Nathaniel Abner Abbey, Isaac Phineas Abbey, and Daniel David Altenburg Land Patent Records.

The Barbour collection of Windham Town birth records, pre. 1870, Connecticut.  

   

Connecticut historic maps: left to right, 1755 and 1768.  

Connecticut Colony, known as the River Colony, was organized on March 3, 1636, as a place for Puritan nobleman. Early on, the English settlers under John Winthrop Jr. struggled with the Dutch for possession of the land, but the English eventually gained control of the colony and set up a permanent settlement there. After the era of the Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell had passed, Charles II took the throne. John Winthrop Jr., the governor of the Connecticut Colony went to England to secure a charter for the colony. Charles II granted his request in 1662. The charter of the colony covered both the Connecticut Colony and the New Haven Colony and they were permitted to choose their own assembly, their own governor, and rule themselves with minimal interference. New Haven was reluctant to give up their independence and deliberated for some time before coming to a decision to merge with the Connecticut Colony. Once merged the colony was called the Colony of Connecticut.

   

Third Regiment (General Putnam), 5th Company (Captain Knowlton): Isaac Abbe (listed as a Fifer) Enlisted May 1, 1775, and Discharged December 16, 1775. He participated in the Battle of Bunker Hill.  

To the honorable Experience Storrs Esq. (Col of the 5th Regmt. of militia in the State of Connecticutt Sir the following is a true return pursuent to orders recieved from your honor are as followeth -

the first Division Serj. Thomas Snow Elihu Linkon Stephen Ginning Lemuel Dains Oliver Neff Seth Ginnings

Second Division Serj Samuel Flint Serj Benj Neff Corpll Thomas Kingsbury Corpll Jeremiah Clark Hezh Linkon Ebenezer Ginnings James Flint John Richardson Sylvenus Colburn John Flint Daniel Ginnings Asa Robinson John Linkon Ebenezer Cross Luke Flint Frederick Owen Isaac Abbe Jun Joseph Moon

third Division Serj Benj Flint Corpll Ambrose Aones Isaiah Geessifer Jonah Linkon Nathan Linkon Oliver Spafford Joseph Cross Oliver Parrish Jacob Parrish Thomas Dain James Spaulding Simeon Back Whitman Huntington Stephen Preston Jeremiah Linkon Abner Abbee

in your humble Servent

Maltiah Bingham Capt

Windham Sept 7th 1779

BINGHAM, MALTIAH

Captain Nathaniel Wales' Company: Isaac Abbe Drafted August 24, 1777, and Deserted September 3, 1777, and therefore did not receive any payment for services.

The 1790 U. S. Census taken in 1790 shows Isaac Abbe is the Head of Household, and is living in Ashford Twp., Windham Co., CT. It is likely that the family members are: Isaac Abbey, and his three children, Isaac Abbey, Nathaniel Abner Abbey, and Dorcas Potts Abbey. In about 1798, the three siblings, Isaac Abbey, Nathaniel Abner Abbey, and Dorcas Potts Abbey, along with their nephew, Clement Neff, would travel to Durham Co., Upper Canada.

I, Isaac Abbe of Ashford in the County of Windham and the State of Connecticut, of Lawful age, testify and say, that in the spring of the year 1775 I listed as a fifer, and Hamilton Grant of S Ashford listed as a drummer in Capt Thos Knowltons company, in the troops received by Connecticut to fight the british Troops at Boston, and sd Grant & I belonged to sd company until the next fall. On the 17th June 1775 sd Grant and I fought by the side of each other in what is called Bunker hill battle, under sd Knowltons command, and while we were fighting as aforesd, sd Grant was wounded in the right foot by a shot from the enemy; the bullet entered his great toe and went into the ball or bottom of his foot, I saw the blood gush out of his shoe, and advised him, as did others, to retire from the battle ground, which sd Grant accordingly did. I further say that sd Grant after the battle was in the hospital a long time under the hands of Dortins Spalding & checking the then surgeons of our troops, since dead, and sd Grant by reason of the inability of sd wounded foot was not able to do but very little if any duty in sd company as a drummer of soldier afterwards; another man was appointed drummer in his room, and after he got better he used to do errands for the surgeons & on horseback - Ever since the revolutionary war sd Grant has made his home in Ashford aforesd, where I also have dwelt, never more than 3 miles apart, and generally much nearer, and I have always noticed that he walked lame with that foot, which was wounded as aforesd, as tho' he had to favour it some, and I have no doubt that the lameness which I have observed as aforesd, and which still continues to this day, was wholly occasioned by the aforesd wound. And further the deponent saith not. dated at So Ashford this 15th July AD 1818

Isaac Abbe

State of Connecticut - Windham ssn 15th July 1818 - Personally appeared on the 9th Inst Mssrs Daniel Allen, Jonathan Chaffe, Joseph Putnam Jr., and Fredink Knowlton and on this day Mr Isaac Abbe and each of them made oath that the deposition by him subscribed on this sheet of paper contains the truth and nothing but the truth

Sworn before David Bolles Judge of Windham County Court

I Samuel Gray Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas in & for the County of Windham in the State of Connecticut do Certify that David Bolles Esq. before whom the foregoing affidavits have been taken is Judge of Sd County Court. & the above Signature is his own handwriting & full faith & heart ought to be given to his Acts & Deeds as Such. - In Testimony Whenst I have hereunto Subscribe my name & affixed the Seal of sd Court this 27th day of July AD 1818

Sam Gray

Captain Nathaniel Wales' Company: Isaac Abbe Drafted August 24, 1777, and Deserted September 3, 1777, and therefore did not receive any payment for services.

