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This article is from the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 6 volumes, edited by William S. Powell. Copyright ©1979-1996 by the University of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher. For personal use and not for further distribution. Please submit permission requests for other use directly to the publisher.

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Abington, Thomas

by Mattie Erma E. Parker, 1979
 
See also: John Hecklefield

d. November or December 1707

Abstract of North Carolina wills. Raleigh, E. M. Uzzell & co., state printers. 1910. N.C. Dept. of the Secretary of State. Thomas Abington, attorney and colonial official of North Carolina, took oath as attorney general 25 Feb. 1695/96. He was replaced in that office 3 Oct. 1696, apparently because of poor health. He subsequently served as clerk of Pasquotank Precinct court (October 1699, or earlier, until his death), clerk of the general court (1706–7), clerk of the council and court of chancery (ca. 1706–7), and clerk of the lower house of the assembly (November 1707).

Abington lived in Pasquotank Precinct, where he held at least 445 acres of land at his death. It is not known whether he married.

Abington died between 13 Nov. 1707, when he made his will, and 28 Dec. 1707, when the will was proved. He apparently became ill during or soon after the assembly session and died at the house of John Hecklefield on Little River, where the session had been held. The legatees named in his will included Mary Tully, a goddaughter; Mrs. Elizabeth Hecklefield, who was bequeathed a sum for her "care and trouble" during his illness; Tobias Knight, secretary of the colony, who was one of the executors; and several others who apparently were friends. No legatees were identified as relatives.

References:

J. Bryan Grimes, ed., Abstract of North Carolina Wills (1910).

J. R. B. Hathaway, ed., North Carolina Historical and Genealogical Register, 3 vols. (1900–1903).

Abington's will and various documents from Albemarle County Papers, 1678–1714 (North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh).

Mattie Erma Edwards Parker, ed., North Carolina Higher-Court Records, 1670–1696 and 1697–1701 (1968 and 1971).

William S. Price, Jr., ed., North Carolina Higher-Court Records, 1702–1708 (1974).

Additional Resource and Image Credit:

N.C. Dept. of the Secretary of State. Abstract of North Carolina wills. Raleigh, E. M. Uzzell & co., state printers. 1910. (includes Abington's will and his name as Clerk of Court in several other wills) https://digital.ncdcr.gov/Documents/Detail/abstract-of-north-carolina-wills/2148937?item=2227313 (accessed January 16, 2013).

Subjects: 
Biographies
Lawyers
Public officials
Authors: 
Parker, Mattie E. E.
Origin - location: 
Pasquotank County
From: 
Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.

1 January 1979 | Parker, Mattie E. E.