Abigail (Baillou) Dunham (abt. 1600 - aft. 1669)

Born about 1600 in England

Wife of John Dunham Sr. — married 22 Oct 1622 (to about 2 Mar 1669) in Leiden, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands

Descendants

Died after 16 Mar 1669 after about age 69 in Plymouth, Massachusetts Colony

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Abigail (Baillou) Dunham migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

Abigail Balliou was born in England, possibly in Hertfordshire,^[Origin] likely around 1600 (she was married in 1622, and her youngest child was born about 1639). She was the daughter of Thomas Balliou.

At some point they moved to Leiden, Netherlands. She was enumerated with her father and two siblings (Anneken and "Hatil") in the Wolhuis district in Leiden on 15 October 1622.^[1]

Abigail Balliou was married to John Dunham before court on 22 August 1622 in Leiden. Her father and her sister Anna were witnesses.^[2] Eight children were born to the marriage, some in Leiden and some after the move to Plymouth Colony about 1629. She was also a witness (as "Abigel Donhem") at her sister Anneken's marriage to Nathannel Walker in June 1624.^[3]

Abigail and John had left for North America by 20 December 1629, when it was stated that Abigail "is nae de Virgines".^[4] They may have gone immediately to Plymouth, however the earliest record of them there was in 1633.

Abigail was named the sole executrix in John's will, dated 25 January 1668/9, and she swore to the inventory taken of his estate on 16 March 1669.^[5]

Children

Abigail married John Danham in Leiden, Holland on 22 October 1622.^[2] They had:^[6]

1. Samuel was born about 1623 in Leiden. He married Martha (Beals) Falloway in Plymouth on 29 June 1649, as her second husband and had four children. He died in Plymouth on 20 January 1711/12.
   
2. Jonathan was born about 1625 in Leiden. He married (1) Mary Delano in Plymouth on November 29, 1655, but had no children. She died before 15 October 1657. He married (2) Mary Cobb and had six children. He died in Edgartown on 18 December 1717.
   
3. Abigail was born about 1627 in Leiden. She married Stephen Wood/Atwood in Plymouth on 6 November 1644, and had two children.
   
4. Joseph was born about 1631 in Plymouth Colony. He married (1) Mercy Morton in Plymouth on 18 November 1657. She died in Plymouth on 19 February 1666. He married (2) Esther Wormall in Plymouth on 20 August 20 1669. He had seven children by these two wives.
   
5. Hannah was born about 1634 in Plymouth Colony. She married Giles Rickard in Plymouth on 31 October 1651, and had ten children. She died on 1 April 1708.
   
6. Persis was born about 1635 in Plymouth Colony. She married (1) Benajah Pratt in Plymouth on 29 November 1655, and had eleven children. He died in Plymouth on 17 March 1682/3. She married (2) Jonathan Shaw in Plymouth in August 1683. He died before 30 July 1701.
   
7. Benajah was born about 1637 in Plymouth Colony. He married Elizabeth Tilson in Plymouth on 25 October 1660, and had seven children. He died in Piscataway, New Jersey, before 12 August 1680. She married (2) Jonas Wood before January 1684/5.
   
8. Daniel was born about 1639 in Plymouth Colony. He married Hannah ____ by 1670.

Research Notes

A large amount of incorrect information about Abigail's origin and last name has propagated both in published genealogies and on the internet.

Last Name

Previous Publications / Genealogical History

In Dexter's "The England and Holland of the Pilgrims" (1905), Abigail's maiden name is stated to be "Barlow" and "Balliou" is not mentioned at all, though the date and place of their marriage is. No primary source is mentioned, though evidently the author had seen both Abigail's marriage record and John Dunham's 1622 enumeration.^[7]

Dunham's "Dunham Genealogy" (1907) contains "several serious errors and some statements that are absolutely impossible",^[8] however it's worth mentioning if only to dismiss its information. He calls John Dunham's wife "Abigail Wood", and makes the false statement that they were married on 17 October 1619 in Leiden.^[9]

In part 5 of Monnette's "First settlers of ye plantations of Piscataway and Woodbridge, olde East New Jersey" (1933), he notes that "her name was not ABIGAIL BARLOW, any more than it was ABIGAIL WOOD; but it was BAILLIOU". He further states:^[10]

The repeated error of BARLOW for BALLIOU must be corrected forever, DEXTER (HOLLAND, and the PILGRIMS, p. 612), tried very hard to Anglicize French names in his excellent work, without even a fundamental knowledge of French of French surnames. By no stretch of the imagination could BAILLOU be transferred to BARLOW.

