Abel Beals - A Timeline

Date	Abel's Age	Fact or Comment
7/6/1755	--	Abel was born Abel Beal in Hingham MA to Abel Beal, Sr. and Deborah Lambert.
1/10/1762	6	Abel's grandfather Andrew Beal died at almost 77 years of age, and was subsequently buried in the North Cohasset Cemetery, MA.
12/12/1775	20	Abel enlisted in Lt. Obadiah Beal's detachment of guards and served 3 months & 24 days at Hull Beach, with rank of Private.
Latter Half 1770's	22?	Immigrated to NS, and shortly thereafter changed his name from Beal to Beals. 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.
c.1779	24	Abel was tax assessor for Annapolis Twp, NS, living near Lawrencetown. 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.
Bef.1780?	24?	Married Abigail Kent (b. 3/1/1752 to Isaac Kent and Rachel Beal) in NS; they had 11 children over the period 1780-1800.
c. 1780	25	First child Andrew born, probably named after Abel's late grandfather.
11/1/1780	25	Abel purchased Lot 38 in the First Division of the upper part of Annapolis County NS, as well as ten acres in the Cow and Calf marsh,for 25 Pounds, from his brother-in-law, Zarah Kent.
11/20/1780	25	Abel's grandmother Rachel (Bate) Beal died at 84yo and was subsequently buried in the North Cohasset Cemetery, MA.
6/6/1782	26	Second child Rachel born, probably named after Abel's late grandmother.
c.1783	28	Third child Abel born.
9/26/1784	29	Fourth child Joshua born.
12/29/1784	29	Abigail's father Isaac Kent died at 65yo in Round Hill, Annapolis Co, NS.
c.1785	30	Fifth child Arod born.
3/20/1786	30	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).
4/5/1787	31	Abel sold the ten acres in the Cow & Calf marsh (a part of his 11/1/1780 purchase) to James Delancey for 48 Pounds. Abel made a tidy profit in this sale, since his original purchase of Lot 38 and the marsh land only cost him 25 Pounds.
6/10/1787	31	Abel Beals and Israel Longley sold 500 acres to Joseph Bass for 31 pounds, the northerly part of Lot 37 in the Second Division of Annapolis County, and bounded on the north by the Annapolis River. This land was inherited 2-1/2 years earlier by their wives Abigail Beals and Anna Longley, daughters of Isaac Kent.
c.1787	32	Sixth child Elijah born.
6/15/1788	32	Abel's mother Deborah died at about 54yo, and was subsequently buried in the North Cohasset Cemetery.
c.1788	33	Seventh child Isaac born.
12/16/1788	33	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. 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. 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.
2/6/1789	33	Abel's father, 55yo, married the widow Susannah Humphrey in Hingham MA.
4/17/1791	35	Eighth child Stephen born in Lawrencetown, NS.
1792	36	Abel listed in the Poll Tax Rolls, per the 1791 Capitalization Tax Act, as owing £10 Sterling. (Canada instituted the decimal system of currency over the period 1853-57.)
c.1794	39	Ninth child Seth born.
2/23/1796	40	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. [Using the width and approximate depth, one computes approximately 305 acres, not 250. This discrepancy is unexplained.]
c.1796	41	Tenth child Abigail Sophia born.
6/26/1797	41	Son Seth died, just 3 years old.
12/18/1798	43	Abel sold 167 acres at the north-west corner of his farm to son Andrew. [This was the first of several sales to sons, made in birth order.]
3/17/1800	44	Firstborn son Andrew married Charlotte Charlton; they had 12 children ca.1800-1829.
c.1800	45	Eleventh child John "Cooper" born.
9/29/1802	47	The first daughter, Rachel, married Boyd McNayr; they had 14 children 1803-1829.
c.1803	48	Son Abel married Susannah Hennebury; they had 9 children ca.1804-1821.
4/19/1805	49	Abel's father Abel Sr. died at 71yo, and was subsequently buried in the North Cohasset Cemetery.
5/15/1805	49	Abigail's mother Rachel (nee Beal) Kent died at 85yo in Round Hill, NS.
1805-06	50	Abel was granted 500 acres (Lot 27) in the Second Division of Annapolis Twp. [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	51	Abel sold 105 acres on the western edge of his farm to his son Abel Jr.
10/23/1807	52	Abel sold 200 acres at the south-west corner of his farm to son Joshua.
12/11/1807	52	Son Joshua married Rebecca Taylor; they had 9 children 1809-1825.
12/31/1807	52	Son Arod married Catherine DeLong; they would have 8 children 1808-1821.
6/28/1808	52	Abel sold 200 acres to the east of Joshua's parcel to son Arod.
12/19/1808	53	Abel sold another "40 acres" to son Andrew, to the east of Andrew's original parcel. [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	53	On the same date, Abel sold "88 acres" [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).
4/30/1812	56	Abel sold a small 6 acre parcel on the western boundary of his farm to Anthony Eaton.
11/12/1812	57	Abel sold 130 acres [as computed] to the east of Arod's parcel to son Elijah, with the comment that Elijah had already farmed the land and raised grain thereon. On the same date, Arod and Elijah sold 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. [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.]
1/15/1813	57	Son Elijah married Hannah Banks; they had 11 children ca.1813-1831.
c.1814	59	Son Stephen married Nancy Henshaw; they had 10 children ca.1815-1832.
3/12/1817	61	Abel sold 100 acres at the north-east corner of his farm to George and Elias Bishop for 500 Pounds Sterling. 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. [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	64	Abigail died in Lawrencetown, Annapolis Co, NS.
12/28/1820	65	Son Isaac married Catharine W. Kent; they had 5 children 1822-1838.
1/17/1822	66	Daughter Abigail Sophia married John Edward Henshaw; they had 4 children ca.1824-1841.
4/20/1822	66	Son Arod died young, at about 37yo.
9/27/1822	67	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. [Did John have a house on this 5 acre site?] John married Elizabeth Kent, Abigail's niece, on 1/1/1823.]
10/1/1822	67	Abel married Mary (Molley?) (nee Miller) Clark, b.9/12/1770, d.Aft.1842. They had no children.
11/29/1822	67	Abel created his last will and testament.
4/1827	71	1827 Census (heads of households only) for Annapolis Twp, Annapolis Co, NS lists Abel Beals.
1/18/1828	72	Son John "Cooper" married Nancy Clark, daughter of Abel's second wife Mary; they had 8 children ca.1828-1850.
8/23/1830	75	Abel died in Lawrencetown, Annapolis Co, NS, was buried in the Whitman/Cunningham Cemetery. Abel was survived by 9 of his children and many grandchildren.
10/12/1830	--	Abel's will was probated. Among other provisions, Abel's sons Isaac and Cooper split the remainder of Abel's farm.