Elder Michael Metcalf (1687-1754) and Abial Colburn (1694-1775)

{Ellis Ancestors}

Michael Metcalf was born 21 May 1687, in Wrentham, Massachusetts.1 He was the second of nine children of Deacon Eliazer Medcalf and Meletiah Fisher Metcalf.

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Michael’s father, Eleazer, started to spell his own name MEDCALF, with a "d" rather than a "t" sometime before his marriage was recorded in the Wrentham Vital Records. All his children are listed as Medcalf in their birth records. However, they themselves seem to have spelled their name "Metcalf."

Abial Colburn was the daughter of Samuel Colburn and Mercy Partridge of Dedham. She was born in Dedham on 27 September 1694.2 She was the youngest of their six children and was born a little more than four months after her father died on 18 May 1694.

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Abial was about eight years old when, on 27 March 1702, her mother married Cornelius Fisher2 who had six children by his first wife. Three of them were younger than Abial, which would have given her the chance to practice being a big sister. Cornelius and Mercy had two more daughters, giving Abial even more practice.

Michael Metcalf and Abial Colburn were married in Wrentham on 23 December 1712.1

The History of Franklin says Michael was an active participant in the group that petitioned to have a separate parish established in the west-end of Wrentham, the area which eventually became Franklin. They worked for 20 years before the new parish was finally approved 23 December 1737. He "was an original member of the Franklin church, and was chosen ruling elder 8th March 1738-9; he and his associate, Jonathan Wright, being the only ones elected to that office in the church."

Elder Michael Metcalf died 9 January 1754, in Wrentham. The record says, "Michael, Elder, Jan. 9, 1754, in his 67th y."1 No record of a second marriage or death has been found in the Wrentham Vital Records for Abial Colburn Metcalf, but "A study of Metcalfs" by Clayton G. Metcalf, 1979, states she died 25 April 1775 in Franklin, Massachusetts.

Sources:

  1. Vital Records of Wrentham, Massachusetts

  2. Early Records of the Town of Dedham, Vol 1

  3. A history of the town of Franklin, Mass.; from its settlement to the completion of its first century, 2d March, 1878; with genealogical notices of its earliest families, sketches of its professional men, and a report of the centennial celebration by Blake, Mortimer, 1813-1884

  4. A Study of Metcalfs, Andrews and Smith by Clayton G. Metcalf