1 Thomas Abbe, Jr. 1731 - 1817 b: April 11, 1731 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut d: December 05, 1817 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut +Penelope Terry 1729/30 - b: February 05, 1729/30 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut d: in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut m: Abt. 1749 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut

2 Abagail Abbe 1750 - 1844 b: May 13, 1750 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut d: June 22, 1844 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut +Eliphlet Collins 1744 - 1815 b: July 11, 1744 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut d: May 22, 1815 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut m: November 01, 1770 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut

2 Obadiah Abbe 1752 - b: June 15, 1752 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut +Jane McClester 1752 - b: Abt. 1752 m: Abt. 1772 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut

2 Penelope Abbe 1755 - b: March 24, 1755 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut +Josiah Bicknell 1755 - b: Abt. 1755 m: Abt. 1775 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut

2 Mary Abbe 1755 - 1759 b: March 24, 1755 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut d: May 18, 1759 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut

2 Thomas Abbe 1764 - b: March 22, 1764 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut +Ruth Bush 1764 - b: Abt. 1764 m: Abt. 1784

2 Mary Abbe 1766 - b: July 07, 1766 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut +George Prior 1766 - b: Abt. 1766 in of East Windsor, CT. m: Abt. 1786

2 Peter Abbe 1769 - b: July 20, 1769 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut +Hannah Alden 1769 - b: Abt. 1769 m: Abt. 1789 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut

2 Simeon Abbe 1772 - b: February 03, 1772 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut +Tabitha Killam 1772 - b: Abt. 1772 m: Abt. 1792

Notes abstracted are from the Abbe Family Genealogy

Thomas Abbe, son of Thomas, Jr., and Mary (Pease) Abbe, born in Enfield, Connecticut, April 11, 1731; died there June 1, 1811. He is unquestionably buried in Enfield although the huge monument of a more recent family has probably obscured his grave. He was best known by the title of Captain Abbe. His first enlistment noted is as Corporal in the 3d Company, 1st Regiment, May 25 to November 22, 1758; then as Lieutenant in the 7th Company, 1st Regiment, under Captain Seth King, April 1 to December 1, 1761. (Ref: Connecticut Historical Society Collections, X, pages 10 and 247.)

He was commissioned captain, January 1, 1777. In his "Quest of Ancestors," Mr. Alden Freeman says: That long line of warlike Abbeys beginning with John, who came in the "Bonaventure" and settled in Salem in 1636; his son Thomas, who settled in Enfield after Ring Phillip's War; his grandson, Lieutenant Thomas Abbey, and his great grandson, Thomas Abbey, ensign and lieutenant in the French and Indian Wars and afterward captain under Washington throughout the Revolutionary War, whose service I was invited to represent in the Connecticut Society of the Cincinnati.

On the Thursday following the battle of Lexington, Thomas Abbey, on learning of the fight, procured a drum and actually drummed the people out of the meetinghouse at Enfield, where they were gathered at their regular weekday lecture. This interesting event was beautifully commemorated by a poem written by Benjamin F. Taylor, and published in the Atlantic Monthly in May, 1878, and the following is a copy of the poem: The Captains Drum In Pilgrim land, one Sabbath day, The winter lay like sheep about The ragged pastures mullein gray; The April sun shone in and out, The showers swept by in fitful flocks, And eaves ticked fast like mantel clocks; And now and then a wealthy cloud Would wear a ribbon broad and bright, And now and then a winged crowd Of shivering azure flash in sight. So rainbows bend and bluebirds fly And violets show their bits of sky. To Enfield church throng all the town, In quilted hood and bombazine, In beaver hat and flaring crown, And quaint vandyke and victorine; And buttoned boys in roundabout From calyx collars blossom out; Bandanas wave their feeble fire, And foot-stoves tinkle up the aisle; A gray-haired elder leads the choir, And girls in linsey-woolsey smile. So back to life the beings glide Whose very graces have ebbed and died. One hundred years have waned, and yet We call the roll, and not in vain, For one whose flint-lock musket set The echoes wild around Fort Duqnesne, And smelled the battle's powder smoke Ere Revolution's thunders awoke. Lo, Thomas Abbey answers, "Here!" Within the dull long-metre place, That day, upon the parson's ear, And trampling down his words of grace, A horseman's gallop rudely beat Along the splashed and empty street. The rider drew his dripping rein, And then a letter, wasp- nest gray, That ran: "The Concord minute men And red-coats had a fight to-day! To Captain Abbey this with speed." Twelve little words to tell the deed. The captain read, struck out for home The old quickstep of battle born, Slung on once more a battered drum That bore a painted unicorn Then right-about, as whirls a torch, He stood before the sacred porch.

