Person:Abraham Morrill (1)

We do not know for sure when Abraham Morrill emigrated to New England, however he most likely came on the ship Lyon in 1632 with his older brother Isaac. We think he was young because he did not sign the Oath of Allegiance to the King, and only adult men were required to sign the Oath. We first find Abraham living alone in Cambridge, Massachusetts, paying taxes in 1634. Being a young man in 1632 and a property owner in 1635 puts his birth year at around 1615.

By 1640, Abraham becomes a founding member of the Puritan plantation at Salisbury, Massachusetts. He was granted a house-lot on the "Green." By 1642, he and Henry Saywood were granted 60 acres to build a corn mill. [7]

Abraham Morrill died in Roxbury while visiting his brother. The will of Abraham Morrill is signed two days before his death, the signature being not much more than a scribble. He is believed to be buried in Roxbury in the Eustis Street Burying Ground, in the same cemetery as his brother, who died less than one year later. This is the same cemetery where Thomas Dudley, first Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was laid to rest. To his "dear and loving wife" Abraham left one half of the entire estate outright. The other half was to be split between his six surviving children which he mentions by name: Isaack, Abraham, Jacob, Sarah, Moses, and Lidda. His wife Sarah was carrying their youngest child, as yet unborn. Being the eldest, Isaack was to receive a double portion once he reaches the age of 21. Abraham's wife Sarah and his son Isaack were appointed executors of the estate. The descendents of Abraham Morrill include David L. Morrill, Governor of New Hampshire 1817-23, and Justin Smith Morrill, Congressman from Vermont for 43 years and responsible for the Morrill Land Grant Act that established the country's agricultural colleges or "aggies."

Sarah Clements was the daughter of Robert Clements, the pioneer of Haverhill, Mass. He was influential and wealty in that community, and the owner of the first grist mill. He was one of the five to take the deed of the town from the Passagut and Saggahew Indians in 1642. He eventually came to own an island in the Merrimack River that is still known as Clements Island. [8]

Estate of Abraham Morrill of Salisbury

'I being weake in body, yet hauing the perfect use of my memory doe make this as my last will & testament; Im: my will is that what euer debts I owe to any man be first payd out of my estate, And the ressidue of my estate I doe dispose of as followeth, I giue unto my Deare & louing wife the one halfe of my whole estate whether in Housing lands cattle debts due to me from any or moueables or what euer els is mine; & this to be hers to dispose of as she shall see cause either in her life [time or] at her death, 2^ly I giue to my eldest sonne Isaack Morrill a double portion [of] the othur halfe of my estate to be payd to him at the age of one & twenty yeares or day of marriage; 3^ly The rest of the sayd halfe of my estate I giue unto my [other] five children Abraham Jacob sarah Moses & Lidda Morrill to be equally deuided betweene them, & to be enioyed by them as they come to the age of one & twenty yeares; or at the day of marriage; 4^ly My will is if any of my foresayd six children die before the come of ape to inioy there portion that then there portion be deuided betweene the seruiuing children equally. 5^ly My will is my whole estate be kept, & improued together & noe deuission made untill my eldest sonne Isaack come to age to receiue his portion; & afterwards as much as may be with any conueniency; 6^ly My will is that my deare & louing wife & my eldest sonne Isaack Morrill shall be the executors of this my will 7^ly My request is that my louing friend Mr Thomas Bradburry & my louing brother Job Clement be the ouerseers of this "my last will & testament. June the 18th 62.'

his mark
Abraham Π& Morrill

Witness: John stebines, Tobias Daves, Ehoda Remington, Mary wise.

Proved in Hampton court Oct. 14, 1662 by Tobias Daves and Ms. Rohda Remington and the widow Morrill accepted the executorship.

Inventory taken by Tho. Barnard, John Weed and William (his V mark) Barns: … 507li. Wt may bee either debtor or creditor … book, by reason of ye obscuritie wee cannot yett finde out. Attested Oct. 14, 1662 by the widow Sarah Morrill, executrix.

Petition of Sarah Mudget alias Morell concerning the division of the estate of her former husband, Abraham Morell for consideration to be made of the charge she had been at about the estate and the bringing up of their children. The youngest, a daughter named Ipsabe born about six months after her husband's death, and the other young children were Lide not two years old, Moses about five, Abraham between seven and eight, Sarah about ten; and she lived a widow about three years.

