Abraham Newell1

M, b. 1581, d. 13 June 1672
     Abraham was born in 1581 at Ipswich, County Suffolk, England, as caculated from his death. His immigration records figures his birth to be 1584. Abraham married Frances (?) circa 1619 in Ipswich, County Suffolk, England. He and Frances were blessed with 7 children.2 On 30 April 1634, Abraham & his wife, Frances, left Ipswich aboard the ship, "Francis", under the command of Captain John Cutting, bounded for New England. Abraham had in his possession a certificate allowing departure. Listed among the passengers were Abraham Newell aged 50 years, Fraces his wife 40, Abraham 8, John 5, Isaacke 22 nonths... William Westwoode aged 28 years, his wife Bridgett aged 32 years, John Lea aged 13 years, Grace Newell aged 13 years ... John Bernard aged 36 years, his wife Mary aged 38 years, Faith Newell aged 14 years, Henry Haward aged 7 years. They arrived two months later at Boston.


.3,4 It is believed that Jacob may have been born on the ship on the way over and that Rebecca was born a couple of years after their arrival. Abraham was admitted a freeman in 1634 at Roxbury, Massachusetts. At the time of their leaving of England, Abraham was listed as 50 and Francis as 40; tnese ages are more likely advanced to releave any resistance from the government to their immigration. Abraham was the original proprietor ofthe McCarthy Farms which were locatetbetween Hawthorne on the east, Walnut Avenue on the west, Cedar on the North, and Marcella on the South. in Roxbury, Mass. He was a prominent citixen of the settlement and was one of the original donors to the "Free School of Roxbury", later the Roxbury Latin School. Abraham made his will on 8 February 1669 at Roxbury, Suffolk County, Massachusetts.

