maintained their connection with the church at Windham Green, though their number was constantly increasing. George Lilly, in 1710, purchased land on both sides of Little river, which runs down along the eastern border but just outside the present limits of the town, and in 1714, John Robinson, a descendant of Elder John Robinson, of Leyden, removed to Scotland. The old Puritan stock was well represented in this locality. Descendants of Robinson, Brewster and Bradford, with French Huguenots and Scotch Presbyterians, were among its inhabitants. A pound had been erected and a school house was built, at what date we have not learned, and about these public institutions a straggling village grew up. Many sons of the first settlers of Windham established themselves here. Joseph and John Cary settled on Merrick’s brook, on land given them by their father, Deacon Cary. Deacon Bingham’s son Samuel settled on Merrick’s brook, and Nathaniel on Beaver brook. Nathaniel, son of Joseph Huntington, occupied a farm on Merrick’s brook, near the center of the settlement and became one of its most prominent citizens. The population was gathered mainly on the road to Canterbury and on Merrick’s brook. Many of the Scotland settlers were members of the Windham church and some were active and prominent men in the affairs of the town.
But the Scotland settlers soon began to feel a desire for church privileges nearer their homes than away over the hills several miles to Windham Green. At what time this feeling began to develop into open agitation we do not know, but it had gone so far in that direction that in February, 1726, the town took action so far as to consent by vote that when the public list of that section should reach in amount £12,000 the town would build a meeting house in that section, and when they should desire to settle a minister the town would join with them in supporting two ministers and keeping the two meeting houses in order. In December, 1727, the Scotland people were allowed to employ a suitable person to preach to them during the winter, and this permission was kept up for several winters. But the Scotland people could not see the advantage to them of paying their proportionate part of supporting the ministry at Windham Green and then hiring a minister additional during a part of the year, at so much extra expense. Hence the question of society privileges was agitated, and after a spirited contest before the general assembly the petition was granted and a charter for a distinct society was given by the legislature in May, 1732. The bounds of the society were substantially the bounds of the present town. They began at the junction of Merrick’s brook with the Shetucket, thence northerly to the southwest corner of the land of John Kingsley ; thence to Beaver brook at John Fitch’s dam ; thence a straight line to Merrick’s brook, at the crossing of the road from Windham Green to the Burnt Cedar swamp ; thence north on the brook to the southwest corner of Canada Society ; thence easterly by the south bound of that society, and southerly along the Canterbury line to the dividing line between Windham and Norwich, and westerly along the Norwich line to the mouth of Merrick’s brook. This bound probably included less than one-third of the territory of Windham. The petitioners, in answer to whom the charter was granted, were Nathaniel Bingham, Jacob Burnap, Eleazer and Samuel Palmer, Joshua Luce, Daniel Meacham, Isaac Bingham, Samuel Hebard, Seth Palmer, Timothy Allen, Charles Mudie, Benjamin Case, John Waldo, David Ripley, Caleb Woodward, John Cary, Jonathan Silsby, Elisha Lilly, Jacob Lilly, Joshua Lasell, Nathaniel Huntington, Nathaniel Brewster, Nathaniel Rudd, Wilkinson Cook, Carpenter Cook and Samuel Cook. The number of families in the society was about eighty, and the number of persons probably about four hundred. The list of estates reported amounted to £3,945.
The new society met to organize June 22d, 1732, at the house of Nathaniel Huntington. Edward Waldo was chosen moderator ; John Manning, clerk ; Peter Robinson, John Waldo and Edward Waldo, society committee_ In September the society voted to employ a minister, and began eagerly to discuss the location of their prospective meeting house. It was then decided that the preaching services should be held at the house of Nathaniel Huntington. The importance of having the business well attended to-and the magnitude of the undertaking as it appeared to those people is shown by the vote at that time that “Ensign Nathaniel Rudd, Mr. Samuel Manning, Lieutenant Peter Robinson, Sergeants Nathaniel Bingham and Edward Waldo, Mr. John Bass and Mr. John Cary, be a committee to provide us a minister to preach to us, and also to provide a place for him to diet in, and also to agree with him for what he shall have a day.” The minister then employed by this ponderous committee was a Mr. Flagg.
