Person:Abraham Tilton (2)

Son of William (1) ? (DOW-649)

Apprenticed to John HOOD weaver of Lynn 5 Dec 1653. Freeman 1681.Age 72 in 1714. (JONES-59)

He was born about 1639, possibly in England, but not at Wolston.(JONES-59)

Age 90 years (JONES-59)

Abraham Tilton was apprenticed 1653 to a weaver at Lynn, MA but shortly thereafter was discharged when the weaver returned to England; his mother having meanwhile died, he lived for a time at Hampton, NH with his stepfather Roger Shaw; became a carpenter and millwright; was at Kittery,ME briefly, and was at Wells, ME by 1668 where he served in the Indian Wars and received a land grant; and by 1678 he removed to Ipswich Hamlet (now Hamilton), MA where he was admitted freeman 1681.

Deliverance Tilton may have been a daughter of Roger Shaw by his first wife Ann. [NEHGR 158:309-316 disputes this. Roger Shaw had no daughter by the name of Deliverance; Savage was wrong.] No public record has been found to document her parentage; Savage states that Abraham Tilton married "a d.[aughter](prob.Deliverance) of Roger Shaw of Hampton."

From: The American Forebears and Some of the Descendants of Charles Theron Brown and His Wife Martha Elizabeth Hebbard, Michael R. Gannett, 1978.

1. ↑ Woodward, Ashbel; Memoir of Captain John Fillmore.
2. ↑ Charles L Fillmore, So Soon Forgotten - Three Thousand Fillmores The Descendants of John, the Mariner, and his wife, Abigail (Tilton) Fil
   p.8.
3.   Francis Theodore Tilton, History of the Tilton Fmily in America
   Vol. 1, #4, p.10.
4.   Francis Theodore Tilton, History of the Tilton Fmily in America
   Vol. 1, #4, p. 60.
5. ↑ ^5.0 5.1 Francis Theodore Tilton, History of the Tilton Fmily in America
   Vol. 1, #4, p. 56.
6. ↑ Francis Theodore Tilton, History of the Tilton Fmily in America
   Vol. 1, #4, p. 57.
7. ↑ Dow, Joseph. History of the town of Hampton, New Hampshire: from its settlement in 1638, to the autumn of 1892. (Salem, Massachusetts: L.E. Dow, the Salem Publishing and Printing Co. , 1893)
   V1, 649.
8. ↑ Lane Memorial Library, Hampton, New Hampshire. Hampton Genealogy Database. (https://gw.geneanet.org/hamptongenealogy).
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1 9.2} William Haslet JONES. Philip TOWLE, Hampton, New Hampshire: His English Origins and SomeAmericna Descendants. (Name: Heritage Books, Inc,; Location: Bowie, MD; Date: 1995 (Electronic Edition 2000);)
   59.
10. ↑ Roberts, Gary Boyd. Ancestors of American Presidents. (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009)
    38.

    Millard Fillmore, 13th President of the United States, was a 6th generation descendant of William through his son Abraham Tilton and his granddaughter Abigail Tilton m John Filmore.
    
    17 Abigail Tilton, Ipswich 1 Apr, 1679-Norwich, Conn. 13 Nov. 1727 m (2) Robert Bull
    34 Abraham Tilton, c. 1638=42-Ipswitch 28 Mar 1728
    35 Deliverance Littlefield, d 1730-33 (prob. Ipswich Mar. 1728
    68. William Tilton c 1589-Lynn, Mass. c.1653
    69. Susannah ____, d, Hampton, N.H. 28 Jan 1654/5, m. (2) Roger Shaw
    70. Francis Littlefield, bp. Titchfield, Hampshire 17 Jun 1619-Wells, Maine c. Jan. 1712/3, by 1649
    71 Rebecca ___, b. 31 Jan. 1630, living 1683
    140 Edmund Littlefield (1592-1661), Tichfield, Hampshire to Wells, Maine = 1614
    141. Agnes (Anne, Annis) Austin (1596/7-1677/8_
    (END)

11.   Davis, Walter Goodwin. The ancestry of Phoebe Tilton, 1775-1847, wife of Capt. Abel Lunt of Newburyport, Massachusetts. (Portland, Maine: The Anthoensen Press, 1947).

    link 5. Abraham² Tilton (William¹) , like his brother Samuel, was possibly born in England before the family's emigration, or very soon after his parents' arrival in Lynn. In 1714 his age was given as seventy-two, which indicates 1642 as the year of his birth, while at his death in 1728 he was stated to be ninety years of age in which case he was born in 1638. His age was quite probably exaggerated at the end, and a conservative guess of 1640 as the correct year will not be far wrong.
    
