Robert Abell
8th Great Grandfather Born 1589
Stapenhill, Derbyshire, England
Died 20 Jun 1663 Rehoboth,
Bristol, Massachusetts, USA
“gateway ancestor”
Robert Abell was born in about 1605[1] in Stapenhill, Derbyshire, England and died at Rehoboth, Massachusetts on 20 June 1663.[2] He was among the early settlers of the Massachusetts Bay
Colony and the first person with his surname to emigrate from England to the American colonies.[3] He traveled from his home to New England in 1630 as part of the first wave of
a mass exodus of Puritans called the Great Migration.[4]
This initial expedition was known as the Winthrop Fleet, which consisted of 11 ships
carrying around 700 immigrants. Robert Abell was “related to the Cotton family
and probably emigrated under influence of Rev. John Cotton
[1585–1652] or Rev. Arthur Hildersham
[1563-1632] of Ashby-de-la-Zouch,
who lived a few miles from the home of Abell. Derby,
the home of the Cotton family, was only five miles distant.”[5]
According to Charles Henry Pope, author of Pioneers of Massachusetts,
“all who came after 1650 found Massachusetts a reality, a single state,
practically, although under two fraternal governments; all who came before that
date helped essentially to make it.”[6]
Family Background
Robert was the second son of George Abell (1561-1630)[7] and Frances Cotton (b. abt. 1573-d. by
1646).[8] On his mother’s side, he was descended
from a long line of English, Norman and French aristocrats
and royalty.[9]
His maternal grandfather, “Rt. Hon. Sir George Cotton,” was “Vice-Chamberlain
of the Household to the Prince of Wales, (later King Edward VI) . . . a Privy Counsellor . . . [and] Esquire
of the Body to King Henry VIII.”[10] Henry knighted him before or in 1542.[11]
Robert’s father, George Abell, came from a family whose English progenitor is believed to have arrived as part of
the Norman Invasion
of 1066.[12] At the age of 17, George enrolled in Oxford University’s Brasenose College (8 December 1578).[13] By November of 1580, he had become a barrister and a member of the Inner Temple.[14] Before June 1630, he arranged an
apprenticeship in London for his son, but Robert decided to try his
luck in the New World, instead. This was a move that his
father disapproved of, but, nevertheless, financed.
In his will, dated 8 September 1630, George Abell states (original spelling
retained), “I bequeath unto my second sonne Robert Abell onelie a Twentie shilling peece for his childs parte in regard of
ye charges I have beene at in placeing him in a good trade in London wch hee
hath made noe use of and since in furnishing him for newe England where I hope
he now is.”[15]
New Life in America
Robert Abell’s first recorded act in America (19 October 1630) was to apply
to be a freeman in the
recently founded village of Weymouth.[16] On 18 May 1631, he took the freeman’s oath. “This act endowed him with full
privileges and responsibilities of citizenship in the new colony, including
ownership of lands, in the exercise of which he continued to acquire holdings.”[17]
Most of the early settlers of Massachusetts Bay Colony had at least two
major preoccupations: (1) helping build Winthrop’s “City upon a Hill,” a model Christian society, and
(2) surviving and prospering in the New World. It is not known exactly how
committed Abell was to the first objective, but municipal and court records
show him participating in the life of his community, slowly building up his
land holdings and eventual establishing a business.
During his time as a resident of Weymouth (1630-1643), his civic duties
included serving on various types of juries (grand, petit and coroner’s), and
records indicate that he accumulated a small amount of land (about 7 acres).[18] Like many immigrants, Robert Abell did
not stay indefinitely in the first place he landed. In 1643, when the
opportunity to join a newly founded town presented itself, he followed Reverend
Samuel Newman (and the majority of his
congregation) to a place the local Wampanoag tribe called Seekonk (a portion of which was later renamed “Rehoboth”).[19] Some of Abell’s activities while
living there can be found in the following extracts from the minutes of various
Rehoboth town meetings and Plymouth colonial records:
- 18 February 1646: “At a meeting of the towne it was agreed to draw lots for the new meadow, and to be divided according to person and estate, only those that were under £150 estate to be made up 150. They were drawn as followeth: [Robert Abell was number 41 on a list of 46 people].”[20]
- 26 February 1651: “It was agreed that Robert Abell and Richard Bullock should burn the commons round about, from the Indian fence, all the neck, to the new meadow near, and so far about the fresh meadows as may be convenient; and they are to have 20s. for their pains.”[21]
- 28 March 1653: “It was concluded and agreed upon, that Robert Abell should have three acres of meadow on the north side of the line, next the town, next the line that parteth the land of the purchasers and the town of Rehoboth. This meadow was given by Mr. Prince, Captain Standish and Mr. Winslow.”[22]
- 1 February 1654: “Robert Abell was ordered to keep the Ordinary.”[23] An "ordinary” is variously defined as a tavern or an inn. An establishment of this type was an important social institution in a small New England community and vital to the town’s economy.
