.jpeg)
Abigail Dean Bacon Talbot (1719-1786)
Captain William Bacon (1716-1761)
George Talbot (1714-1772)
Daniel Bacon (1748-1750)
Hannah Bacon (1750-1777)
Abigail Dean was born on April 30, 1719 to John Dean, III and Hannah Savil Dean.
On November 17, 1737, she married William Bacon. The couple had 11 children: Abigail, William Jr., John, Sarah, Daniel, Hannah, Anna, Mercy, Lydia, Abner, and Judith.
William Bacon was one of the founders of the Second Parish of Dedham (now the First Congregational Church) and was on the building committee of the first meeting house. A soldier in the Colonial Wars, Bacon rose to the rank of Captain and led troops in the Crown Point Expedition in 1755 and 1756 as part of Col. Richard Gridley’s regiment. He participated in the Lake George Campaign in 1756. On May 21, 1761, Bacon died from the lingering effects of the Lake George campaign.
On September 30, 1763, Abigail Dean Bacon married George Talbot. Talbot had been widowed twice before and had four children from a previous marriage. Abigail and George had one child, George Talbot, born in 1765. Abigail’s second husband, George Talbot, died on May 24, 1772. Abigail Dean Bacon Talbot died on October 5, 1786.
Abigail, her two husbands, and two of her children with William Bacon, are buried side-by-side in Old Parish Cemetery. Daniel Bacon, who died on October 19, 1750, was only two years old at the time of his death; Hannah was 27 when she died on October 15, 1777.
There are several interesting aspects to the gravestones of this extended family and noted gravestone expert, Vincent Luti, has identified some of the carvers of these stones:
Captain William Bacon’s gravestone was carved by George Allen, Jr. of Rehoboth, a man of exceptional carving skills. In fact, in the 1930s, newspaperman Win Everett declared its face “the finest and most human in the yard.”
Abigail’s stone and her daughter Hannah’s were carved by Daniel Farrington of Wrentham. Unfortunately, Farrington misspelled Abigail’s name. Her stone reads “In Memory of Mrs. \ Abigail Tolbard \ (wd. of Mr. George Tolbard & formerly \ ye wife of Cap't William Bacon) \ who Died Oct, ye 5th \ 1786 \ in ye 67th year \ of her \ Age.” Her footstone was recovered and reset by OPPV in 2019. Son Daniel’s stone was found at Highland Cemetery broken in two. It was repaired and reset by volunteers.
George Talbot’s stone has been identified as being carved by Henry Christian Geyer, a well-known Boston stonecutter.
