Mercy (Freeman) Knowles (1659 - bef. 1745)

Born Jul 1659 in Eastham, Plymouth Colony

Ancestors

Wife of Samuel Knowles — married Dec 1679 in Eastham, Plymouth Colony

Descendants

Died before 17 Apr 1745 before age 85 in Eastham, Barnstable, