Robert Abell

Rev war veteran St Mary's Co militia. Came to Rolling Fork Settlement abt 1788 Died while on a trip to Maryland. Maryland Represented Nelson/Washington Counties in the state legislature Served as Nelson County magistrate in 1788.

"THE SETTLEMENT ON THE ROLLING FORK.

In 1788, Robert Abell, a man of no inconsiderable note in the early annals of the State, emigrated with his family to Kentucky and settled on lands bordering on the Rolling Fork. His father, Samuel Abell, a Protestant, had been high sheriff of St. Mary's county, Maryland, at a time when a Catholic could not hold office without first taking the test-oath, as it was called, which was equivalent to the renunciation of his faith. His mother, whose maiden name was Ellen O'Brien, was a fervent Catholic, however, and though she was permitted by her husband to bring up her daughters in the knowledge and practice of her own religion, she was allowed no such control in shaping the faith of her sons. When Samuel Abell's oldest son, Philip, had grown to manhood, he was taken to Leonardstown by his father to have him sworn in as deputy sheriff. When the oath was read to him, he declared he could not take it, and would not; that it "would choke" him to do so. The father was greatly displeased, and he tried hard to shake the young man's constancy. Finding that impossible, he let him have his own way. On his death-bed Samuel Abell became himself a Catholic.

The facts, as here stated, are to be found on pages 13-14 of Rev. J. L. Spalding's Life of Archbishop Spalding. By courtesy of a friend, the writer is enabled to lay before his readers an incident that closely followed the one that was enacted in the colonial court-room in Leonardstown as above related. Says this authority :

" Samuel Abell and his wife, considering their anomalous position in respect to religion, are said to have got along with fewer jars than ordinarily come to married people much more favorably situated. It was the habit of the father of the family upon entering the room in which his wife was sitting, to draw up a chair beside her own and tell her the news of the day. On that upon which their son had declined the proffered oath of office he came into the presence of his wife with a look on his face that betokened more of anger than conjugal confidence. Having taken a turn or two of the room in silence, he brought a chair to a stand as far distant from his wife as the opposite corner of the fire-place, to which domestic usage had given her prescription. Noisily banging it down on the floor, he cried " Ellen Abell, you have deceived me ! In defiance of my known will, you have made Phil a Catholic. He has to-day brought disgrace upon me, and shown his contempt for the law and the religion of the State, by refusing to take the oath of office. It is to you, deceiving and deceitful woman that you are, that I am indebted for the shame that has this day come upon me !' "

" ' Samuel Abell,' returned the wife, her eyes raining tears as she spoke, but with a look of extreme thankfulness on her face, I have never deceived you ! Not once since you took me for a wife have I disobeyed you! If Phil has learned to respect the religion of his mother, it is God's grace, and not to that mother's instructions that both son and mother are indebted for a result that I had indeed hoped for and prayed for from the hour of his birth, but which seemed so far distant to my despairing heart.' Falling upon her knees, she raised her eyes and hands to heaven and exclaimed : ' I thank Thee, oh my God, that Thou hast remembered me in mercy ! From a full heart I give Thee thanks that Thou has led the son Thou gavest me to render obedience to Thy law rather than to that which Thy erring creatures have set up in the land! ' Convinced that his wife had spoken but the truth, and awed by an exhibition of faith that was inexplicable to him at the time, the husband said no more ; neither did he ever afterwards indicate by his manner that there was anything between them out of which strife could be evoked."

Robert Abell was a man of sterling qualities of heart and mind, agreeable in disposition and manners, and popular with all classes of society. The maiden name of his wife, whom he married in Maryland, and where several of their children were born, was Margaret Mills. She is said to have been a woman of a determined will, and not a little exacting of service, as well from her children as from her dependents.

In 1799, Robert Abell was elected, together with Felix Grundy, as a representative from Washington county to the constitutional convention that framed the organic law of the State until it was modified and changed by the convention of 1849. He had previously represented Nelson county in the State legislature of 1792, the first meeting of that body after the admission of Kentucky into the union of States, and the county of Washington in 1795. Dr. Spalding relates in his very interesting "Sketches of Kentucky," the following anecdote in connection with the constitutional convention of 1799, of which Felix Grundy and Robert Abell were members :

"Robert Abell was the only Catholic in that body. It had been agreed that each member of the convention should be at liberty to present such clauses as he thought worthy of insertion in the organic law they had met to perfect, and that, after debate on the clauses proffered, those should be accepted which would be found carried by the votes of a majority of the delegates. Robert Abell's roommates were the late distinguished lawyer and statesman, Felix Grundy, and a lesser legal light who had abandoned the Presbyterian pulpit for the forum of the courts of civil law. The last named party one day called the attention of his companions to a provision it was his desire to have embodied in the constitution. This provision ran about as follows : " It is further provided that no Papist, or Roman Catholic, shall hold office of profit or trust in the Commonwealth.' . Seizing his pen, Felix Grundy immediately Indited the following: 'It is also provided that no broken-down Presbyterian preacher shall be eligible to any office in this Commonwealth.' Having read the clause, he assured the quondam minister that he would lay it before the convention and advocate its adoption the moment the provision he had shown them should be presented to that body. This incident was related to a son of Robert Abell by Felix Grundy himself."*

The extracts that follow, all referring to Robert Abell and his family, are taken from an interesting, gossipy letter, written by a lady friend who has had exceptional opportunities of learning matters of interest in connection with the old Catholic families of Marion county :

