When I first started researching my great, great, great grandfather, Abel B. Flewelling (also known as Abram B. Flewelling), I looked at all the census records he appeared in that I could find. I requested a copy of his naturalization record and downloaded a copy of his death certificate. I looked at plat maps of Fort Gratiot Township, St. Clair County, Michigan, where he lived for over 50 years. And finally, I travelled to Port Huron, Michigan to try to find his grave marker and locate his land.
From the census records I learned that Abel/Abram was born to Nehemiah and Sarah (Sharp) Flewelling and was probably their oldest child. In 1851, Abel was 15 years old and lived with his parents and five brothers in Queensbury, York County, New Brunswick, Canada. By the 1861 Canada Census, Abel was married to his wife Ruth (Elliott) Flewelling and had a four-year-old daughter, Sarah (my great, great grandmother), and two-year-old son, John. The family resided in Douglas, York County, New Brunswick.
In 1870, Abel and his growing family were living in Fort Gratiot Township, St. Clair County, Michigan. He worked as a blacksmith and owned real estate valued at $700. He and Ruth had six children at home. By 1880, Abel and Ruth, both 45 years old at this point, had added three more children to their family. Abel’s occupation was now “farmer.” In 1900 Abel and Ruth were living with their youngest surviving son, Joseph, in Fort Gratiot Township. Abel’s occupation continued to be listed as “farmer.”
Abel filed a Declaration of Intention to become a United States citizen (using the name Abram B. Flewelling) in the Recorder’s Court for the City of Port Huron on April 4, 1870. However, no further records of naturalization proceedings were found by the Archives of Michigan, which holds such records for St. Clair County.
In 1903, Ruth Flewelling passed away. It appears that Abel briefly remarried after Ruth’s death, but this second marriage ended in divorce. Abel died on March 5, 1917 in Fort Gratiot Township. The stated causes of his death were lobar pneumonia and old age. Cemetery records reflect that Abel was buried in Lakeside Cemetery in Port Huron, Michigan in the same lot as Ruth, but I could find no marker there which bears his name.
An 1876 atlas of St. Clair County, Michigan contains a plat map of Fort Gratiot Township which shows A. Flewelling as the owner of a tract of land just south of Gratiot Centre. During a visit to the area in 2016, I attempted to locate the tract (using Black River and Lakeside Cemetery shown on the plat map as locators) with the help of Google Maps. As I turned down the road where I thought the land was, I glanced up at the name of the road on the sign – Abel Dr. I thought to myself, “Same name. This must be the right place.”
Later, I inquired of distant cousins whether the road was truly named after our ancestor, Abel Flewelling, and they confirmed it was.
tracingthepast 