Anderson's "The Great Migration Begins", cites Bangs^[11] and uses the name Barlow.^[12]

Primary Sources

There are numerous spellings of Abigail's maiden name found in different publications. As "Billiou", "Balliou", "Barlow", and others. Her maiden name is only written in two primary sources. Her marriage as "Balliou":^[2]

Jan Danham uijt engelant weduwnaer van Susanna Keno, geassisteert met Thomas Ballou sijn toe[c]omen[de] schoonvader met Abigail balliou Jonged:[ochter] mede uijt engelant geassisteert met Anna Balliou haer suster

And when she was enumerated in 1622 as "Bailje".^[1]

Noticeably her marriage record spells her father's name as "Ballou", and her and her sister's as "Balliou" - the name often varied in sources. Her sister Anneken's marriage had it recorded as "Bailliuw".^[3]

Origin

It's often claimed without source that Abigail's family were French Huguenots. The only verifiable information on her family however gives its origins as England.

Her mother's name as "Aime" or "Anne Aime" may have started in the "Workman Family History" (which uses Aime), and "Anne" may have been from a misreading of Abigail's marriage record.

French?

The earliest reference which I can find for a French origin for Abigail's family was in "Workman Family History" (1962), which asserts without argument that Abigail Balliou and Pierre/Peter Billiou were siblings. The author also asserts that Abigail's mother was named Aime and that her father Thomas was "of LaBassee, or Wicres, in 'French Flanders'".^[13]

The author presumably conflated them as siblings because of their similar surname, that they were both in Leiden, and that both went to North America (though Pierre went to New Netherland in 1661).

Pierre was a French Huguenot. He was married at the Walloon church in Leiden, and at that time his birth location was given as Rijsel (now Lille, France).^[14] Wicres is about 15km southwest of Lille, and La Bassée 5km southwest of Wicres. Wicres is the alleged birth place of Pierre's father-in-law Chrétien du Bois. It's possible that this information was somehow distorted and applied to Thomas Balliou as well.

Abigail and her sister's marriage were both civil ceremonies. Abigail's known family does not appear in the Walloon church records.

There is no information that I can find to support the idea that Abigail and Pierre were related. There were in fact other families with names similiar to "Baillou" (and its many variations) in Leiden during this time. An Erfgoed Leiden search for "ba*l*u" as a surname comes up with 232 hits between 1590 and 1690. And other variants exist, ending with "w" or "e", or starting instead with "Bi" for instance.

English

Abigail's marriage record in 1622 clearly states that she (as well as John Dunham) was from England.^[2] Abigail was a witness when her sister Anneken got married in 1624, and it too stated that Anneken was from England.^[3] Their father Thomas was a witness to both marriages.

In 1629 a Thomas Bailiu was arrested in Amsterdam, and gave testimony over a few weeks. An interrogation with genealogically important information occured on 20 December 1629. He was stated to be "Tomas Bailliu van Herforschier vuint Engelandt", and when asked if he had any sisters, replied that he had three:^[4]

"Seijt dat de [ ] Anneken getrouwt is met eene Nathaniel Waecker... wonen opden [eijy] tot Leijden..."

"Seijt dat Abigael is nae de Virgines en dat meijnego de jongste zijnde, is bij haer vader.

Nathaniel "Waecker" instead of Nathaniel "Walker" may have just been a spelling variant.

The phrase "nae de Virgines" was used to refer to someone who had gone to New Netherland,^[15] though may have just been a way to say "gone to the New World".

