Individual Details

Abigail was liberated to marry John Pike 9th month, 4th day, 1731.

Abigail is said to have stood up at the Cane Creek Monthly Meeting, early in 1751, and state "If Rachel Wright will go with me, we will attend the Quarterly Meeting at Little River in Perquimans County and ask that a meeting be set up here". This trip would have been about two hundred miles. She is also said to have preached to the soldiers at the army camps - from horseback and she was not allowed to dismount.

Wikipedia:
Simon Dixon, a Quaker who migrated from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, came to the Cane Creek area and what is now known as Snow Camp, North Carolina during the late 1740s. By 1751, as many as thirty other Quaker families had migrated to Snow Camp. During 1751, Abigail Pike and Rachel Wright traveled to Perquimans County, North Carolina to attend the Quarterly Meeting at Little River, in hopes of gaining permission to establish a new monthly meeting in Cane Creek. Permission was granted and the first Monthly Meeting was held on October 7, 1751.

In 1751, the Cane Creek Meeting would have been in Orange Co, NC - in 1849 this area became Alamance County.

After the death of John Pike, Abigail left Cane Creek and went to Muddy Creek, near Deep River to live with her son. She was granted certificate for the New Garden Monthly Meeting on 1 Apr 1775.

From an unknown source found in "A History of the Piggott-Pickett Family 1680-1985" compiled by Marie Pickett Reck:
"During the l730's John and Abigail Pike were living in the Pasquotank Precinct. Hearing that a new meeting had been established at Hopewell, in Frederick County, Virginia, they felt that they should add their strength to the new Quaker settlement.
Almost hurriedly, it was said, they made ready for the journey. At that time, John and Abigail had two small children, Sarah and Anne. During the eleven years they lived in the Hopewell community, the number of children increased to eight.
Other Quakers from Pennsylvania passed through the Hopewell community on their way to the Piedmont section of North Carolina. John and Abigail joined the movement and started a new life by building a new home on the banks of Cane Creek.
In early 1751 when the youngest child, Nathan, was almost two years of age, Abigail asked permission of the Cane Creek Friends to allow her and Rachel Wright to attend a Quarterly Meeting at Little River in Perquimans County, and ask that a meeting be set up there. The Friends consented.
Traveling on horseback these two brave women rode through the wilderness to the Quarterly Meeting, and made the return trip safely. Cane Creek Meeting was set up June 31, 1751.
Abigail was also envolved in the establishment of the New Garden Meeting about 35 miles to the west, again she traveled through more wilderness country.
Direct descendants of this courageous,pioneer woman are scattered all across the state of North Carolina, as well as other states in our nation."