Leslie Wilson of Canada has provided the following information.

The 1851 Charles and Oliver were sons of Isaac Abbey & Lucinda Bradley, and grandsons of Nathaniel Abbey   b 1773/74 NY d 1825/26 Hope & Mary____ b Apr 11 1777 d Mar 29 1869.  If you recall, Lucinda Bradley was the daughter of Dorcas Abbey (believed to be a sister of Nathaniel #1 and his brother Isaac) and Oliver Bradley. Isaac Abbey, brother of the 1773/74 - 1825/26 Nathaniel Abbey, had no surviving issue. Lucinda & her husband Isaac did not help matters because they named the boys, Charles Oliver Abbey and Oliver Nathaniel Abbey!!!

It has been argued that Isaac Abbey, husband of Anne, was the father of Dorcas Abbey-Bradley and Nathaniel Abbey #1. This is possible, but there are many circumstantial factors that argue equally that he was their brother.

1) The Abbey men were not long lived - average age of death (and yes, I removed the ones who were killed in the Civil War to come up with this) - about 50.

2) In the 1790s, very few men over the age of 50, without a house-full of strong sons and daughters between the ages of 14 and 21, took up homesteading in Upper Canada.

3) When Isaac died sometime between March of 1813 and March of 1814, it seems he died intestate - and the property did not pass to Nathaniel Abbey Sr. but rather to David King Bradley and Nathaniel Abbey Jr.  If Nathaniel #1 had been Isaac's son, by British law it would have passed to the son.  But Isaac died - without heirs it seems - so it passed to the two eldest male heirs of Dorcas (Abbey) Bradley and Nathaniel Abbey, they being David King Bradley and Nathaniel Abbey Jr.

4) I suspect Isaac died of a disease that entered local lore as the Spotted Plague. It seems to have affected only those in the prime of life - two teenage boys died, everybody else was in their forties and fifties. Most were male.

This was not small pox - that had swept through the area in 1811, the people were familiar with it and of those who remained, most had acquired an immunity to it. This disease was especially virulent - death occurred within 7 days of contact, the victim remained lucid until the end - the body swelled and large purple spots, like bruises, appeared all over the body within 24 hrs of death.   Believe it or not, I was able to find a specialist in weird epidemic diseases (he once worked for the Atlanta Centre for Disease Control) who agreed to take on the project of finding out what this plague was.  It only affected those living in Hope Twp, the only exception was a man from Hamilton Twp who had been called to the death bed of one of the victims to notarize the will.  I expected Mr Lamb would take at least a month or two to work out a possible cause - he came back in less than 48 hours with the answer - a disease endemic to flying squirrels, carried from them to humans by lice.  The first case appeared in early February - by the end of April, it had petered out.  When I asked him how certain he was about this being the cause, his reply was: "99 percent, and you can quote me".

The scenario is that the men were out cutting down trees (this still is winter time work in southern Ontario), the boys found a downed tree with a litter of young flying squirrels, took them home and divided them up amongst their friends.  The lice on the squirrels spread from person to person.

The disease cannot be passed by sputum or touching feces or urine of an infected person or squirrel - it must be introduced into the blood stream by an infected louse, and only a louse, not a flea or mosquito.

Anyway - I digress, although that is the sort of stuff my book is about, not the genealogy. The genealogies are needed to discover the whys and wherefores of the movements and interactions of this 1793-1813 group of people.

Leslie

Hello, Donna.

My name is Leigh Larson, and I read with interest your article about Connecticut's Pennsylvania Colony which appeared in the Holiday 2007 issue of New England Ancestors. Based upon the information presented, I think there is a good chance that one of my ancestors is among the "lost."

Isaac Abbe was born October 31, 1753 in Windham, Windham Co., CT. He was the son of Isaac Abbe and Eunice Church of Connecticut. When Cleveland Abbey did the comprehensive genealogy of the Abbe/Abbey family, there were several Abbey families that lived in Durham Co., Ontario, Canada. These Abbeys were called part of the "disconnected lines" of John Abbe of England. Nathaniel, Isaac, and Dorcas Abbey came to Durham Co., Upper Canada, about 1798, and became some of the pioneer settlers of Durham Co.

A few generations later some of the Abbey families moved to Wisconsin, North Dakota, etc. When the County histories of these Abbeys were written, one mentioned that the earlier Abbey family was a native of Dutchess Co., NY, and removed from there to Canada shortly after the Revolution.

Another U. S. Census of Abner Abbey of Grand Forks Co., ND, indicated that his father was born in Pennsylvania. This is the clue that got me interested in the article you wrote.

It is possible that Isaac Abbe/Abbey (born 1753 in Windham, CT) was among the Susquehanna Land Company settlers.

Do you have any information regarding this Abbe/Abbey connection?

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Very truly yours,

Leigh R. Larson