Mehitable Smith and Joshua Abell of Norwich

Found in the pages of the Norwich town record is a marvelous little document that records the life of Mehitable Smith, daughter of Nehemiah, and her husband Joshua Abell. In most cases the town records are a simple chronological collection of the birth, marriages and deaths in a community. In some volumes each category is organized separately. In some cases all of the data for a family is accumulated and written in one concise little record. I have often wondered about the process. Was it something the town clerks did of their own volition? Did the head of a household initiate it? I don’t know the answer but what I do know is that when you come across one it is a joyous occasion. Such is the case with the family of Mehitable and Joshua. The record starts with their marriage then lists their children. The document records her death and Joshua’s subsequent marriage to Bethiah Gader. It then lists the children born to Joshua and Bethiah. It ends with the death records for Joshua and Bethiah. We have included the record as part of this essay. One thing I would like to note is the fact that they had an unnamed son who is unaccounted for in most histories. He was born the first of January and died the sixth of January 1678. The next year, 1679, a son who they named Nehemiah was born the 15th of January and according to the record “died the same month and year”. Mehitable died March 14, 1684. Joshua remarried and had 6 more children 4 of who where still living at the time of his will, his daughters Mehitable and Bethiah having died before their father. Joshua was a very successful farmer. Deed records would seem to indicate that at the time of his death he owned about 1,000 acres. Joshua’s will has two components. In one component he passes on an inheritance to Mehitable’s two daughters Anne and Martha who he refers to as my two eldest daughters. The second component is the inheritance for Bethiah’s 4 remaining daughters. In 1724 in Connecticut women did not own property. In Joshua’s will each of his daughters is granted a portion of his property however the land deeds are recorded in the name of their husbands. Joshua did include the provision that if they divorced or if the husband died first the property would be left to his daughters. He lists Anne’s husband Nathaniel Fitch and Martha’s husband Obadiah Smith. For Bethiah’s daughters he wrote “Thomas Lathrop his wife my daughter Lydia” the same for John Leffingwell and Sarah, Hugh Calkin and Phebe, John Lathrop and Elizabeth. The probate file also contained an extensive inventory of his personal and household goods two pages of which we have included. Joshua Abell is buried in the Old Norwich Burying Ground. His headstone reads “Here lies ye Body of Mr. Joshua Abell Who Departed This Life March ye 1, 1725 & in ye 76 year of his Age” There are pictures of Joshua’s headstone available on the Internet. We have also include a copy.