Notes for: Abigail Cleveland
The precise year of Abigail Cleveland's second marriage, to John Adams, is not clear. Genealogist Andrew N. Adams reports a date of 1733, when her son Benjamin Brown was not more that one year of age. But Canterbury town records show that the first of Abigail and John Adams' nine children was not born until November 1741.
In 1746 John Adams and his wife participated in the formation of the Separatist Church in Canterbury, which gave rise to much dissension in that village. John Adams was made a member of the early church in 1741, and his wife Abigail in 1745.
On Apr 17 1752, John and Abigail Adams acknowledged receipt of a legacy from the estate of her father, Josiah Cleveland of Canterbury, which had been bequeathed to them in a clause in his will of Dec 28 1750, in which Josiah Cleveland mentions his daughter Abigail Adams and his grandson Benjamin Brown.
John Adams' will was drawn on May 4 1762, and the estate was administered that same year. In it he mentions wife Abigail Adams. Mrs. Abigail Adams' estate was administered Feb 19 1783, and mention is made of her "eldest son Benjamin Brown."
According to an article by genealogist Emily Wilder Leavitt of Boston, written in the "New England Historical & Genealogical Register" in 1894, in "a little graveyard in the northern part of Canterbury the tombstones of both John and Abigail Adams have recently been found: 'Here lies the body of Mr. John Adams who died January 16, 1762-3, in his 66th year.' On that of his wife is inscribed: 'Here lies the body of Mrs. Abigail, wife of Mr. John Adams who died December 15, 1782.'"
Abigail's brother Aaron was the father of Moses Cleaveland, the founder of Cleveland, Ohio.