Abigail (Towne) Perley (1664 - 1712)

Born 6 Aug 1664 in Topsfield, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Ancestors

Wife of Jacob Peabody I — married 12 Jan 1686 (to 24 Nov 1689) in Topsfield, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Wife of Thomas Perley — married 14 Jan 1696 (to 14 Feb 1712) in Topsfield, Essex, Province of Massachusetts Bay

Descendants

Died 14 Feb 1712 at age 47 in Boxford, Essex, Province of Massachusetts Bay

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Biography

Abigail Towne, daughter of Edmund and Mary (Browning) Towne,^[1] was born 6 Aug 1664 at Topsfield, Massachusetts.^[2]

Abigail married Jacob, son of Francis Peabody, at Topsfield 12 Jan 1686/7.^[3]

They had three children, all born at Topsfield:^[1]

Kezia, born 1687, m. 28 June 1704 Joseph Kenney of Preston, Connecticut

Mercy, born 1687 or 1688, m. 29 June 1709 Richard Dresser of Woodstock

Jacob, born 9 Nov 1689

Between the death of her first husband in 1689, and marriage to her second husband in 1696, Abigail and her family went through a time of terror, when two of her aunts, Rebecca (Towne) Nurse who lived in nearby Salem, and Mary (Towne) Esty of Topsfield, were accused of witchcraft and found guilty and hanged after lengthy trials, in July and September of 1692. Another of her aunts, Sarah (Towne) (Bridges) Cloyes, was also persecuted and imprisoned, but eventually released.

Jacob Peabody was born at Topsfield 28 July 1664^[3] and resided there until his death 24 Nov 1689.^[1]

After the death of her first husband, Jacob Peabody, Abigail married 14 Jan 1696 Thomas Perley, son of John and Mary (Howlett) Perley.^[1] Her 2nd husband is the son of John Perley, who is the brother of Thomas Perley who married Abigail's 1st husband's sister Lydia Peabody, as her second husband. So Abigail's husband Thomas Perley is the nephew of another Thomas Perley who married her sister-in-law.

Although the record for the marriage of Abigail and Thomas Perley is in Topsfield, her 'home town', her husband was born and raised in nearby Boxfield, and this is where they lived. Her grave is found, in the "Ancient Cemetery" at Boxfield, with many other graves of the Perley family, including that of Thomas who died after Abigail. Abigail died on 14 Feb 1711/2, in Boxford, Province of Massachusetts Bay.^[4][5]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Peabody (Paybody. Pabody, Pabodie) genealogy, by Selim Hobart Peabody (1909), page 21
2. ↑ Notes and Memoranda Relating to Persons of the Name of Towne, by William B. Towne (1867), NEHGR Vol 21, page 16
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Great Migration 1634-1635, M-P, page 408xii
4. ↑ Massachusetts Vital Records Project, Boxford - Deaths, p. 258: "-gill, w. Lt. Thomas:" http://ma-vitalrecords.org/MA/Essex/Boxford/Images/Boxford_D258.shtml (accessed 30 Jun 2017)
5. ↑ Lois Payne Hoover,Towne Family (2010), p. 164.

See also:

• The Towne Family, William Towne and Joanna Blessing, Salem Massachusetts, 1635, Five Generations of Descendants, by Lois Payne Hoover, (2010, 3rd printing 2015), Towne Family Association by Otter Bay Books, Baltimore, Maryland, Page 104, 108, Abigail Towne.

This Towne book was commissioned by the Towne Family Association. Towne Family won the 2011 Grand Prize from the Connecticut Society of Genealogists, and in the same year received the 2011 Award of Excellence for a Genealogy and Family History from the National Genealogical Society.

• Great Migration 1634-1635, M-P. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2010.) Originally published as: The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume V, M-P, by Robert Charles Anderson. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2007. Page 408xii Jacob Peabody, son of Francis and Mary (Foster) (Wood) Peabody, married Abigail Towne 12 Jan 1686/7 at Topsfield.

• The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2013.) Notes and Memoranda Relating to Persons of the Name of Towne, by William B. Towne, NEHGR Vol. 21 (1867), page 16

• Peabody (Paybody. Pabody, Pabodie) genealogy, database online, Internet Archive, extracted from Peabody, Selim Hobart, book of the same name, (Boston, Mass., Charles H. Pope, 1909), page 21

• Source: #S155 Ancestry Family Trees