    About six months after his father's death his mother apprenticed the boy to a Lynn neighbor, John Hood, a weaver by trade, and the indenture, setting forth the duties of master and servant, survives.
    
    This indenture made ye fifth day of December in year 1653 between Abraham Tilton ye sonne of ye Widdow Tilton of Lynn in New England and County of Essex on ye one part and John Hud of ye same town and County, Weaver Witnesseth that Abraham Tilton aforesaid hath, with the consent of his friends put himself apprentice to John Hud Weaver in ye town and County aforesaid after the manner of an apprentice with him to dwell from ye day and date hereof ye full time and term of eight years and during ye said time shall ye said Abraham his said Master faithfully shall serve, his secrets shall keep, his lawful commands everywhere gladly shall Doe, taverns shall not frequent, matrimony hee shall not contract, Damage to his said Master hee shall not doe nor suffer others, hee shall not absent himselfe from ye house of his said Master by day nor by night unlawfully, but everywhere behave himselfe as a faithful servant ought to do. And ye said John Hud to his said servant shall teache and inform, or cause to be taught and informed in ye art craft misterie and occupation of a Weaver as much as thereto belongeth or anywise apperteineth to the uttermost skill that John Hud himselfe hath, finding to his said Servant meat, drink, hoseri, shoes Woolen linnen Clothes Washing and ordering, and att ye end of his time to give him dubble sutes of apparel and also to spare his servant six wreeks to learn to write between Yuletide and Januarie the servants friends paying for his writing and ye said John Hud hath liberty in case hee goe to Old England to give his servant his time; the said Abraham is to have double now at his coming to service.
    
    In Witness Whereof Wee Jno Hud and Abraham Tilton hath interchangeably sett hands and seales ye day and year above written
    
    His Mark JOHN HUD
    
    Signed and delivered in ye Presence of us Edward Burchum Ginkin Davis Garret Spencer [Norfolk Records; Vol. 1, folio 57, in which Abraham's signature to the indenture does not appear ]
    
    John Hood did in fact return to old England not long after he made the contract with young Abraham, and, deciding to remain there, wrote to his wife Elizabeth Hood some time in 1655 to wind up his affairs in Lynn and join him. Hood directed her "to deliver his prentice Abraham Tilton to his mother," but as the boy's mother had died in January, 1654/5, that was impossible. Roger Shaw, who was a very conscientious step-father, came down from Hampton and asked that the boy be delivered to him, but Elizabeth Hood, "taking the advice of the Elders at Lynn," had already begun negotiations with "Peter Tilton living in Connetticott" by which she was to have 30s. "in lieu of wt charges I had been att hee being young & but a little Wth us." One Nathaniel, whose surname is illegible, went with Shaw to Goodwife Hood and testified that he had "some speeche with Abraham Tilton before hee was sent away to Conecticott" and that "hee was altogether unwilling to goe to his brother but rather chose to goe to his father goodman Shaw." The boy went to his brother Peter, nevertheless, but Roger Shaw applied to the County Court at Hampton and obtained an order that Abraham should be placed in his care and served it on goodwife Hood. This had the desired effect, for in November, 1655, after explaining her position in detail she revoked the contract made with Peter Tilton "yielding & submitting to Wt the Court hath granted to his father in lawf Rodger Shaw." So Abraham's stay in Connecticut was short and the rest of his boyhood was spent with his brothers Samuel and Daniel in the Shaw household in Hampton. [Norfolk Records, I, folio 57] When Roger Shaw died in 1661 he mentioned his obligation to Abraham in the codicil to his will.
    
    Abraham Tilton and Mary Cram were married in Hampton on January 25, 1665/6. Soon afterward they went to live at Sturgeon Creek in the Maine town of Kittery where Tilton practiced his trades of housewright and millwright. Peter Wittum, jr., in a deposition stated that Abraham Conley of Sturgeon Creek had sold standing timber suitable for building purposes to Tilton and that "Abra : Tilton did then dwell in Abra : Conlys house & wrought upon the aforesd Tymber. This was in the yeare 67 : or 1668."[ York Deeds, III: 65] On October 31, 1668, he bought from Nathan Lord forty acres of upland and the meadow belonging thereto in Kittery.[York Deeds, II: 141] Abraham Tilton, resident at Sturgeon's Creek, gave a receipt to his step-brother, Joseph Shaw of Hampton, on May 13, 1669, for £20, half of which was due to him by the will of his father, William Tilton of Lynn, and half by the contract of marriage between Roger Shaw and his mother. [Norfolk Records, II, folio 515]
    