After settling some disputes as to the law in regard to electing officers, the society unanimously set to work to locate and build a meeting house. The site decided upon was ” a knoll, east side of Merrick’s brook, south side of the road from Windham to Canterbury.” Nathaniel Huntington, who owned the land, promptly made over a quarter of an acre for that purpose. June 25th, 1733, it was voted to build a house 43 by 33 feet and twenty feet high, the roof and sides to be, covered with chestnut sawed shingles and clapboards. The work went bravely forward and by November 20th a society meeting was held in the house. Then the windows were glazed, and rough board seats provided, as well as a ” conveniency for a minister to stand by to preach.” Thus equipped the house was ready for service and the energies of the society were then devoted to employing a regular minister.
After several attempts, which from one cause or another proved abortive, the society succeeded in obtaining the services of a minister to be permanently located among them. This they found in the person of Ebenezer Devotion, son of Reverend Ebenezer Devotion of Suffield, a young man of good abilities, pleasing address and unimpeachable orthodoxy, who had just completed his ministerial studies, having graduated from Yale College in 1732, and was just twenty-one years of age when called to this parish. On the 22d of October, 1735, a church was organized and Mr. Devotion ordained as its pastor, on a settlement of £300 and a salary of £140 a year, which was afterward increased by an additional thirty pounds_ Eighty-nine members were dismissed from the First church of Windham to form the Scotland church. Edward Waldo and Nathaniel Bingham were chosen deacons.
These trying ordeals having been safely passed, the society now enjoyed a period of peaceful and harmonious prosperity reaching through many years. The interior of the meeting house, was subject to many changes in its arrangements and seating, as was usual in those days, privileges being allowed individuals, singly or in groups, to erect pews for their own use and at their own expense. In this line one item is worthy of notice. In 1739 twelve young men had liberty to build a pew the length of the front gallery, dividing the same by a partition of wood, taking one half as their own seat and gallantly allowing the other half to as many young women.
We come now to the period when this church and society were greatly agitated, in common with others about them, by the great revival and the Separate movement, which occurred between the years 1740 and 1750. A very respectable part of the Scotland church became dissatisfied with the existing discipline and adopted decided Separate principles. Mr. Devotion, who was strongly attached to church order and the Saybrook Platform, wholly refused to grant them any concessions or liberty, whereupon they withdrew from the . stated religious worship, and held separate meetings in private houses. Among the number were Joseph and Hannah Wood, Benjamin and Anne Cleveland, Zebulon and Hannah Hebard, Mrs. Samuel Manning, John Walden, Daniel Ross, Amos Kingsley, Peleg Brewster, Thomas and Henry Bass, and John, Sarah, Mary and Margaret Wilkinson. January 26th, 1146, these persons were cited to appear before the church court to “give their reasons for separating for a long time from the worship or ordinances which God had set up among them.” Their answer in general was that the ministrations of Mr. Devotion were not satisfying to their souls like those of other preachers, like Lawyer Paine, Deacon Marsh and Solomon Paine, whom Mr. Devotion refused to recognize. Nothing conciliatory resulting from the hearing and subsequent action, these people joined themselves into a Separate church. This was organized during the summer of 1746, and soon gained a very respectable position, receiving into its membership some of the leading families in the parish
The Windham County Association of ministers held an investigation in February, 1747, and after hearing much testimony in regard to the Separatists, declared their action to be unscriptural, uncharitable and unchristian, and that the churches ought not to recognize them in a church capacity, but to labor with them as individuals to convert them from the error of their ways. The Scotland Separate church was, however, notwithstanding this meeting had been held in this town, unaffected by its judgments or proclamations, but continued to increase in numbers and influence. One of the deacons of the standing church lapsed to the Separatists among the rest. For a time they enjoyed the ministrations of their favorite ministers, the Paines and Elder Marsh. John Palmer, a descendant of one of the early Scotland settlers, exercised his gift of exhortation so freely that he was summarily arrested by the civil authority and lodged in jail at Hartford, where he was kept four months. This only increased his zeal, and after his release the church gave him further trial and eventually united in a call to its ministry. He was accordingly ordained May 17th, 1749, as pastor of the Separate church of Scotland.
Though deficient in education and somewhat rough in speech and manner, Mr. Palmer was a man of estimable character and sound piety, and under his guidance the Brunswick church, as this body was now called, maintained for many years a good standing in the community, comparatively free from those excesses and fanaticism which marred so many of its contemporaries. No difficulty was found in supporting its worship by voluntary – contributions. A church edifice was built . about a mile southeast of Scotland village, and this was long known as the Brunswick meeting house. Mr. Devotion was never reconciled to this intrusion within his parochial limits, but true to his own name as he was to his cause, it is said that he was accustomed every Sunday morning to send his negro servant with a rescript to the Brunswick meeting house, forbidding Mr. Palmer or any unauthorized person to preach therein that day ; a prohibition which doubtless only served to increase the number of attendants there.
