Abraham Anthony was born in Portsmouth, Rhode Island in 16491. He was made a freeman in 16722. Like his father, he was a prominent figure in the life of early Portsmouth3. On 26 Dec 1671 he married Alice Wodell, born 10 Feb 1650, daughter of William and Mary Wodell4.
The Wodell line was noted for their remarkable longevity, several of whom lived to be over 100 years old furnishing many long-lived progenitors for the Anthony Family. Wodell’s line was on one side of Welsh-English and the other purely French; these lines united about 1565. Alice Wodell’s father, William Wodell was a follower of Gorton (who was expelled from Massachusetts for heresy and went to Rhode Island) and he was one of the original proprietors of Warwick , RI in 1642. William was baptized as a Gortonite in 1643. The Governor of Massachusetts, who claimed jurisdiction over RI, arrested William and put him in prison at Watertown, MA. After liberation, he went to Portsmouth, RI and became a prominent Friend or Quaker5. It is unclear who in the Anthony Family was the first to become a Quaker.
Abraham died 10 Oct 17276. His wife, Alice Wodell, died in 17347.
Children of Abraham Anthony and Alice Wodell8
- John Anthony, b. 7 Nov. 1672
- Susanna Anthony, b. 29 Aug. 1674; twin, died in infancy?
- Mary Anthony, b. 29 Aug. 1674; twin, died in infancy?
- William Anthony, b. in Portsmouth, RI 31 Oct 16759; d. in Portsmouth 28 Dec. 174410; m. in Portsmouth 14 March 1694 Mary Coggeshall, b. 18 Sept 1675, d. in Portsmouth 1739, dau. of John Coggeshall and Elizabeth Timberlake11
- Susanna Anthony, b. 14 Oct. 1677; m. 1 Jan 1701 Samuel Hicks
- Mary Anthony, b. 2 Jan. 1680; m. _______ Sherman
- Abraham Anthony, b. 21 April 1682; d. at age 21 in England on a religious quest
- Thomas Anthony, b. 30 June 1684; d. in England, age 21
- Alice Anthony, b. 22 Jan. 1686, twin; d. age 26
- James Anthony, b. b. 22 Jan. 1686, twin; d. age 18 or 21
- Amy Anthony, b. 30 June 1688; m. _____ Allen
- Isaac Anthony, b. 10 April 1690
- Jacob Anthony, b. 15 Nov. 1693; d. 10 Aug. 1727
- William Richard Cutter, Encyclopedia of Massachusetts: Biograhphical-Genealogical (New York: The American Historical Society, 1916), p. 114. ↵
- Ibid. ↵
- Ibid. ↵
- Charles L. Anthony, Genealogy of The Anthony Family From 1495 to 1904, published by author, Sterling, Ill., 1904, p. 63. ↵
- Ibid, p. 24-25. ↵
- Cutter, Encyclopedia of Massachusetts. ↵
- Ibid. ↵
- Anthony, Genealogy of The Anthony Family, 63-64. ↵
- Cutter, Encyclopedia of Massachusetts, 114. ↵
- Ibid. ↵
- Ibid. ↵