• Abram Stocking Blodgett
• - Born: Feb 28, 1805 - Ashfield, Mass
• - Died: Aug 23, 1877 (age 72) - Stockton, NY
• - Parents: Aaron and Sarah Blodgett
• - Married: c1826 - Saratoga County, Mass
• - Resided: Corinth, Saratoga County, NY;
  - Bear Lake, South Pomfret, NY

• Elizabeth Turk
• - Born: Oct 23, 1806 - Albany, NY
• - Died: Jun 6, 1874 (age 67) - Pomfret, NY
• - Parents: Jeronimus and Elizabeth (Bussing) Turk

Abram Stocking was born in Ashfield, Mass. At around age 5 his family moved to New York state.
They lived for several years in Providence, Saratoga County, NY and then moved to Hadley, NY.
When Abram was just 12, his mother Sarah died. Not long after her death Abram's grandparents,
Silas and Abigail, joined his father in Hadley (possibly to help his father raise the large family).

In 1826, at the age of 21, Abram Stocking married Elizabeth Turk. His sister Abigail had married
Elizabeth's brother Jacob Turk Sr five years earlier. Soon after their marriage, Jacob and Abigail
had headed west to settle in Chautauqua County. Abram Stocking decided to visit his pioneer sister
and investigate prospects for moving his newly formed family there.

He set out on this trip with 75 cents, a bottle of peppermint oil and a large bottle of alcohol,
following the newly built Erie Canal. He made peppermint essence along the way to pay for his
journey. He must have liked what he saw on this visit, for soon after he made plans to move there
with his wife and young daughter.

In 1829 Abram Stocking, Elizabeth and young Julia Ann, just 2 years old, moved to Chautauqua
County. They stayed with his sister Abigail's family while building their own log cabin. At this time,
Chautauqua County was still mostly frontier wilderness, with indians living nearby.

Abram Stocking was not the only Blodgett sibling to head west. Just as Samuel Blodgett II's children
had ventured from Woburn, Massechuesetts to settle in Connecticut as pioneers, so too did several of
Abram Stocking's siblings make a similar journey to Chautauqua County. In addition to his sister
Abigail and her husband, Abram's brothers Almon and Willard also settled in Chautauqua County, NY.
Almon later moved on to Ashtabula, Ohio, but Willard stayed and raised his family in Pomfret, and
his descendants are among those detailed in our family history.

Elizabeth Turk was born and raised in Corinth, Saratoga County, NY. where she met and married
Abram Stocking. Her father, Jeronimus died in May 1806, just a few months before her birth
"by the falling of a tree". Her mother did not remarry until Elizabeth (her youngest child) married.
"The night of the same day that Elizabeth married Abram Stocking Blodgett, her mother married
Rev. Stephen Cook".

Abram and Elizabeth were pioneer settlers and homemakers of some reputation and dignity.
On Sunday's they always drove their buggy to church together, Abram dressed in a cut-away coat
and stove pipe hat.

The Chautauqua County Map of 1854 shows the location of the farm where Abram and Elizabeth
resided (Lot 42 on Sodom or Turk Rd). This same map identifies many of the farms owned by
other family members (both Blodgetts and Pierces). These farms may well have been the sites of
their original homesteads. As can be seen from the close proximity of their farms to each other,
there was good reason for the later intermarriages between these families.

From the Blodgett Reunion Minutes of 1932 -
"Mrs. Addie (Blodgett) Bull told us that the Blodgett reunions started when they met with her
grandfather, Abram Stocking Blodgett on the 4th of July, and they met with him for several years..."

Abram Stocking and Elizabeth are buried in Pioneer Cemetery, Stockton, NY.