Abigail Garfield Jones

Biography

Life summary. Abigail Garfield Jones’s life connected family loss, marriage and reported separation with a later claim to support from the Weston estate. The 1782–83 dower proceedings set out her share in unusual physical detail, preserving access to water, rooms, the barn and routes across the land.

When Abigail Garfield Jones’s share of the family property was set out in 1782, the survey began before the front door and ran through the middle of the chimney. It continued toward a stone fence and through the barn. Such a line could divide an estate on paper, but the house and farm still needed to work. The surveyors therefore preserved common use of the door and barn floor, access to water and passage to each party’s rooms. ^596-1

Abigail had been born on March 5, 1707/08 to Benoni Garfield and Abigail Stearns. The retained family account places her mother’s death in 1710, when she was about two. In December 1728 she married James Jones. Their children included Lemuel, James, Abigail, Eunice, Sarah, Jonathan and Solomon, connecting her to a growing Weston household during the 1730s and early 1740s. Weston is west of Boston in present-day Massachusetts. ^596-1596-3

Trask’s later family history reports that her husband left for North Carolina around 1748 with their son James. Bond described marital discord before the departure, but neither spouse’s own explanation has been recovered in the reviewed research. The circumstances of their separation remain uncertain. ^596-1596-2

Other children formed households in Massachusetts. The retained family evidence reports Eunice’s marriage to Caleb Mirick in 1754 and their later family in the Rutland–Princeton area of central Massachusetts. Eunice’s household carried another branch of Abigail’s family into the inland Massachusetts communities. ^596-4

The estate proceedings bring her directly into view again. A committee appointed on November 5, 1782 valued ninety-seven acres, including a dwelling house, barn and cider house, at £600. Her dower portion was estimated at twenty-five acres and £204 10s. The allocation valued buildings and land together, giving Abigail a lifetime interest whose estimated area was smaller than a third of the whole estate. ^596-1

The boundary description placed the premises near Four Mile Brook, a town way, the county road and neighboring holdings, including land of the heirs of Lemuel Jones. Within the divided premises, Abigail retained the right to reach the well and draw water. Both sides could pass to their respective cellar and upper rooms and cross one another’s land to reach the house and barn. The heirs also retained a route across the northern part to cart hay. ^596-1

These clauses explain what made the portion usable. A room without access, or land without passage to the road, would not provide the same security. The barn floor and hay-cart route connected the division to agricultural work; the well and door connected it to ordinary domestic needs. ^596-1596-5

The return was dated December 27, 1782 and accepted by the probate judge on March 12, 1783. Abigail’s mark appears among the countersignatures. She was approximately seventy-five when this arrangement for her widowhood was recorded. ^596-1