Abigail? Bronson

How are you related to Abigail? Bronson?

Connect to the World Family Tree to find out

Share your family tree and photos with the people you know and love

  • Build your family tree online
  • Share photos and videos
  • Smart Matching™ technology
  • Free!

Abigail? Bronson (Weyborn)

Also Known As: "Abigail Wyborne"
Birthdate:
Birthplace: Wrotham, Kent, England
Death: before September 12, 1651
Farmington, Hartford County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America
Immediate Family:

Daughter of John Wyborne and Joan johane anne Wayburn
Wife of Richard Brunson of Farmington
Mother of Abigail Winchell; John Brunson, of CT and SC; Cornelius Brownson, Sr.; Hannah Brunson; Elizabeth Bronson, Prob Died Young and 3 others
Sister of Margaret Pantry and Joan & John Wyborne's daughter's first name is unknown

Managed by: FARKAS Mihály László
Last Updated:

About Abigail? Bronson

'''(NOTE: INDICATING HER SISTER ABIGAIL WAS STILL ALIVE AND MADE HER WILL ON 12 SEPT 1651 INDICATING ABIGAIL MOST LIKELY DID NOT DIE IN 1646, AND IS THE MOTHER OF RICHARD'S CHILDREN)'''

Abigail's sister Margaret (Wyborne) Pantry made her will at Hartford on 12 Sept. 1651, in which she devised most of her estate to her son and daughter, but also bequeathed "unto my sister Brunson her two children by Richard Brunson, John and Abigail Bronson, to each of them £6 sterling.

" From this language we deduce that Mrs. Pantry's "sister Brunson" was deceased, leaving two minor children who were remembered by their wealthy aunt. It is probable that Mrs. Pantry's sister the first wife of Richard "Brunson," came to New England with the Pantry family, and shared their peregrinations to Cambridge and then to Hartford. [Charles H. Pope, The Pioneers of Massachusetts, 1900, p.311; Lillian L. M. Selleck and Donald L. Jacobus, One Branch of the Miner Family, 1928, p. 144; Hosea Starr Ballou, "Dr. Thomas Starr, Surgeon in the Pequot War," NEHGR, 96:370-1; Manwaring, Probates, 1:142.]

Richard's and Abigails children were:

  1. Abigail born about 1644, baptized 30 May 1659 "being about 15 years of age"[7] (Coddington says she was born 8 Sep 1643 probably at Hartford)
  2. John born about 1646, baptized 20 Feb 1658/59 "being about the 12th year of his life"[7] (Coddington says he was born August 1645).
  3. Cornelius born about 1647/48 probably at Farmington, baptized at Farmington 19 July 1653 "aged about 5 years"[6]
  4. Hannah born about 1650 baptized at Farmington 19 July 1653 "age about 3 years"[6]
  5. Elizabeth born about 1652 baptized at Farmington 19 July 1653 "about the age of a year"[6]
  6. Edith baptized 22 Apr 1655 (transcribed as "Eede") presumably born slightly before.[7] likely named for her father's sister.
  7. Mary baptized 12 Feb 1658/59 "or about that time"[7] and Coddington places her as the 7th child so assuming she was probably baptized shortly after birth.

Death

Richard's first wife was dead by about 1664 when he remarried to Elizabeth Unknown, widow of David Carpenter and George Orvis.[5] A death date of 14 Apr 1665 was asserted in the data section of this profile without a source.

The will of "Richard Brunson of Farmington" was dated 27 Feb. 1684 [1684/85]. He devised to his wife (unnamed) during her life the use of the whole homestead, the lower room of the house, "& one good cowe," bedding and household implements. Son Samuel to be sole executor and to have residue, "having given my two other sons their portions"; to daughter Hannah, £4 more; to daughter Eddy £3 more; to daughter Abigail 40s. more; to daughter Mary, 40s. per annum as long as she liveth unmarried, and on her marriage a good cow; homelot to son Samuel. The inventory, amounting to £405-08-00. Was taken 26 Sept. 1687, and the will was proved 26 Oct. 1687. [Manwaring, Probates,1:279.]

His widow Margaret (Wyborne) Pantry made her will at Hartford 12 Sept. 1651, in which she devised most of her estate to her son and daughter, but also bequeathed "unto my sister Brunson her two children by Richard Brunson, John and Abigail Bronson, to each of them £6 sterling." From this language we deduce that Mrs. Pantry's "sister Brunson" was deceased, leaving two minor children who were remembered by their wealthy aunt. It is probable that Mrs. Pantry's sister the first wife of Richard "Brunson," came to New England with the Pantry family, and shared their peregrinations to Cambridge and then to Hartford. [Charles H. Pope, The Pioneers of Massachusetts, 1900, p.311; Lillian L. M. Selleck and Donald L. Jacobus, One Branch of the Miner Family, 1928, p. 144; Hosea Starr Ballou, "Dr. Thomas Starr, Surgeon in the Pequot War," NEHGR, 96:370-1; Manwaring, Probates, 1:142.]


