Abel Beal/Beals and Abigail Kent

Abel Beal/Beals and Abigail Kent - Timelines/Facts

Date	Abel Beal/Beals - Fact or Comment
7/6/1755	Abel was born as Abel Beal in Hingham MA to Abel Sr. and Deborah Beal [44b] [39b] [11].
1/10/1762	Abel's grandfather Andrew died and subsequently buried in the North Cohasset Cemetery, MA. [44e]
Latter Half 1770's	Immigrated to NS, and shortly thereafter changed his name from Beal to Beals. Don Beals writes: "The most compelling reason for Abel to go to Nova Scotia was no doubt the fact that his uncle and aunt were already there. His father's sister, Rachel, had married Isaac Kent in 1739. They had gone to Nova Scotia in 1760 and obtained a grant of land at Round Hill a few miles up the Annapolis River from the town of Annapolis. In 1776 his Aunt Rachel and Uncle Isaac would have both been 57 years old. They had had thirteen children but only eight were living at that time. No doubt Abel lived with the family for a period of time and got to know his cousin, Abigail, who became his wife. In 1776 she was about twenty-four." [11] [141]
c.1779	Abel was tax assessor for Annapolis Twp, NS, living near Lawrencetown. Don Beals writes: "He would have been 24 years of age which seems to be rather young for such a responsibility. However there would have been very few people living in the area at that time." [11]
2/6/1789	Abel's father married the widow Susannah Humphrey in Hingham MA. [44d]

Date

Abigail Kent - Fact or Comment

3/1/1752

Born in Milford, MA, to Isaac and Rachel Kent. [39h] [11]

5/17/1760

The family moved from Hingham MA to Annapolis Co NS [39h]. Don Beals writes [11]:
"In 1755 the Seven Year War between Britain and France was getting under way and the colonial government in Nova Scotia was becoming very apprehensive about which side the French Acadian population would take if France invaded the country. The government, under Charles Lawrence, was not prepared to wait and see so they decided to deport the Acadians. They were forced to leave the land they had occupied for generations and were shipped out of the country with the majority sent to what is now the state of Louisiana. This resulted in a lot of rich farm land in the Annapolis Valley and the Cornwallis area being left vacant. So in 1758 and 1759 Governor Lawrence sent advertisements to the American Colonies inviting Protestant settlers to come and fill up this vacant land.

"Isaac and Rachel Kent took up this challenge and became part of a group now known as the "Planters". Their trip is described in "Planters and Pioneers" by Esther Clark Wright:

On May 17, 1760, 25 heads of families, making with wives and children 45 passengers, were embarked at Boston on board the "Charming Molly". There were also on board 10 oxen,11 cows, 2 horses, 10 sheep, 1 "sow bigg with piggs", 6 lambs and seven small cattle. The vessel, one suspects, was not so charming when she arrived at Annapolis. On June 19 the "Charming Molly" again sailed from Boston with ten more settlers for Annapolis."

"In 1760 both Rachel and Isaac were 41 and there were seven children in the family, five having died before this date (including one set of twins in 1759). One additional child was born in Nova Scotia. They brought with them two oxen and one cow. Isaac was given a grant of land in Annapolis County bordering on the Annapolis River in the area now known as Round Hill [39b]. It was directly across the river from Belleisle. The size of the grant is not known but in 1770 Isaac owned 1498 acres. We can assume that at least part of this was well developed land which only five years earlier had been cultivated by the deposed Acadians."

