Wives of Ebenezer Allen (discussion)

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]

Abigail (Unknown) Allen (abt.1661-1699)

Discussion on the wives of Ebenezer Allen

Note: RESEARCH-NOTES: Top of Form 1 Ebenezer Allen 1649-1725 & wife/wives

Posted by: Diane Sutton Date: January 09, 2002 at 13:28:12

Can someone unconfuse me. I have seen several family trees on various genealogy web sites that Ebenezer Allen born 10 February 1649/1650 in Sandwich, Massachusetts a son of Ralph and Susannah Allen married to Abigail Hill ca 1681 who was the mother of almost or all of his children. According to these family trees Abigail Hill was born on 16 November 1651 in Salem, Massachusetts and was the daughter of Zebulon Hill and Elizabeth Dyke. Per the published Dartmouth, Massachusetts published vital records, Ebenezer's first child was born 02 October 1682. In fact all of the births of Ebenezer's children are listed in these Dartmouth vital records but the records do not give a mother's name.�In regard to Abigail Hill, per the published Gloucester, Massa chusetts vital records, Abigail Hill's parents were married on 16 November 1651 and per the published Salem, Massachusetts vital records Abigail Hill, herself, was born on 21 September 1670 to Zebulon Hill and Elizabeth Dyke. Given this birth date, if Abigail Hill had married Ebenezer Allen in 1681, she would have been only 11 years old and Ebenezer would have been at least 20 years her senior. Also given that Ebenezer's first child was born in 1682, Abigail would have only been 12 years old when this child was born. I suppose it is possible that Ebenezer married Abigail Hill as his 2nd wife, but she definitely cannot be the mother of at least his last 2 children. My undocumented guess is she was the mother of his last 2 children Seth and Abigail as there is a 6 year gap between the birth of his 7th child and Seth which probably puts Ebenezer and Abigail's marriage at ca 1702 which would better fit her birth of 1670. #1 Does anyone have any sources, dates, etc. of Ebenezer marrying Abigail Hill ? #2 Does anyone have any information and sources that Ebenezer had any other wives and who she/they might be? Thank you in advance.

RESEARCH-NOTES: Re: Ebenezer Allen 1649-1725 & wife/wives

Posted by: Jack MacDonald Date: March 31, 2002 at 12:48:13

In Reply to: Ebenezer Allen 1649-1725 & wife/wives by Diane Sutton

�Diane: I have been researching the Allen family for about 25 years and have a web page on line. I too have problems with Abigail Hill and Ebenezer Allen. That his wife's name was Abigail at the time of his death is solid. She married secondly to a man named John Whitely at Dartmouth on 4 July 1728. If one assumes the common practice of a man marrying someone whose age is within a year or two of theirs,�and then look at the dates of birth of Ebenezer's last two children, his wife would have been in her fifties at the time. Not unknown, but pushing it in my opinion. Also, if Ebenezer was only married once, his widow would have been in her late seventies when she married secondly to John Whitely. Again, not unknown, but pretty iffy. Because of the six year gap in ages, it would appear that Ebenezer may very well have had two wives, and his second wife was still young enough to remarry. I personally do not believe Ebenezer's wife (first or second?) was Abigail Hill, daughter of Zebulon. I think some researcher in the past got over zealous in trying to fill in the blanks and simply grabbed the first Zebulon who had a daughter named Abigail to do it. Unfortunately, after 25 years of researching and writing genealogies on over 325 families, I have seen this a thousand times. These things actually take on a life of their own over time as people assume all of the research has been done and verified. I do not have the answers regarding Ebenezer and his wife (or wives), but it may come to light someday. If you have not seen my Allen family web page, it is at: <http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jacmac/allen.htm>

