Conundrum - Abigail Rayment and Lot Conant

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Conundrums

John Rayment (abt.1622-1703)
Rachel (Scruggs) Rayment (bef.1627-1666)
Abigail Raymond (bef.1666-)

Lot Conant Jr (1656-1744)
Abigail (Unknown) Conant (1657-1698)

Conundrum

Working on the identity for the first wife of Lot^3 Conant (Lot^2, Roger^1) in the hope this might one day lead to proof of her birth and parentage.

Some family files call her Abigail Mansfield; this seems not supported by reliable sources.

A former version of Abigail (Unknown) Conant (1657-1698) called her Abigail Mansfield. This was not supported by reliable, Pre-1700 sources. Her Last Name At Birth (LNAB) was updated to Unknown.

While Abigail's former WikiTree profile was silent as to her parentage, a profile of about the same woman on Geni.com,[*] reports Abigail is the daughter of our Andrew Mansfield, the second husband of Elizabeth (Walton) Conant.

From WikiTree's Andrew Mansfield profile, his 1679 "will was quite long but identifies 6 living children [as .... ] Andrew and Daniel Mansfield, Hannah and Bethia Conant, Lydia and Deborah Mansfield." No such daughter Abigail is named.

Possibly Abigail Rayment.

(1) Davis (1934). Of the youngest daughter born to John and Rachel (Scruggs) Rayment, Walter Goodwin Davis wrote, "Abigail [Rayment ... was] probably the first wife of Cornet Lot Conant, who was called cousin (nephew) by her uncle, Capt. William Rayment in 1705." See Walter Goodwin Davis, The Ancestry of Bethia Harris ... (Portland, Me., The Southworth Press, 1934), 129-132 (Rayment), at 131; digital images, Hathi Trust.

Davis is referring to a passage in the 8 December 1705 will of William Rayment, emphasis added,

"... and I apoint my Louing friends and couzons Cornet Lot Conant & Nathaniel Rayment both of Beverly to see that my aforsd Estate be duely Distributed acording to this my will & ... Desire ... those my two friends Lott Connatt & Nathaniel Rayment to hear & determin all controversies that may herafter unhapily arise amongst any of those my leggatees here above mentioned in this my last will ..."

See Essex County probate, case 23286; digital images, FamilySearch, FHL Digital Collection, DGS 103635049 (Probate estate files, nos. 23281 to 23295 ..., 1638-1880), images 112-134 of 206. Will dated 8 December 1705 appears as images 121-125, passage above at 125.

(2) Onomastics. Among the five children born to Lot and his first wife, Abigail ____ are those named Samuel, Abigail and, in particular, Jonathan--all given names found in John Rayment's family or descendants. (Jonathan Rayment was Abigail Rayment's just younger brother.)

Research Notes

Rayment-Conant intermarriages. Lot and Elizabeth's family intermarried with the Rayment family.

Lot/Elizabeth's daughter Rebecca Conant, married Abigail's half-brother, Nathaniel Rayment, and two of their children (Elizabeth and Hannah Rayment/Raymond) intermarried with sons of Lot/Elizabeth's daughter Sarah (Conant) Trow (William and Richard Trow).^[1]

Lot/Elizabeth's son Roger Conant married Abigail's niece, Mary Rayment/Raymond, daughter of Thomas Rayment.

Ancestry of Abigail, Nathaniel and Thomas Rayment. They were all children of John^1 Rayment. John did not leave a will, and no record of his estate administration is known to exist. Other evidence will have to be discovered to confirm if his daughter was the first wife of Lot Conant.

No marriage record for Lot and Abigail. Have not found a marriage record for Lot and his first wife, Abigail. There is also no marriage record found for Rebecca Conant's marriage to Nathaniel Rayment.

[*] Geni.com cites two family trees for her profile. One is an apparently unsourced FTM site, "Descendants of John Conant" that calls her Abigail _____; the other is a MyHeritage site that I am not able to access.

Sources

↑ Charla Woodbury, James Hamlin and Gene Preston, "Identifying Judith Finne and the Early Family of William² (William¹) Woodbury of Stepney, Middlesex, England, and Beverly, Massachusetts," The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 176 (2022):138-148. at 145-148 for the family of Nathaniel and Rebecca (Conant) Rayment; digital images by subscription, via pdf download, AmericanAncestors.