Date	Abel & Abigail Beals - Fact or Comment
Bef.1780?	Married in NS [39b/h] [11]; all told, they had 11 children over the period 1780-1800, and had 83 grandchildren.
11/20/1780	Abel's grandmother Rachel died and subsequently buried in the North Cohasset Cemetery, MA. [44e]
12/29/1784	Abigail's father Isaac died in Round Hill, Annapolis Co, NS. [11]
3/20/1786	Abel was one of the signers of a petition to narrow the depth of the Third Division from 3/4 mile N-S to 1/2 mile N-S, thereby reducing his loss (the Third Division was created by cutting a slice off the southern-most portion of the lots of the Second Division). [223]
6/15/1788	Abel's mother Deborah died [11] and subsequently buried in the North Cohasset Cemetery. [44e]
12/16/1788	Abel bought 800 acres from Phineas Lovett, 101 rods wide by approximately 4 miles deep, Lot 25 and part of Lot 26 in the Second Division of Annapolis Twp. [226] The official records of the Second Division have been lost, but one reconstruction was attempted by the late Vernon Spurr, former president of the Genealogical Associations of NS. [229] Don Beals writes: "Through purchase and a grant he acquired over 1500 acres of land in Annapolis County south of Lawrencetown. The homestead was probably near the present day intersection of the Inglisville and South Williamston roads. He was a farmer, a shoemaker and was often employed as Commissioner for laying out and constructing roads. His sons were the first settlers of Inglisville then known as Beals Mountain." [11]
4/17/1791	Son Stephen Beals born [11].
1792	Abel listed in the Poll Tax Rolls, per the 1791 Capitalization Tax Act, as owing £10 Sterling. [193] (Canada instituted the decimal system of currency over the period 1853-57.)
2/23/1796	Abel bought an additional 250 acres from Phineas Lovett, 38 rods wide by approximately 4 miles deep, thought to be the rest of Lot 26 in the Second Division of Annapolis Twp. [227] [229] [BWB: Using the width and approximate depth, one computes approximately 305 acres, not 250. This discrepancy is unexplained.]
12/18/1798	Abel sold 167 acres at the north-west corner of his farm to son Andrew. [Map-210c] [241] [BWB: This was the first of several sales to sons, made in birth order.]
4/19/1805	Abel's father Abel Sr. died [11] and subsequently buried in the North Cohasset Cemetery. [44e]
5/15/1805	Abigail's mother Rachel (nee Beal) Kent died in Round Hill, NS. [11]
1805-06	Abel was granted 500 acres (Lot 27) in the Second Division of Annapolis Twp. [228] [229] [204] [205 - Map 29] [11] [BWB: estimated to be 62 rods wide by approximately 4 miles deep, which would put the total width of Abel's holdings as 101+38+62 = 201 rods (3316.5 feet). However, in the various sales to sons and others, Abel's land would appear to be only 177 rods wide. I don't have an explanation for this discrepancy of 24 rods (396 feet). Is there a land transaction that is missing or lost to time? Did Lovett provide erroneous widths and/or acreages? Did Abel not really receive a full 500 acres as granted? (500 acres was the standard, nominal grant of the period, so actual allocations could be expected to fluctuate.) Or, all of the above?]
10/21/1806	Abel sold 105 acres on the western edge of his farm to his son Abel Jr. [Map-210c] [241]
10/23/1807	Abel sold 200 acres at the south-west corner of his farm to son Joshua. [Map-210c] [241]
6/28/1808	Abel sold 200 acres to the east of Joshua's parcel to son Arod. [Map-210c] [241]
12/19/1808	Abel sold another "40 acres" to son Andrew, to the east of Andrew's original parcel. [Map-210c] [241] [BWB: This brought Andrew's holdings to about 207 acres according to the land transactions. Actually, this second parcel computes as almost 50 acres in size, so Andrew really had 217 acres. One has to wonder whether Andrew complained to his father that the other sons received 200 acres and he had only received 167 acres originally.]
12/19/1808	On the same date, Abel sold "88 acres" [BWB: actually computes as 96 acres] along the eastern boundary of his farm to Boyd McNayr, his son-in-law (having married his daughter Rachel in 1802). [ Map-210c] [241].
4/30/1812	Abel sold a small 6 acre parcel on the western boundary of his farm to Anthony Eaton. [Map-210c] [241]
11/12/1812	Abel sold 130 acres [BWB: as I compute] to the east of Arod's parcel to son Elijah, with the comment that Elijah had already farmed the land and raised grain thereon. [Map-210c] [241] On the same date, Arod and Elijah sold each other pieces of their parcels to each other, the motivation being that Elijah had already started building a house on Arod's land. In the land transfer from Elijah to Arod, Elijah sold a piece south of Boyd McNayr's parcel -- yet there is no record that Elijah actually bought that piece from his father. [BWB: Note that in three instances, Elijah seems to have presumed to use land he did not own. Of course, this could have been by prior family agreement, but the action is unprecedented among Abel's sons.]
c.1814	Son Stephen married Nancy Henshaw. [11]
5/24/1816	Grandson George Fletcher Beals born [20] [39b] in Inglisville [10], Annapolis Co, Nova Scotia.
3/12/1817	Abel sold 100 acres at the north-east corner of his farm to George and Elias Bishop for 500 Pounds Sterling. [Map-210c] [241] The Bishops were married to grand-nieces of Abigail. Two months later, Abel's son Stephen bought 200 acres in Clements Twp for 300 Pounds Sterling. [BWB: Did Stephen receive part of the proceeds of the sale to the Bishops? Perhaps in 'payment' for having cleared the rich bottom land, therefore greatly increasing its value? In his will, Abel said he had given Stephen land out of his estate -- is this what he meant, since there is no record that Abel actually sold land to Stephen?]
4/1/1820	Abigail died in Lawrencetown, Annapolis Co, NS. [195a] [219] [11]

Date	Abel Beals - Fact or Comment
9/27/1822	Abel sold 5 acres, adjacent to the north-west corner of the parcel he sold to McNayr, to John Warner. John had already bought McNayr's parcel; his reason for buying this small parcel is unknown. [ Map-210c] [241] [BWB: Did John have a house on this 5 acre site?] John married Elizabeth Kent, Abigail's niece, on 1/1/1823.
10/1/1822	Abel married Mary (Molley?) (nee Miller) Clark [39b], b.9/12/1770[11], d.Aft.1842. They had no children. [11]
11/29/1822	Abel created his last will and testament. [54] [124]
4/1827	1827 Census (heads only) for Annapolis Twp, Annapolis Co, NS lists Abel Beals. [184b]
8/23/1830	Abel died in Lawrencetown, Annapolis Co, NS [195a] [11], was buried in the Whitman Graveyard, and his will was probated 10/12/1830.
10/12/1830	Abel's will was probated. Among other provisions, Abel's sons Isaac and Cooper split the remainder of Abel's farm. [54] [124] [241]

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