Individual Details

Robert Townsend

(Abt 1699 - )

Robert & Abigail (Beal) are claimed to be the ancestors of the Townsend line who lived in Abington, Massachusetts during the early 1700's, but there are no vital records to prove it. The marriage was not recorded in Hingham and no birth records for their children have been found. The family group here is based on proximity, naming patterns and a few other clues and needs verification. Robert's ancestry is also still unknown, he does not connect to the Lynn Massachusetts Townsend group. Some of the Abington Townsend descendants went to southern Maine.

Reccords that have been found include:

"Robert Townsend of Hingham, age 32, dept in bond 27 Sept. 1731 and that Ensign Robert Townsend warned Abigail Cain out of his house in Hingham, Mass. in 1767."
Ensign Robert Townsend of Hingham is the one who married in 1720 Abigail Beal (no record in Hingham or Mass.). This confirms that Robert Townsend was born 1699 to be 32 in 1731. Back then, people were "warned out" of the towns when they could not support themselves. Lydia Townsend, thought to be one of Robert's daughters, married Arthur Cain in 1749 in Hingham. An Abigail Cain living in Robert's house shows a relationship.

Benjamin Hobart's History of Abington, says that Robert Townsend Jr. died of a wound received in the Crown Point Expedition (this was in 1758) and lists among those who survived the service: Ezekiel Townsend and Robert Townsend (268). Aaron Hobart's Abington sketch also mentions Ezekiel Townsend and Robert Townsend, ensign of Capt. Benjamin Pratt's company at the westward. This seems to point to a family relationship among these men.

DNA evidence. Hugh Townsend who descends from Robert & Abigail via Daniel Jr., brother of Dodivah, says his DNA matches Benjamin (someone who descended from him, son of Robert of Hingham and has no connection with the Lynn Townsend group. A Townsend descendant from Daniel & Sarah (Butterfield) wrote the genealogy, making it so and gave it to the Townsend Gen. Association. Supposedly, he and a couple other Townsend men had DNA tests and supposedly there was bit of a connection to some one who alleged descent from Benjamin but can't prove the lineage through vital records. Also, our Hastings-Townsend cousin used the same DNA company as did the two Townsend men, and his DNA matched only the known cousin in California, and he DID NOT connect with anyone other Townsend--only the one in California whom we know descends from Daniel Jr. & Sarah of Sidney, older brother of our Daniel who married Hannah Bibber. Our cousin (Hastings-Townsend) Larry of Conn. matched with Hugh's DNA. (Beatrice Reynolds)

Events

BirthAbt 1699Massachusetts, British America
Marriage24 Nov 1720Massachusetts, British America - Abigail Beal
Alt nameRobert Townshend
Deathmaybe, Charlestown, Penobscot, Maine, United States

Families

SpouseAbigail Beal (1699 - )
ChildEzekiel Townsend (1736 - 1818)
ChildAbigail Townsend (1721 - 1754)
ChildBenjamin Townsend (1730 - )
ChildLydia Townsend (1730 - )
ChildRobert Townsend Jr. (1733 - 1758)
ChildAbner Townsend (1720 - )
ChildJoanna Townsend (1720 - )
ChildThomas Townsend (1720 - )

Notes

Marriage

Beatrice Reynold's search of Hingham vital records at NEHGS shows no record of this marriage. While both of my sources mention Abigail's marriage date to Robert Townsend, neither specifically mentions the town.

Endnotes

1. Barbara Stone Chase, Alicia Crane Williams, Stone-Gregg genealogy: the ancestors and descendants of Galen Luther Stone and his wife Carrie Morton Gregg (Gateway Press, 1987), snippet view; digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com : accessed 12 October 2009.

2. Homer Worthington Brainard, Loretta Townsend Talbot, Some lines of the Townshend-Townsend families of old England, New England and Minnesota (Priv. print. [Rumford Press], 1931), p 47 snippet view; digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com : accessed 12 October 2009.

3. Shurtleff, Nathaniel Bradstreet, John Beal of Hingham, and one line of his descendants (Boston: Unknown, 1865), p 5; digital images, Heritage Quest Online (http://persi.heritagequestonline.com : accessed 13 October 2009.

4. Thomas Tracy Bouvé, Hingham (Mass.), Edward Tracy Bouvé, John Davis Long, Walter Lincoln Bouvé, Francis Henry Lincoln, George Lincoln, Edmund Hersey, Fearing Burr, Charles Winfield Scott Seymour, History of the town of Hingham, Massachusetts: Volume 2 ([Hingham] : Pub. by the town, 1893), 57p; digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com/ : accessed 18 October 2009.

5. Thomas Tracy Bouvé, John Davis Long, Hingham (Mass.), Walter Lincoln Bouvé, Francis Henry Lincoln, George Lincoln, Edmund Hersey, Fearing Burr, History of the town of Hingham, Massachusetts, Volume 3 (Pub. by the town, 1893), 268; digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com : accessed 4 November 2009.

6. Barbara Stone Chase, Alicia Crane Williams, Stone-Gregg genealogy: the ancestors and descendants of Galen Luther Stone and his wife Carrie Morton Gregg (Gateway Press, 1987), snippet view; digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com : accessed 12 October 2009.

7. Homer Worthington Brainard, Loretta Townsend Talbot, Some lines of the Townshend-Townsend families of old England, New England and Minnesota (Priv. print. [Rumford Press], 1931), p 47 snippet view; digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com : accessed 12 October 2009.