    In 1670 the Tiltons had moved to Wells where on October 20, 1671, he, called "of Wells, house carpenter," bought from Francis Backhouse a farm of one hundred and fifty acres with buildings and marsh lands on the north-east side of the Ogunquit river. [York Deeds, II: 130] He sold the Lord farm in Kittery to Myles Thompson and Israel Hodgsdon in March, 1671/2, and what remained of the Conley timber to William Gowen alias Smyth on April 3, 1672. On the following day he took an apprentice, John Loverell, son of Esther Loverell, for a term of twelve years. [York Deeds, II: 141, 139; III: 64] In a deposition made in 1714, Tilton, then of Ipswich, stated that about forty years previously (1674) he had hired a farm in the eastern part of Wells from Mr. Samuel Wheelwright for a term of two years, had built a house and sawmill and surrendered the same to Wheelwright when the lease expired. [ York Deeds, VIII : 247.]
    
    Mary (Cram) Tilton released her dower in the 1671/2 deed to Thompson and Hodgsdon, but she must have died within a few years, leaving her husband with three small boys. Tilton's second wife, Deliverance, was presumably a Wells girl, and there can be little doubt but that she was Deliverance Littlefield, daughter of Francis Littlefield, sr., Tilton's neighbor, for whom he witnessed documents and who was later in Ipswich with the Tiltons.
    
    Tilton served on a York trial jury in 1674 and on the grand jury in 1675. In an account headed "Common Arrers ifor Souldiers Charges of the Late warre Granted and allowed by the Committee of Millitia of Wells from the first Begininge of the Late Indian warre unto the first September 1677," Abraham Tilton is entered for £7 in one place and for £4 : 7 : 8 in another. Whether these sums were due for service or supplies is not Known[Maine Historical Society, Documentart) History, VI: 194]
    
    Wells was an exposed outpost during King Philip's war and the danger of Indian attack may have induced Tilton to move his family to the safety of Ipswich, where he remained for the rest of his life. He was in that town on March 30, 1676, when he appraised some work done for Dr. Dane by Freegrace Norton, and there he took the Oath of Allegiance in 1678. He must have occupied a house once owned by William Averill, for in Averill's right Tilton was a town commoner on February 18, 1678/9. On May 11, 1681, he took the Freeman's Oath. He retained his Wells property until after 1678 when the town granted him ten acres, but soon thereafter he deeded his house and one hundred and fifty acres in Wells to James Littlefield, his wife's presumptive brother, who in turn sold to his father, Francis Littlefield, on March 20, 1682.[York Deeds, V: 89.]
    
    Before May 3, 1681, when Mr. Richard Hubbard died, Abraham Tilton bought from him and paid £80 for a house and twelve acres of land in that part of Ipswich which later became Hamilton, but did not receive a deed. Mrs. Sarah Ward, administratrix of the estate of her former husband Mr. Hubbard, remedied this on April 12, 1683. The land was on the country road to Boston and also on a highway that led over the river to Ipswich common.[Essex Deeds, 15: 96] In 1690, for £140, he bought forty-four acres more of the Hubbard farm from Sarah (Hubbard) Cotton, wife of Rev. John Cotton of Yarmouth,[Essex Deeds, 16: 18] and in 1700 he made a further purchase of thirty-seven acres and a house from Mr. John Hubbard for £90.[Essex Deeds, 15: 96] His other purchases were small lots of meadow and marsh.
    
    In Ipswich Abraham Tilton continued to practice his trade as a housewright and seems to have prospered. In 1698 he was one of a committee to consider the building of a new meetinghouse in Ipswich, and with his son Abraham he made proposals for the construction of the building, but was underbid by Abraham Perkins, with whom, however, the Tiltons were later associated in the work. When the meeting-house was completed in 1700 the committee appointed for that purpose assigned to Mr. Abraham Tilton, sr., and Abraham Tilton, jr., the first pew on the east of the pulpit for their wives and families. Mr. Tilton, sr., was appointed a place on the first of the short seats, near the pulpit, among the most elderly men.
    
    Tilton began distributing his property to his sons by deed in 1702 when he gave to his son Samuel, "for the encouragement of my said son to duty and obedience to me and his mother," forty-three acres of the Hubbard farm, and to his son Isaac, "after my natural life and the life of my wife Deliverance," thirty acres on which stood the family homestead, barns and orchard.[Essex Deeds, 15: 93, 94] In 1718 he gave his common rights in Ipswich to Isaac and also twelve acres adjoining the homestead "which is the whole of land remaining to me undisposed of ."[Essex Deeds. 35: 58] Abraham Tilton, jr., released all claims on his father's property as eldest son or otherwise on March 10, 1708/9[Essex Deeds, 53: 163]
    
    In 1714 Abraham Tilton was dismissed from the first church in Ipswich and with his neighbors in Ipswich Hamlet formed the third church, subscribing to the covenant October 12, 1714.
    
