This table details the roll of passengers of the Abigail, which sailed from London, mid-July, 1635, bound for New England. The ship arrived safe at Massachusetts Bay, although some of the persons listed below may not have debarked. The rolls represent persons who were ready to embark at the date of record, which often preceded the actual sailing by several weeks. Some may have decided not to sail. Some servants may have run away. And there usually was some loss of life among the passengers from disease and malnutrition during the passage.
 

This information was transcribed in the 19th century by James Savage from records found in London, at the Augmentation Office, Rolls Court, Westminster.
 

For each common date of record, groupings of persons in consecutive order in the roll often indicate some relation by kinship, household or town origin. Either the persons were present in person before the scribe at that time and queued up in their natural groupings to enroll, or the documents of fealty arrived to the scribe from particular sources and were registered in order as received.
 

Spelling and Abbreviations:

The surnames are spelled as Savage, Tepper and their English collaborators could best decipher the old handwritten passenger rolls. Expect a few mistakes in interpretation, as well as errors by the original 17th century scribe. Savage's later corrections have been used. These spellings are antique and often curious, so if you are searching a particular name, try all imaginable variations.
 

We have generally given prenames their modern spelling. In many cases the spelling of a prename was unusual or doubtful, or the interpretation of the original abbreviated form is uncertain. If so we have left it as originally recorded. This is most notably the case for the abbreviation "Jo:" which can mean either John or Joseph or perhaps other names. Where a given name beginning with the letters "Jo..." is fully spelled out here, it was found that way in the original, or the intention is otherwise certain. Variants of "Anne" have been left as in the original, since many times "Hannah" is meant. Elisa may mean Elizabeth. "Francis" was nearly always spelled the same and might be male or female. Recall that Christian and Bennett were usually female names in those times.