Abial CRAPO

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1820, Dartsmouth, Bristol Co., Massachusetts

Abial married Phebe DEVOLL on 30 Jun 1816 in Westport, Massachusetts. Phebe (daughter of Abner DEVOLL and Lydia MILK) was born in Feb 1792 in Westport, Massachusetts; died on 06 Nov 1862 in New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Abner CRAPO was born in 1826 in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts.
2. Alice P. CRAPO was born on 31 Mar 1834 in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts.
3. Cynthia Brownell CRAPO was born on 05 Apr 1817 in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts; died on 07 Oct 1888 in Poughkeepsie, New York.
4. Lydia M. CRAPO was born in Jan 1819 in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts.
5. Sarah Wing CRAPO was born on 08 Jun 1828 in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts; died in 1902.
6. Abbie D. CRAPO was born on 09 Mar 1822 in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts; died in 1913.
7. Sylvia CRAPO was born in 1824 in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts; died in 1853.
8. Squire G. CRAPO was born on 20 Nov 1820 in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts; died in 1896.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1790, Freetown, Bristol Co., Mass.
• Census: 1800, Dartsmouth, Bristol Co., Massachusetts
• Census: 1820, Dartsmouth, Bristol Co., Massachusetts
• Death: 10 Mar 1822, Freetown, Bristol, Massachusetts, USA

Notes:

Excerpt from "Certain Comeoverers": Peter Crapo, the second of the name, the son of John, the son of Peter, was born in 1743. He seems to have been a stirring sort of man of strong character, great energy and considerable achievement. There are many stories of his forceful methods and abounding vitality. When fifteen years of age it would appear that he volunteered from Rochester in the French and Indian War. At all events there was a Peter Crapo who was one of the company that met at Elijah Clapp's in Middleboro on the morning of May 29, 1758, and at a little afer sunrise commenced its march to and participated in the bloody and disastrous battle of Ticonderoga in which their General, Lord Howe, was slain. It certainly seems more probable that the Pter Crapo who wewnt on this expendition was this Peter, the son of John, born in 1743, rather than his uncle, the only other Peter then existant, who was born in 1709 and would consequently have been almost fifty years of age.
With such an experience in his boyhood it is not surprising that in the alarm of the nineteenth of April, 1775 (the battle of Lexington of which Paul Revere gave warning on the evening of the eighteenth), Peter Crapo as a private, and his brother Consider as Sergeant, marched under Captain Levi Rounseville from Freetown to the camp at Cambridge, as is set forth in the muster rolls at the State House in Boston. How long he served at this time I know not. It is possible, although not likely pehaps, that with Benedict Arnold he again traversed the road to Ticonderoga, leaving Cambridge May 3, and, joining Ethan Allen, assisted in the capture of the fortress on May 10. It is somewhat interesting that in response to this same alarm of April 19, 1775, men contains these two names in sequence, "William Crapo, corporal, Caleb Coombs, private." In the records of Rochester's quotas throughout the war the name of Crapo appears many times.
Peter again appears on the muster rolls as a private, his brother Consider as a sergeant, and his brother Joshua as a corporal, in Lieutenant Nathaniel Morton's company of militia from Freetown belonging to the regiment commanded by Edeard Pope, Esquire, which marched out on the alarm of December 8, 1776, "agreeable to the orders of the Honorable Council thereon." On this occasion Peter was given twenty days' pay, to wit: L2. 10s. 8d.
It was, however, as an active man of business that he has left his footsteps on the sands of time. You will remember that the first Peter was something of a lumberman, since he bound himself to deliver those "one thousand good merchantable rails at Acutshnet landing," and his grandson Peter's greatest effort in life was as a lumberman, logging the cedar and pine trees of Dartmouth and Freetown and sawing them at his mill at Babbitt's Forge at the head of the Quampanoag River. Afterwards his grandson, Henry H. Crapo, by a somewhat curious turn of fortune, became a lumberman and logged the pine forests of Michigan, sawing the lumber at Flint.
At what date Peter, the second, moved from Rochester to Freetown is not certain. I find a deed of land in Freetown from Bigford Spooner in 1770 to Peter's brother Joshua. This land was in the vicinity of the land which Peter later occupied. Joshua did not remain in Freetown. He is said to have imigrated to Maine. Peter and his brother Consider were settled in Freetown in 1773. They were engaged in the lumber business. In 1774 and for nearly twenty years thereafter Peter and Consider Crapo were actively engaged in logging and sawing as appears by the numerous recorded deeds to them. Their sawmill was "partly in Freetown and partly in Dartmouth" at the place called "Quampog where a forge formerly stood called Babbitt's Forge." At one time an Abraham Ashley and a Mereba Hathaway, a widow, were partners in their business. John Crapo, their father, conveyed several tracts of land to them and seems to have been interest with them in their business and may have lived with them for a time. He is always described, however, as "of Rochester." Some after 1790 Consider withdrew from the business and moved to Savoy, Massachusetts. The deeds of partition between the brothers are dated in 1797. Both brothers were owners of considerable tracts in Dartmouth, owning salt meadows on Sconticut in Troy, now Fall River. In 1793 Consider sold his homestead farm to Thomas Cottle of Tisbury, Dukes County, who removed thither. This was in the immediate vicinity of the sawmill since he reserved to his brother Peter a right of flowage appears to have taken in Richard Collins as a partner in the business. In 1793 the sawmill burned down but it apears to have been rebuilt. Down to the time of his death in 1822, Peter Crapo, as abundantly appears by the land and court records, was actively engaged in business.
Peter had a large family of children, fourteen in all, and it would seem that his manner of caring for them was distinctly patriarchal. As each child came of age and was about to be married, he summoned all the other children, the married and the unmarried, to undertake some special work whose profit might be devoted to settling the child to be married. In the case of a daughter with a dowry, in the case of a son with a homestead farm. It was in this way that by the united efforts of the whole family your great great grandfather Jesse was given his home and farm on the Rockadunda Road near the home of his wife's father, Henry Howland.
Peter kept the title of the various farms acquired for his sons in his own name, and when he died left them severally by his will, dated February 20, 1822, to their occupants, devising his own homestead fram, which, as appears by the inventory of his estate, was much the most valuable, to his youngest son Abiel, the baby of the family, on whom he placed the duty of caring for his widow. To his widow he also gave fifty dollars, one cow, and "the use and improvement of the south front room in my dwelling house with a privilege to pass and repass through the kitchen and porch and to the well to draw water, as well as a privilege in the cellar and the use and improvement of all the household furniture during her life." Considering her somewhat limited domain all the furniture may have been too liberal, but it is to be hoped that Abiel really did do his duty and made his mother comfortable. He gives to his "seven daughters" three hundred and fifty dollars each, and all of his household furniture after his widow's death. His estate was inventoried at something over $10,000, which was in those days a considerable estate.
Peter Crapo married Sarah West. The "intention of Marriage" is recorded in the Rochester town records, whereby it appears that Peter Crapo of Rochester and Sarah West of Dartmouth were "published" May ye 18th, 1766. They were married by Doctor Samuel West on NOvember 13, 1766, as appears by Doctor West's notes, which were found by the Rev. William J. Potter in an old attic in a house in Tiverton belonging to one of the famous old gentleman's descendants. It is not probable that Sarah West was related to Doctor West. She may have been an unrecorded daugher of one Charles West, originally of Middleboro, who doubtless descended from the Duxbury Wests. He lived in Bristol County at one time, and he was to some extent connected in business relations with the Crapos. Or, she may have belonged to one of the numberous Dartmouth Families of West, who were for the most part descended from Matthew West, who was in Lynn in 1636 and was subsequently of Portsmouth.. the fact that she was married by Doctor West leads me to suspect that she lived in that part of Dartmouth, now Acushnet, near the Rochester line. If so, she may have been a descentant of Stephen West who married one of John Cooke's daughters. When Sarah died, Peter married Content Hathaway of Dartmouth, and again the marriage ceremony was performed by Doctor West on October 13, 1789. At that time Peter was in Freetown and it may be that he chose for his second helpmeet a relative or friend of the the first. Many of the descendants of Stephen West and Arthur Hawthaway, both sons in law of John Cooke, lived in the northeasterly part of the town of Dartmouth not far from Rochester bounds. Sarah died May 6, 1789, in the forty-second year of her age. Her gravestone of grey slate with carved cherubims and a scriptural verse stands on the right side of Peter's stone. He died March 3, 1822, aged seventy-nine years. On his left is the stone of Content Hathaway, who died October 27, 1826, in the sixty-eighth year of her age. All three stones are well preserved and are placed in an old private burial ground, where many of Peter's descendants lie buried, in North Dartmouth, not far from Braley's Station, and near the dwelling house formerly of Malachi White.

