In honor of the United States 250th anniversary, I will write biographies of each of my children’s Revolutionary War ancestors. Abraham Kimball is Maxine Wymore Renschler’s 4th great-grandfather.
Abraham Kimball, son of Aaron and Susannah Smith Kimball, was born April 18, 1742. He was the first white child born in Hopkinton, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, and consequently received a grant of five hundred acres of pine forest from the proprietors. His father, Aaron, had built one of the first forts in the area to shelter people from the Indians. Kimball’s fort was about two miles east of the burying ground on the road to Rumford (now Concord). Lieut. Aaron Kimball’s marker is the oldest memorial in that cemetery. He also erected the first frame house in Hopkinton township. Aaron and Susannah were among the organizers of the Congregational church, the first church in Hopkinton.
Abraham and another boy, Samuel Putney, were captured by the Indians during the French and Indian War. On the morning of April 13, 1753, as Abraham was driving his father’s cow from Putney’s fort to Kimball’s fort, about two miles distant, he was waylaid by two Indians and was taken prisoner. The third day after the boy’s capture, the Indians were surprised by local men and, while escaping, left Putney behind. Abraham was rescued by a trained fighting dog owned by one of the rescue party. The dog seized an Indian by the neck who was in the act of drawing his tomahawk to kill Abraham.
He married Phoebe Runnells in Hopkinton about 1760. They were the parents of at least 7 sons and 4 daughters. His son Isaac, our ancestor, was born March 7, 1774, at Hopkinton, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire.
Early in Hopkinton’s history, Abraham Kimball built a mill on Dolloff’s brook, where the remains of the structure could still be seen in 1890. To accommodate the mill hands, a dugout was constructed close by.
Abraham registered for military service in 1775. It is said he was a private in Captain Gorden Hutchins’ Company at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
He was wounded above the right knee by a musket ball passing through his thigh on August 16, 1777, at the Battle of Bennington, at Walloomsac, New York. The battle was a major strategic success for the American cause and is considered one of the turning points of the war; it reduced Burgoyne’s army in size by almost 1,000 men, led his Native American allies to largely abandon him, and deprived him of much-needed supplies.
The following data was taken from Abraham’s pension file S-20017, which can be found in the National Archives or at Fold3.com.
“Abraham Kimball’s account, Bennington, Aug. 28, 1777.
Hired a horse to come to Hopkinton, 130 Miles £9. 0.0
To expenses on my way home 1.14.6
To a horse 2 journes from Hopkinton to Andover 5.10.6
To nursing while at Andover 1.16.0
Expenses going to and coming from Andover 4. 5.6
Paid Dr. John Clement 12.6
Dr. Thomas Kitteridge 4.16.0
Total £27.14.6
Loss of time about six months occasioned by said wound. A true account, errors excepted,” Signed Abraham Kimball
“To the Honorable Council and house of representatives. These may certify that Abraham Kimball of Hopkinton in the County of Hillsborough was a soldier in Capt. Bailies Company, in Col. Stickney’s Regt. in the late expedition to Bennington. Being wounded at said Bennington in the Battle there.
Attest Thomas Stickney Col. Nov 13, 1778.”
State of New Hampshire
Nov. 14, 1778.
To John T. Gilman, Officer Appointed to register wounded soldiers &c.
Pursuant to a vote of Council and Assembly, you are to register Abraham Kimball, a soldier in Capt. Bailey’s Co. Col Stickney’s Rgt, who was wounded in the battle of Bennington, and allow him half pay (Agreeable to the Resolves of Congress) two years commencing the 18th of Sept. A.D. 1777.
M. Weare Prest.”
His bill for the Doctors, nursing, etc of £27.14s.6d was allowed. On November 18, 1779, he received £10.”
Abraham signed a January 6, 1790, petition from the inhabitants of Hopkinton to the General Court of New Hampshire requesting permission to raise $1.000 by means of a lottery to build a free school. The local inhabitants were to erect the building and maintain it.
The Kimball family lived in Hopkinton in 1790, when Abraham, along with seven other household members, was listed on the first United States census. Abraham appeared as an invalid pensioner on a report returned by the district court of New Hampshire on December 14, 1792. He appears on the 1800 census of Hopkinton with one woman (his wife) aged 45 or older and one male aged 26 to 44.
In August 1805, Abraham purchased 60 acres at Peacham, Caledonia County, Vermont, from his son Isaac Kimball. In August 1810, he and his wife, both aged over 45, appear on the census. They are also listed on the Peacham census in August 1820.
On February 23, 1827, at Peacham, Vermont, he applied for an increase of his pension from $3.83 to $4.16 a month. He stated the reason for the move to Peacham was “for the purpose of living with or near his children.”
Abraham died on May 5, 1828, in Peacham, at the age of 86, and was buried in the Peacham East Cemetery. His wife, Phoebe, survived him and died at Peacham in 1830.
Anecdotes of Abraham’s life were found in Life and Times in Hopkinton, N.H., 1890, by Charles Chase Lord.