    In the cemetery at Ipswich Hamlet, now Hamilton, Abraham Tilton's gravestone still stands, inscribed "Here lyeth ye body of Abraham Tilton, who died March ye 28, 1728, 90 years of age," and the burial of "old Mr. Tilton" was entered in Mr. Whipple's account book. He was often, although not consistently, given the title of respect, "Mr.," in his Ipswich days.
    
    Deliverance Tilton survived until some time between November 9, 1730, when she made her will, and July 2, 1733, when it was proved. In the Whipple account book is an entry of the burial of "Old Master Tilton" in May, 1732. Possibly Mr. Whipple intended to write "Mistress" instead of "Master," for certainly no old Master Tilton died in Ipswich at that time. By her will Deliverance Tilton left to her three sons Abraham, Samuel and Isaac Tilton, and her two sons-in-law Tristram Brown and Thomas Durgye, 5s. apiece. To the three sons of her son-in-law Robert Bell, deceased, 5s. apiece. To her daughter Sarah Martin, £10 in Province bills "to her Sole use & improvement: & Exclusive of her husband." Her daughter Mary Brown having already had more than £10, she is left out of the distribution of money. To the children of her daughter Rebecca Durges, which she had by her former husband John Lamb, deceased, £10. To John and Ebenezer Philmore and Ruth Kenicum, children of her daughter Abigail Bell, deceased, £10. Her remaining movable estate to be divided into four parts and given to her daughter Sarah Martin (with the same exclusion of her husband), her daughter Mary Brown, the children of her daughter Rebecca by John Lamb and the three children of her daughter Abigail Bell, deceased, but Mary Brown's share shall be 30s. less than the others. Executors : her sons Samuel and Isaac Tilton. Witnesses : Samuel Wigglesworth, Martha Wigglesworth.[Essex Probate, 319: 393]
    
    Children by first wife:
    
    
    i. Abraham.
    
    ii. Isaac. He was a young man in his twenties, living in the house of William and Sarah Baker in Ipswich in 1692, when he set out for active service against the Indians at the fort at Pemaquid, having the rank of sergeant. When his military duties were over, early in 1693/4, he decided to remain in Pemaquid, writing to William Baker "the Captain and I have made a bargin for mee with Jonadab Wait To stay Till the Last of October next to burn Lyme for him and have gotten a good bargin: then you may exspect us home." He never returned, however, for before the time set "Sergeant Isaac Tilton & Peter Dill going off with a small birchen Canno into Pemmaquid-Sound were by a sudden Gust of wind & snow overwhelmed & both drowned." [Diary of Rev. John Pike.] Abraham Tilton, jr., was appointed administrator of the estate on April 22, 1695. He entered an inventory listing clothing and a few personal articles, including a pair of shoe buckles and a gold ring, debts due the estate, including wages due from Capt. March of £12, and desperate debts, in a total of £68: 13: 6. Debts due from the estate were £8:6:9, including small sums to Capt. March, Sergt. Hugh March and Corp. Busell. The court held that Tilton had made a nuncupative will. William and Sarah Baker testified as follows: "We being in bed together in ye year 1692 Isaach Tilton haveing lived at Our house then he going to pemaquid took his Leave of us about 10 or 11 of ye clock in ye night: & said if the providence of God Order yt I returne noe more pay yourself what I owe you & deliver the Rest of my Estate to my Bro. Abraham Tilton." Thomas Wait testified that he had told Isaac "it was good all those that went out as soulders that had any estate to make there will be fore they went out to prevent trubble," and his wife Mary Wait added that Isaac said "that his brother Abraham should have what he leafe for he was all the own brother that he had in the world that he knows of." The most interesting paper on file is, however, a letter which Isaac wrote to his friend William Baker:
    
