The Original Grantees of Campton, New Hampshire

Part Three - Abel Willey

BIG WARNING: There is an Abel Willey, married to Mary Mercy Fowler, living in Thornton, Grafton, New Hampshire which is right next to Campton. The Abel Willey in Thornton and the Abel Willey in Campton are close in age and both appear to have been lieutenants in the Revolutionary War. They are not the same man. There is a third Abel Willey (the oldest son of Abel Willey and Mary Mercy Fowler) married to Lydia Emery and they were having children in Thornton the same time Abel Willey and Lydia Church were having children in Campton.

And now to the story

Chickens I, unknown artist, undated, photo of a drawing; imaged Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/item/2003663847/ : accessed 21 February 2025)

Abel Willey was probably a serious young man since his father had died and as the man of the house, Abel probably felt obligated to provide for his mother and sisters. As a minor, he could not buy property and his mother and sisters helped purchase the right of land in Campton for him.¹

How did the women earn the money? Maybe by selling eggs, butter, milk, wool, yarn, and preserves. Perhaps they took in lodgers, or the girls hired out to help in other households.² As a widow, Mary (Holmes) Willey might have owned a shop or perhaps a tavern, but if the family was doing well economically, they probably would not have felt the need to move to Campton.³

The original grantees must have known Abel’s family to trust him as a grantee. While Abel was a 1st cousin, 2x removed of Jared Spencer who originally petitioned the Governor for the land grant in 1761, and the Willeys, Spencers, Brainards, and Hungerfords were the original settlers of East Haddam, Connecticut, other than a general idea that the Willeys and the Spencers were connected, there probably wasn’t a feeling of family obligation to include Abel in the Campton deal.⁴

Image generated at Canva using Dream Lab

But in the spring of 1766, Hobart Spencer brought the seventeen-year-old Abel Willey with him to Campton.⁵ Abel spent the farming season preparing a place for his family. He probably learned farming and building from doing odd jobs, and perhaps from working on his father’s and uncles’ farms. Clearing the land and building a house was hard work. Abel and Hobart had hundred-acre lots two and three right next to each other and they probably worked together on the jobs that were too big for one man.⁶ After the harvest, Abel returned to his mother’s home in East Haddam, Connecticut for the winter.⁷

He did that again the next year, and the following year in the spring of 1768, he brought his mother, Mary (Holmes) Willey, and his unmarried sisters with him.⁸ The year after that (1769), his brother-in-law, who was also his third cousin, Darius Willey, arrived with his wife, Abel’s sister, Mary Holmes (Willey) Willey.⁹

Imaged generated at Canva using Dream Lab

When Darius and Mary came, she and her husband Darius loaded all their belongings on two horses with Darius riding one with their son Darius and Mary riding the other with their daughter Mary mounted behind her and their son Isaac in her arms.¹⁰ They traveled to “the Merrimac River probably not far from Nashua” where they probably boarded a boat and followed the river which became the Pemigewasset further north.¹¹ They disembarked about fifty miles north of Concord, and once again loaded and mounted the horses for the two-week ride to Abel’s home.¹²

Abel, his mother, and his sisters probably also traveled to Campton via the Merrimac River. The spring waters were probably high and fast. Once they disembarked from the boat, the overland journey was most likely rough. The trails would have been muddy with no bridges over the streams which would have been at their peak.¹³ Since spring was the rainy season, it was more than likely that some days they were traveling in the rain and sheltering in a wedge tent.¹⁴

Nathan Hale Schoolhouse built in 1750, East Haddam, Middlesex, Connecticut, photographed by American Buildings Survey, 1933; imaged, Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/item/ct0351/ : accessed 21 February 2025).

East Haddam was a thriving community with schools, churches, and businesses.¹⁵ Now the ladies were in the wilderness having to use the bushes for a privy, and probably wondering about the dangers of natives and wild animals. Cooking over a fire was a time-consuming activity that would have been made more difficult to nearly impossible with damp wood, flint, and steel. No matter how primitive the house was, the ladies were probably relieved to leave the woods and see their new home.

In February 1770, Abel reached the age of majority. He was 21 years old and the other grantees must have had a great deal of respect for this hard-working young man. On June 4th of that year, he was elected to collect the monies owed to the community for the surveying and road work.¹⁶ Since he was one of the original grantees, on that same day he pitched lot 2 in the 1st division of 100 acres in the upland which was the lot he had settled when he arrived in 1766.¹⁷ He also pitched lot 26 in the 2nd division of 100 acres in the upland which was two lots over from lot 2.¹⁸ And Darius bought the right of Grindal Rawson and pitched lot 27.¹⁹

Platt map from the Campton Historical Society with Abel Willey’s lots, Hobart Spencer’s neighboring lot, and the lot Darius Willey bought from Grendel Rawson highlighted.

Abel and Darius probably worked together to clear the land and plant rye, oats, corn, potatoes, and beans to provide for their families.²⁰ They probably hunted to supplement the vegetables and grains.²¹ At first, there were no mills. Corn was pounded in a mortar, and peas and beans were a substitute for bread.²² Life probably settled into a pattern as the families worked to improve their properties and prepare for the winters.

