Benjamin Kimball Family Document. 1739 Marriage Agreement between Jonathan Kimball and Jane Pearson Plummer

Bradford, MA: 1739. 1 p. manuscript document, 9" x 7.5". An interesting marriage financial agreement between Jonathan Kimball (1673-1749) of Bradford, Massachusetts and Jane Plummer of Rowley, Mass., signed by Jane Plummer, Joseph Pearson, John Hobson and Jonathan Kimball with two seals. Both parties widowed with a large number of children, Jonathan assures Jane that she will keep use of her estate and that on her death, her children will inherit all; in the event of his death, Jane will get 40 pounds and the "Least Lower Room" in his dwelling to live in. (Kimball married his first wife Lydia Day, in 1696; she died Sept. 16, 1739). Apparently, it was not a happy union as Jonathan's will states the following: "Since my wife Jane has eloped and refuses to live with me, I give her five shillings and a pair of leather gloves."

This branch of the prestigious and prolific Kimball family originated with Richard Kimball, a wheelwright who migrated from England. His son "Cornet" Benjamin Kimball, (1637-1696), father of Jonathan, husband of Mercy, bought land in Rowley, MA., later called Bradford, in 1663. He was a soldier, an overseer in the town, also a wheelwright, carpenter, farmer and part-owner of a a sawmill in Haverhill. REFERENCES: Morrison, Leonard A. History of the Kimball Family in America. CONDITION: Open tears, chips, holes, some loss of content but very legible, toning as expected.