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Reeve, Abigail (bef 1686 NY - fl 1737 NY)

Reeve, Abigail

Family of Thomas Reeve  »  Reeve, Thomas  »  Reeve, John  »  Reeve, Abigail

Reeve, Abigail


Summary

Father: John Reeve
Mother: Hannah Brown

Birth: before 1686
Birth Source: Censuses

Death: after 1737
Death Source: Salmon Records

Spouse1: Thomas Dickerson
Spouse2: Charles Wager

Narrative

Note: This page represents the Abigail Reeve who was the wife of Thomas Dickerson, and whose descendant records are relatively well documented. Of her parentage there are different possible conclusions. For now we will follow the conclusions of Wesley Baker's studies (as has been done previously on TRP for other members of the Southold Reeve family), subject to further research.

Abigail Reeve of Southold, New York was probably the daughter of John Reeve and Hannah Brown.

Abigail Reeve is represented in the person count of John Reeve's household in the 1686 Southold, NY census.

Abigail Reeve appears by name in the 1698 Southold, NY census in the household of John Reeve, and

Abigail is mentioned by name in her father John Reeve's will in 1712 as one of three daughters.

An entry in The Salmon Records lists the marriage of Thomas Dickerson and Abigail Reeve on 13 January 1715, in Southold, NY.

Children of Thomas Dickerson and Abigail Reeve:
  1. Abigail Dickerson, m. Henry Wells
  2. Thomas Dickerson, m. Sarah Wager
  3. Daniel Dickerson, m Marcy or Mary Youngs
  4. Joshua Dickerson, m. Mehetible Dickerson
  5. Joseph Dickerson
  6. Elizabeth Dickerson, m. Andrew Wager
  7. infant daughter
  8. Peter Dickerson, m1. Ruth Coe; m2. Sarah Armstrong O'Hara

The Salmon Records list the death of Thomas Dickerson on 12 September 1725.
Abigail is mentioned by name in her husband Thomas Dickerson's will in 1725.

The Salmon Records list the marriage of Charles Wager to Widow Abigail Dickeson on 17 March 1737.

Abigail has not yet been found in later documents.

Research Notes


Birth date
"Before 1686" is based the presumption that Abigail is numbered among the three females in John Reeve's household in the 1686 Southold Census.

Parentage
Abigail Reeve wife of Thomas Dickerson was surmised to be the daughter of Joseph Reeve in several well-circulated genealogical and historical collections. However, Wesley L. Baker revisits this matter in much detail in his more contemporary books Reeve Family of Southold, Long Island, N.Y. and Dickerson and Dickinson Descendants of Philemon Dickerson cited below. There, Baker reviews the origins of the previous assumptions, reveals certain errors and additional previously unconsidered data, and presents a case for this Abigail Reeve actually being the daughter of John Reeve.

Some specific points made in those studies include:

There are three Abigail Reeve's names in the 1698 Census of Southold, NY, in the households of John, Joseph, and Mary Reeve.

  • John Reeve's will of 1712 refers to his eldest daughter, Hannah, as "now wife of Gideon Young", but refers to his two other daughters, Abigail and Martha, only by their given names. Further, Abigail and Martha are each bequeathed half of the household while Hannah is bequeathed only a small amount "over & above what she hath already had." According to Baker, "this was a frequent reference in wills of those days to a married daughter" as the married daughter would already have been given her share as a wedding gift. It is known that John's daughter Martha was unmarried at the time of the 1712 will. The subject of this TRP page would not yet have been married at the time of the 1712 will, while Abigail wife of John Dickerson was married by this time.
            All of this seems to support John Reeve as the father of Thomas Dickerson's wife versus as the father of John Dickerson's wife.


  • Joseph Reeve's will of 1722 refers to his three daughters, Abigail, Mary & Hannah, only by their given names, with no mention of marriage status for any of them. Daughters Mary and Hannah were both unmarried at the time of the 1722 will, while Abigail wife of John Dickerson would have been already married for 12 years. This is certainly not conclusive, but is not a strong contradiction of Abigail wife of John Dickerson's marriage status as that presented by John Reeve's will.

  • Mary Reeve is presumed to be the widow of William Reeve, who died in 1697 but did not leave a will. Baker reasons that since this family lived in Mattituck (Craven, A History of Mattituck, p.71) , while the Dickerson's lived in the Hamlet of Southold about 8 miles away, it is unlikely that the Abigail Reeve from Mary Reeve's household was the one who married John or Thomas Dickerson. This also is not conclusive, but adds support to Baker's reasoned conclusion.


Useful references:

  • Baker, Wesley Logan. Study of the Reeve family of Southold, Long Island, N.Y. : and Southold descendants of the Southampton, L.I. Reeves family and genealogy of said families up to 1800, Douglaston, N.Y.: 1970. Pages 114-115, 351 (FamilySearch.org)            Filled with transcriptions and reproductions of primary source materials for the Reeve Family of Southold, NY ca 1600's-1800's

  • Baker, Wesley L.. Dickerson and Dickinson Descendants of Philemon Dickerson of Southold, Long Island, N.Y.: Also Long Island Descendants of Captain John Dickinson of Oyster Bay: Published Chicago, IL: Adams Press, 1979. Pages 42-43.            Filled with transcriptions and reproductions of primary source materials for the Dickerson Family and their many Reeve marriage connections of Southold, NY ca 1600's-1800's

  • Craven, Charles Edmiston, A History of Mattituck, Long Island, N.Y. Published 1906 for the author, Mattituck, N.Y. (Archive.org)

  • Moore, Charles Benjamin. Town of Southold, Long Island. Personal index prior to 1698, and index of 1698, J. Medole, New York, 1868. Page 112. (Archive.org)            An attempt to identify all inhabitants of Southold through analysis of the primary material of the time.

  • Werner, Charles Jolly, Genealogies of Long Island families; a collection of genealogies relating to the following Long Island families: Dickerson, Mitchill, Wickham, Carman, Raynor, Rushmore, Satterly, Hawkins, Arthur Smith, Mills, Howard, Lush, Greene, publ. 44 Whitehall Street New York, N. Y. - 1919. Page 13, 16. (Archive.org)            A reference used to complete many genealogies even today, yet the information deserves careful verification against primary source material.

Sources

Birth:              1686 Census
Marriage1:     The Salmon Records
Marriage2:     The Salmon Records
Death:             The Salmon Records

Census:
1686 Southold, NY (Archive.org)
1698 Southold, NY

History:
1712 Will of John Reeve; New York Wills Vol. 8, page 301
1722 Will of Joseph Reeve; New York Wills Vol. 12, page 514
1725 Will of Thomas Dickerson; New York Wills Vol. 13, page 356 (FamilySearch.org)