Re: Ebenezer Allen 1649-1725 & wife/wives

Posted by: Jack MacDonald Date: May 16, 2002 at 18:11:18

In Reply to: Re: Ebenezer Allen 1649-1725 & wife/wives by Leslie Ann

�Leslie:��I am going on gut feeling as much as anything. I do not think that Ebenezer married an 11 year old girl.�If Zebulon, Sr. was residing in Saybrook, Connecticut, Ebenezer would have had to have traveled from Dartmouth across Rhode Island and half of Connecticut to find her. I know of no information that suggests Ebenezer resided anywhere but Dartmouth. How would he have met Zebulon's daughter? Also, I believe the Abigail Allen that is mentioned in your e-mail was the daughter of Zebulon, Jr. Since he was probably born in about 1663, he most likely was not married until about 1683. As such, his daughter, Abigail would not have even been born when Ebenezer was married. There were quite a few Allens in Connecticut, so there is a good possibility that Zebulon, Jr.s daughter married some other Allen.�I would not totally rule out a second marriage for Ebenezer, but again, how would they have met, and was she even Quaker? The fact that everybody still states that our Abigail's birth date is the date that her parents, Zebulon and Elizabeth, were married indicates to me that someone tried very hard to make things fit, and the real Abigail Hill being born in 1670 does not fit. However, repeat a non-fact often enough and pretty soon it becomes fact.��I do not believe Ebenezer married an 11 year old girl (if we are dealing with Zebulon, Sr.'s daughter), nor do I believe he married a girl who had not even been born yet (if we are dealing with Zebulon, Jr's daughter). I still believe that someone many years ago saw that Ebenezer was married to a woman named Abigail and that they had a son named Zebulon. I also think they came across Zebulon Hill, Sr. and Jr., both of whom had daughters named Abigail, one specifically identified as Abigail Allen. And, even though neither was old enough, or residing anywhere close to Dartmouth, they simply took it upon themselves to claim that Jr.'s daughter was actually Sr.'s daughter, and to make it look legitimate they gave her an earlier birth date that was recorded in the Salem records, but was actually the date that Zebulon, Sr. and Elizabeth were married. Unfortunately, this stuff happens all too often. I remember years ago, my wife and I were in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and two ladies sitting next to us were looking at a census film. All of a sudden one of them said: "Here is a Thomas Brown who is in the right county and about the right age." The other lady looked at the film and said: "The wife's name and the children's names are wrong, but it must be the right family. Maybe they were using nicknames." They then proceeded to write down the census data and left. To this day my wife and I laugh about this incident. One look at the misinformation listed on the International Genealogical Index (IGI), however, and one would think that these two ladies submitted a large percentage of that data. Oh well, enough of that.��I had hoped to put more effort into the Abigail search last week, but just did not have the time. The answer is probably in the Saybrook records somewhere.��Jack

Re: Ebenezer Allen 1649-1725 & wife/wives

Posted by: Leslie Ann Date: May 17, 2002 at 10:01:34

In Reply to: Re: Ebenezer Allen 1649-1725 & wife/wives by Jack MacDonald

�Jack~��Thanks for getting back with me on that. I am still just confused. I am not convinced one way or the other. I believe Abigail's birth date could have been wrong, and even the marriage date with Ebenezer could be wrong. The way that Ebenezer and Abigail named their children strongly fits with Zebulon's children's names: Mary, Philip, Sara, and Zebulon. However, the name Philip is also an Allen name.��I found something interesting about Zebulon. It seems that he accused a woman named Joan Peney of witchcraft in 1692 for afflicting his daughter Mary Hill. You can go here:�<http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/archives/BPL/> and check out the original warrant for arrest, and the complaint that Zebulon made.��I also read somewhere that Zebulon moved from Glouchester to Salem in 1657. We know they were in Saybrook in 1662, and they were back in Salem at least by 1684. Salem's not that far away from Dartmouth, they could have met Ebenezer or his family through travels or something when they lived there the first time. I don't know.��If you learn anything new, I would appreciate you letting me know.��Thanks,�Leslie

Re: Ebenezer Allen 1649-1725 & wife/wives: a mystery solved

Posted by: Olive Hoffman; Date: October 01, 2005 at 20:50:15

In Reply to: Re: Ebenezer Allen 1649-1725 & wife/wives by Leslie Ann

�I think that this afternoon I finally solved the mystery of an Abigail Hill, d/o Zebulon Hill, who married an unknown Allen. In doing so, I have found that I am not connected to this family after all, since the Allen who married Abigail is not of the Allen/Allyn families many of us know of and are descended from. If I am correct, It was a Joseph Allen (2), s/o Joseph Allen (1), a seaman who married Abigail Hill of Salem.... Children included: Abigail, Joseph, Benjamin, John (twice), Zebulon, Robert, Bethiah, Elizabeth. I found this information in The Essex Antiquarian Vol. 3:37 now posted on the Rootsweb Genweb site for Essex County. It takes time to search each Vol., because in the index only a surname is given, but if one has time to check them over, it could pay off. If anyone goes to this site, let me know if I am on the right track with Abigail Hill - finally ? .

Re: Ebenezer Allen 1649-1725 & wife/wives: a mystery solved

Posted by: Claire McDonald; Date: April 28, 2007 at 19:27:48

In Reply to: Re: Ebenezer Allen 1649-1725 & wife/wives: a mystery solved by Olive Hoffman

I was interested in your post, as I am descended from Joseph Allen and Abigail through their son Zebulon who married Sarah Woodbury (widow of Ralph Ellinwood). I was amused reading the posts about whether Abigail Hill was the wife of Ebenezer or if it was another Abigail. I chuckled because it is the same with Joseph 1672. He was married to either Abigail Hill (the same one supposedly married to Ebenezer) or Abigail Hutchinson.��Many people believe it was Abigail Hill because her father was Zebulon and they had a son Zebulon. But a Hutchinson Family book states that Abigail Hutchinson, daughter of Joseph and Lydia Buxton, was the wife of Joseph Allen 1672, mother of Zebulon born 1706.��So more confusion to add to the mix! If anyone has the real scoop, please post it. I am very interested in the parents you found for this Joseph born 1672.��Thanks.��Claire