Abiel Sprague

Descendant of Mayflower passengers John and Priscilla (Mullins) Alden (and her father William Mullins)

Occupation: Cordwainer

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Sprague-66. Profile last modified 16 May 2019 | Created 11 Sep 2010

Abiel "Abial" Sprague

Born 10 Nov 1710 in Rochester, Plymouth County, Province of Massachusetts Bay

Son of Samuel Sprague [uncertain] and Ruth (Alden) Sprague [uncertain]

Brother of Ruth Sprague, Noah Sprague, Elizabeth Sprague, Nathaniel Sprague, Samuel Sprague, Mary Sprague, Priscilla (Sprague) Hammond, Micah Sprague and Ruth (Sprague) Hammond

Husband of Elizabeth (Ashley) Sprague — married 18 Jun 1730 in Rochester, Plymouth County, Province of Massachusetts Bay

Husband of Hannah (Getchell) Sprague — married 2 Jun 1744 [location unknown]

Father of Servia (Sprague) Dyer, Ruth (Sprague) Boulter, Elizabeth (Sprague) Bonney, Zerviah (Sprague) Dyer, Abiel Sprague Jr and James Sprague

Died after 24 Oct 1773 in Machias, Washington, Maine

Profile last modified 16 May 2019 | Created 11 Sep 2010

Abiel was born in 1710.

Husband of Elizabeth Ashley — married June 18, 1730 in Rochester, Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Husband of Hannah Getchell — married June 2, 1744

Abiel Sprague died in 1773.

Note

He resided in Hingham, Plymouth, Massachusetts and in Harpswell, Cumberland, Maine. Abiel Sprague appears in records also as Abial, Abral and Ebial. 1759, Aug 15. Abial Sprague of Harpswell in the County of York, Cordwainer, and wife Hannah sold for 72 pounds, a certain island in Harpswell, commonly called Great Tebascodegan Island, where he had lived for more than 20 years past. 1763, May. Sailed with other settlers to Machias on Capt. Buck's vessel. 1765. His name appears on a petition for a grant of land in Machias, New Brunswick, Canada. 1767, Aug. 24. Abiel Sprague, Yeoman, of Machias sold to Joseph Thompson about 300 acres in Boothbay. Note

Note: Birth date/place based on Probate file dates 9 Aug 1786. Died: Residence at Hingham, Plymouth Co., MA. There is some dispute about whether or not Abiel is truly the son of Samuel Sprague and Ruth Alden. See www.sprague-database.org Also from sprague database: From Franklin S. Hauser, correspondent. Below is a note from Caleb Johnson, genealogist in response to my request for a search of the Rochester, MA Vital Records to try and prove or disprove the parentage of Abiel Sprague as published in "Supplement to Sprague Families in America", by Dr. Warren Vincent Sprague and as disputed by Alicia C. Williams, Genealogist for the Alden Kindred Society. Despite the following comments, I have spoken to several active participants in the Mayflower Society and they have indicated to me that the Society would probably accept Dr. Warren Vincent Sprague's connection of Abiel to John Alden. Mr. Johnson's note follows: "I have completed your vital records search on the surname Sprague in Rochester. "The marriage record of Abial to Elizabeth Ashley daughter of Joseph was found (18 June 1730 as you correctly stated). There was no birth record for Abial, however. I suspect since the book you are using did not give a full date, but just said "about 1710", that the author did not ever find a birth record and is either making an educated guess on the birth date (based on the marriage date), or perhaps a death record gave his age at death. I took a peek at the Duxbury records but his birth was not recorded there either. "I would tend to agree with Alicia Williams that Abial is most likely not a son of Samuel and Ruth Sprague. A disinheritance could only be made "legal" if Samuel Sprague had made a will and specifically excluded a son from it. However, as I understand it, he did not make a will, so the court divided his estate upon his death. When the court has to divide an estate there is not such thing as family disinheritance. The last thing the probate court wants is to get involved in domestic squabbles, so it simply divides the estate by a pre-defined formula (widow gets 1/3 of estate, rest is equally split among all children with the eldest son getting twice as much as his other siblings. "The fact Abial is in Maine would be irrelevant--many people moved to Maine during this time period. When they inherited land in Massachusetts from relatives, they simply arranged for it to be sold and the money from the sale sent to them." Birth

Birth: Date: 10 NOV 1710 Place: Rochester, Plymouth, Massachusetts Source: #S163 Occupation

Occupation: Cordwainer

Marriage: Date: 29 NOV 1694 Place: Duxbury, Plymouth, Ma Source: #S727 Source

Source: #S64 Page: Vol. LXIII, page 265, 1909 Source: #S956 Page: 188 Zerriah was born about 1740. He passed away about 1798.

Disputed parents: 6/21/13 - removed John Sprague and Ruth Alden as parents.

Sources

Source S8 Title: Personal knowledge and family records Author: R. S. Turley, Jr. Repository: #R2 Source S64 : Title: John(5) Billings of Deer Isle, Maine Author: Harold Ward Dana, A.B., M.D., of Brookline, Norfolk, Mass Publication: NEHGR, Vol. 97, October 1943 Note: Originally from "Genealogy of William Billings", Frank Billings, M.D., n.d., published about 1931.

Source S727 Title: Sprague Families in America Author: W. V. Sprague Note: Source Media Type: Book Source S956 Title: Supplement to Sprague Families in America Author: W. V. Sprague, 1941 Note: Source Media Type: Book Source S163 Title: Sprague Families in America - Supplement #2 1940 (1) Note: by W.V. Sprague Repository R2 Name: Robert S. Turley Jr. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LQRR-8SQ