I having formerly disposed of the greatest part of my lands unto my children by reason of mine inability to Emprove them by reason of mine age and weakness, & having given to mine Eldest Sone Abraham Newell a Deede under my hand of Severall parcells of Land's & unto all the rest of my Sones the possession of other's of my Land's but not sufficiently confirmed unto them I yet having the perfect use of my. Memory & understanding I doe make this as my Last Will & Testament.
My Soul I doe freely give into the hand's of my Mercifull Savior Jesus Christe & my Body I doe leave unto my deare wife & Loving Children to bee decently buried by them.
As for my Land's that are now in the possession of my Children my will is that those Land's that I have confirmed as before expressed unto my Eldest Sone Abra Newell with twenty pounds given to him at his marriage shalbee his double portion out of all the lands that I have already divided unto my Children although not Sufficiently confirmed unto the rest of my Children as this is to him.
2 ly my Will is that my Sone John Newell shall have ten acres of land neere unto Joseph Bugbies house & one quarter part of my Salt Marsh at the Salt Panns, also my fresh Meadow at flaggey Meadow; but in case that hee the saide Jon Newell have noe Natural] heires begotten of his Body all these Severall Parcell's of Land's here willed to him shall fall unto the rest of my Children my sones Abra, Isaac & Jacob Newell & to my Sone-in-Law William Toy to them theire heires Executors or Assigns after the decease of the saide John not hindring Dowry in case that hee doth marry.
3 ly my Will is that my other two Sones Isaac & Jacob Newell shall have my Lot at the pond plaine & the Lott at the end of it that was bought formerly of Edward Denyson and the Land on the Rock's called Totman's Rock's that was lately the Land of William Hopkins & Sam Ruggles & all my Meadow in Bare Marsh & halfe my Salt Marsh at the Salt Panns.
4 1y my Will is that my Sane in Law William Toy shall have my Long Orchard neere unto where my dwelling house was butting on the Nowle of the hill neere to where my said house was & by the way leading by the North Side of Richard Meadeses home Lott & upon John Watson's home Lott & all the other land there that is mine whither Orchard Woodland or pasture land dowere to Sam Ruggles his Pasture that hee bought of mee in all about fifteen Acres of Land.
All these Severall parcels of Land above mentioned that are willed unto my Sones Abra John Isaac & Jacob Newell is now in theire hand's & possession's they giving to mee Rent for the Same every one of them as I have agreed with them or as my Necessity shall require during the whole term of my Natural Life yearly.
And for all the worldly goods that I shall dye possessed of or that is dew to mee in the hands of any person whatsomever excepting what is above mentioned or that shalbee hereafter Expressed in this my will whether it bee houseing or Land's Cattle or movable goods or what else Soever I dispose of it as followeth
I My Will is that my ffunerall Chardges bee Satisfied & all my lawfull Debt's dew from mee to any person discharged
2 ly my Will is that my deare Wife Francis Newell shall have the use & benefit of my whole Estate for & during the time of her Natural! Life & that she shall dwell with any of her Children where it liketh her best yet being provided for & it is my Will that she shalbe provided for by all my Children by an Equall Proportion as they doe Enjoy of my Land's in their possession's (That is to Say) that my eldest Sone Abra Newell as hee doth Enjoy & possess a double portion of all the lands divided out unto my Sones my saide Sone Abra shall provide as much more as any of the rest of my Children for the maintenance of my Saide Wife & all the reste of my Sones as my Sone Abraham Newell John Isaac and Jacob Newell & my Sone in Law William Toy shall provide every one of them Equally for the comfortable Livelihood of my saide Wife they theire heires Executors & Assigns during the whole Term of her naturall Life
3 ly after my wives decease my Will is that my eldest Sone Abra Newell shall possess & Enjoy the Nowle of the hill by his house that hee set up where mine was burnt adjoining to it & the Land about it that hee doth now possess of mine abovementioned it lying on the North Side of it & it lying on the South Side of my Sone in Law Wm Toy's Long Orchard above expressed a butting East on the land of the heires of Isaac Morrell
4 ly my Will is that my other two Sonnes Isaac & Jacob Newell shall have possess & Enjoy my Lott of Twenty & two Acres in the woods in the thousand Acres neere Dedham & that it shallbe equally divided betwixt them both
5 ly my Will is that all the rest of my Estate after the decease of my saide wife whatsoever either in her hand's or in the hand's of any person whatsoever excepting as is above Expressed shalbe equally divided unto all my Children, that is to say unto my Sone Sone Abra John Isaac and Jacob Newell & unto my Sone in Law W ' Toy excepting my saide wives wearing Cloathes which shalbee at her liberty to dispose of to whome she pleaseth Alsoe in case my Children cannot agree about the division of ye goods left to them after my wives decease or any difference should arise amongst them about anything that they doe possess of mine or that I have disposed to them by my will or otherwaies that they may agree amongst themselves I doe most desire but if they can not my will is that they shall choose each of them one man being noewaies related to them & these men thus chosen with my two friends desired to be my overseer's of this my Will to have power to hear & finally to determine all such difference that shall arise amongst any of them they or the major part of them. But in case either by death or removall there cloth want an odde man these men thus chosen shall have the full power to choose an odde man And farther what soever I shall see meete to Leave in the hand's of any of my Children either rent's or Cattle or anything else excepting what I shall leave upon record after the date of this my last will none of the rest of my Children shall have any power to call them to an Accot for it after my decease
6 ly my Will is that my Deare Wife Francis Newell Shall bee my Executrix & my Loving Sone Isaac Newell shalbee my Executor of this my Will. In-treating my Loving ffreind's John Boates & William Gary to be my Overseer's of this my Will. This Will was reade & Sealed & confirmed by my hand in the psence of these Witnesses.
Abraham Newell his mark & a Seale
Witnesses: Sammuell Gary &John Bennet.5

Abraham departed this life on Monday, 13 June 1672 in Roxbury, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. His death record indicated he was 91 years of age.6 His will was probated on 4 July 1672.

