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Abigail Alexander (1708 - abt. 1745)

Abigail Alexander
Born in Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay Colonymap
Ancestors ancestors
[spouse(s) unknown]
[children unknown]
Died about at about age 37 in Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay Colonymap [uncertain]
Problems/Questions Profile managers: Daphne Maddox private message [send private message] and Holly Pinkley private message [send private message]
Profile last modified | Created 27 Jun 2015
This page has been accessed 305 times.

Biography

Abigail Alexander was born on 4 September 1707 to Nathaniel and Abigail (Pomeroy) Alexander in Northampton, Massachusetts.[1]

On 20 July 1738, Abigail and her sisters Hannah and Martha, for £20 each, constituting their due from the estate of their father Nathaniel Alexander decd., quit claimed to Daniel all interest in the remainder of the estate, excepting their mother's thirds.[2]

An Abigail Alexander drowned in Northampton on 10 October 1745.[3] This may have been the proband, although no record to definitively prove she was the same has been located, thus her death date and death place are marked uncertain.

Research Notes

Some have asserted that around 1743, Abigail married Philip Alexander of Northfield, son of Joseph and Margaret (Mattoon) Alexander of Northampton and Deerfield, but no evidence has been produced to support this claim. Philip was about 4 years younger than Nathaniel and Abigail's daughter Abigail, and Abigail would have been bearing children between the ages of 36 and 47 if she were Philip's wife -- not a range unheard of, but not the norm, either. Most women who did have children in this period did so beginning in their twenties. Finally, Philip and Abigail of Northampton were first cousins, and while such marriages did occur, they were far from the norm.

For all of these reasons, but most especially the first one, i.e., because there is no evidence to support it, Abigail Alexander of Northampton has been set as a rejected match of Philip Alexander's wife, Abigail (Unknown) Alexander.

If evidence that Abigail married her cousin Philip emerges, then this determination can be reconsidered.

Sources

  1. "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (20 May 2022), Abigail Alexander; citing Christening, Massachusetts, United States, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston; FHL microfilm 004329300.
  2. Abigail, Hannah and Martha Alexander to Daniel Alexander, 20 July 1738. Hampden County (Massachusetts). Register of Deeds. "Land deeds, 1628-1867; grantee and grantor indexes, 1636-1869. Land deeds, N-O, 1742-1746." FamilySearch, film # 7,460,611, page O:590 / image 664.
  3. Northampton (Massachusetts). Town Clerk. "Vital records [Northhampton, Massachusetts] 1654-1872. Births, marriages, deaths 1654-1853." FamilySearch, film # 4,329,300, page 150 / image 89.




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Comments: 6

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Unknown-439077 and Alexander-6810 appear to represent the same person because: Clear duplicate.
posted by K. Bloom
I created the Abigail Unknown profile as the wife of Phillip Alexander and mother of Rhoda (Alexander) Harlow. She was unknown because there was no good evidence for her identity beyond her name. I cannot understand what has happened to this profile since then. K. Bloom, can you explain why she was merged with another profile with surname Alexander?

I'm tempted to just remove myself as manager, remove her relationship to Phillip Alexander and Rhoda (Alexander) Harlow, and then create a new Abigail Unknown to be his wife and her mother...

Thanks, Daphne

posted by Daphne Maddox
Hi, Daphne! I'm taking a look at the change history on this profile. It was a while ago, so I apologize if my reconstruction is incorrect.

I proposed a merge of Abigail Unknown into Abigail Alexander. Elizabeth Coltrane completed the merge, because:

  • The two profiles had the same spouse
  • If Abigail Unknown's father was Nathaniel Alexander, Abigail's LNAB would have been Alexander.
  • Abigail born 1708 in Massachusetts cannot be the same Abigail who married William Langdell 1717 (she would have been 9 years old)
  • Abigail born and living in Massachusetts was very unlikely to have had a child in England in 1725

Spouse William Langdell was removed from (merged) spouse Abigail Alexander, however son William Langdell was not removed from (merged) mother Abigail Alexander. I have disconnected son William Langdell from mother Abigail Alexander.

Please do not create a new profile for Abigail Unknown! Provide your sources so we can reassess the relationships involved and make corrections to the existing profiles. If necessary, we can change the LNAB for Abigail Alexander back to Abigail Unknown and remove her from parents Nathaniel Alexander and Abigail Pomeroy.

Thank you!

posted by K. Bloom
Hi K.,

Responding to your points:

You wrote, "Please do not create a new profile for Abigail Unknown!"

...yet I am of the firm belief that Abigail Alexander, daughter of Nathaniel and Sarah (Phillips) Alexander, was a real person, whose profile, Alexander-6810, needs to continue to represent her. That means we need another Abigail Unknown to represent Philip Alexander's wife.

You wrote, "Provide your sources so we can reassess the relationships involved and make corrections to the existing profiles."

The onus really isn't on me to provide my sources. I created a profile Abigail Unknown because her surname was not (and is not) known. The sources for her existence were quite clear -- she gave birth to a number of children with Philip Alexander in Northfield.

The onus is really on the those who attached Abigail Alexander, daughter of Nathaniel and Sarah (Philips) Alexander, to Phillip Alexander, and then merged her with Abigail Unknown. No sources to support these actions were provided. This is where the responsibility rested at the time these actions were taken, and it is where the responsibility lies today.

That said, in order to break this logjam, and in the interest of being thorough, I have searched deeds and probate records relating to these two Alexander families, and I've added some relevant information to the profiles of Joseph Alexander, Philips father, and to Philip Alexander, and to the profile that is currently conflating two women named Abigail. Nothing I've seen changes what I had originally documented about Abigail Unknown, save that I did discover a few more children she had with Philip, as well as a few of Philips siblings that had not been documented earlier.

I have explained in the Philip and Abigail profiles what the records reflect and what they don't reflect, and why, on top of the complete lack of evidence provided for conflating the two Abigails, the pairing is unlikely, anyway.

My proposal to create a new Abigail Unknown as Philips wife stands, and I would add, as the text I've added to the profiles documents, that she needs to be marked as a rejected match of Alexander-6810.

Do you still disagree?

Thanks, Daphne

posted by Daphne Maddox
Hi again, Daphne. As I said above, I looked at those profiles over 2 years ago so I am unable to provide a full reconstruction of the logic behind the proposed merge. Mistakes do happen!

Best regards, K

posted by K. Bloom
I have separated the profiles and marked them as rejected matches.

Regards, Daphne

posted by Daphne Maddox

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