Dated Salisbury, Apr. 5, 1694.

Whereas Abraham Morrell late of Salisbury bequeathed to his widow Sarah one half of his whole estate and unto his children viz., Isaack, Jacob, Abraham, Moses, Sarah Rowell alias Morell and _____ Severance alias Morrell the other half, and no division being yet made they have chosen Col. Daniel Pierce, Dea. Tristram Coffin, Capt. Peter Coffin, Capt. Stephen Greenleafe and Mr. Thomas Currier of Amesbury to make a division according to the will, and have entered into a bond of 2001i. to abide by their decision. Dated May 16, 1694.

Jacob Morrill, Moses Morill, Onesephrus Page, and Sarah (her V mark) Page acknowledged the receipt from their brother Isaac Morrel, executor with their mother Sarah, widow of Abraham Morrel, of their legacies given us in the will of their father, Abraham Morrel. Signed and Sealed Apr. 12, 1697. Witness: Thomas Wells, John Hartshorn.

Sarah Morrell as administratrix signed this instrument in the presence of Henry True, William Carr.

Isaac Morrell accepted the executorship of his father, Abraham Morrell's will and it was allowed Jan. 31, 1703-4.

An additional inventory taken by Tho. Currier and John Kimball: a Lot of Land in a devition above the mill of ninty acres, 22li.; a lot of twenty five acres in a devition next Hampton line, 10li.; a lot in a devition in the great neck of two acres and half, 3li.; a lot in the Cow Common of ten acres, 10li.; about 3 quarters of an acre of medow and the Commonage, 12li.

Sworn to by the executor Jan. 31, 1703-4.

Essex Co. Probate Files, Docket 18,787."^[4]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9} Abraham Morrill, in Anderson, Robert Charles; George F. Sanborn; and Melinde Lutz Sanborn. The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635. (Boston, Massachusetts: NEHGS, 1999-2011)
   5:151-56.

   ORIGIN: Unknown.
   MIGRATION: 1635 (based on grant of meadow at Cambridge on 20 August 1635 [CaTR 13]).
   DEATH: Died 18 June 1662 [EPR 308:174. Buried Roxbury 20 June 1662 ("Abraham Morrell of Salisbury fell sick in this town & died & was buried upon the 20th of the 4th [1662]" [RChR 177]).

2.   Morrill, Horace Edwin. American ancestry of Benjamin Morrill of Salisbury, Mass. and his wife, Miriam Pecker Morrill of Salisbury, Mass., and their descendants to 1901. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1971)
   5.

   Abraham¹ Morrill, the ancestor of that branch of the family that settled in Massachusetts, came from England in 1632, probably in the '"Lion" with his brother Isaac, who settled in Roxbury [no evidence of his being in New England before 1635]. Isaac's sons all died young. Abraham is first heard of at Cambridge in 1632 [he appears in a list of those who were to provide fencing at Cambridge, apparently dated 7 January 1632/3, but known to have been created at a later date]. "Resided on the westerly side of Brighton street, near the spot occupied by the old Porter tavern." (Paige's Hist. Cambridge). He was one of the original members of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery. He received land in the first division of Salisbury, 1640, '44 and '54; commoner and taxed 1650. He married June 10, 1645, Sarah Clement, dau. of Robert' [b. in England about 1590; of Haverhill in 1642; and died there Sept 29, 1658J. Land was granted Abraham Morrill and Henry Saywood to build a corn mill by the Powow River in 1641. Mill was built in 1642. (Merrill's Hist. Amesbury.) Abraham Morrill's homestead was located on "the Green" at East Salisbury (now Salisbury, 1901). Within a year after his death the town bargained with his widow for the homestead "for the use of the ministry." (Salisbury transcribed records, p. 115.) The land has been used as a parsonage from that day to this. He died June 20, 1662, while on a visit to his brother at Roxbury. Will June 18, 1662, proved Oct. 14,1662. His widow Sarah married, Oct 8, 1665, Thomas Mudgett.

3. ↑ Abraham Morrill, in Find A Grave.
4. ↑ Estate of Abraham Morrill of Salisbury, in Massachusetts, Probate Court (Essex County). The Probate Records of Essex County, Massachusetts. (Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1916, 1917, 1920)
   1:399-401.