Ancestor Birthday - September 24 - Abigail Nicholson - 1689

Abigail Nicholson was my 7th gt-grandmother, the daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Kent) (Charles) Nicholson. She was born 24 Sep 1689 in Perquimans County North Carolina. It was in the 5th month (July) 1705 when she married Nathaniel Albertson in a Quaker ceremony. The record from Perquimans Monthly Meeting stated that it was a meeting at her fathers. Here is a copy from the original records. You can see why I prefer to use the abstracts done by Gwen Boyer Bjorkman, as published by Heritage Books, 1988

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The Quaker records as abstracted in William Wade Hinshaw's Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, Vol I for North Carolina, listed 8 children for Abigail and Nathaniel: Sarah, Elizabeth, Aaron, Jane, Joshua, Hannah Lydia and William, born between 1706 an 1724.

Bjorkman's book of Quaker Marriage Certificates showed Abigail Albertson (with various spellings) as a witness for the marriage of 3 of her sisters: Jane in 1712, Elizabeth in 1719 and Hannah in 1721. She was also a witness for her daughter Elizabeth's marriage in 1725.

Abigail was not listed in her father's will from 22 Mar 1727/28, so it is likely she died before that date and after 1725 when she was a witness for her daughter's marriage. Someone has posted an entry on Find A Grave for her, listing her death date as 1727.

Ancestor Birthday - June 1st - Elizabeth Kent 1667 - 1748

There were two 8th great-grandmothers born on June 1, so since Rebecca Law was born 12 years before Elizabeth Kent, Elizabeth had to take 2nd place. However, I did write about Elizabeth before when I discussed which Elizabeth had married Samuel Nicholson. (See post of 9 Jan 2017)

I still believe that my 8th great-grandmother, the wife of Samuel Nicholson and the mother of my ancestor Abigail Nicholson, was Elizabeth Kent, born 1 Jun 1667, the daughter of Thomas and Ann Kent, and also the widow of William Charles.

Most researchers agree that Elizabeth Kent, daughter of Thomas and Ann, did marry William Charles on 8 Nov 1683. She would have been 16 years old. William and Elizabeth had a daughter Jane born 1 Oct 1685. Then William died between 4 Apr 1687 when he made his will and 23 Sep 1687 when the will was probated. William named his wife "Elezabath Charles" and his daughter Jane Charles in his will as well as his brother John and other legacies.

Then the question is, who did the widow Elizabeth Charles marry? I believe it was the Quaker Samuel Nicholson who did marry an Elizabeth Charles 6, 10m, 16[88?] as recorded in Gwen Boyer Bjorkman's book of Quaker Marriage Certificates in northeastern North Carolina (pg 85). In Weynette Parks Haun book of transcriptions of Perquimans Precinct Births, Marriages, Deaths and Flesh Marks 1659-1820 she lists their marriage 16 Dec 1688. Since this was the time for the old style calendar, December was the 10th month. One of the reasons why I believe this was Elizabeth Kent was that 2 of the witnesses for that marriage were Mary Kent and Hannah Kent, the only mention of any Kents in Bjorkman's book.

So, if this Elizabeth is my ancestor, who were her children? The Perquimans birth records show that Samuel and his wife Elizabeth had at least 4 daughters: Abigail, Hannah, Jane and Elizabeth. There were probably a few more. This may indicate that Elizabeth's daughter, Jane Charles, had died before this Jane was born in 1694. I haven't been able to find any further records for the Jane Charles born in 1685.

Elizabeth became a widow again when Samuel died 28 Mar 1728. He had made his will a few days before he died and gave to his wife "Elizabarth" "my whole estate during her life." It was then to go to his daughter Elizabeth Anderson. He also gave a bequest to his daughter, Sarah Nicholson.

Apparently Elizabeth then married for a 3rd time to widower Zachariah Nixon. And again she became a widow when he died in 1739. Elizabeth left a will, dated 19 Mar 1747/48 and probated January Court 1748. (This should probably be 1748/49) She named her son-in-law John Anderson and daughters Elizabeth Anderson and Sarah Jones, as well as grandchildren and others.

Elizabeth has been difficult to research and I am certainly not 100% sure that I am correct about which Elizabeth is my ancestor. But at the moment this is my belief about her.

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Charles May Not Be Her Maiden Name

The first goal I posted for 2017 was:

Review each ancestor on the day before their birthday as shown on the calendar on my website.

My birthday calendar showed two ancestors for January 8th. So I posted one yesterday on the 8th. The other one was Elizabeth Charles. But while reviewing her information I came up with a question about her. The birthday calendar links to the wife of Samuel Nicholson, my 8th great-grandfather. She is shown as Elizabeth Charles born 8 Jan 1670.

There was an Elizabeth Charles born on the 8th of January in 167_, daughter of Will. Charles and his wife Abigail, according to birth records recorded at Perquimans Precinct, Old Albemarle County, North Carolina. It appears the births of 7 of their children were all recorded at the same time, probably on Dec. 5, 1679. By comparing the birth years for her siblings, I believe that Elizabeth's birth year was probably 1671/72.

Then reviewing the marriage records for Perquimans Precinct after 1679, we can find the following:

• William Charles, oldest son of William and Abigail, married Elizabeth Kent on 8 Nov 1683.
• Jeles Longe married Elizabeth Charles on 11 Aug 1687
• Samuel Nicholson and Elizabeth Charles were married at a Quaker meeting 16 Dec 1688.

So by 1684 we have at least two women named Elizabeth Charles: the daughter of William and Abigail and the wife of William Charles (2). Why does this make a difference? Because William (2) died sometime between 4 Apr 1687 when he made his will and 23 Sep 1687 when the will was probated, so now there is a widow named Elizabeth Charles who probably married either Jeles Longe or Samuel Nicholson.

Now which is most probable? We do not know the exact date for William (2)'s death, but since Jeles Longe's marriage was before the probate date, it seems more likely to me that he married the daughter Elizabeth and Samuel married the widow. Another clue to support this is in the abstracts of Quaker Marriage Certificates including Perquimans Monthly Meeting compiled by Gwen Boyer Bjorkman. The index shows only two entries for the name Kent: Hannah and Mary. They were witnesses at the marriage of Samuel and Elizabeth, which would be reasonable since she would be their sister.

This conclusion does not agree with all of the family trees posted out there that I have seen, so I would appreciate any comments others can share.

Another of my goals:

Write something for my blog each day. Have it be about the ancestor on his or her birthday.

So if Elizabeth Charles born on January 8th is not my ancestor, Elizabeth Kent is. She was shown in the birth records as born on 1 June 1667 to parents Thomas and Ann Kent. So I plan to wait until June 1st to write about her.

Also another goal:

Enter some missing information or make corrections about the birthday ancestor in my database.

Now back to my database and make some changes about this 8th great-grandmother.