For many years after this Separate church was established its members were obliged to pay their proportion of taxes for the support of the ministry in the regular church of Scotland society. When they refused to comply with such demands their cattle or goods were taken by distraint or themselves were imprisoned in Windham jail. But on the prospect of having to pay rates toward the building of the new meeting house in 1773 they petitioned the assembly for relief, and that body gave a favorable response, granting them release from the burden of taxation to build the house in which they did not expect, to worship. The names of those at that time identified with the Separatist church were Zacheus Waldo, Zebulon Hebard, Lemuel Bingham, Ebenezer Webb, John Palmer, Benjamin Cleveland, Joseph Allen, John Walden, Stephen Webb, Israel Hale, William Perkins, Joseph Allen, Jr., Jonathan Brewster, Ebenezer Bass, John Silsbury, Timothy Allen, Samuel Baker, Jr., Jedidiah Bingham, Henry Bass and Moses Cleveland.
Settling Scotland
The territory of this town was originally a part of the extensive domain of ancient Windham, being the southeast section of that town. Settlement began here about the year 1700. The first settler was Isaac Magoon, a Scotchman, who gave to his adopted home the name of his native country. He was admitted an inhabitant of Windham in 1698, and chose to establish himself east of Merrick’s brook, in a remote and uninhabited part of the town.
The brook of which we have spoken is supposed to have been named in honor of an early Norwich land owner. In 1700 Magoon purchased of Mr. Whiting several hundred acres, in the southern extremity of Clark & Buckingham’s tract. The first rude hut built by him in this locality is said to have been destroyed by fire, whereupon his Windham neighbors helped him to rebuild it. He afterward bought sixty acres on both sides of Merrick’s brook, and crossed by the road from Windham to Plainfield, of Joshua Ripley, and this is supposed to have been his homestead. This road becoming a great thoroughfare between more important points, and the good quality of the soil here, as well as the natural beauty of location, soon attracted other settlers to the spot.
In 1791 Magoon sold farms to Samuel Palmer, John Ormsbee, and Daniel and Nathaniel Fuller, all of whom came hither from Rehoboth. In 1702. Josiah Ralph Wheelock purchased land of Crane and Whiting and removed to this new settlement. Waldo’s land, in the south of this settlement, is still held by his descendants. Many Mohegans frequented this part of the town, clinging to it by virtue of Owaneco’s claim to it as Mamosqueage. A hut on the high hills near Waldo’s was long the residence of the Mooch family, kindred of Uncas and the royal line of the Mohegans.
The settlement made quite rapid progress. Among others who soon followed were Josiah Luce, Thomas Laselle, Robert Hebard and John Burnap. Luce and Lasalle were of old Huguenot stock. Burnap came from Reading, Mass., purchasing a tract of land of Solomon Abbe, by Merrick’s brook, April 13th, 1708. The demand thus incited here caused valuations of real estate to rise considerably. A saw mill was already in operation on the brook, and in 1706 a highway was ordered to be laid out for the farmers of Scotland, above the mill-damn, for the convenience of getting on and off the bridge which was then about to be constructed, and thence it was to run to John Ormsbee’s land.
With the destruction of the forests and the accompanying decadence of the streams this mill site has long since been powerless for the purposes to which it was once appropriated. And the same may be said in regard to Wolf Pit brook, the privilege of which was granted Josiah Palmer in 1706, “to set up a grist mill—he building the same within three years and ditching and damming there as he thinks needful to the commons, not to damnify particular men’s rights.”
Taking Shape
In 1707 the town of Windham regarded its southeastern quarter as of sufficient importance to be allowed a burying ground, and at that time Samuel Palmer, George Lilly and William Backus were appointed to view the ground here and consult the people with regard to laying out a burying place in this locality.
The Scotland settlers still maintained their connection with the church at Windham Green, though their number was constantly increasing. George Lilly, in 1710, purchased land on both sides of Little river, which runs down along the eastern border but just outside the present limits of the town, and in 1714, John Robinson, a descendant of Elder John Robinson, of Leyden, removed to Scotland. The old Puritan stock was well represented in this locality. Descendants of Robinson, Brewster and Bradford, with French Huguenots and Scotch Presbyterians, were among its inhabitants. A pound had been erected and a school house was built, at what date we have not learned, and about these public institutions a straggling village grew up.