And then a murmuring of bees Broke in upon the house of prayer; And then a wind-song swept the trees, And then a snarl from wolfish lair; And then a charge of grenadiers, And then a flight of drum-beat cheers. So drum and doctrine rudely blent, The casements rattled strange accord; No mortal knew what either meant; "Twas double-grad and Holy Word, Thus saith the drum and thus the Lord. The captain raised so wild a rout He drummed the congregation out. The people gathered round amazed; The soldier bared his head and spoke, And every sentence burned and blazed, As trenchant as a sabre stroke: "Tis time to pick the flint to day, To sling the knapsack, and away! "The green of Lexington is red With British redcoats, brothers' blood! In rightful cause the earliest dead Are always best beloved of God. Mark time! Now let the march begin! All bound for Boston fall right in " Then rub-a-dub the drum jarred on, The throbbing role of battle beat; "Fall in, my men!" and one by one They rhymed the tune with heart and feet, And so they made a Sabbath march To glory 'neath the elm-tree arch. The Continental line unwound Along the Church-yard's breathless sod, And holier grew the hallowed ground Where Virtue slept and Valor trod, Two hundred strong that April day They rallied out and marched away. Brigaded there at Bunker Hill, Their names are writ on glories page. The brave old captain's Sunday drill Has drummed its way across the age.

The church around which Captain Abbey beat the long roll was completed in the January preceding, and stood near the present church. It was used as a church for the town until 1849, when it was bought by the town and moved to the west side of the street, where it now stands and has been used as a town hall ever since. A memorial to Captain Abbey and others of the family is about to be erected by Mr. Alden Freeman with his mother and sisters. The Abbey Memorial will be on the Green in Enfield, on the site of the church out of which Captain Abbey drummed the congregation at the Lexington Alarm. The actual site of the old church is just in front of the present edifice. The design calls for a marble statue on a pedestal surrounded by four marble seats in the Greek style. On the backs of these seats are inscriptions commemorating the achievements of some of the best known descendants of the Abbey family, in the fields of war, literature and science. The sculptor, Sherry E. Fry, used as a model for the face and figure for the statue of Captain Abbey, a daguerreotype of his grandson, Seth Alden Abbey, taken at the same age. Daniel C. French, sculptor of the "Minute Men" unveiled at Concord Bridge in 1875, has taken great interest in the work of Mr. Fry, and loaned him the simple Colonial suit used for the presentation of Captain Abbey.

The following is an extract from a letter written by Seth Alden Abbey to his son, Henry G. Abbey, dated June 15, 1872, telling something of Thomas Abbey: When a small boy, I was frequently at his house for a week at a time and have heard him tell many a thrilling tale of his hairbreadth escapes, hardships, sufferings, etc. During the French War he received a commission as Ensign in the Colonial troops and saw considerable service against the French and Indians. At the breaking out of the Revolution, a volunteer company was formed in his neighborhood and he was elected their captain and they were soon ordered to join Colonel Willett's Regiment in New York. I have heard him say, frequently, that he had chances of promotion, often, but his men would not consent to his leaving them. When a boy I saw many of his old soldiers who had served during the war; and the neighbors were as particular in addressing any of them, in giving them their title, as Corporal such a one, or Sergeant such a one, as they would be in addressing a General. Thomas Abbey died in 1811, and was as anxious for a fight with old England, which was then much talked of, just before his death, as in his younger days. He died suddenly with apoplexy.

Captain Thomas Abbe married in Enfield, June 22, 1749, Penelope Terry, born in Enfield, February 5, 1729-30; died there December 5 1817. She was the daughter of Dr. (or Captain) Ebenezer and Mary (Helms) Terry. Children, born in Enfield Abigail Abbey, b. May 13, 1750; d. June 22, 1844. Resided in the east part of Enfield. Married in Enfield, Nov. 1, 1770, Eliphalet Collins, b. in Enfield, July 11, 1744; d. May 22, 1815, son of Nathaniel and Abigail (Pease) Collins. Children, order not known: i. Nathaniel b. in Enfield, April 18, 1771; ii. Abigail, m. Simeon Olmsted, son of Simeon and Rhoda (Abbe) Olmsted, see elsewhere; iii. Eliphalet; iv. Mary; v. Walter; vi. Jabez; vii. Elsie; viii. Betsey; ix. (son), b. in Enfield, Nov. 12, 1787. 175 Obadiah Abbe, b. June 15, 1752; m. Jane McClester.

