The family of Abraham Foster 1659-1741

Try as I might, I have not been able to locate much information about this Abraham.  He had only three known children, so this will be a short post.

Abraham was the son of Abraham and Lydia Burbank Foster, born in 1659 in Ipswich, Massachusetts.  He married Mary Robinson, the daughter of Robert and Mary Silver Robinson, in the nearby town of Newberry, and they lived out their years in Ipswich.  There are records for an Abraham Foster who served in a military expedition in 1710, but this would have been a fairly advanced age (51) to be our Abraham.  It may have been his son, who was just 14 in 1710, and there were likely other Abraham Fosters at the time.  

At any rate, Abraham and Mary were married in 1693, and their first son, Abraham, was born in 1696.  He marred Sarah Dwinnell or Dunnell, the daughter of Michael and Hannah, possibly Cove, Dwinnell.  Their children are Abraham, Sarah, Thomas, Hannah, Amos, Ruth, and Abigail.  Abraham died in 1767.

There was a gap of about four years before their son Nathan arrived in 1700.  He married Hannah Standish, the daughter of Josiah and Sarah Cary Standish.  Their children are Mary, Nathan, Hannah, Lois, Eunice, Mehitable, Phebe, Sarah, Daniel, Asa, and Standish.  I will follow this family in my next post.  In case you are wondering, yes, Hannah was a descendant of Captain Myles Standish of Plymouth fame.  Nathan died in 1753.

Then there's another gap of about five years, when Daniel was born in 1705.  I have seen him referred to as Reverend Daniel Foster, but that may or may not be correct.  There was a Reverend Daniel Foster of a later generation, and it's possible the two men were confused.  Daniel married twice.  His first wife was Hannah Clark, the daughter of Judah and Hannah Kilborne Clark.  Their children are Isaac, Mercy/Mary (unsure whether this was one person, or two), Daniel, Hannah, Susannah, and Ebenezer.  He next married Elizabeth Davis, the daughter of Cornelius and Sarah Jewett Davis.  They had a daughter, Elizabeth, and may have a son Daniel.  Again, I'm not sure whether there was a Daniel born to each of his wives, or whether there is an "extra" Daniel in this list. Daniel died in 1752.

Because of the four and five year gaps shown here, and because Mary didn't die until 1752, it's possible that there were additional pregnancies and possibly children.  These three are the ones mentioned in Abraham's will, and as much as this family has been researched, it seems unlikely that any additional children survived to adulthood.  Abraham and Mary had at least 25 grandchildren, and would have lived long enough to have known most if not all of them.  It's a legacy to be proud of.