Peter married Content PECKHAM on 13 Oct 1789 in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts. Content (daughter of James PECKHAM and Deborah HAMMOND) was born in 1754 in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts; died on 27 Oct 1826; was buried in Crapo Cemetery, Freetown, Bristol Co., Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Content Hathaway

Other Events and Attributes:

• Death: Aft 16 May 1783, Rochester, Mass.

Notes:

Excerpt from Certain Comeoverers: He was born in 1711. In 1734 he married Sarah Clark, the daughter of a neighbor. In 1739 his father Peter conveyed to him twenty acres "by the orchard of Joseph Ashley" near Peter's Sniptuit holdings. It was here perhaps that he lived. In 1743 his father deeded to him additional land. In 1744 he purchased a large tract in the "gore." The consideration was L150. He is described in this deed as a "husbandman". I am of the impression that I somewhere found him described as a "blacksmith, " but I am unable to verify the statement. In 1762 he and his brothers, Peter and Hezekiah, made a partition of the land which they received as residuary legatees under their father's will, and to John was given the land which the first Peter purchased of Ebenezer Lewis not far from the Pond. There are several other records of land transfers to and from him. He was living as late as 1779 when he conveyed most of his lands to his son John, junior, having doubtless given his other sons their shares by helping them establish the lumber business in Freetown. His son Peter, of whom more anon, was the father of Jesse Crapo.

John married Sarah CLARK on 07 Nov 1734 in Rochester, Plymouth, Massachusetts. Sarah (daughter of John CLARK and Mary TOBEY) was born on 18 Mar 1714 in Rochester, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA; died on 24 Dec 1776 in Rochester, Plymouth Co., Massachusetts; was buried in First Parish Cemetery, Rochester, Plymouth Co, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

James married Deborah HAMMOND on 10 Nov 1739. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Also Known As: Pierre
• Birth: Abt 1668, Isle d'Elvire, France

Notes:

According to "Mayflower Families Through 5 Generations Vol. 13 - William White": Tradition says that as a lad Peter was shipwrecked on Cape Cod about 1680 and given the name of Pierre Crapeau. He lived with Francis Coombs in Middleboro.