"Robert Abell's wife, Margaret, had many excellent traits of character. She was energetic in purpose as well as in action, and she permitted no one to interfere with her plans, whatever was their character. To the core of her heart she was a Catholic, but it is not to be denied that she was at times lacking in christian forbearance. Especially was that the case in reference to her own children. For them her will was law, and she brooked no disputation of that fact. Her firmness, it is said, gave to the Church of Kentucky one of its brightest ornaments, in the person of the late Rev. Robert A. Abell; but it also lost to the Church two of her other children. Robert and Margaret Mills Abell were the parents of ten children, seven sons and three daughters. These were named: Samuel, Jesse, James, Robert, Ignatius, Benjamin, John, Mary, Ellen and Janet. Robert Abell went on a visit to Maryland in 1802, where he was taken sick and died. Upon his wife the news of his unexpected death produced a singular effect. She never lifted up her head afterwards. Her grief was sincere, and it was thus she indicated it: She took off her shoes and stockings, and she never resumed them again. She donned a coarse cotton gown, and she lived thenceforth the life of a penitent.*

In the Calvary cemetery a monument is to be seen on which is inscribed: Sacred to the Memory of Robert and Margaret Abell. The filial piety of the late Father Robert A. Abell induced him to erect this monument. But neither of his parents rest beneath its base. The father's remains have long since assimilated with the soil of his native Maryland, and those of the mother are awaiting the resurrection in the old graveyard of St. Thomas, in Nelson county."

It is not the writer's purpose to speak here of more than two of Robert Abell's children, briefly of the one, since his knowledge concerning him is limited, and extendedly of the other, who was his friend from boyhood, and for the reason that the preservation of the well-earned fame of such as he has been one of his leading motives for the attempt he is making to write a history of the Church of his native State.

• Intellectually considered, Felix Grundy was one of the foremost men of his day in the whole country. He had the reputation, too, of being at all times an honest and fearless advocate of the right. He came with his father to Kentucky when a boy, was educated in the Bairdstown (Bardstown) academy, studied law, and was only twenty-two years old when he was elected a member of the first Kentucky legislature. He afterwards served in the State constitutional convention, and was, for several terms, the representative from Washington county in the State legislature. Later, he filled the offices of judge of the supreme court and chief justice. Removing to Nashville, Tennessee, he therebecame a successful practitioner in the courts of the State. Again entering the field of politics, he served a term in the legislature of Tennessee, represented his district in the federal congress from 181 1 to 1814, and in 1829 he was elected to the senate ol the United States. This position he held for nine years, when, in 1838, he was appointed by President Van Buren Attorney General of the United States. He died in Nashville, December 19th, 1840, being at the time in the 70th year of his age.
• My correspondent, I think, mistakes the occasion of these manifestations of grief on the part of the widow of Robert Abell, It is more than likely they were caused by the apostacy of one or more of her children."

Ben. J. Webb, The Centenary of Catholicity in Kentucky. (Charles A. Rogers, 1884; Reprinted by McDowell Publications)
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Birth: May 8, 1756 St. Mary's County Maryland, USA Death: Sep. 3, 1802 St. Mary's County Maryland, USA

From Filson Club Quarterly Newsletter 1935 transcription "this person with these dates is interred in this cemetery with no tombstone present."

Revolutionary war veteran, St. Mary's County, Maryland militia. Came to Rolling Fork Settlement about 1788. Died while on a trip to Maryland. Represented Nelson/Washington Counties in the state legislature. Served as Nelson County magistrate in 1788.

In 1788, Robert Abell migrated with his family to Kentucky and settled in the Catholic settlement of Rolling fork in Nelson County. His father, Samuel Abell, was a Protestant and had been High Sheriff of St. Mary's County, Maryland. His mother, Elinor (Ellen) O'Brien, was a Catholic. Robert Abell was elected a representative from Washington County, Kentucky to the constitutional convention in 1799. He had also represented Nelson County in the State legislature of 1792. His wife, whom he married in St. Mary's County, Maryland on November 3, 1777, was Margaret Mills, or Miles. Their ten children were Samuel, Jesse, James, Robert A., Ignatius, Benjamin, John, Mary, Ellen, and Janet. Robert Abell returned to Maryland in 1802 for a visit, was taken ill and died. (Ref: MM-1:1; Kc:102) MM-1 is Barnes, Robert W. Maryland Marriages, 1634-1777. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1976). KC is Webb, Benjamin J. The Centenary of Catholicity in Kentucky. (Louisville: Charles A. Rogers Co., 1884). Henry C. Peden, Jr. Marylanders to Kentucky 1775-1825, page 1

The quote below is from the following book:Webb, Ben, J. "The Centenary of Catholicity in Kentucky". Louisville: Charles A. Rogers, 1884, Page 105."In the Calvary cemetery a monument is to be seen on which is inscribed: 'Sacred to the Memory of Robert and Margaret Abell.' The filial piety of the late Father Robert A. Abell induced him to erect this monument. But neither of his parents rest beneath its base. The father's remains have long since assimilated with the soil of his native Maryland, and those of the mother are awaiting the resurrection in the old graveyard of St. Thomas, in Nelson county."

Above submitted by this member

Family links:

Spouse:

 Margaret Mills Abell (1760 - 1818)

Children:

 Jessa Abell (1778 - 1846)*

 Janet Ann Abell Thomas (1780 - 1843)*

 Samuel Abell (1782 - 1861)*

 James Samuel Abell (1784 - 1876)*

 Elizabeth Abell Buckman (1788 - 1831)*

 Eleanor Abell Abell (1790 - 1841)*

 Robert Abner Abell (1792 - 1873)*

 Mary Abell (1794 - 1805)*

 Bennett Abell (1796 - 1876)*

 Margaret Abell (1801 - 1806)*

*Calculated relationship

Burial: Holy Name of Mary Cemetery Calvary Marion County Kentucky, USA Plot: This is a Cenotaph.

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Created by: RhondaPattonWathen & chi... Record added: Nov 24, 2012 Find A Grave Memorial# 101212600 https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=101212600