Abraham, Samuel, - 1745

Samuel Abraham (d. December 28, 1745) was a member of one of the Natick Indian community's prominent families and a proprietor of Indian land.  He and his wife, Hannah Hannah Nehemiah had at least one daughter, Zerviah.  Abraham served as Natick's selectman in 1716 and 1719 and was a member of a committee to encourage the Reverend Peabody to settle his ministry more permanently among the Natick. Abraham and Thomas Pegan were on another committee for the sale of the Indian land at Magunkook. In 1726, he petitioned the Massachusetts Legislature for permission to sell as much of his land to build a framed house in the English style. Abraham also expressed a desire to continue to live at Natick under the Gospel. When he died in 1745, his estate included a home lot and one-half of a dwelling house, forty-nine acres of wood lots, meadow, and pasture, as well as assorted tools, furniture, a horse, and household goods. As O'Brien notes, however, outstanding debts wiped out the value of his property. O'Brien, Dispossession by Degrees, 148-149. The Petition of Samuel Abraham, 1726.12.00.00. Samuel Sewall, Appendix to the Congregational Churches and Ministers," The American Quarterly Register 14 (1842): 400. Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, Ancestry.