Person talk:Abigail Woodbury (3)

Abigail Woodbury's Husband [17 August 2011]

There is more than a little confusion about the identity of the husband (and therefore the death) of this Abigail Woodbury.

Available Data

Three possibilities are proposed in the literature: John Lambert, John Lamson and John Sampson. The exact citations from Torrey are:
Lambert, John & Abigail WOODBURY; 9 Aug 1694; Beverly {Dodge (1894) 25; Dawes-Gates 2:828; Reg. 46:389 has John Sampson}
Lamson, John (1669-1760) & Abigail [WOODBURY] (1671-1753); by 1695; Ipswich {Lynn Hist. Soc. 1910:78; Lamson 30; Woodbury (1904) 6; EIHC 35:262}
There is no entry for a John Sampson or Samson married to anyone named Abigail.

Reg. 46:389: "Abigail(3) Woodbury, b. 13th April 1671; m. 9th Aug., 1694, John Sampson."

Dodge (1894) 25: "Abigail(3) Woodbury, b. 13th April 1671; m. 9th Aug., 1694, John Sampson."

Dawes-Gates 2:828: "Abigail(3) (Woodbury), b. April 13, 1671; m. August 9 1694, John Sampson [citing History of Sutton, Mass., 748-9] or Lamson [citing Sketch of John Page Woodbury, 5-7 ("Abigail, b. 13 Apr. 1671; m. ----- Lampson.") and History of Essex County, Mass., 681-2] (does not mention this Abigail). NOTE: The copy that was scanned and is available on HeritageQuest has "Sampson or" crossed out by hand.

Lynn Hist. Soc. 1910:78 was not immediately available but is almost certainly the original of the John Page Woodbury Sketch cited in Dawes-Gates.
Lamson 30: "John(3) Lamson (John(2), William(1)), was born at Ipswich, Mass., Nov. 21, 1669, and died there Sept. 1, 1760, 'aged ninety-two.' He married Abigail Adams; who died in Ipswich, April 3, 1753, aged eighty-four years." Note that in addition to the wife's surname not being "Woodbury," the Lamson genealogy, unlike other records cited above, does not give a date for the marriage.

Abigail Lamson's calculated year of birth, based on her dying in 1753 at the age of 84, would be about 1669. This is close enough to the 1671 birth of Abigail Woodbury to not be considered a reason to exclude her as John Lamson's wife.

Woodbury (1904) 6 [actually page 145]: "Sarah Dodge Woodbury … had daughters … Abigail Lamson … ."
EIHC 35:262: "Abigail(3), b. Apr. 13, 1671; m. ----- Lamson."

Finally, from the Beverly Vital Records, II:182: "Lambert, John, of Ipswich, and Abigail Woodbury, [married] Aug. 9, 1694 CT. R." [court record, Essex Co. Quarterly Court]. Seven Lambert children (of William) were recorded in the Ipswich Vital Records, I:232, from 1658-1671, but none named John. The deaths of Sergt. John Lampson (Sept. 1, 1760. a. 92 y.) and his wife (unnamed) (Apr. 3, 1753, a. 84 y.) are recorded in the Ipswich Vital Records, II:612. There are no birth death records for a John Lambert nor birth records for children of John Lambert, in the appropriate time period, in the published Essex County vital records.

Conclusion

John "Sampson" is quickly eliminated as a possibility. The cited data, in total, points to two likely errors: (1) the Beverly marriage record was mistakenly entered, or later miscopied, as Lambert rather than Lamson; and (2) the author of the Lamson genealogy, for whatever reason (and there is apparently no record of the marriage other than, possibly, in the Beverly VR), called her Adams rather than Woodbury. Since Woodbury was within brackets in the John Lamson entry, Torrey apparently thought John's wife was a Woodbury. David Dearborn, in the introduction on the CD-ROM, says "When the bride's surname is in brackets, Torrey had found a reliable source that identified the bride's maiden surname with a good deal of confidence. These sources are often based on indirect evidence such as a deed or a will. In such cases, the exact marriage date is almost never known, and Torrey will often give an approximation." The most likely solution is that John Lamson's wife was Abigail Woodbury, born 13 April 1671 at Beverly and died at Ipswich 3 April 1753, "a. 84 y." --jaques1724 13:41, 17 August 2011 (EDT)