The will of "Richard Brunson of Farmington" was dated 27 Feb. 1684 [1684/85]. He devised to his wife (unnamed) during her life the use of the whole homestead, the lower room of the house, "& one good cowe," bedding and household implements. Son Samuel to be sole executor and to have residue, "having given my two other sons their portions"; to daughter Hannah, £4 more; to daughter Eddy £3 more; to daughter Abigail 40s. more; to daughter Mary, 40s. per annum as long as she liveth unmarried, and on her marriage a good cow; homelot to son Samuel. The inventory, amounting to £405-08-00. Was taken 26 Sept. 1687, and the will was proved 26 Oct. 1687. [Manwaring, Probates,1:279.]


Origins

The first (known) wife of Richard Bronson is identified as Unknown (no source has been found yet giving her first name) "Wilbourne" (spelled various ways), sister of Margaret Wilbourne, wife of William Pantry. In Margaret's will of 12 Sep 1651 she bequeathed to "Abigail and John, children of Richard Bronson by my sister". This does leave the possibility open that "Abigail" was her sister-in-law rather than blood sister, so possibly "Abigail" Pantry. More research on the Wilbourne family could be done.[4]

Coddington in his TAG vol. 38 article notes that while her surname of Wilbourne/Welbourne/etc is established by the will of her older sister Margaret in 1651, a first name of "Abigail" seems to be widely assumed but not supported.

The most likely explanation for the assumption of her name is that she had a daughter named Abigail.


Family

Children of Richard Bronson & ?? Wilbourne:

1.Abigail (our line), b. prob. At Hartford 8 Sept. 1643; bapt. at Farmington 30 May 1659 "aged abt. 15" (NEHGR, 11:325-6); d. at Suffield, Conn., 27 Mar. 1710, intestate. She received a bequest of £6 in the will of her maternal aunt, Margaret (Wyborne) Pantry, dated 12 Sept. 1651, and she received "40s. more" in the will of her father, dated 27 Feb. 1684/5. She m. at Farmington, 16 May 1666, Jonathan Winchell, then of Windsor, later of Suffield, who was b. prob. In Mass. Before 1635, and d. at Suffield 5 Mar. 1715/16, intestate, a son of Robert Winchell by his unknown wife. Jonathan Winchell was on the list of freemen of Windsor, 1659, and was an original grantee of Suffield, 16 May 1671.

2.John, b. at Hartford in Aug. 1645; bapt. at Farmington 20 Feb. 1658/9 ae. abt 12 ; died at Waterbury, Conn., in 1696.


https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Wilbourne-2

Marriage & Children

Torrey in "New England Marriages to 1700" says this about her marriage to Richard (noting that none of his cited sources provide a primary record or source showing her name to be "Abigail"):

BRONSON, Richard (-1687) & 1/wf Abigail WILBOURNE; 25 Nov 1619, by 1643; Hartford/Farmington, CT[5]

As far as is known, "Abigail" was the mother of all of Richard's children although Codding asserts without source that the first two were of "Abigail" and the remainder were from an un-named, un-recorded second wife. His logic discussed below was that the language of Margaret Wilbourne Pantry's 1651 bequest to "Abigail"'s children indicated that Abigail was already dead but this is certainly not definitive.[3]

Richard's only proved other wife, Elizabeth Unknown, bore him no children.

On 19 July 1653, the "wife of Richard Bronson" joined the Farmington church but her name was not given so this does not help resolve the death date of his first wife or whether there was an unrecorded second wife before Elizabeth Unknown.[6]

Richard's and Abigails children were:

  1. Abigail born about 1644, baptized 30 May 1659 "being about 15 years of age"[7] (Coddington says she was born 8 Sep 1643 probably at Hartford)
  2. John born about 1646, baptized 20 Feb 1658/59 "being about the 12th year of his life"[7] (Coddington says he was born August 1645).
  3. Cornelius born about 1647/48 probably at Farmington, baptized at Farmington 19 July 1653 "aged about 5 years"[6]
  4. Hannah born about 1650 baptized at Farmington 19 July 1653 "age about 3 years"[6]
  5. Elizabeth born about 1652 baptized at Farmington 19 July 1653 "about the age of a year"[6]
  6. Edith baptized 22 Apr 1655 (transcribed as "Eede") presumably born slightly before.[7] likely named for her father's sister.
  7. Mary baptized 12 Feb 1658/59 "or about that time"[7] and Coddington places her as the 7th child so assuming she was probably baptized shortly after birth.

Death

Richard's first wife was dead by about 1664 when he remarried to Elizabeth Unknown, widow of David Carpenter and George Orvis.[5] A death date of 14 Apr 1665 was asserted in the data section of this profile without a source.


References

view all 23

Abigail? Bronson's Timeline

1619
November 25, 1619
Wrotham, Kent, England
1640
1640
Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut, USA
1643
September 8, 1643
Suffield, Connecticut Colony
1644
January 16, 1644
Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut, United States
1648
May 1648
Farmington, Hartford County, Connecticut Colony
1649
1649
Milford, Connecticut Colony, New England
1651
September 12, 1651
Age 31
Farmington, Hartford County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America
1652
1652
Farmington, Hartford County, Connecticut Colony, (Present USA)
1655
April 22, 1655
Farmington, Hartford, Connecticut, New England