- 3 July 1656 (Plymouth): “Robert Abell is allowed to keep an ordinary at Rehoboth.” [Bliss, Leonard.[24]
- 1657: Abell’s name appears in a list of persons who “have taken oath of fidelities.”[25]
- 22 February 1658: “At a town meeting lawfully warned, lots were drawn for the meadows that lie on the north side of the town, in order as followeth, according to person and estate: [Abell’s name is third on the list of 49 people]”[26]
At the time of his death, Abell’s estate “amounted to £354 17s. 9d.
of which ‘an house and land’ accounted for £130.”[27]
Second Generation of Robert Abell’s Family
Robert Abell and his wife Joanna (d. aft. 1682) [Abell, Horace A. The
Abell family in America, p. 43] had eight children: Abraham (d.1639), Mary
(1642-1724), Preserved (b. ca. 1644), Caleb (b. ca. 1647), Joshua (b. ca.
1649), Benjamin (b. ca. 1651), Experience (b. ca. 1660) and a daughter whose
given name and date of birth is unknown.[28]
- Circa 1662, their daughter Mary married Reverend Samuel Luther (1636-1716), son of an adventurous mariner named Captain John Luther (d.1645),[29] “a focal figure in the colonies mentioned several times in Winthrop's Journal and other colonial accounts.”[30] Robert Abell’s new son-in-law was already famous in New England for having survived a massacre and kidnapping by a small group of Lenape tribesmen when he was only nine years old (1645) and went on to become (1685) the highly respected “settled pastor” of the First Baptist Church (still extant) of Swansea, Massachusetts for 31 years.[31]
- Mary’s sister Experience also married a churchman (1680), Deacon John Baldwin (1654-1705), an early settler of Lebanon, Connecticut, with whom she had five children.[32]
- Robert’s son Lieutenant Preserved Abell (d. 1724) was among those soldiers listed as having not only “served under Major [William] Bradford (1624-1703)” in King Philip’s War, but also “advanced money to sustain it.” (£7, 15s, 1d.)[33]
- Sergeant Caleb Abell (d. 1731) moved to Norwich, Connecticut in 1668 and was a selectman in 1682, constable in 1684 and 1706, townsman in 1689 and was Sergeant of the Norwich Train Band in 1701. “In the book of Grants in Norwich, there are 38 or more items to Caleb Abell.”[34]
- Joshua Abell (d. 1725) “was constable in Dedham, Massachusetts and frequently chosen townsman there. He moved to Norwich, Connecticut in 1667 and became a ‘considerable landowner,’ with 44 grants listed in his name.”[35]
- Benjamin Abell (d.1699) also held substantial property adjacent to or near his older brothers in Norwich.[36]
All of the Abell brothers had sizable families (seven to ten children
each), helping to perpetuate the family name in New England. Writing in 1940,
genealogist Horace Abell claimed that “probably all the present day Abells of
New England stock are descended from Robert’s three sons, Preserved, Caleb and
Benjamin Abell. His forth son, Joshua, did not leave any male descendants.”[37]
Genealogical Significance
Robert Abell’s lineage has long been subject
to intense scrutiny by historians and genealogists. Details about his heritage
and legacy have been recorded in at least a dozen books (see Bibliography
for complete details), including:
- The History of Rehoboth, Bristol County (1836)
- Vital Record of Rehoboth, 1642-1896, (1897)
- The Pioneers of Massachusetts, (1900)
- The Winthrop Fleet of 1630, (1930)
- The Abell family in America, (1940)
- Ancestors of American Presidents, (1989)
- The Great Migration Begins, (1995)
- Medieval English Ancestors of Robert Abell, (2001)
- Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700, (2004)
- Plantagenet Ancestry, (2004)
- The Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants to the American Colonies, (2004)
- Magna Carta Ancestry, (2005)
The litany of Abell’s direct ancestors includes Charlemagne,[38] Alfred the Great, Malcolm of Scotland,
William the Conqueror,
Henry II of England
and Edward I of England.[39] As well as being descended from the
king who signed Magna Carta, John of England (1166-1216), Abell is also
descended from 12 of the 25 “surety
barons” whose charge it was to enforce the terms of this seminal
social contract, i.e., William d'Albini,
Roger Bigod,
Hugh Bigod,
Henry de
Bohun, Richard
de Clare, Gilbert
de Clare, John de
Lacie, William Malet,
William de Mowbray, Saire
de Quincey, Robert de Roos and Robert de
Vere.[40]
Because of his thoroughly documented royal pedigree, Robert Abell is considered a “gateway
ancestor” by a number of heritage
organizations, including the Winthrop Society, Order of the Crown of Charlemagne of the United States of
America, Order of Americans of Armorial Ancestry, and
the National Society Magna Charta Dames and Barons.
This means that any individual who can prove that they are directly descended
from Robert Abell has met one of the requirements for admittance into these
organizations.
Robert Abell was a direct ancestor of Grover Cleveland (1837-1938), 22nd and 24th
president of the United States.[41]
Notes
1.
