Staggs Family History

My ancestors in the United States

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      Abigail Avery (1779-1863)

      BIRTH:  11 August 1782, Montgomery, Massachusetts, USA
      DEATH: 1851, Massachusetts, USA
      FATHER: Ransford Avery (1751–1822)
      MOTHER: Mercy Phelps (1755–1829)
      SPOUSE: William Crow (1772–1845)

      When Abigail Avery was born in 1782 in Montgomery, Massachusetts, her father, Ransford, was 31, and her mother, Mercy, was 27. She married William Crow on December 25, 1801, in her hometown. They had seven children during their marriage. She died in 1851 in Massachusetts, at the age of 69.

      The Life of Abigail Avery

      Abigail Avery was born on 11 August 1782 in Montgomery, Massachusetts, into one of the oldest and most deeply rooted families in New England. She was the daughter of Ransford Avery (1751–1822) and Mercy (Phelps) Avery, and through her father she descended from Christopher Avery (1590) and Captain James Avery (1620–1700) of Groton, Connecticut — a lineage that had already been in America for more than a century and a half by the time she was born.

      Montgomery in the 1780s was a small, rugged hill town carved out of the Berkshire foothills. Abigail grew up in a world of stone fences, narrow roads, and close‑knit families who depended on one another through long winters and short summers. The Avery family was well‑established in the region, and Abigail would have been raised with the quiet discipline, literacy, and religious grounding that characterized New England households of the era.

      On 25 December 1801, at the age of nineteen, Abigail married William Crow, a young farmer from the same community. Their marriage was recorded in the Montgomery town books with the simple entry: “William and Abigail Avery, Dec. 25, 1801.”

      Together they began their life in Montgomery, and their children soon followed. Their second born, Horatio, arrived in early 1804 — but tragedy struck quickly. The little boy died on 5 April 1805, only fifteen months old. His small gravestone still stands in Montgomery, carved with the words:“In memory of Horatio, son of William & Abigail Crow, who died April 5, 1805, aged 15 months.”

      The loss of a child was heartbreakingly common in early New England, but Abigail continued to build her family. Over the next decade, she gave birth to:

      • Henry Crow (1802)
      • David Crow (1805)
      • Louisa Crow (1807), who later married Thomas Bill Avery
      • William Crow Jr. (1808), who married Hannah King
      • Massillon Crow (20 May 1810), who would carry the family line westward
      • Horatio Crow (second of the name) (7 January 1812), named in remembrance of the child they had lost

      These births appear in the Avery genealogy, which traces Abigail’s descendants and confirms the Crow children as part of the extended Avery family network.

      Abigail’s life was shaped by the rhythms of rural New England: tending a household, raising children, preserving food for winter, spinning and sewing, and supporting her husband’s work on the farm. She lived through the War of 1812, the rise of the early republic, and the first great wave of westward migration — a movement her own children would eventually join.

      After William’s death in 1845, Abigail did not remain alone. By 1850 she was living in Middlefield, Massachusetts, in the household of Madison and Eunice Smith. Although Eunice was not her daughter, the presence of a Crow relative in the same household — listed as “Urbano Crowell” — suggests that Abigail spent her final years among extended kin or trusted community members, a common arrangement for widowed women in rural New England.

      Abigail died in 1851, at the age of sixty‑nine. She was buried in the soil of western Massachusetts, the region where she had been born, married, raised her children, and lived her entire life.

      Though she did not live to see it, her descendants would soon scatter across the expanding nation — to New York, to Ohio, and ultimately to Indiana, where her son Massillon would establish the branch of the family that leads directly to you.

      Legacy of Abigail Avery

      • She carried forward one of New England’s oldest lineages. Through her, the Crow family became connected to the Avery line, a documented colonial family descending from Christopher Avery (1590) and Captain James Avery (1620–1700).
      • She raised a generation that bridged New England and the Midwest. Her children — especially Massillon Crow — carried the family westward, establishing new roots in Indiana and beyond.
      • She preserved New England naming traditions and family continuity. The reuse of the name Horatio after the death of her first child reflects the deep cultural patterns of early New England families.
      • She lived a life typical of early American women — but her legacy is anything but ordinary. Abigail’s life was one of quiet endurance, steady labor, and deep family ties. She left no letters, no portraits, and no public record — but she left something far more enduring: a lineage that continues through her children, grandchildren, and the generations that followed.
      • Her line flows directly into our family. Through her son Massillon, her granddaughter Alice Geraldine Crowe, and her great‑granddaughter Ella Blanche Wareham.

      Parents

      FATHER: Ransford Avery (1751–1822)
      MOTHER: Mercy Phelps (1755–1829)

      Married

      William Crow (1772–1845) on 25 Dec 1801 in Montgomery

      Children

      • Henry Crow (1802–?) married Thankful Wheeler (1807–?)
      • Horatio Crow (1804–1805)
      • David Crow (1805–?)
      • Louisa Crow (1807–1885) married Thomas Bill Avery (1798–1861)
      • William Crow Jr (1808–?)
      • Massillon Crow (1810–1874) married Betsey Bosworth (1812–1892)
      • Horatio Crow (1812–1891) married Miriam Ellis Chaffee (1808–1895)

      Documents

      • Marriage Records
        • Massachusetts, U.S., Town Marriage Records, 1620-1850 > Name: William Crow; Spouse: Abigail Avery; Marriage Date: 25 Dec 1801; Marriage Place: Montgomery; Source: Vital Records of Montgomery; Full text: William and Abigail Avery, Dec. 25, 1801
      • Census
        • 1850 United States Federal Census > Massachusetts > Hampshire > Middlefield > Name: Abigail Crow; Gender: Female; Race: White; Residence Age: 70; Birth Date: abt 1780; Birthplace: Massachusetts; Residence Date: 1850; Home in 1850: Middlefield, Hampshire, Massachusetts, USA; Line Number: 10; Dwelling Number: 106; Family Number: 119; Household members: Madison Smith (40), Eunice Smith (34), Louice Smith (7), Abigail Smith (4), Sarepta Smith (2), Joseph W Smith (0), Abigail Crow (70), Urbano Crowell (50)
      • Other

      Relation of Abigail Avery to Steven Barry Staggs: 4th great-grandmother

      Page last updated June 24, 2026

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