From FamilySearch.org:
BIOGRAPHY: *"Cane Creek: Mother of Meetings"
Abigail Pike was the archtypal Quaker woman. Such a woman would also have been strong in her religious faith and obedient to the leadings of the Holy Spirit. Her concern for the spiritual life of her neighbors would provide opportunities for service which she did not shirk. With Abigail's background, then, it is not surprising that in the early part of the year 1751, she would stand in a meeting for worship and say to the assembled Friends at Cane Creek, "If Rachael Wright will go with me, we will attend the Quarterly Meeting at Little River in Perquimans County and ask that a meeting be set up here." Friends agreed.
When she set out for the quarterly meeting, Abigail Pike left behind a young son, Nathan, while Rachael Wright also left a small child, Sarah. Both families were large, so the youngsters were not neglected. Moreover, the fact that the children were left by their mothers reveals the determination of both women to fulfill the obligation they had undertaken, as well as the depth of their concern for the spiritual life of the more than thirty families living in the Cane Creek settlement.
Perquimans County lies about two hundred miles to the east of Cane Creek and the trip takes approximately five hours by car now. Imagine the difficulty of traveling that distance on horseback through virtually unchartered wilderness. No doubt there were a few places along the route where a night's lodging and a simple meal could be obtained, but the nights when it was necessary to camp in the open were far more numerous. The Friends at Cane Creek prudently sent other persons with these two courageous women. Their exact number, however, is not known for they are only grouped together as "Several friends from them parts".
The establishment of Cane Creek Monthly Meeting of Friends was authorized at the quaterly meeting held at Little River, as recorded in their minutes, dated "Sixth month 31st, 1751": 'Friends on Cane Creek wrote our Quarterly Meeting desiring a Monthly Meeting to be settled amongst them which was refer'd to this Meeting, & several Friends among them parts appeared at this Meeting & acquainted Friends that there is thirty families and upwards of Friends settled in them parts, and desire in behalf of themselves and there Friends to have a Monthly Meeting settled amongst them, which request, upon mature consideration Friends think it proper to grant, and leave to themselves to settle it in the most convenient place amongst the body.'
Now would begin the long trek back. The hot September sun would make travel more uncomfortable, and there would be the incessant insects with which to contend. But the good news Abigail Pike, Rachael Wright, and the others carried with them would lessen the difficulties. How happy the day of return must have been, not only for the families of those returning, but for the entire group of Quakers settled along the banks of Cane Creek. At last they would have a monthly meeting of their own, and no longer would their certificates of membership be held by a faraway monthly meeting.
Abigail Pike's story does not end with the establishment of the meeting at Cane Creek. She was also involved in the effort to secure a monthly meeting for Friends at New Garden, and the mere thrity five miles she traveled in that endeavor must have been nothing compared to the journey she had made on behalf of Cane Creek. her efforts were again successful, for New Garden Meeting was established shortly after the one at Cane Creek. April 1, 1775, Abigail, now widowed, would request and receive transfer of her membership to New Garden.
Abigail was a Friends minister. Tradition says that it was in that capacity that she would ride out to the army camps and preach to the soldiers. It is not clear which army allowed her to preach. It is possible that it could have been both the British and American forces. Genreal Nathanael Greene, himself a Quaker at one time, may have endorsed her ministry, because she was said to be the only minister allowed within the lines. She was not allowed to dismount; therfore, her sermons were preached from horseback.
One night while returning from such a visit, Abigail met friends along the way, and soon they came to where the road divided. One fork of the road led straight home, and the other led past the graveyard. they debated which way to go; one remarked that a ghost could be seen in the graveyard. Abigail whipped up her horse saying, " We will go this way then, I have long wanted to see a ghost, shake hands with it and ask, 'Is it well with thee?'" When they arrived at the cemetery, there did appear to be a ghost standing with arms outstretched as though welcoming them. Unafraid, Abigail rode up to it and called back, " Come on friends, it is only a big cobweb on a bush."
Abigail had a set of "Queensware" porcelain china dishes. These were very rare in those days, particularly in a backwoods cabin. One day British soldiers came to her cabin searching for food and overturned her cupboard. She tried to catch some dishes in her outstretched apron but was only able to save one small pitcher. That pitcher was passed down through the years from one daughter to another and was last reported in a museum in Oklahoma in 1975.
DEATH: * From Cane Creek Mother of Meetings page 35-6: John and Abigail Overman Pike were honored in 1928. Both were leaders and "weighty" friends during their lifetiems. After the death of her husband, Abigail Pike left Cane Creek and went to Muddy Creek, near Deep River, to live with her son. She died and was buried there in February 1781. The cemetery of this meeting still exists on the outskirts of the town of Kernersville in Forsyth County, and the grave which is thought to be Abigail's is outlined in handmade brick. Thus the marker at Cane Creek honors her memory, not her actual grave."

Birth	19 Mar 1709	Pasquotank County, North Carolina
Marriage	4 Sep 1731	Pasquotank County, North Carolina - JOHN Pike
Death	13 Feb 1781	Deep River, Guilford County, North Carolina
Burial		Muddy Creek Friends Cemetery, Kernersville, Forsyth County, North Carolina

Spouse	JOHN Pike (1702 - 1774)
Child	Sarah Pike (1733 - 1811)
Child	Ann Pike (1735 - )
Child	Susanna Pike (1737 - 1827)
Child	Elizabeth Pike (1739 - 1816)
Child	John Pike (1741 - 1782)
Child	Samuel Pike (1741 - 1825)
Child	Ruth Pike (1744 - 1795)
Child	RACHEL Pike (1746 - 1789)
Child	Nathan Pike (1749 - 1791)

Father	EPHRAIM Overman (1681 - 1732)
Mother	SARAH Belman (1688 - )
Sibling	Joseph Overman (1711 - 1737)
Sibling	Ann Overman (1714 - )
Sibling	Ephraim Overman (1719 - 1792)
Sibling	Sarah Overman (1722 - 1762)
Sibling	Nathan Overman (1725 - )
Sibling	Isaac Overman (1727 - 1785)