^ Weis, Frederick Lewis and Walter Lee Shepard, Jr.;
William R. Beall and Kaleen E. Beall, eds. Ancestral Roots of Certain
American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700, p. 66
8.
^ Weis, Frederick Lewis and Walter Lee Shepard, Jr.;
William R. Beall and Kaleen E. Beall, eds. Ancestral Roots of Certain
American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700, p. 66
9.
^ Weis, Frederick Lewis and Walter Lee Shepard, Jr.;
William R. Beall and Kaleen E. Beall, eds. Ancestral Roots of Certain
American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700
39.
^ Weis, Frederick Lewis and Walter Lee Shepard, Jr.;
William R. Beall and Kaleen E. Beall, eds. Ancestral Roots of Certain
American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700
41.
^ Roberts, Gary Boyd. The Royal Descents of 600
Immigrants to the American Colonies or the United States Who Were Themselves
Notable or Left Descendants Notable in American History, p. 312
Bibliography
- Abell, Horace A. The Abell family in America: Robert Abell of Rehoboth, Mass., his English ancestry and his descendants, other Abell families and immigrants, Abell families in England. Rutland, VT: Tuttle Pub. Co., 1940.
- Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. Vol. 1-3. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995.
- Anderson, Virginia DeJohn. New England's Generation: The Great Migration and the Formation of Society and Culture in the Seventeenth Century. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK: 1991. ISBN: 052144764X
- Arnold, James N. Vital Record of Rehoboth, 1642-1896. Providence, RI: Narragansett Historical Publishing, 1897.
- Banks, Charles Edward. The Winthrop Fleet of 1630: An Account of the Vessels, the Voyage, the Passengers and their English Homes, from Original Authorities. 1930. ISBN: 0806300205
- Bliss, Leonard. The History of Rehoboth, Bristol County, Massachusetts: Comprising a History of the Present Towns of Rehoboth, Seekonk, and Pawtucket, from Their Settlement to the Present Time; Together with Sketches of Attleborough, Cumberland, and a Part of Swansey and Barrington, to the Time that They Were Severally Separated from the Original Town. Boston, MA: Otis, Broaders, & Co., 1836
- Boyer, Carl. Medieval English ancestors of Robert Abell: Who died in Rehoboth, Plymouth Colony, 20 June 1663: with English ancestral lines of other colonial Americans. C. Boyer, 2001.
- Cooke, William Henry. Students admitted to the Inner Temple, 1571-1625. London: F. Cartwright, 1868.
- Finley, R. Mainwaring. A Short History of the Mainwaring Family. London: Griffith, Farran, Okeden & Welsh, 1890.
- Fischer, David Hackett. Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1989. ISBN: 0195069056
- Rider, Fremont. American Genealogical-Biographical Index. Middletown, CT, USA: Godfrey Memorial Library.
- Luther, Leslie L. and George A. Luther. The Luther genealogy: a history of the descendants of Captain John Luther who arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1630-1635. Lakeland, FL: G.A. Luther, 2001.
- Mosley, Charles, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th Edition, 3 Volumes. Wilmington, DE: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003.
- Pope, Charles Henry. The Pioneers of Massachusetts: A Descriptive List, Drawn from Records of the Colonies, Towns, and Churches, and Other Contemporaneous Documents. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1998. Originally published in 1900. ISBN: 0806307749
- Richardson, Douglas, and Kimball G. Everingham, Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Pub. Co., 2005. ISBN: 0806317590
- Richardson, Douglas, Kimball G. Everingham, and David Faris. Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Pub. Co., 2004. ISBN: 0806317507
- Roberts, Gary Boyd. The Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants to the American Colonies or the United States Who Were Themselves Notable or Left Descendants Notable in American History. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2004. ISBN: 0806317450
- Roberts, Gary Boyd, Julie Helen Otto, and New England Historic Genealogical Society. Ancestors of American Presidents. 3rd Edition. Boston, MA: C. Boyer, 1989. ISBN: 0936124148
- Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. Vol. 1-4. Boston, MA: Little, Brown & Co., 1862.
- Thompson, Neil D. "Abell-Cotton-Mainwaring: Maternal Ancestry of Robert Abell of Weymouth and Rehoboth, Mass," The Genealogist, Vol 5, No 2 (Fall 1984): 158-71, 9 (1988): 89
- Weis, Frederick Lewis and Walter Lee Shepard, Jr.; William R. Beall and Kaleen E. Beall, eds. Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700: Lineages from Alfred the Great, Charlemagne, Malcolm of Scotland, Robert the Strong, and other Historical Individuals. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2004. ISBN: 0806313676
- Winthrop, John. Winthrop's Journal, "History of New England" 1630-1649. Vol. 1 & 2. New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1908.
External links
- Great Migration Study Project [2]
- Luther Family Association [3]
- Winthrop Society [4]
- Order of the Crown of Charlemagne in the United States of America [5]
- The National Society Magna Charta Dames and Barons [6]
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Abell"
Categories: 1605 births | 1663 deaths | American
colonial people | Massachusetts
colonial people | New England
Puritanism
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