Many sons of the first settlers of Windham established themselves here. Joseph and John Cary settled on Merrick’s Brook, on land given them by their father, Deacon Cary. Deacon Bingham’s son Samuel settled on Merrick’s Brook, and Nathaniel on Beaver Brook. Nathaniel, son of Joseph Huntington, occupied a farm on Merrick’s Brook, near the center of the settlement and became one of its most prominent citizens. The population was gathered mainly on the road to Canterbury and on Merrick’s Brook. Many of the Scotland settlers were members of the Windham church and some were active and prominent men in the affairs of the town.
But the Scotland settlers soon began to feel a desire for church privileges nearer their homes than away over the hills several miles to Windham Green. At what time this feeling began to develop into open agitation we do not know, but it had gone so far in that direction that in February, 1726, the town took action so far as to consent by vote that when the public list of that section should reach in amount of 12,000 [English pounds] the town would build a meeting house in that section, and when they should desire to settle a minister the town would join with them in supporting two ministers and keeping the two meeting houses in order.
In December, 1727, the Scotland people were allowed to employ a suitable person to preach to them during the winter, and this permission was kept up for several winters. But the Scotland people could not see the advantage to them of paying their proportionate part of supporting the ministry at Windham Green and then hiring a minister additional during a part of the year, at so much extra expense. Hence the question of society privileges was agitated, and after a spirited contest before the general assembly the petition was granted and a charter for a distinct society was given by the legislature in May 1732. The bounds of the society were substantially the bounds of the present town.
They began at the junction of Merrick’s Brook with the Shetucket, thence northerly to the southwest corner of the land of John Kingsley; thence to Beaver brook at John Fitch’s damn; thence a straight line to Merrick’s brook, at the crossing of the road from Windham Green to the Burnt Cedar swamp; thence north on the brook to the southwest corner of Canada Society; thence easterly by the south bound of that society, and southerly along the Canterbury line to the dividing line between Windham and Norwich, and westerly along the Norwich line to the mouth of Merrick’s brook. This bound probably included less than one-third of the territory of Windham.
The petitioners, in answer to whom the charter was granted, were Nathaniel Abingtham, Jacob Burnap, Eleazer and Samuel Palmer, Joshua Luce, Daniel Meacham, Isaac Bingham, Samuel Hebard, Seth Palmer, Timothy Allen, Charles Mudie, Benjamin Case, John Waldo, David Ripley, Caleb Woodward, John Cary, Jonathan Silsby, Elisha Lilly, Jacob Lilly, Joshua Lasell, Nathaniel Huntington, Nathaniel Brewster, Nathaniel Rudd, Wilkinson Cook, Carpenter Cook and Samuel Cook. The number of families in the society was about eighty, and the number of persons probably about four hundred. The list of estates reported amounted to 3,945 [English pounds].
The new society met to organize June 22d, 1732, at the house of Nathaniel Huntington. Edward Waldo was chosen moderator; John Manning, clerk; Peter Robinson, John Waldo and Edward Waldo, society committee. In September the society voted to employ a minister, and began eagerly to discuss the location of their prospective meeting house. It was then decided that the preaching services should be held at the house of Nathaniel Huntington. The importance of having the business well attended to and the magnitude of the undertaking as it appeared to those people is shown by the vote at that time that “Ensign Nathaniel Rudd, Mr. Samuel Manning, Lieutenant Peter Robinson, Sergeants Nathaniel Bingham and Edward Waldo, Mr. John Bass and Mr. John Cary, be a committee to provide us a minister to preach to us, and also to provide a place for him to diet in, and also to agree with him for what he shall have a day.” The minister then employed by this ponderous committee was a Mr. Flagg.
Ebenezer Abbey Sr. was born July 31, 1683, in Windham, Windham Co., Colony of Connecticut.
Mary Allen was born June 10, 1688, in Windham, Windham Co., Colony of Connecticut.
Ebenezer Abbey Sr. created his final Last Will and Testament on June 3, 1750, in Windham, Windham Co., Colony of Connecticut. Thanks to Kay Koslan for locating these records.
This is the transcription of the Ebenezer Abbey Sr. final Last Will and Testament dated June 3, 1750, in Windham, Windham Co., Colony of Connecticut.