Then news of the battles at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts reached Campton in April 1775. At some point, it appears Abel enlisted to serve in the Revolutionary War.²³ In 1792 the town council voted Lieutenant Abel Willey, Major Samuel Holmes, and Lieutenant Moody Cook to a committee to look up all the notes, receipts, and other writings so Moses Little and Moses Baker could “settle with the States Committee with regard to money taken out of the States Treasury in the year 1776 to Supply this Town with arms and Ammunition.”²⁴

Image generated at Canva using Dream Lab. Lydia Church and Abel Willey were married by her brother, Rev. Selden Church. The bride would have worn her best dress or had one made for the wedding that she could later wear to church and other activities. The wedding most likely was performed in the bride’s home.

Abel didn’t wait for the war to end before marrying Lydia C. Church on 1 January 1778.²⁵ She was the sister of Rev. Selden Church who had come to Campton in 1774 and was the first settled minister.²⁶ Perhaps Lydia had come with him, or perhaps she came later with her brother Jabez. Just over a year later, Abel and Lydia welcomed a daughter, Lydia Selden Willey, born on 25 February 1779.²⁷

And the children kept on coming – Esther born 31 March 1781, John born 15 May 1783, Levi born 16 January 1786, Amos born 22 November 1787, Diodate born 30 March 1789, Christopher born 5 March 1791, Mary born 9 August 1793, Miriam born 29 May 1796, and Mehitable born 16 May 1800.²⁸ Campton’s land was poor and farming probably wasn’t enough to support his large family. Throughout the years Able worked for the town of Campton as a selectman, on committees, and as a constable, but he also set up a tavern as early as 1787 and he was still running it at the time of his death on 20 March 1834.²⁹

1. Robert W. Baird, “Legal Age,” Bob’s Genealogy Filing Cabinet: Southern and Colonial Genealogies (https://genfiles.com/articles/legal-age/ : accessed 19 February 2025). Also, Rev. Isaac Willey, “The Early History of Campton,” in Proceedings at the Centennial Celebration of the Town of Campton, New Hampshire 12 September 1867 (Concord: A.G. Jones, 1868), 16; imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/21905/ : accessed 19 February 2025), image 23.

2. Micki M. Caskey, “Colonial Women,” part of the Iroquois Confederacy and the US Constitution curriculum developed by Micki M. Caskey, Theresa J. Rapida, and Mark Wubbold, Portland State University (https://web.pdx.edu/~caskeym/iroquois_web/html/colonialwoman.htm : accessed 19 February 2025).

3. Caskey, “Colonial Women.”

4. Hobart and Abel were related through Isaac Willey and Joanna Lutten – Abel Willey was a great-great-grandchild and Hobart Spencer was a great-grandchild making them 2nd cousins 1x removed.

5. Centennial Celebration, 16.

6. Campton, Grafton, New Hampshire, Town Records Vol. 1, 1767-1826, 21–22, Lot 2 pitched by Abel Willey and Lot 3 pitched by Hobart Spencer; imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-899K-WN1P : accessed 19 February 2025), group number 005510567, image 13; citing New Hampshire Bureau of Vital Records and Statistics, Concord.

7. Centennial Celebration, 16.

8. Centennial Celebration, 16.

9. Centennial Celebration, 16. Also, Family Memorial of Darius Willey and Wife With Their Children, August 15th, 1865 (San Francisco, California: Bacon & Company, 1868), 6–7; imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/586531 : accessed 19 February 2025), images 4 & 5. Darius Willey was a great-great-grandson of Isaac Willey and Joanna Lutten making him 3rd cousins with Abel Willey and 2nd cousin 1x removed with Hobart Spencer.

10. Family Memorial of Darius Willey and Wife, 6–7.

11. Family Memorial of Darius Willey and Wife, 7.

12. Family Memorial of Darius Willey and Wife, 7.

13. Family Memorial of Darius Willey and Wife, 7.

14. John U. Reese, “Soldiers’ Shelter on Campaign During the War for Independence: Tents in the Armies of the Revolution, Part I,” RevWar’75 (https://revwar75.com/library/rees/shelter1.htm : accessed 19 February 2025).

15. “Town History,” condensed from A Brief History of East Haddam, Connecticut written by Karl Stofko and Rachel Gibbs, East Haddam Conn (https://www.easthaddam.org/town-history : accessed 19 February 2025).

16. Campton, Grafton, New Hampshire, Town Records Vol. 1, 1767-1826, 122, Abel Willey chosen collector.

17. Campton, Grafton, New Hampshire, Town Records Vol. 1, 1767-1826, 21–22, Lot 2 pitched by Abel Willey.

18. Campton, Grafton, New Hampshire, Town Records Vol. 1, 1767-1826, 33–34, Lot 26 pitched by Abel Willey.

19. Campton, Grafton, New Hampshire, Town Records Vol. 1, 1767-1826, 34, Lot 27, pitched by Darius Wiley.

20. Family Memorial of Darius Willey and Wife, 7.

21. Family Memorial of Darius Willey and Wife, 7.

22. Family Memorial of Darius Willey and Wife, 10.

23. Harold B. Trombley, Location of Graves of New Hampshire Revolutionary Soldiers, 1950, 34; imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C34L-SQ6G-P : accessed 20 February 2025), group number 008621277, image 796.