Penelope Abbe (twin), b. March 24, 1755; m Josiah Bicknell. Mary (1) Abbe (twin), b. March 24, 1755; d. May 18, 1759. 177 Thomas Abbe, b. March 22, 1764; m. Ruth Bush. Mary (2) Abbe, b. July 7, 1766; m. George Prior of East Windsor. 178 Peter Abbey, b. July 20, 1769; m. Hannah Alden. 179 Simeon Abbey, b. Feb. 3, 1772; m. Tabitha Killam.

Historical Address

 By J. Warren - From the Abbey Memorial

It is doubted by some that the news of the battle of Lexington could have reached Enfield on Thursday afternoon, April 20, 1775. On Wednesday, April 19, 1775, the first blood of the American Revolution was shed at Lexington, MA.

The news reached Enfield on the afternoon of April 20, 1775. Isaac Kibbe kept the tavern near the church, and as soon as the messenger arrived, Kibbe procured a drum and Thomas Abbe beat the long roll about the church. It was then the custom, which was kept up until within the memory of the speaker, that all the churches held mid-week meetings at the church on Thursday afternoon of each week, in which a lecture was given by the pastor. The meeting being held on Thursday afternoon, April 20, 1775, was broken up by Thomas Abbe's drumming, and without the usual decorum the congregation rushed out to learn the cause of the uproar. They dispersed to their homes and that night every person in Enfield knew about the fight at Lexington. The next morning seventy-five of the Minute Men of Enfield marched for Boston, each with his flint-lock musket and powder horn. Not all of the seventy-five reached Boston, but Thomas Abbe did.

We have all their names, and I will call "The Long Roll" of the Minute Men of Enfield on April 20, 1775: [list not given here] Among the many relatives listed on the memorial mentioned were Eliphalet Collins, my ancestor, who was a private, and Thomas Abbe, who was enrolled as a private.

Eliphalet Collins is my registered DAR ancestor. 

1 Ebenezer Terry 1696 - 1780 b: March 31, 1696 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut d: August 02, 1780 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut +Mary Helme 1700 - 1762 b: June 14, 1700 d: April 05, 1762 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut m: Abt. 1724 in Enfield, Connecticut

2 Samuel Terry b: in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut

2 Ebenezer Terry 1722 - 1817 b: October 29, 1722 in S. Kingstown, RI. d: July 15, 1817 in field, Hartford Co., Connecticut +Mindwell Pease 1734 - b: September 08, 1734 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut d: in field, Hartford Co., Connecticut m: January 17, 1760 in field, Hartford Co., Connecticut

2 Dorcas Terry 1725 - b: April 02, 1725 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut

2 John Terry 1725/26 - b: March 07, 1725/26 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut

2 Mary Terry 1728 - b: April 16, 1728 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut

2 Penelope Terry 1729/30 - b: February 05, 1729/30 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut d: in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut +Thomas Abbe, Jr. 1731 - 1817 b: April 11, 1731 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut d: December 05, 1817 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut m: Abt. 1749 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut

2 Mehitable Terry 1734 - 1737 b: July 05, 1734 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut d: July 09, 1737 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut

2 Christopher Helms Terry 1735/36 - b: March 03, 1735/36 in Enfield, Hartford County, Connecticut

2 Hiram Terry 1737/38 - b: February 16, 1737/38 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut

2 Mehitable Terry 1739/40 - 1744 b: January 06, 1739/40 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut d: August 31, 1744 in Enfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut

Terry Family

Dr. Ebenezer Terry, 1696-1780, was the first native physician of Enfield. He practiced for a number of years in South Kingston, Rhode Island, where he married Mary Helme, great-granddaughter of Sergeant Christopher Helme, of Warwick, Rhode Island, who died in 1650. Dr. Terry returned to Enfield in 1722, and at one time represented the town in the General Court of Massachusetts. Enfield did not become a part of Connecticut until 1750.

Dr. Terry's daughter, Penelope Terry, 1729-30-1818, as her father's pupil and assistant in the practice of his profession, was a forerunner of the women physicians of today. In her obituary, already referred to, the Hartford "Courant" states that she practiced for thirty-three years and was present at the birth of 1,389 children. She welcomed into life a whole generation of the inhabitants of this town, and is as worthy of commemoration for her good works as her husband, Captain Abbey, the subject of this memorial. She was the mother of eleven children, and left forty-five grandchildren" fifty-two great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. A total of 104 descendants of herself and Captain Abbey were living at the time of her death, January 2, 1818.