Abraham, David

David Abraham (died c.1779)

Alstead, NH

Author Gail Golec, 2024

In New England, our local histories talk very little about the Indigenous People and those that do, often portray them in extremes; as either inconsequential or violent.  However, a document recently uncovered has shed light on the story of an Indigenous man named David Abraham who was neither. Through Abraham’s story, we can see the complexity of Indigenous history in New England, by exploring the deep connections and personal relationships in his life, the kind that have always been at the core of Indigenous culture, we add another layer to our understanding of the sustained and varied Indigenous presence in the Monadnock Region. 

We first became aware of David Abraham from a will uncovered by HSCC volunteer, Becky Belcher, while she was researching files for the Recovering Black History Project. This will was a pretty remarkable document; it stated that as of December 1778, David was living in Alstead, NH, he was a “Native Indian” of Grafton, MA and that he was a soldier in the Continental Army. Taking our lead from the details in the will, we’ve been able to flesh out David’s life. And it is a complicated story.  

David’s will indicates that as of 1778, he was an Indigenous man living in the Monadnock Region - but he was not an Indigenous man from the Monadnock Region. David was from Grafton, MA which was part of the wider homeland territory of the Hassanamesit people, a band within the Nipmuc Tribe of central and eastern Massachusetts. And before being renamed Grafton by the English, this settlement was known as Hassanamesit and was one of a handful of villages of “Indian Praying Towns” of christianized (Protestant) Nipmuc people on the western border of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. These praying towns were where Nipmucs who had been loyal to the Crown during Metacom/King Philip’s War (1675-1679) were “permitted” to stay by the English after the wars’ end with the assurance that the land therein would be held aside for the christianized Hassanamesit Nipmucs.

However, a generation later, the English found their population bursting at the seams and were in need of more land to settle. In 1727, the vast majority of land in Hassanamesit was “bought out” by the English; it was renamed Grafton and approximately 1/16 of the original landholding of the town were set aside to be divided up amongst the remaining seven Hassanamesit families, David’s among them. Vital statistics records tell us David was born in Grafton on March 23, 1744 to Andrew and Abigail (Printer) Abraham, he had two full siblings, Jonas (b. 1742) and John (b. 1747), that the family was listed as “Indian” and that a number of his paternal relatives had been baptized. According to records for the Second Congregational Church of Grafton, MA, their baptisms were performed by Rev. Solomon Prentice, Sr. 

The Prentice family figured large in the story of David Abraham and his life in New Hampshire. Early town records from Alstead tell us that the Prentices brothers Nathaniel and Solomon, Jr. were among at least 13 families who moved from Grafton, MA to homestead Alstead, NH in the 1770s. And though David’s name does not appear in these town records, it's assumed he must have come to Alstead alongside the rest of these families. While in Alstead, David bought land from Solomon Prentice Jr. and sold land to Nathaniel Prentice; he also left land and assets to other members of the Prentice family in Grafton, MA, as indicated in his 1778 will.

And David was a soldier. According to United States military records, David served in the Continental Army for the duration of the American Revolution (1776-1783). In July 1776, he enlisted as a private in Capt. Samuel Wetherbee’s Company/Col. Wyman’s regiment from Gilsum, NH; in November of that year, Abraham was with Col. Wyman’s regiment at Mt. Independance; January 1777, he was a private serving from Alstead,NH in Capt. Isaac Farwell’s Company; by 1778, he was in Col. Stark’s regiment where he became ill in November and was hospitalized in Connecticut until January of 1779 (it’s during this time he writes his will); after he recovered he went back to active duty, serving in Col. Cilley’s regiment in 1781 and served until the the end of the war in 1783, when he was discharged. 

No records have yet been found indicating that David ever married or had children and we assume that none of his siblings did either, as in his 1778 will, he left land and assets to no direct blood relatives but to a maternal aunt, Sarah Printer Wiser and his cousins, Sarah, Abigail, James and Benjamin Wiser and the aforementioned members of the Prentice family living in Grafton, MA. 

Though we don’t have records indicating exactly where and when David died, it’s assumed he died sometime in late 1784 or early 1785, as his will regarding his assets and property in Grafton was processed by the Worcester (MA) County courts in February 1785. So far, we aren’t sure where he died or how or where he is buried, as David does not show up in death or burial records in either Alstead, NH or Grafton, MA. If he died in Alstead, it’s possible he was buried in an unmarked grave in the Alstead Center cemetery, where several members of the Prentice family are interred as well as a number of men with whom he served alongside in the Revolutionary War. 

Without any kind of journals or personal remembrances, we can never truly know how people felt about one another hundreds of years ago. However, it seems from what we’ve learned about David Abraham so far, he did have relationships with the English families in Grafton, MA and later, in Alstead, NH. In his will, he left Prentice family members land, a valuable commodity and all he had, really; this kind of bequeath indicates a closeness and trust. Afterall, David was their neighbor, fellow congregant, fellow soldier and likely their friend. And while all of that may be true, we cannot overlook that many christianized Indians only sought conversion and assimilation to English culture, customs and laws as a means of protection and survival. Racism and the ideals of colonialism were always a factor in English societies in New England and all of these christianized Indigenous People very much lived in a world that European powers had controlled and dictated to their whim and benefit for generations.

Tracking down the details of David’s story was not straightforward; unlike many of the other early settlers in the Monadnock Region or Revolutionary War veterans, the town histories did not furnish a biography of David, his accomplishments or list his descendants. This, of course, could be because he had no children (that we know of) and died before he could make an impression in local matters. However, we must also consider that David’s story, of the Indian who was a neighbor, church congregant, soldier and friend to the English, didn’t fit into the historic narratives being created in the mid-19th century - stories that highlighted the dramatic, combative interactions between the early English settlers and Indigenous People and cast the English as virtuous, inevitable heroes and the Indigenous People as “savage”, “blackhearted” and “untrustworthy”.

SOURCE MATERIALS

Cheshire County Registry of Deeds: Synopsis of deed: Book 5, pp.69 

Probate Records (Worcester County, Massachusetts); Index 1731-1881; Author: Massachusetts. Probate Court (Worcester County); Probate Place: Worcester, Massachusetts.

GENEALOGICAL SUMMARY

DAVID ABRAHM, born in Massachusetts. Died c.1779 in Grafton, MA.