    "From pemaquid 20 January 1693 Kind and Loueing Friend Mr Baker, my Loue Remembred unto you and wife & all your family Hoping That you are all in Good health as I am at this present writing blesed be god For the same. Sir—I Received yours Bearing Date the 8 .January being one this Instent: wherin I understood That your Family was in good health blessed bee the Lord for That marcy; and also the Tender of your Kindness was therin expressed in this that if I would send my Debenture to you you would get my wages. I was in hopes that I should not have The occasion To have given you The Trouble because I did Thinke to have had my wages brought mee by the Captain in money but he brought mee nothing but a Debenture to the Constable of Ipswich for itt. Therefor I have sent itt you within This Inclosed by John Chapman (illegible word) the same Therin containing of Twenty & eight pounds seventeen shillings & six t>ence which I would pray you to gitt as soon as you can and when you have gotten itt I would have you to pay one pound, 11 shillings & sixpence to Francis haynes of Newbury and take his Receipt for The same; & about a month from this Time I would pray you to send abousd haynes for a gun that hee hath to fitt up for mee and Then pay him the abousd Thirty one shillings & six pence. Pray keep the gun in Killter and all above Twenty pound when that is payed I would have you giue mee Credett upon your Book and also what money I Left in yor hands I would have you give mee Credet one yor Book and Let it Discharg what itt will of my Debt in yor Book. Then the other Twenty pound I would have you Lay up for mee only use it if you need; but Sitt itt Done in your book for all men are mortaille that so ther may be noe Desturbance between us: Ther is six shillings you must Received of John Chapman. I did Intend to bee at home befor This Letter but the Captain & I have made a bargin for mee with Jonadab Wait To stay Till the Last of October next to burn Lyme for him and have gotten a good bargin; then you may exspect us home: pray Let me hear from you att all opprotunetyes you may have and the Latterend of febry by maradelhead boats for wee exspect them hear then certain: I have Reed you1" Tokens which I give you many Thankes for: no more at present enly I Remain your Loveing Friend Isa Tilton. Pray give my Respects to Uncle & ant Stacy & present my services To Mjs Margaret Woodwell & tell her that I did not think she would prove so unkind to me as to have any plow joger (sic) when she promised to have mee. Friend Baker I would Pray you to Take so much Care about my Cloathing as to aer them at Times: as concerning my horse & sheep you have Them in your Hands and Keep them as you have: If you shall hear that I should doe worser than well sattisfied youselfe with what you have of mine & pay all the Rest to my Brother Abraham Tilton: no more I remain Your Friend To Comand Isaac Tilton Let mee hear from you if you have any opprotunety—Yorrs To Command Isa Tilton." "Mis Margaret Woodwell" was a daughter of Matthew and Mary Woodwell of Salem and she married her "plow-joger," John Robinson, on June 18, 1694. "Uncle and ant Stacy" cannot have been Isaac's real uncle and aunt. They were probably a childless couple, Capt. Simon and Sarah (Wallis) Stacy of Ipswich, whose niece, Elizabeth Stacy, had married Margaret Woodwell's brother John. Margaret Woodwell, and Isaac Tilton while courting her, may possibly have called the Stacys uncle and aunt, by courtesy.[ Essex Probate, No. 27058.]
    
    iii. Jacob. On Dec. 25, 1689, the marshal of the county of Essex was ordered to apprehend Jacob Tilton of Ipswich to answer the complaint of Samuel Dodge of Ipswich who charged Tilton with stealing a horse out of his stable on the third of February last past, in the night. Daniel Denison, jr., found Jacob in Lynn and served the writ on the day on which it was issued. Denison was with his prisoner at the house of Theophilus Bagley in Lynn when Jacob made his escape, through the aid of Isaac Ringe of Ipswich. Nothing more is heard of Jacob Tilton, but his identity is made certain by the fact that, when Isaac Ringe was summoned on Jan. 20, 1689/90, to answer for his offense, Abraham Tilton, jr., was his surety.
    
    By second wife
    
    iv. Sarah; m. Martin. From her mother's will it is apparent that her parents did not approve of her husband.
    
    v. Abigail, b. in Ipswich April 1, 1679; m. (1) June 19, 1701, John Fillmore, sailor; m. (2) Nov. 7, 1717, Robert Bell; d. in Norwich, Conn., Nov. 13, 1727.
    
    vi. Samuel, b. in Ipswich April 14, 168- ; bapt. in Wenham in 1680.
    
    vii. Ebexezer (twin), bapt. in Wenham in 1682; d. young.
    
    viii. Mercy (twin), bapt. in Wenham in 1682; d. young,
    
    ix. Mart, b. in Ipswich Aug. 8, 1683; m. Tristram Brown.
    
    x. Joseph (twin), bapt. at Wenham in 1685; d. young,
    
    xi. Benjamin (twin), bapt. at Wenham in 1685; d. young,
    
    xii. Daniel, bapt. at Wenham in 1687/8; d. young,
    
    xiii. Rebecca, b. in Ipswich March 8, 1692/3; m. (1) int. April 6, 1717, John Lamb; m. (2) Thomas Durgye.
    
    xiv. Isaac, b. in Ipswich May 2, 1695.