Family

Frances (?) b. 1594, d. 16 Jan 1682/83
Children

Citations

  1. [S482] William M. Emery, Newell Ancestry: The Story of the Antecedents of William Stark Newell, Pages 9-14 - Across the sea, in the good ship Francis, Abraham Newell and his family sailed for the New World from Ipswich, England, in 1634. It was the last of April when the vessel left the Suffolk County port, but the time and place of her arrival on this side of the water are not recorded. Such voyages usually took about two months - sometimes longer. Probably the destination of the Francis was Boston. There were eighty-three passengers aboard from Suffolk and Essex, mostly heads of families with their children.
    It is a source of some satisfaction that the ship's papers listed the age of each passenger. Mr. Newell was accredited with fifty years and his wife Frances with forty. Possibly these ages were deliberately over-stated. The roster of their children was: Faith, fourteen years; Grace, thirteen years; Abraham, eight years; John, six years; and Isaac, two years. There was a fourth son, Jacob, said by some authorities to have been born on the passage. It is to be regretted that the custom house records failed to state the Newells' home town.
    …Mr. Newell, who was a tailor by occupation, may have been swept along on the tide of group influence. Many were leaving his County of Suffolk, which supplied the heaviest emigration to Massachusetts between 1620 and 1650 of any of the English counties.
    …Once in America it may be supposed that Mr. Newell with his family located in Roxbury, Massachusetts, where he was admitted freeman March 4, 1634/5. …In the course of the years he acquired fairly extensive land holdings, although only one deed of conveyance appears on record. His ownership is attested in other ways. He must have had a grant or grants from the town. In "A Note of ye Estates of the Inhabitants of Rocksbury," probably between 1636 and 1640, Abraham Newell is credited with twenty-two acres, and a family of seven persons. The location of his homestead is fixed by a description in Volume 34 of the Boston Record Commissioners' Reports, dealing with " The Town of Roxbury," as follows :
    "Abraham Newell and Edward Porter were the original proprietors of the homesteads and orchards afterwards known as ` Maccarty Farm.' This tract contained sixty acres and lay between Hawthorne Street and Walnut Avenue, extending from Cedar Street on the north to Marcella Street on the south."
    …A deed of Sept. 4, 1666, shows that Mr. Newell's dwelling house, which stood on a tract of sixteen acres, had been burned, and that his son Abraham built a house on the site. A brief account of the fire is given in the records of Rev. John Eliot, minister of the First Church of Roxbury, who wrote as follows :
    " June 20, 1665. At shutting in happened a burning in Roxbury in ye dwelling House of Abraham Newell Sr & June 23 his old barn fired by his girle."
    Just who his " girle " may have been is a problem. She may have been a granddaughter, or more likely a servant. Mr. Eliot records another fire in the following language:
    1 mo. 6, 1672. Abraham Newels house was burnt. or [our] congregat'o made a Collec'o for him of 14th."
    Such was the method of insurance in those old days. Frequently ancient records contain mention of a collection being taken in a church or among neighbors towards coverage of a fire loss.
    …Abraham Newell was not a politician, and never held public office. But he was interested in a movement for the public good, a movement which exerted a far-reaching influence over ensuing centuries, which may be regarded as a surprising venture for a little settlement only a dozen years old. It was the establishment of the " Free Schoole in Roxburie," in 1643, which has since been maintained as the famous Roxbury Latin School even into the twentieth century. Of this institution Mr. Newell was one of the original donors