"Meijnego" was the youngest sister - still living with her father in 1629 - and was presumably the "hatil" enumerated in 1622. It may have been a pet form of "Mary", as a "Marij Beljou", born in Leiden and daughter of a Thomas Beljou, was married in 1639 to "Steven Fastaer", an Englishman.^[16] A Thomas and Marij "Billjou" were sponsors at the baptism of Nathaneel, Philp, and Elisabet, the children of "Nathaneel Wacker" and "Annekge Walcher" at Leiderdorp in 1636. No other record of either the "Wackers" or "Billjou" families are at Leiderdorp. This record is faint, and the surnames are a little difficult to read.^[17]

In 1631 "Thomas Baillu van Herforcier in Engeland" was arrested and gave his age as 26. He was presumably the same man.^[18] He would have been about 17 in 1622, and presumably not at his father's residence at that time.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} "[Leiden] Hoofdgeld van 1622", Wolhuis fol. 27v. Archiefnummer 0501A, I.B.2.7.1.5.2, inventarisnummer 4021, Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken. Digital images. https://www.erfgoedleiden.nl/collecties/archieven/archievenoverzicht/scans/NL-LdnRAL-0501A/1.2.2.7.1.5.2.1.1/start/50/limit/10/highlight/6 (accessed 14 April 2023).
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Erfgoed Leiden: "Ondertrouwboek en trouwboek voor schepenen van Leiden, juli 1611 - april 1633", fol. 137v. Archiefnummer 1004, inventarisnummer 198, blad B, Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken. Digital images. https://www.erfgoedleiden.nl/collecties/archieven/archievenoverzicht/scans/NL-LdnRAL-1004/1.3.1.1.2/start/130/limit/10/highlight/10 (accessed 14 April 2023).
   Erfgoed Leiden Index: Schepenbank Leiden, marriage record, Jan Danham and Abigail Balliou (22 October 1622); “Zoek op personen,” index and images, Erfgoed Leiden (https://www.erfgoedleiden.nl/ : accessed 26 July 2019).
   FamilySearch: Netherlands, Zuid-Holland Province, Church Records, 1076-1916," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-31135-20455-60?cc=2037907 : accessed 21 March 2016), Alle Gezindten > Leiden > Trouwen 1592-1646 > image 317 of 704; Rijksarchiefdienst Nederlands, Zuid-Holland (Netherlands National Archives, Zuid-Holland).
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Erfgoed Leiden: "Ondertrouwboek en trouwboek voor schepenen van Leiden, juli 1611 - april 1633", fol. 160. Archiefnummer 1004, inventarisnummer 198, blad B, Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken. Digital images. https://www.erfgoedleiden.nl/collecties/archieven/archievenoverzicht/scans/NL-LdnRAL-1004/1.3.1.1.2/start/160/limit/10/highlight/2 (accessed 14 April 2023). (index).
   Erfgoed Leiden Index: Schepenbank Leiden, marriage record, Nathanael Walker and Anneken Bailliuw (15 June 1624); “Zoek op personen,” index and images, Erfgoed Leiden (https://www.erfgoedleiden.nl/ : accessed 26 July 2019).
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} "[Amsterdam] Confessieboek 1628-1631", fols. 133, 133v. Archiefnummer 5061, inventarisnummer 298, Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief. Digital images. https://archief.amsterdam/inventarissen/scans/5061/1.17.30/start/130/limit/10/highlight/6 (accessed 14 April 2023).
5. ↑ Plymouth Colony Records. "Wills", vol. 2, pp. 53v, 54, the will of John Dunham. [Massachusetts] State Archives, Boston. Digital images of microfilm. FamilySearch, DGS film 007051111, image 261. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-897D-V35X?i=260&cc=2018320 (accessed 14 April 2023).
6. ↑ Anderson, Robert Charles , "Pilgrim Village Families Sketch: John Dunham," AmericanAncestors.org (NEHGS), archived on Wayback Machine, 25 Nov 2014; link to Pilgram Families.
7. ↑ Dexter, Henry M. The England and Holland of the Pilgrims, (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1905), p. 612.
