Bottom line up front: I'm wondering if others of you have seen situations in 18th century colonial New England of a widow marrying a much younger single man.
The situation: Experience Bates was born in 1736 in Weymouth, Massachusetts. She married her first husband in 1754, when she was 18. Her husband died, and in 1773 (about age 37) she married Abijah Beal of Abington, Massachusetts. The births of daughters to Abijah and Experience Beal were recorded in Weymouth in 1774 and 1776.
What gets interesting is that there were two men named Abijah Beal in Abington in 1773, a father and son. Abijah Sr. (Beal-842) was 6 years older than Experience. He had married in 1749. There's no record of his wife after about 1766, so it's possible that he was a widower in 1773.
Abijah Jr. (no profile yet) was born in 1749, making him just 24 years old in 1773 -- 13 years younger than Experience. He appears to have been single in 1773 (no records of previous marriages).
Reasoning purely from the ages, I would assume that Experience married Abijah Sr. I've observed that my New England ancestors tended to marry people who were similar in age -- and widows usually married widowers. A 6-year age difference would not be uncommon. On the other hand, it seems very unusual for a 24-year-old man to marry a 37-year-old widow.
In spite of the age difference, most genealogists have inferred that Experience married Abijah Jr. -- and (for multiple reasons) I think this probably is correct. [An additional source of astonishment for modern observers: 4 years after Experience married Abijah, her daughter married the younger brother of Abijah Jr.]
My question: Have others of you seen similar situaitions (a widow marrying a much younger single man) in that time and place?