Excerpt from "Certain Comeoverers": "The tradition which your great grandfather Henry Howland Crapo preserved of his great great grandfather Peter the First was taht as a young lad, the only survivor of a French vessel from Bordeaux, he was cast ashore somewhere on the coast of Cape Cod. Subsequently, very likely through the action of the public authorities, since he was clearly a public charge, he was "put out" to one Francis Cooms, who brought him up. This tradition is corroborated from an independent source. Judge Coombs, the cashier of the Bedford Bank, and the grandfather of George Coombs, a schoolmate of mine) was familiar with a tradition of his family that they took in a little French boy, called him Crapaud, cared for him and reared him.
Another similar tradition preserved by Philip M. Crapo of Burlington, Iowa, who derived it from the Albany Crapos, who in turn derived it from Philip Crapo, a distinguished lawyer of Providence in the last century, was to the effect that the boy Piere was left with Francis Coombs by his brother, the commander of a French man-of-war wrecked on the coast of Cape. Cold. the brother (he is called Nicholas in this tradition) promised that when he returned to france he would send for the lad. He was never more heard from.
Similar traditions varying in detail have been preserved in several Crapo families in Dartmouth and Rochester. They all agree in making our common ancestor a young boy, French by nationality, and the survivor of a wreck. In several of these traditions a brother appears, sometimes as Nicholas and sometimes as Francis. If there was, indeed, such a brother, he must have died or disappeared, because all the known Crapos were easily traced back to our Pierre. It is fair to assume that the date of the wreck was not long before 1680. It would be interesting to try to discover by the shipping records whether any merchant vessell bound for some port in America c;eared from Bordeaux about that time was never more heard from. It would seem that the loss of a French man-of-war in those days might possibly be traced in the archives of the naval history of France. It is not inconceivable that should you devote the time and labor to look into the matter yhou migth discover what your name really is, and who were the people that little cast-away boy called father and mother.
Sarah Tappan Crapo always pretended to claim that Pierre was the "lost Dauphin" and consequently that she was rightfully Queen of France. Chronology sufficiently disposes of this fantasy. The poor little fellow known as the "lost Dauphin" was Louis XVII of France, a son of Marie Antoinette, born in 1785 and died (probably) in 1795 in the prison from which his father and mother were taken to the guillotine. Sa Vie, son Agonie, sa Mort (M.A. de Beauchesne, 1853) tells the story of this unfortunate little prince which is even more thrilling that the somewhat similar history of the two princes in the Tower of London. No less than twenty persons claimed aafterwards to be the lost Dauphin, tailors, shoemakers, a Jewish music teacher of London, and most distinguished of all, the Rev. Eleazer Williams, a issionary to the Oneidas, who lived in Hogans burg, New York, and who cut a great figure in Paris for a time with his pretensions. It is fortunate that we are not of these.
A much more probable theory has been advanced by those learned in such matters that our cast-away was from one of the numerous bands of Huguenots who fled to New England at the end of the Seventeenth century. The tradition that he came from Bordeaux is partially corroborative evidence. It was at Bordeaux that Richelieu encountered the most stubborn revolt of heretics that vexed his wondrous reign. The Rounsevells and the Demoranvilles and the Volottes, all well known Rochester and Freetown families, are currently supposed to have been of Huguenot origin. That Pierre Crapaud, who ws subsequently closely connected with several of these families through the marriages of his children, may have originally been in some way associated with the Huguenot refugees is not improbable. Mr. William T. Davis, the historian of Plymouth, some years ago suggested to me that Pierre may possible have been on that somewhat famous ship wrecked on the coast of Cape Cod in 1694, on which Francis le Baron, the "nameless nobleman," was either a passenger or an officer. The tradition of Pierre's somewhat dramatic entrance on the scene by means of a wwreck would make this plausible, yet I am inclined to think that if he was "a boy" when he was cast ashore 1694 is rather too late a date for his advent. Moreover this explanation of Pierre's arrival would preclude his association with Francis Coombs, as to which the tradition is quite as persistent as that he was French, a boy, and the survivor of a wreck.
After all it matters not so much whether this little chap was a son of a smug bourgeois of Bordeaux, the brother of an aristocratic commander of a french man-of-war, the persecuted companion of a nameless nobleman, or, even, by the grace of God eldest son of the King of France, Dauphin of Viennois,--as it does matter that he was a sturdy, thrifty pioneer of New England who "made good".
Frances Coombs was a son of "Mr. John Combe," a Frenchman, who appeared in Plymouth prior to 1630 and died prior to 1648. He married, 1630, Sarah Priest, daughter of Degory Priest. Her mother was a sister of Asaac Allerton of the Mayflower and had first married John Vincent. Degory Priest, her second husband, died in Keyden and just before crossing in the Ann in 1623 his widow married Cuthbert Cuthbertson. Mr. Cuthbertson and his wife brought with them a boy, Samuel, and two little girls, the children of Mrs. Cuthbertson and her husband Degory Priest. The children are afterwards erroneously described in the Plymouth records as the children of Cuthbert Cuthbertson. One of these daughters of Degory Priest married Phineas Pratt and the other, Sarah, married "Mr. John Combe.: John Combe, whose name soon became corrupted to Coombs, acquired some little property in Plymouth and is mentioned on the records in connection with land grants and minor municipal employments. He died prior to 1648 at which time his wife went back to the old country, deserting her children, who came under the faithful care of William Spooner, an ancestor of yours, whom John Coombs had indentured when he was a destitute young lad. One os these children was Francis, who took a somewhat prominent part in the affairs of Plymouth, acting as officer in various town matters, and being closely associated with Thomas Prence in several real estate deals, amoun which was the purchase of "Namassakett," later known as Middlebury and still later as Middleboro. In 1667 Francis Coombs was living in Plymouth but probably removed to Middleboro soon after its purchase. He was a selectman of "Middlebury" in 1674 and 1675. In 1675 he was associated with Lieutenant Morton in settling the estate of Governor Prence. He was one of a committee of two who distributed in Middleboro the funds sent by devout Christians in Ireland to alleviate the distress caused by King Philip's War. In 1678 he petitioned the court at Plymouth for a minister to be estqablished at "Middlebury," and the same year he was licensed by the Court "to keep an ordinary." This ordinary was probably situated at the "Green," some miles north of the present main village, and for a century and a half it continued to dispense hospitality to travellers. It was to this public house that little Pierre Crapaud went under indenture to Francis Coombs about 1680. How old he was at that time we cannot know. The traditions from various scources unite in disignating him as a mere boy. In 1682 Francis Coombs died. The ordinary was carried on by his widow, who received a license therefor in 1684. Francis Coombs had first married Deborah MOrton, and by her had several daaughters, but no son. His second wife and widow was Mary Barker Pratt, a daughter of Samuel Pratt, his cousin. Soon after 1684 Mary Barker Pratt Coombs married David Wood of Middleboro and continued for a time, at least, to carry on the ordinary. Whether "Anthony" Coombs, who may have been a brother of Francis Coombs, was ever associated in the management of this inn I have not been able to ascertain. There seems to be some trafition to that effect. Some seventy-five years ago this same tavern was still in existence, kept by one Abner Barrows and a portion of the building at that time was thought to be a part of the "old Coombs ordinary." It was here doubtless that Pierre Crapaud grew up, working as chore-boy and assistant.

