Abraham Williams (1727 - 1784)

Born 25 Feb 1727 in Marlborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay, British Colonial America

Ancestors

Husband of Anna (Buckminster) Williams — married 11 Sep 1751 (to 13 Aug 1784) in Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts

Descendants

Died 13 Aug 1784 at age 57 in Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States

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Biography

Reverend Abraham Williams performed Patriotic Service in Massachusetts in the American Revolution.

Abraham Williams is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A125860.

Abraham Williams was born on 25 Feb 1727 in Marlborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay to Abraham Williams and his 2nd wife, Elizabeth (Breck) Williams Abraham Sr. was one of the leading men of Marlborough, a Justice of the Peace, and Colonel of the 3rd Regiment of the Militia in Middlesex and Worcester Massachusetts. He also built and operated a tavern that stood until 1947.^[1]
Abraham Jr. graduated from Harvard College in 1744 and was invited to preach in Sandwich, Massachusetts. He was well liked and his “energy and good sense” united the parish that had been “divided and harassed by internal strifes” and he was invited to stay and become Pastor, being ordained in 1749.^[2]
He married Anna Buckminster, daughter of Col. Joseph Buckminster of Framingham, on 11 Sep 1751. They would go on to have 10 children. He was invited to deliver a sermon before the Assembly of the House of Representatives of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in Boston in 1762.^[3] He became a vocal supporter of the struggle for independence from England, not surprising given his father’s standing in the Continental Army, and 2 of his sons died on British prison ships. In 1780 he was elected to the newly formed American Academy of Arts & Sciences.^[4]
Abraham died in 1784 at the age of 57. Anna lived with her daughter Sarah and her husband, Rev. Timothy Fuller, in Merrimack, New Hampshire until her death in 1810 at the age of 81. ^[5]
Buried near Abraham in Sandwich is his former slave, Titus Winchester, whom he had freed at the time of his death. (There are reports that Titus had refused manumission earlier.) Titus, upon his death, had donated the sum of $3,300 to the town to erect a clock tower in the church in honor of Abraham. ^[6]

Birth

Date: Feb 25, 1727

Place: Marlborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay, British Colonial America

Family

Father: Abraham Williams

Mother: Elizabeth Breck

Siblings:

Half siblings by Abraham Williams & Prudence Howe

1. Isaac Williams (died in infancy)
2. Elizabeth Williams (died in infancy)

Sibling by Abraham Williams & Elizabeth Breck

1. Larkin Williams, Sr

Half siblings by Abraham Williams & Elizabeth Boardman

1. William Williams (died in infancy)
2. Moses Williams
3. Breck Williams (died in infancy)
4. Abigail Williams
5. George Williams
6. Mary Williams
7. William Williams
8. Catherine Boardman Williams
9. Ephraim Williams
10. Paul Williams (died in infancy)
11. Lucy Williams
12. Boardman Williams
13. Elizabeth Williams

Marriage

Husband: Abraham Williams

Wife: Anna Buckminster

Date: About 1751

Place: Unknown

Children of Abraham Williams & Anna Buckminster

1. Sarah Williams, 5 Sep 1752
2. Abraham Williams, 10 Feb 1754
3. Elizabeth Williams, 30 Dec 1755
4. Robert Breck Williams, 9 Mar 1757
5. Anna Williams, 16 Mar 1759
6. Joseph Williams, 18 Mar 1761
7. Martha Williams, 1 Nov 1762
8. William Williams, 30 Jan 1765
9. Thomas Williams, 29 Sep 1768
10. Caroline Williams, 26 Sep 1780 ^[7]

Death

Date: August 13, 1784

Place: Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States

Sources

1. ↑ https://www.historicmarlborough.org/lost-landmarks
2. ↑ The History of Cape Cod: the Annals of Barnstable County. Pages 565-6.
3. ↑ Williams, Abraham. A sermon preach'd at Boston, before the Great and General Court or Assembly of the province of the Massachusetts-Bay in New-England, May 26. 1762. : Being the day appointed by royal charter, for the election of His Majesty's Council for said province. Boston : Printed by S. Kneeland, by order of the Honourable House of Representatives., M, DCC, LXII. (Available as a free eBook through Google.)
4. ↑ https://www.amacad.org/person/abraham-williams
5. ↑ The History of Cape Cod: the Annals of Barnstable County. Page 566.
6. ↑ https://sandwichhistory.org/the-titus-clock/
7. ↑ Kardell, Caroline Lewis and Lovell, Russell A., Jr , Vital records of Sandwich, Massachusetts, volume 1, Boston : New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1996. pp.183-4

• "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V5NH-QFQ : 4 December 2014), Abraham Williams, 25 Feb 1727; citing MARLBORO,MIDDLESEX,MASSACHUSETTS, ; FHL microfilm 0844943 IT 2.

• "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FH7K-LGD : 13 July 2016), Rev Abraham Williams and Miss Anna Buckminster, 11 Sep 1751; citing Marriage, Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States, , town clerk offices, Massachusetts; FHL microfilm 775,836.

• https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=65820720

• Freeman, Frederick, 1799-1883. The History of Cape Cod: the Annals of Barnstable County, Including the District of Mashpee ... Boston: Printed for the author, 1860-62.

(available at https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001873726)

• Fuller, Arthur B. Historical Notices of Thomas Fuller and His Descendants with a Genealogy of the Fuller Family / [by Arthur Buckminster Fuller]. H.W. Dutton and Son, printers, 1859. pp. 29-30

• sermons by Abraham Williams available as ebooks from Google available at https://play.google.com/store/books/author?id=Abraham+WILLIAMS+%28Pastor+of+the+Church+in+Sandwich,+Mass.%29

Acknowledgments

• Thank you to David Smith for creating WikiTree profile Williams-17241 through the import of Smith Family Tree-2RGS_2013-04-28.ged on May 5, 2013.