Laurania (Bill) Ackley (1728 - abt. 1795)

Born 29 Aug 1728 in Lebanon, New London, Connecticut

Ancestors

Wife of Benajah Ackley — married 21 May 1747 in East Haddam Connecticut

Descendants

Died about 1795 at about age 66 in Whiting, Washington, Maine [uncertain]

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Sean Benjamin [send private message]

Biography

Lurania Bill was born in Lebanon, New London, Connecticut on August 29, 1728. She was the daughter of James Bill and Kezia (French) Bill^[1][2] She married Benajah Ackley in Lebanon on May 21, 1747.^[3] Benajah seems to have been granted lands in Nova Scotia. It's unclear, though, whether he died just before or just after the voyage. His widow Lurania received lands in Cornwallis, Kings, Nova Scotia in 1760-1761.^[4] She remarried Jonathan Woodruff^[5] and moved to Machias, Washington, Maine between 1766 and 1769. Jonathan Woodruff was on the original 1769 list of petitioners for the incorporation of Machias^[6] and later lived in the section of town which would become Machiasport. Jonathan appears in Machias in both the 1790 and 1800 censuses, but Lurania is said to have died about 1795 in Whiting, Washington, Maine. Her death has not yet been documented.

Sources

1. ↑ White, Lorraine Cook, ed. The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records. Vol. 1-55. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994-2002. Lebanon, p. 20.
2. ↑ Bill, Ledyard. History of the Bill Family. New York: 1867. p. 134.
3. ↑ Bailey, Frederic W. Early Connecticut Marriages as Found on Ancient Church Records Prior to 1800. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1997. Book 5: Lebanon, p. 43. Indexed and imaged at Ancestry.com
4. ↑ Eaton, Arthur Wentworth Hamilton. The History of Kings County, Nova Scotia. Salem, MA: 1910. p. 74 lists a "Lawrence" Ackley appears alongside several members of the Bill family in a list of Cornwallis grantees. Since this Lawrence appears nowhere else in the records, it's presumably a mis-identification of the widow Lurania.
5. ↑ Bill, p. 134. The reference is to a James Woodruff, but this is almost certainly an error.
6. ↑ Drisko, George Washington. Narrative of the Town of Machias. Machias, ME: 1904.