Will:
In the name of God Amen---this 20th day of February A.D. 1756 I Peter Crapo of Rochester in the County of Plimouth Yeoman do make this my Last Will and Testament first I Recommend my Soul to God who Gave it, & my body to the Ground to be buried in decent Christian Buriall @ the discretion of my Esecr. wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me, I give and Dispose of the same in the following manner and form. Imprs. I give and Bequeath to my Loving wife Ann Crapo all the Household Goods and Stuf She brought to me @ time of Marriage, and also I give her a Sutable maintenance both in Sickness and in helth to be Provided for her by my three Sons hereafter Enjoyned to the Same and said Meantenance and Support to be what may be for her Comfortable Subsistance in every Respect according to her age & Quality.
Item -- I, Give to my son Frances Crapo and to his Heirs and assigns forever, the Dwelling House and Land he now lives on being in Rochester aforesd, Being all my Lnads on the Easterly Side the Ditch or Brook runing out of the South West corner Sniptuit Pond having sd. Pond on the north, Nicholas and Seth Crapo's Land on the South, the Long Pond So called, and other mens Land on the East Together with my Tow Islands in said Sniptuit pond, he paying so much of the Bond I have on him to four of my Daughters Hereafter named as I shall assign within twelve Months after my decease.
Item--I Give to my Three Sons Peter, Crapo, Junr., John Crapo and Hezekiah Crapo, and to their Heirs and assigns forever in Equall Shares all my other Estate both Real and Personall not before Disposed off, in this my will nor by Deeds Excepting the Bond abovesaid on my son Francis, they Paying my Just Debts and Funerall charges, and Providing for their said Hond. Mother, in Law my Wido, as abaove Expressed, and after my decease Deliver to her the Household Goods and Stuf She brought to me @ time of Marrage.
Item --- I Give to my son Nicholas Crapo five Shillings Money and that with what I have already given him, to be his proportion of my Estate.
Item--- I Give to my four Daughters, vix. Susannah Samoranvill, Mary Spooner, Elizabeth Luke, and Revecca Mathews Twenty Dollars to each of them, to be paid them by my said son Francis Six months after my decease, and it is to be in full discharge of the Bond aforesaid, and if either of my said four Daughters shall dye before payment then to be Payd to their Heirs---
Furthermore it is my Will That what I have herein given my Son John Crapoo, is to be accouanted in full Discharge of any and all demands he may make on my Estate for anything contracted before the Date hereof. Finally I do hereby Constitute and appoint my Son Hezekiah Crapoo Sole Executor of this my Last will and Testament and I do hereby Revoke and Disanull all former Wills by me heretofore made Ratifying and Confirming this and no Other to be my Last will and Testament. In Witness whereof I have hereunto Set my hand and Seal the day and Year first above writen.

Peter Crapoo (Seal)

Peter married Penelope WHITE on 31 May 1704 in Rochester, Plymouth, Mass.. Penelope (daughter of Samuel WHITE and Rebecca GREEN) was born on 12 Mar 1687 in Rochester, Massachusetts, Plymouth, County; died before 23 Nov 1738 in Rochester, Plymouth, Massachusetts; was buried in Rochester Cemetery, Rochester, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Son of John and Sarah Clark

John married Mary TOBEY in 1709 in Massachusetts. Mary (daughter of John TOBEY and Jane ?) was born on 16 Mar 1684 in Sandwich, Barnstable Co., Massachusetts; died in 1760 in Rochester, Plymouth Co., Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Name:
This last marriage was solemnized in the Meeting House of the Society of Friends, to which both parties belonged. He was a farmer and lived in that part of Dartmouth, Mass., now called New Bedford. His will mentions his children, Elizabeth, Eunice and Richard as minors at that date, 1757, March 19. His estate was divided among James, Stephen and Richard.

Stephen married Content ?. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Possibly Content Sisson