8. ↑ Barclay, Mrs. John E., Notes on The Dunham Family of Plymouth, Mass., The American Genealogist (1954) Vol. 30, p. 143.
9. ↑ Dunham, Isaac Watson. Deacon John Dunham of Plymouth, Massachusetts, 1589-1669, and His Descendants (Norwich, Conn.: Bulletin Print, 1907), p. 5.
10. ↑ Monnette, Orra Eugene First settlers of ye plantations of Piscataway and Woodbridge, olde East New Jersey, Part Five (Los Angeles, California: The Leroy Carman Press, 1933), p. 788-789, entries for BAILLOU and BARLOW.
11. ↑ The Pilgrims in The Netherlands, Recent Research, Papers Presented at a Symposium held by The Leiden Pilgrim Documents Center and The Sir Thomas Browne Institute, ed. Jeremy D. Bangs (Leiden, The Netherlands, 1984).
12. ↑ Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England Volume I, A-F. (Boston: NEHGS, 1995): p. 599 - 603 "John Dunham".
13. ↑ Anderson, Thelma C., Workman Family History (Salt Lake City, Utah: 1962), pp. 42-43.
14. ↑ "Kerkelijk ondertrouwboek (NH) van Leiden, juli 1647 - juni 1653.", fol. 97v. Archiefnummer 1004, inventarisnummer 14, blad B, Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken. Digital images. https://www.erfgoedleiden.nl/collecties/archieven/archievenoverzicht/scans/NL-LdnRAL-1004/1.1.1.14/start/90/limit/10/highlight/10 (accessed 14 April 2023). (index).
15. ↑ A. Eekhof, Bastiaen Jansz. Krol : krankenbezoeker, kommies en kommandeur van Nieuw-Nederland (1595-1645) ('s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1910), p. 21.
16. ↑ "Ondertrouwboek en trouwboek voor schepenen van Leiden, juli 1633 - juli 1646", fol. 109. Archiefnummer 1004, inventarisnummer 199, blad C, Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken. Digital images. https://www.erfgoedleiden.nl/collecties/archieven/archievenoverzicht/scans/NL-LdnRAL-1004/1.3.1.1.3/start/110/limit/10/highlight/6 (accessed 14 April 2023).
17. ↑ "Register van dopen (doopboek), trouwen (trouwboek) en lidmaten (NH) van Leiderdorp, 1619 - 1641", fol. 100v. Archiefnummer 0800, inventarisnummer 1473, Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken. Digital images. https://www.erfgoedleiden.nl/collecties/archieven/archievenoverzicht/scans/NL-LdnRAL-0800/3.1.11.1.1.1.1/start/50/limit/10/highlight/2 (accessed 14 April 2023).
18. ↑ "[Amsterdam] Confessieboek 1628-1631", fols. 257v, 258. Archiefnummer 5061, inventarisnummer 298, Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief. Digital images. https://www.erfgoedleiden.nl/collecties/archieven/archievenoverzicht/scans/NL-LdnRAL-1004/1.3.1.1.3/start/110/limit/10/highlight/6 (accessed 14 April 2023).

See also:

• New England marriages prior to 1700
• A branch of the Caldwell family tree: being a record of Thompson Baxter Caldwell and his wife, Mary Ann (Ames) Caldwell, of West Bridgewater, Massachusetts, their ancestors and descendants by Charles T. Caldwell, Washington, D.C.: The Olympia, 1906
• Nelson C Dunham, Jr., database, DEACON "JOHN DUNHAM" ANCESTRAL HISTORY (Online: Freepages at Rootsweb.com, 2003), <http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~teeterkinmy/deacon.htm>, 29 April 2017. Text: "11~*DEACON JOHN DUNHAM b 1589 in Scrooby; went to Leydon Holland with the Pilgrim Dissenters 1608; m firstly Susanna Kenney and had 4 children; md secondly 1622 Abigail Balliou in Leydon; went to Plymouth Massachusetts in 1629; died in Plymouth 1668. The Deacon had 12 children total."
• Godfrey Memorial Library, compiler, American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI) Middletown, CT, USA. Online Publication: Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 1999.
• Filby, P. William, ed. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s. Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2010. Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2010.