From Massachusetts Roots to a Vermont Homestead

Abraham Smith was born on 27 October 1768 in Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts, the son of Abraham Smith and Lucy Allen.¹ He reached adulthood in the years following the American Revolution, a period shaped for him not by military service, but by marriage, migration, and the establishment of a household.

Abraham Smith Jr.’s adult life is well documented through marriage records, census context, probate files, and Vermont vital records, allowing his life and family to be reconstructed with confidence.

Marriage and Early Family Life

On 9 February 1797, Abraham Smith married Abigail Blanchard in Sturbridge, Massachusetts.² Shortly after their marriage, the couple began moving northward, a pattern common among young New England families seeking land and opportunity in the post-Revolutionary period.

Their first known child, Harriot Louise Smith, was born on 18 May 1798 in Cornish, Sullivan County, New Hampshire, suggesting a brief residence there before the family continued on to Vermont.³ By 1800, Abraham and Abigail had settled permanently in Brookfield, Orange County, Vermont, where Abraham appears as a resident in the 1800 federal census.⁴

Children of Abraham and Abigail Smith

Abraham Smith Jr. and Abigail Blanchard Smith were the parents of several children, documented through a combination of vital records and probate evidence. Their children included:

• Harriot Smith, later Harriot Fuller, wife of Felix Fuller
• Abigail Smith, later Abigail Fuller, wife of Sylvanus Fuller
• Amasa Blanchard Smith, born about 1801 and died in 1808
• Eliza Smith, later Eliza Stiles, wife of David Stiles
• John Allen Smith, born 20 December 1809⁵

The early death of Amasa Blanchard Smith is recorded in Vermont vital records and explains his absence from later probate documents.⁶

Life in Brookfield, Vermont

From about 1800 until his death, Abraham Smith remained in Brookfield. The birthplaces of his younger children, census records, and probate jurisdiction all confirm Brookfield as his permanent residence. He lived there through the early decades of the nineteenth century, participating in the ordinary rhythms of rural Vermont life.

Abraham’s wife Abigail died in 1848.⁷ Abraham Smith himself died sometime before 10 April 1849, when probate proceedings for his estate were initiated in Orange County, Vermont.⁸

The Will and Probate of Abraham Smith

Abraham Smith wrote his will on 6 March 1837 in Brookfield.⁹ This document, together with the probate papers filed after his death, forms the most important body of evidence for understanding his family structure.

In his will, Abraham named his wife Abigail and his surviving children, identifying his daughters by their married names and explicitly associating them with their husbands. He named Harriot Fuller, Abigail Fuller, and Eliza Stiles, along with his son John Allen Smith.¹⁰

The will also made specific provisions for two grandsons, Amasa Austin Smith and Norman Hutton Smith, both explicitly identified as sons of John Allen Smith.¹¹

Two surviving versions of Abraham Smith’s probate file exist, preserved in different clerk’s books. These records represent parallel copies of the same estate proceedings and are consistent in substance, naming the same heirs, executor, and property interests.¹²

Conclusion

Abraham Smith Jr.’s life reflects the experience of a post-Revolutionary New England settler. Born in Massachusetts, briefly passing through New Hampshire, and ultimately establishing himself in Vermont, he represents a generation shaped by migration, family building, and landholding rather than by war.

Through careful examination of vital records and probate documents, Abraham Smith Jr.’s life and family can be reconstructed with confidence. His will, in particular, provides clear and direct evidence of his children and their marriages, anchoring the family structure firmly in the historical record.

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Footnotes

1. Worcester, Massachusetts, Town Birth Records; Massachusetts Town and Vital Records, 1620–1988 (Ancestry).
2. Massachusetts Marriages, 1633–1850; Sturbridge marriage records (Ancestry).
3. New Hampshire Birth Records, 1631–1920 (Ancestry).
4. 1800 U.S. Federal Census, Brookfield, Orange County, Vermont (Ancestry).
5. Vermont Vital Records, 1720–1908; Massachusetts and Vermont town records (Ancestry).
6. Vermont Vital Records, death of Amasa Blanchard Smith, 1808 (Ancestry).
7. Vermont Vital Records, death of Abigail (Blanchard) Smith, 1848 (Ancestry).
8. Vermont, Wills and Probate Records, 1749–1999, Orange County, estate of Abraham Smith (d. 1849) (Ancestry).
9. Will of Abraham Smith, dated 6 March 1837, Brookfield, Vermont.
10. Ibid., clauses naming daughters Harriot Fuller, Abigail Fuller, and Eliza Stiles, and son John Allen Smith.
11. Ibid., clauses naming “my grandsons Amasa Austin Smith and Norman Hutton Smith, sons of my son John Allen Smith.”
12. Vermont probate clerk record books, Randolph District, Orange County.