24. Campton, Grafton, New Hampshire, Town Records & Vital 1777–1825, 80, Lt Abel Willey chosen to serve on a committee regarding money owed for arms and ammunition for Campton purchased in 1776; imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G99K-8YSM : accessed 19 February 2025), group number 005511077, image 35; citing New Hampshire State Capitol, Concord.

25. Campton, Grafton, New Hampshire, Town Records & Vital 1777–1825, vital section, unumbered, marriage of Abel Willey and Lydia Church; image 201.

26. Family Memorial of Darius Willey and Wife, 35. Also, Franklin Bowditch Dexter, Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College with Annals of the College History Vol. 111, May, 1763–July, 1778 (New York: Henry Holt and Co. 1903), 109, entry for Selden Church, third son and child of John Church and Lydia Chapman; imaged, GoogleBooks (https://books.google.com : accessed 21 February 2025) And, New Hampshire Index to Marriages up to 1900, card for Abel Willey and Lydia Church, 1 January 1778; imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-D4L3-87B : accessed 19 February 2025), group number 004243235, image 2300; citing New Hampshire Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, Concord. Lydia was listed as the daughter of John Church and Lydia Chapman.

27. Campton, Grafton, New Hampshire, Town Records & Vital 1777–1825, vital section, unnumbered, family of Abel Willey and Lydia Church, Lydia their daughter born 25 February 1779; image 186.

28. Campton, Grafton, New Hampshire, Town Records & Vital 1777–1825, vital section, unumbered, family of Abel Willey and Lydia Church, Esther their daughter born 31 March 1781, John their son born 15 May 1783, Levi their son born 1786; image 186. Also, New Hampshire Index to Births to 1900, card for Amos Willey, 22 November 1787; imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-DBG3-1YS : accessed 20 February 2025), group number 004244322, image 2440; citing New Hampshire Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, Concord. And, New Hampshire Index to Births to 1900, card for Deadale [should be Diodate] Willey, 30 March 1789; image 2523. And, New Hampshire Index to Births to 1900, card for Christopher Willey, 5 March 1791; image 2483. And, New Hampshire Index to Births to 1900, card for Mary Willey, 9 August 1793; image 2800. And, New Hampshire Index to Births to 1900, card for Miriam Willey, 29 May 1796. And, New Hampshire Index to Birth to 1900, card for Mehitable Willey, 16 May 1800.

29. Campton, Grafton, New Hampshire, Town Records & Vital 1777–1825, 72, Abel Willey, selectman, order to notify legal voters of an upcoming meeting, 31 May 1791; image 31. Campton, Grafton, New Hampshire, Town Records Vol. 1, 1767-1826, 317 & 318 & 378, Abel Willey on committee to complete division of hundred acre lots in the 3rd division, 22 December 1791, and on committee to survey lands and lots and ascertain which properties belong in Plymouth and which in Campton,15 February 1792, and on committee to settle all the propritors’ accounts, 11 October 1798; images 174 & 175 & 205. Campton, Grafton, New Hampshire, Town Records & Vital 1777–1825, 29 & 71 & 278, Abel Willey on committee to plan 8 pews in the meeting house and “sell the same”, 21 March 1780, on committee to agree with Lt. Tupper in exchange of houses, 15 March 1791, and Lt Abel Willey on committee to divide the town into school districts, 29 August 1808; images 7 & 30 & 135. Grafton County, New Hampshire, Probate Estate Files, 1773-1950, Bedel-Wright, 1789, alphabetical order, file of Asa Spencer, unpaginated, Abel Willey on committee to set off dower of Deborah Spencer from the estate of her late husband, Asa Spencer, 23 June 1790; imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89CL-R7KX : 20 February 2025), group number 007406765, image 338; citing NARA, Northeast Region.Campton, Grafton, New Hampshire, Town Records & Vital 1777–1825, 194, Abel Willey, Constable, notified legal voters of the upcoming meeting, 25 February 1802; image 90. New Hampshire Index to Births to 1900, card for Amos Willey, 22 November 1787, son of Abel Willey, tavern keeper and farmer. Find A Grave, database with images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/64119041/abel-willey : accessed 20 February 2025), Abel Willey (1749-1834), memorial created by Jessica with gravestone image by GRCheney; citing Campton Hollow Cemetery, Campton Hollow, Grafton, New Hampshire. Also, New Hampshire Index to Deaths up to 1900, card for Abel Willey, 20 March 1834; imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DHG9-S9 : accessed 20 February 2025), group number 004244247, image 2138; citing New Hampshire Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, Concord.