Some Descendants of Rebecca Abbott (Nathaniel, Nathaniel, George)

and John Merrill of Rumford (now Concord) and Bow, New Hampshire

  1. Rebecca Merrill was born on 16 Aug 1751 in Rumford. [Ref, d. John and Rebecca (Abbott)]
  2. Lydia Merrill was born on 19 Feb 1753 in Rumford. [Ref, d. John and Rebecca (Abbott)]
  3. Penelope Merrill was born on 15 Oct 1754 in Rumford. [Ref, d. John and Rebecca (Abbott)]
  4. John Merrill was born on 14 Jun 1756 in Rumford. [Ref, s. John and Rebecca (Abbott)] He married Sally Robertson of Bow, New Hampshire. [Ref, pp. 136-7]

and Jacob Doyen of Pembroke, New Hampshire

  1. Jacob Doyen was born on 22 Apr 1759 in Pembroke. [Ref, p. 992] He died in Apr 1829 in Belgrade, Maine. [Ref] He married Mercy Unknown in April 1783. [Ref, p. 992] She married next Jonathan Hibbert. [Ref, p. 992] Joseph married second Mary Griggs in Mar 1820 in Cornville, Maine. [Ref] She was born in Jun 1767.
    Jacob was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. [Ref, p. 992]
    In 1818 Joseph applied for a pension, testifying to his record and claiming that he was indigent. In 1820 he swore that he was penniless and that he had no family residing with him. [Ref, pp. 174-5]
    Mercy claimed that she married Joseph in 1783; that he died in April 1830 and that she remarried in Oct 1843. Widowed again she successfuly applied for Jacob's pension rights. She produced a certified document from the town clerk of Temple, Maine listing the children they had had together. [Ref, pp. 174-5]
    On 17 Dec 1853 Joseph Woodman of Plymouth county, Maine swore that he was well acquainted with Mary Doyen, previously Mary Griggs, and that he had known her all his life. He said that she was the widow of the Revoloutionary War soldier Jacob Doyen, that she had been married to him on or about [illegible] Mar 1820 in Cornville, Maine before [illegible] Woodman, an acting Justice of the Peace and that he had been present at the ceremony. He further testified that Mary and Joseph had lived together from the time of their marriage until about a year before his death. About a year before his death Joseph had become a pauper and a public charge. He died in Belgrade, about five miles from Augusta, Maine in April 1829. Joseph Woodman went on to say that he Mary lived about half a mile from him and that he saw her every few days; thay she was 86 last June and was very feeble, being troubled with palsey. He explained that she had no property and no means to leave her residence to pursue her application. [Ref]
    It is not entirely clear what to make of Jacob having two women claim to be his widow. It seems most likely that Jacob deserted Mercy and married Mary without divorcing Mercy.
    1. John Doyen [Ref, p. 992] was born in 1784. [Ref, pp. 167-72] He married Sally Unknown by 1806. [Ref, pp. 167-72] She died between 1820 and 1830. [Ref, pp. 167-72]
      1. Dorcas Doyen was born on 18 Oct 1813. [Ref, pp. 167-72] She was murdered in Apr 1836.

      After her parents' deaths Dorcas was taken in by a local judge; she agreed to act as a servant to his family until she was 18 and they agreed to bring her up almost as if she was their daughter. When she was 17 she had an apparently consensual and scandalous affair. It was agreed that the judge would say that she was 18 and she chould leave. She changed her name to Helen Jewett and went to New York City. She became a prostitute and was famed for her beauty. In Apr 1836 she was murdered; her death was an early media sensation.
      There are several articles about her on the web and there is a book. Click here to read the Wikipedia article.

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

      The image to the right is in the public domain because its copyright has expired.

        Helen Jewett