    …His eldest child, Faith Newell, born in 1620, married during the 1640's George Bennett of Boston, and died some time after the birth of a son, John Bennett. Mr. Newell brought up the boy John, for whom he was named guardian, and looked after the real estate which formed his inheritance.
    …Abraham Newell executed his will Feb. 8, 1669, and it was admitted to probate in Suffolk County July 4, 1672. In the document he confirmed his previous transfers of lands to his sons and son-in-law.
    INVENTORY OF THE PERSONAL ESTATE OF ABRAHAM NEWELL
    - One feather Bed & feather Boulster & two feather
    Pillows & one old bed Ticking - 3.10.0
    - Blanckett & a Straw Bed – o.5.0
    - A Bedstead & Curtaines – 0.0.0
    - A Trundell Bedsteade & cord – 0.5.0
    - One feather Boulster & a Silke grass pillow
    Three very old Blancketts – 0.6.0
    - Seven Sheets & six pillow beer's – 2.i.0
    - In Pewter & Tinn Ware – i.2.0
    - Two Brass Kettles one warming pan & a Skellett – 2.0.
    - In Iron Ware: A paire of Tong's Two Trummells; one Iron Pot & an Iron Kettle a frying pan; a paire of Sheares a paire of Bellowes – 1.0.
    - Six Cushions & three Cover's – 0.9.0
    - In Wooden Ware: four Chaires two old Chests; a small Box two fformes two platters six trenchers – 0.0.
    - In the Chamber: Seven pounds of Sheepes wool – 0.7.0
    - In Indian Corne Tubbs & a pare of small scales – 0.i.0
    - Two old Baggs a Snap Sacke & some Bacon – 0.6.0
    - One old Bed blancott & pillow – 0.3.0
    - In the Sella" two Barrells & a Churn & some
    other lumber – 0.10.0
    - A sadle & pillion & two Sives – 0.7.0
    - A Swine – 0.15.0
    - In his Wearing Apparrell that is by consent divided among the children & taken by them – 4.4.0
    - And alsoe a Coverlid that is reserved for Isaac – 0.14.0
    - Another for Jacob Apprized at 0.14.0
    - And a coverlid for John – 0.14.0
    - And a coverlid for Wm Toy – 0.15.9
    - And Reserved for Abraham a Silke grass Bed & a Blancot – 0.14.0
    The Sum Total 3.4.0
    No inventory of the real estate was recorded_
    Mrs. Frances Newell outlived her husband ten years, dying 11 month 16, 1682. Rev. Mr. Eliot recorded her death as follows: "Mother Newell died neere 100 y. old."
    A list of the children of Abraham and Frances Newell follows:
    1. FAITH NEWELL, b. 1620; d. before 1650; m. George Bennett of Boston, who was drowned in 1652. Son, John Bennett. George Bennett m. (2) Audrey     
    2. GRACE NEWELL, b. 1622; d. a widow at Roxbury April 11, 1712, in her ninety-first year; m. Sept. 14, 1644, William Toy (or Tay) of Roxbury. They lived for a time in Billerica, Mass.
    3. ABRAHAM NEWELL, b. 1626; d. Aug. 19, 1692; M. Feb. 8, 1651, Susan Rand.
    4. JOHN NEWELL b. 1628; d. August 1673
    5. ISAAC NEWELL, b. 1632; d. Dec. 8, 1 707 ; M. Elizabeth Curtis
    6. JACOB NEWELL, b. 1634; d. of small pox Dec. 30, 1678; m.
    Nov. 7, 1657, Martha Gibson.
  2. [S66] Christine Cecilia Fowler, The History of the Fowlers, page 19 - The marriages of his [Abraham] sons Abraham, Jr., Jacob, Isaac, and daughter Grace are given in the Roxbury Vital Records; also births of his son's children.
  3. [S737] , 30 April 1634 possengers of the Francis of Ipswich, Mr. John Cutting, captain bound for New England [landed at Plymouth or Boston, Mass.] from the public record office, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU England. Abraham Newell 50, Frances his wife 40, Abraham 8, John Newell 5, Issacke Newell 22 months. Listed separately from the family and not together were Faith 14, Grace 13.
  4. [S739] Peter Wilson Coldham, The Complete Book of Immigrants, 30 April 1634, passengers from Ipswich by the"Francis" of Ipswich, Mr. John Cutting, bound for New England. Abraham Newell 50, Fraces his wife 40, Abraham 8, John 5, Isaacke 22.
  5. [S482] William M. Emery, Newell Ancestry: The Story of the Antecedents of William Stark Newell, pages 9 - 12 - Will.
  6. [S66] Christine Cecilia Fowler, The History of the Fowlers, page 19 - Abraham died there [Roxbury] June 13, 1672, aged 91.