Abraham and Mercy
Abraham Kimball was the son of Benjamin and Mercy Hazeltine Kimball. He was born on 24 March 1678 in Bradford, MA. The ancestry of his wife, Mary Green, has not been determined. I thought at one point I had her figured out, but I am not sure. So, here is what I know and/or think I know about Abraham and Mary.
The Greening of Bradford
In about 1695, long time bachelor, Nathaniel Gage, aged about 50, of Bradford, finally married. His wife was Mary Green. In a deed signed 29 Dec 1699 Andrew Mitchell and his wife Abigail, of Charlestown, sold to Thomas and John Green, formerly of Malden, their land in Bradford. On 7 August 1700, Thomas Green married Hannah Hazeltine, daughter of Robert Hazeltine, Jr. of Bradford. John might have been already married at the time of their arrival, as there is no Bradford marriage recorded for him, but his wife's name was recorded as Rebecca on their land deeds. On 8 May 1700 Abraham Kimball of Bradford married a second woman named Mary Green. So, who were these people named Green and were they all related to each other.
The deed states that the two men John and Thomas were lately of Malden. When Thomas died his brother Ebeneezer Green was involved in the probate as was a Samuel Palmer, who was married to their sister Elizabeth Green. Ebenezer identified his father as Thomas Green of Malden. Now there were a couple of Green families living in Malden at that time. Of those families one in particular seems to be a match to the Greens that moved to Bradford.On 22 March 1676 a Thomas Green married Mary Weeks in Malden. They had five children: Thomas, John, Mary, Ebenezer and Elizabeth. Thomas Sr. died in Malden on 28 April 1694. This then would seem to be our Green family. There is one hiccup which I'll talk about later that might cause a problem for the Mary who married Abraham.
On 8 May 1700 Abraham Kimball and Mary Green got married. He was 22 and she was 17. Seven months later their first child, Mary, was born. Hum, was this a shotgun wedding? Two years later, Mary gave birth to a second child, a son they named Ephraim and in 1705 another girl was born and given the name Mehitabel.
Some four years before his marriage, Abraham's father, Benjamin Kimball, died a fairly wealthy man. Abraham inherited land and a part share in a sawmill from his father the total value of which was around 43 pounds. In August 1706 John Green sold Abraham land in Bradford at at cost of 6 pounds. And, in February 1707 his younger brother Samuel, sold him his land and share in the sawmill that he had inherited from their father.
So far so good, Abraham is able to buy more land and his family is growing. But Abraham's story doesn't end well.
Life Goes On
Abraham died age 30 on 25 Feb 1707/08. Abraham's estate was inventoried in June 1708 and valued at over 300 pounds. He had cows, pigs, sheep, horses, and a yoke of oxen. He had also bought land in Haverhill. His widow, Mary, was only entitled to a third of the estate, commonly called the Widow's third. The other two thirds would be divided between her children. Even the house was divided, Mary could live in the bottom rooms of the house. She could use the east end of the barn. Of course her children were very young at the time, they would not get their inheritance until they came of age. Abraham's brother Samuel was appointed guardian of her son Ephraim, the girls were not given a separate guardian.
Mary was still a young woman when her husband died, only about 24. She did as most young widows, remarried within a year of her husbands death. Her second husband was 23 year old James Tiler (Tyler), they married in Bradford on 19 Jan 1708/09. Their first child was born 11 months later; a girl named Dorothy. The next child, at least the next living child, was not born until 1712. The baby was a boy and he was named Abraham in honor of Abraham Kimball, which was a common naming pattern. The first child of a second marriage was frequently named for the deceased partner of the husband or wife.
Maine
According to the Tyler Genealogy, James Tyler began buying and selling land in Maine by 1716. He must have been travelling between Bradford and Maine for some years. He first had land in Cape Porpoise which is near Kennebunkport. Today it is only about 60 miles by road, but he probably traveled by boat up the coast. In a 1721 deed he styled himself as James Tyler of Bradford, alias Arundel.
The to and froing from Bradford to Maine might explain why Mary did not give birth again until 10 September 1721. She and James had another daughter who they named Abigail. Three months later, on 17 December 1721, Mary died. She was 38 years old.
James, left with three small children, one of whom was a three month old infant, did what most men did; found himself a new wife. He married Phoebe Royall by 1724. He also permanently removed to Maine. Phoebe had only one child, a son named Royall Tyler. In his will written in 1748, James divided his estate leaving some land to his oldest son Abraham and to his well beloved son Royall. James explains in his will that he is not giving Abraham a larger share because he "hath proved to be a very undutiful son to me".
It is clear by his will that Mary's daughter Dorothy Tyler Leavitt was dead by 1748. He left a bequeath of land for her children. Abigail was alive and married and she received land as well.
Mary, Ephraim and Mehitable
Mary's Kimball children lost not only their mother in 1721 but also soon said goodbye to their step-father and their half sibling who moved off to Maine. I wonder if these two sets of children every saw or heard from each other again. In 1721 Mary was 21, Ephraim was 19 and Mehitable 16. But Mary's childen had grown up fast. Mary Kimball, her eldest daughter, married at the young age of 17. Her husband was Edmund Chadwick of Bradford. Mehitable, her sister, married at age 16 to Obadiah Perry of Bradford.
Back to the Greens
So, back to the Green family. Mary Green Gage gave birth to two more children. They were Mary and Nathaniel. This is my sticking point on whether or not Mary Weeks Green Gage, and finally Jewett, was the mother of Mary Green Kimball. Would she have named two daughters Mary? They were separated by about 15 years and two last names. It is possible that Nathaniel Gage wanted his daughter named Mary. If she wasn't the daughter of Mary Weeks Green then who was she? There were no other Green families in Bradford and the closest ones were in Salem, about 24 miles away. How would 22 year old Abraham meet and court a girl so far away. All the other Green children moved to Bradford and this explanation works best for me, but this is just an opinion.
UPDATE TO THIS POST:
The Middlesex probate records reveal that Mary Green Gage was the wife of Thomas Green of Malden and that they had a daughter named Mary. She was alive and living in Bradford in 1699 and I am positive that she married Abraham Kimball.
Richard Kimball and Ursula Scott
Benjamin Kimball - Mercy Hazeltine
Abraham Kimball - Mary Green
Mary Kimball - Edmund Chadwick
James Chadwick - Mary Thurston
Hannah Chadwick - Jonathan Blanchard
James Blanchard - Phebe Carter
Chloe Blanchard - Samuel Thornton
John C. Thornton - Jennie Clover Rowell
sources:
Brigham, William Irving Tyler, "The Tyler Genealogy: The Descendants of Job Tyler of Andover, Mass, 1619-1700", Vol 1, 1912
Kingsbury, John Dennison, "A Memorial History of Bradford", Haverhill, 1883
1 comment:
Good work. I agree.
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