Abigail Lines (1629-1686), wife of Richard Terry (1618-1675)

On this Mothers Day, I think it is appropriate to remember the earliest of my female ancestors to arrive in North America.  I am a direct 11-generation descendant of Abigail Lines, the the wife of Richard Terry (the original Terry immigrant, who at age 17 sailed from London on the "James" in July 1635 with his brothers Thomas (also one of my direct ancestors) and Robert, arriving in Salem Massachusetts before eventually settling in Southold, Long Island.)

There is a lot of misinformation about Abigail and her family, which has been propagated in various genealogies over the years.  Many of the "facts" are easily disproved from available records, and yet seem to persist as earlier researchers errors and speculative observations are taken at face value and uncritically passed on.

Let us dispose of one critical error immediately - Abigail Lines was the sister, and not the daughter, of Ralph Lines of New Haven, Connecticut.   Abigail Lines is often recorded as the daughter of Ralph Lines, due to a note from an early researcher who stated that "she was probably the daughter of Ralph Lines who died in New Haven in 1640", this information being propagated through the years. This belief is certainly incorrect. In fact, Ralph Lines of New Haven lived until 07 September 1689, and his children with Alice Budd are known (Samuel (b.1649), Ralph (b.1652), John (b.1655), Joseph (b.1657), Benjamin (b.1659) and Hannah (b.1665)). My research indicates rather that Abigail Lines was the daughter of John Lynes (b.1587 Badby, Northampton, England; m. Ann Russell c. 1620; surviving children Henry b. 1622, Ralph b.1623, Joan b.1628, Abigail b.1629) It seems that both of her parents having died (perhaps around 1640 when Abigail would have been about 11 years of age), Abigail resided with her brother Ralph and his family in New Haven until her marriage at age 20 to Richard Terry on 22 May 1649. Perhaps since it was known at the time that she came from the household of Ralph Lines, and that her father was dead, it was wrongly rumored that Ralph Lines was both her father and dead.