Abigail N. Howe ^{2 3}

   Another name for Abigail was Abigail Stewart.¹

  Noted events in her life were:

• She appeared on the 1850 US Census in Carthage Township, Athens, OH on 2 October 1850. ²

1850 US Census
Page 82, Family 1172, Roll 660
Carthage Township, Athens County, Ohio, United States
Abigail Holmes..47..New Hampshire

(Living with husband and 3 children.)
.

• She was buried after 4 September 1880 in the Wilsontown Cemetery in Adair County, MO.

PLOTRow 12
Find a Grave Memorial 83493741

NOTE - Stone was present in 1980 but may be missing or unreadable today. ³

Abigail married Phineas H. Holmes, son of Benjamin Holmes and Judith Eastman, on 25 September 1825 in Charlestown, MA.¹ (Phineas H. Holmes was born on 30 June 1801 in Hopkinton, NH,^{2 4 5} died on 18 June 1870 in La Plata, MO ⁵ and was buried after 18 June 1870 in La Plata, MO ⁵.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Marriage Image: 25 September 1825, in Charlestown, MA. ¹

• They appeared on the 1850 US Census in Carthage Township, Athens, OH on 2 October 1850. ²

1850 US Census
Page 82, Family 1172, Roll 660
Carthage Township, Athens County, Ohio, United States
Pheneas Holmes..48..New Hampshire..Farmer
Abigail Holmes..47..New Hampshire
William W. Holmes..20..Massachusetts..Farmer
Parker H. Holmes..18..New Hampshire
Mary Holmes..12..Ohio
.

  Marriage Notes:

There is a record of a marriage between Phineas Holmes and Abigail Stewart on 25 Sep 1825 in Charlestown, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. It is not known if Abigail Stewart and Abigail Howe were the same person or not.

Phineas H. Holmes was born in Hopkinton, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire and it is not known if he would have traveled a distance of about 75 miles to Suffolk County, Massachusetts to be married. Abigail Howe was also born in New Hampshire but her parents were originally from Massachusetts but had relocated to New Hampshire.

The actual name of the bride as Abigail Howe or Abigail Stewart becomes important as it may or may not indicate the wrong people. There are records of birth to several children being born to the couple in Massachusetts which may result in a number of incorrect births being reported for the wrong couple. These children include William Wallace Holmes, George Kendall Holmes, John Holmes, and perhaps others. The mother's name is only shown as Abigail for each birth and no maiden name is presented.

It may be possible that Abigail Howe was first married to a Stewart when she was remarried to Phineas Holmes in 1825 but no record of a previous marriage can be found. That 1825 marriage record does not indicate if was the first or subsequent marriage for either party nor does it contain the names of the parents of either the bridge or groom which might help identify Abigail's maiden name.

Another possibility is that Abigail's maiden name was incorrectly entered on the marriage register as Stewart instead of Howe. There are no images available of the actual marriage document.

If Abigail Howe and Abigail Stewart were the same person, then it seems that both she and Phineas were from New Hampshire yet were married in Massachusetts. Their first 3 children were born in Massachusetts but the 4th child was supposedly born back in New Hampshire. Sometime between 1832 and 1838, they moved to Ohio where their 5th child was born. After 1838, the couple then moved to Missouri.

One bit of evidence to support the mother's maiden name was Howe is that their 4th child had a middle name of Howe, a common practice at this time to use the wife's maiden name as part of the children's names. Therefore, this database assumes that both Abigails were the same person.

After their 1850 US Census in Ohio, Phineas and Abigail are not found anywhere in the 1860 or 1870 US Census. Abigail died about 10 years after Phineas but she was buried 8 miles away in a different cemetery. I'm not sure of any reason why but perhaps they were divorced. Otherwise it seems that at least one of the children born to William Wallace Holmes, a son of Phineas and Abigail, was buried at the Wilson Cemetery as well as William himself. This suggests that Abigail and her son, William, and perhaps some of the other children were living in Wilson. Regardless, there still are many Holmes and other relatives buried at the La Plata cemetery with Phineas. Even the wife of William Wallace Holmes was later buried in the La Plata cemetery. Her gravestone mentions the name of her husband but notes that he is buried in Wilsontown Cemetery beside their young son, Quiller Holmes.
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Name: Phineas Holmes
Event Type: Marriage
Event Date: 25 Sep 1825
Event Place: Charlestown, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States
Event Place (Original): Charlestown, Suffolk, Massachusetts
Gender: Male
Spouse's Name: Abigail Stewart
Spouse's Gender: Female
Reference ID: p 182

Citing this Record
"Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q29G-69N1 : 18 February 2020), Phineas Holmes and Abigail Stewart, 25 Sep 1825; citing Marriage, Charlestown, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston; FHL microfilm 007009468.
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