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Sunday, January 26, 2014

SATURDAY NIGHT GENEALOGY FUN: SIX GENERATIONS OF ABBOTTS OF ANDOVER, MA.

 It's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun Night over on Randy Seaver's Genea-Musings blog! It's been awhile since the last time I took part, and I almost didn't this time, either. First, let's look at what this week's genea-challenge before I explain why I nearly took a pass on it:
1)  Which family surname line (of identified ancestors) of yours stayed the longest in one U.S. state or other country province/shire since, say, 1600?  For example, in the USA, my Seaver line was in Massachusetts from 1634 to 1940.  For England, my Vaux line was in Somerset from the late 1500s to 1840.  For Canada, my Kemp line was there from 1785 to 1902.

*  List the generations for one or two of your long-staying-in-one-locality surname lines.  (Yes, I know that some countries used patronymics - follow the father's line back in time).

*  Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Google+ or Facebook post.


Seems pretty straightforward, but I wasn't sure I'd do it. You see, my Mom's ancestors
are from Scotland, Ireland and Germany and I don't have much information on where
they lived in those countries. On Dad's side, while my ancestors have lived in America
from the earliest colonial period,  many of them moved in the late 1700s from Massachusetts to Maine and New Hampshire.  I wasn't sure how many generations
stayed in one place for very long. Then I checked my RootsMagic base, and while my ancestors didn't stay in Massachusetts as long as Randy's, they did do something else: several of my ancestral lines stayed in the same town for five or six generations.

Here's one line, the Abbotts of Andover, Ma.:

1. George Abbott settled in Andover Ma in the mid 1600's
2.  Benjamin Abbott (1662-1703) Andover, Ma.
3. Jonathan Abbott (1687-1770) Andover Ma
4. Jonathan Abbott (1714 1794) Andover, Ma
5  Jonathan Abbott (1740-1821) Andover, Ma.
6. Zerviah Abbott, born in Andover, Ma. in 1768, then married John Ellingwood in 1789 and moved to Maine.
So six generations of Abbotts lived in Andover for  around 130 years!

 

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Also spending Saturday night on the computer - and I think you have written about one of my recognizable ancestors before. George Abbott is my 9th great grandfather. Our lines veer quickly as his daughter Mary is my 8th Great grandmother, Benjamin's sister. I think. I am one of the worst genealogists in the world. But I still think it's cool when I find a connection.