In the name of God Amen the 3d day of June anno domini 1750. I Ebenezer Abbe of Windham in the County of Windham & Colony of Connecticut in New England being sick & weak in body but of perfect mind & memory Thanks be given to God therefor calling to mende the mortality of my body & knowing that it is apointed for al men once to die do make & ordain this my Last will & Testament that is to say prinsipaley first of all I give & recomend my Soul into the hands of God that gave it hoping through the merits death & passion of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and to have full and free Pardon and Forgiveness of all my Sins & to Inherit Everlasting life & my body I comit to the Earth to be decently buried at the discretion of my excet hereafter named nothing doubting but at the general resurrection I shall receive the same again by the Mighty Power of God – and as touching such worldly Estate wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me in this life I give donate & disposal of the Same in the Following manor & form viz.
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I will that those debts & debters which I do owe in right or Consionce to any manor of person or persons what socumbe will & Truly paid or ordaind to be paid in convenient time after my decease by my Excer. hereafter named
Items I give & bequeath unto mary abbe my dearly beloved wife all my household & Furniture & one good cow & one good horse to be All her own use & dispose forever & also the use & improvement of one third part of all my lands the use & improvement of the westerly end of my dwelling house & Sufficient Cellar room & barn room During her natural life in law of dowr
Item I give & bequeath to my well beloved Son Ebenzr Abbe besides wht I have already given him Five Shillings in bills of Credit or old Tender or the Equivalent thereto to be raised & Levied out of my Estate & paid in convenient time after my decease by my Execr herein after named
Item I give & bequeath unto my well beloved son Joshua Abbe besides what I have already given him Five shillings in bills of Credit or old Tender or the Equivalent thereto to be raised & Levied out of my Estate paid in convenient time after my decease by my Execr hereafter named
Item I give & bequeath to Nathan Abbe my well beloved son besides what I have already given him Five shillings in bills of Credit of old Tender or the Equivalent thereto to be raised & Levied out of my Estate paid in convenient time after my decease by my Execr hereafter named
Item I give & bequeath unto to my well beloved son Gideon Abbe besides what I have already given him Five shillings in bills of Credit of old Tender or the Equivalent thereto to be raised & Levied out of my Estate paid in convenient time after my decease by my Execr hereafter after named
Item I give & bequeath unto my well beloved son Saml Abbe besides what I have already given him Five shillings in bills of Credit or old Tender or the Equivalent thereto to be raised & Levied out of my Estate paid in convenient time after my decease by my Execr hereafter named
Item I give & bequeath unto my well beloved daughter Elizabeth Cross besides what I have already given her Five shillings in bills of Credit or old Tender or the Equivalent thereto to be raised & Levied out of my Estate paid in convenient time after my decease by my Execr hereafter named
Item I give & bequeath unto my well beloved daughter Zerviah Marsh besides what I have already given her Five shillings in bills of Credit or old Tender or the Equivalent thereto to be raised & Levied out of my Estate paid in convenient time after my decease by my Execr herefter named
Item I give & bequeath unto my beloved daughter Jerusha Wood besides what I have already given her Five shillings in bills of Credit or old Tender or the Equivalent to be raised & Levied out of my Estate & paid in convenient time after my dcease by my Execr hereafter mentioned
Item I give & bequeath unto my beloved daughter Abigail Cary besides what I have already given her Five shillings in bills of Credit or old Tender or the Equivalent thereto to be raised & Levied out of my Estate & paid in convenient time after my decease by my Execr herein after named
Item I give & bequeath unto my beloved daughter Miriam Cross besides what I have already given her Five shillings in bills of Credit or old Tender or the Equivalent thereto to be raised & Levied out of my Estate & paid in convenient time after my decease by my Execr herein after named
Item I give & bequeath unto my well beloved grandchild Jonathan Bingham the only surviving son & heir of my well beloved daughter Mary Bingham deceasd besides what I gave to my daughter in her Lifetime Five Shillings in bills of Credit or the old Tender or the equivalent thereto to be to be raised & Levied out of my Estate after my decease by my Execr hereafter named which I will that he shall receive when he shall attain to the age of twenty one years
Item I give & bequeath to my well beloved son Solomon Abbe to be & remain unto him his heirs & assigns forever all my lands lying & being in the Township of Windham & Mansfield together with all my Tenements and buildings in manor & form following (viz) Two third parts of my sd lands The easter part of my dwelling house & such part of the Celler room under the sd dwelling house & such part of the room in My Barn as my sd Wife Mary shaI the sd t need during her natural life to be by him possessed & injoyed upon my decease and the remainder in my sd Land & building upon the Decease of my Sd wife Mary I also give unto my Sd Son Solomon Abbe all my stock & creatures my outdoor moveables & utinsels for farming business together with all my tools for every sort of work.
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I will that all my wearing appariel be equally divided of amongst all of my Surviving Sons. (S.S.)
Finally I will, Constitute ordain & make Col. Shubael Conant of Mansfield in the County of Windham & Colony of Connecticut my only & Sole Exec. of this my Last any Last Will & Testament & I do hereby of my utterly disallow revoke & disannul all & leaving other former wills Testaments Legacies & bequests or Executors Whatsoever by me before This Time in any who named willed or bequeathed ratifying & confirming this and no other to be my Last Will & Testament in confirmation whereof I the sd Ebenr Abbe have hereunto sett my hand and affixed my Seal the day & year first First above written
Signd Seald Publishd remanded & Declared by sd Ebenr Abbe as his Last Will and Testament in Presence of us Witnesses Ebener Abbe (S.S.)
Daniel Cross
Samuel Flint
Mary Flint
Windham County fst Decr 14t 1758. Then came Mr Samuel Flint & Mrs Mary Flilnt Two of the Witnesses Subscribing to the foregoing Instrument & made solemn oath that they sd Mr. Ebenezer Abbe, the testator Deceasd sign seal & Publish the foregoing instrument as his last Will and Testament , & that they together with Mr Deniel Cross Sett to their hands as Witnesses in the presence of the sd Testator & that they Judged him to be of Sound Mind & Memory according to the best of their discerning
Sworn before me Jona Trimble Just
At a court of Probate held at Lebanon 2d January 1758. Then the foregoing will was exhibited into sd Court by the Exectr who accepted that trust in Sd County and Sd will is by this Sd Court proved & allowed sd & orderd to be recorded & kept on file & Sd Execr took the oath in Sd Court according to law
Test Ichd Robinson Regr
Ebenezer Abbey Sr. died December 5, 1758, Windham, Windham Co., Colony of Connecticut, at age 75. Buried in Buried in Windham Center Cemetery, Windham, Windham Co., CT.
Mary (Allen) Abbey died 1766 in Windham, Windham Co., Colony of Connecticut, at about age 78. Buried in Buried in Windham Center Cemetery, Windham, Windham Co., CT.
From Jeromey Ward's Web Site:
Ebenezer was born in 1683, in Salem Village, Mass., baptized in Wenham before 1685; died in Windham, Conn., December 5, 1758. He removed with his father to the locality known as "Bricktop" in 1698; worked in Norwich for a time, about 1705; was at Windham in 1706 and later lived at North Windham and Mansfield. November, 1705, were recorded two deeds showing an exchange of property between Samuel Abbe and Ebenezer of Norwich, a lot upon Bushnell's Plain. He received a deed from Samuel, July 17, 1707, and sold land to Abraham Mitchell and William Slate in 1709 and 1711. October29, 1713, John Abbe, now resident at Hartford, in Hartford County," sold to his brother Ebenezer land he had received from his father, Samuel Abbe of Windham. In a deed of November 2, 1713, he alludes to his deceased father, Samuel Abbe, January 11, 1714, land bought from his brother, Samuel Abbe, and calls Abraham Mitchell father." He is found frequently in the records of Windham down to late in life. September 8, 1743, he sold to his son, Samuel, land on the east side of Nauchaug River in Windham. In 1715, Ebenezer Abbe was one of the settlers who formed Canada Parish at Hampton Hill in the northeast part of Windham, and was one of those who on May 9, 1717, signed a petition to the General Assembly asking to be made a separate parish. In October of the same year another petition was sent to the assembly, asking that the taxes on property in this parish should be used for the establishing of their church. This petition was signed by Ebenezer Abbe, for the rest," and William Durkee. His will, dated June 3, 1750, probated December 14, 1758, names these heirs: wife Mary; children Ebenezer, Joshua, Nathan, Gideon, Samuel, Elizabeth Cross, Zeruiah Marsh, Jerusha Wood, Abigail Cary, Miriam Cross; grandson Jonathan Bingham, only surviving son and heir of his daughter Mary, deceased. (Windham Probate Records, Vol. 5, page 513.) Ebenezer Abbe married at Mansfield, October 28, 1707, MARY ALLEN, who died 1766, daughter of Joshua and Mary ( ) Allen, early settlers of Mansfield, who lived near what is now North Windham.
Ebenezer married Mary Allen daughter of Joshua Allen and Mary Crowell on Oct 28 1707 in Windham, Connecticut. Mary was born on Jun 10 1688 in Windham, Connecticut. She died in 1766 in Windham, Connecticut.