Abigail Mayo

From “The New England Historical and Genealogical Register”, July 1966 (vol. 120, pg. 161)

Stephen Gates of Hingham, Lancaster and Cambridge, Mass., and Some of His Descendants by the late Clarence Almon Torrey, Ph.B.

Abigail, b. 14 Aug. 1671; m. (1) 2 Jan. 1693/4 (Braintree, MA church records) Deacon Nathaniel Sparhawk of Cambridge, who d. 8 Nov. 1734; m. (2) (intention 16 Oct. 1735), as his 2nd wife, Capt. Joseph Mayo of Roxbury, MA, who d. 5 March 1747.

Nathaniel Sparhawk lived in the part of Cambridge which became the town of Brighton. In "Historical Brighton" by J. P.C. Winship, p. 160, are found the following statements concerning Abigail. "About a year after Nathaniel's death, his widow, Abigail, married Joseph Mayo. At his death, she returned to her old home in Brighton to live with her grandson, Nathaniel. Here she lived to the great age of 106. During the last few years of her life, she was so feeble that she had to sit in a chair with a bar across the front to support her. The chair was one of the family curiosities until a few years ago, when it disappeared."

Mrs. Mayo was not quite as old as is stated above. She died 10 March 1775 (The Register, vol. 23 or 8 (can't read it), p. 59-60, January 1869). The record published in the Pnensylvania Magazine was probably copied from a Boston paper. She was actually in her 104th year at the time of her death.