Born about in Combermere, Cheshire, England
Ancestors 
Daughter of Richard Cotton
and Mary (Mainwaring) Cotton
Sister of
George Cotton, Arthur Cotton [half], Mary (Cotton) Bulkeley, Andrew Cotton [half], Dorothy Cotton and Elizabeth Cotton
Wife of
George Abell
— married
May 1599 in Wrenbury, Cheshire, England
Descendants 
Died before
before about age 73
in Leicestershire, England
Profile last modified
| Created 14 Apr 2010
This page has been accessed 6,796 times.
| Magna Carta Surety Baron Descendant (see text). Join: Magna Carta Project Discuss: magna_carta |
Contents |
Biography
Frances Cotton was the daughter of Richard Cotton, Esq., of Combermere, Cheshire, England, by his 1st wife, Mary (Mainwaring) (daughter of Sir Arthur Mainwaring of Ightfield by his wife Margaret (Mainwaring) of Over Peover). She was born in about 1573.[1][2]
On 1 May 1599, at Wrenbury, Cheshire, Frances married George Abell of Hemington, Leicestershire.[1][2][3] That George's wife had the last name Cotton is confirmed by his will which refers to several of her siblings as his brothers, meaning brothers-in-law: it also gives her first name.[4] They had 3 sons and 1 daughter:
- George,[1][2][3] named as oldest son in his father's will[4]
- Robert,[1][2][3] named as second son in his father's will[4]
- Richard,[1][2][3] named as third son in his father's will[4]
- Mary,[1][2][3] named in her father's will[4]
Frances survived her husband, who was buried 13 September 1630 at Lockington, Leicestershire, but she probably died before 16 April 1646.[1][2][3]
Research Notes
Mother
The Abell Family in America (1940) states that Frances was her father's daughter by his second marriage, to Jane Seyliard, but gives no source to support this.[5]
Both Carl Boyer's Medieval English Ancestors of Robert Abell (2001)[3] and Douglas Richardson[2] state that Frances was born in about 1573: this was several years before Richard's second marriage took place. Boyer adds that "The will of Jane (Seyliard) Cotton's mother provides conclusive evidence, through its careful list of heirs, that Jane had only one daughter, Jane." Both Boyer and Richardson cite a 1984 article, Ancestry of Frances (Cotton) Abell, in 'The Genealogist' (journal of the Association for the Promotion of Scholarship in Genealogy, New York City), issue 5 (pp. 158-171).
Doubtful Daughter
Marlyn Lewis's website,[6] which is not a reliable source, adds an unsourced daughter for Frances: Joanne, wife of John Post, mother of Thomas Post who died in 1691 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. No sources are given for her, her alleged husband, or their alleged son, Thomas, although backtracking to Thomas's wife leads to Lewis's sourced entry for Obadiah Bruen, father of Rebecca who married Thomas Post. Richardson's Royal Ancestry lists a daughter of Obadiah called Rebecca as wife of Thomas Post, but does not have additional information on them. Thomas Post who married Rebecca Bruen has a profile [[1]], which shows him as son of Stephen Post and Elinor Panton and as dying in 1701.
Frances's father Richard Cotton had a daughter named Jane by his 2nd wife, Jane Seyliard, who "was living 22 Sept. 1593, but she died before 20 Feb. 1603/4."[7]
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Douglas Richardson. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham, 2nd edition (Salt Lake City: the author, 2011), Vol. I, p. 2, ABELL 12, Google Books
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham (Salt Lake City: the author, 2013), Vol. I, p. 107, ABELL 12
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Carl Boyer, 3rd. The Medieval English Ancestors of Robert Abell, pub. the author, 2001, pp. 1-2, Familysearch and 71-72, Familysearch
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 The National Archives, ref. PROB 11/159/158, Will of Georg Abell, Gentleman of Hemington, Leicestershire, Discovery Centre catalogue entry
- ↑ Horace A Abell & Lewis P Abell. The Abell Family in America, Turtle Publishing, 1940, p. 36, Ancestry.co.uk
- ↑ "Our Royal, Titled, Noble, and Commoner Ancestors and Cousins" (website, compiled by Mr. Marlyn Lewis, Portland, OR; accessed September 2, 2017), see family for Frances Cotton.
- ↑ Douglas Richardson. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham, 2nd edition (Salt Lake City: the author, 2011), Vol. I, p. 1, ABELL 11, Google Books
Acknowledgements
Magna Carta Project
- This profile was re-reviewed for the Magna Carta Project by Michael Cayley on 29 June 2022.
- Frances (Cotton) Abell is in a Richardson-documented trail from Gateway Ancestor Robert Abell to Magna Carta Surety Baron Saher de Quincy (Magna Carta Ancestry, vol. I, pages 1-2 ABELL). This trail was developed for the Magna Carta Project by Jayme Arrington and reviewed/approved/badged in September 2017 by Liz Shifflett. See the Magna Carta Trails below to view the profiles on this trail.
- See Base Camp for more information about identified Magna Carta trails and their status. See the project's glossary for project-specific terms, such as a "badged trail".
Magna Carta Trails
- Badged Richardson documented trail to Saher de Quincy (MCA I:1-2 ABELL):
- Gateway Ancestor Robert Abell (badged/R&A 27 June 2022)
- 1. Robert is the son of Frances Cotton (badged/R&A 29 Jun 2022)
- 2. Frances is the daughter of Richard Cotton (badged/100% 5-star)
- 3. Richard is the son of George Cotton (badged/re-review 3 July 2022)
- 4. George is the son of Cecily Mainwaring (badged/100% 5-star)
- 5. Cecily is the daughter of Jane Sutton (badged/100% 5-star)
- 6. Jane is the daughter of Elizabeth Berkeley (badged/100% 5-star)
- 7. Elizabeth is the daughter of John Berkeley (badged/100% 5-star)
- 8. John is the son of Thomas de Berkeley (badged/100% 5-star)
- 9. Thomas is the son of Maurice de Berkeley (badged/100% 5-star)
- 10. Maurice is the son of Joan de Ferrers (badged/100% 5-star)
- 11. Joan is the daughter of Margery de Quincy (badged/100% 5-star)
- 12. Margery is the daughter of Roger de Quincy (badged/100% 5-star)
- 13. Roger is the son of Magna Carta Surety Saher de Quincy
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C > Cotton | A > Abell > Frances (Cotton) Abell
Categories: Quincy-226 Descendants | Magna Carta
Carl Boyer, in a more recent book (2001) on the Abell family, gives Frances a birth date of c.1573. “Medieval English Ancestors of Robert Abell", 2001, p. 72, viewable - free registration required - at Open Library, https://openlibrary.org/works/OL2775743W/Medieval_English_ancestors_of_Robert¹_Abell. If that is right, her father’s second wife cannot be her mother.
According to Douglas Richardson, Frances was born around 1573, and was the product of her father's first marriage.
Both Richardson and Boyer (in Boyer’s case on p. 164 and other pages) cite an article in The Genealogist, 5, 1984, pp. 158-171 entitled "Ancestry of Frances (Cotton) Abell". I do not think this is freely available on the web, but I may be wrong.
The Magna Carta Project does not regard Richardson as infallible but it needs good sourcing - if possible primary evidence - to come to a different conclusion from Richardson.
There is some discussion of her father's marriages and children on his profile.
edited by Michael Cayley
I will, though, add a research note to this profile.
edited by Michael Cayley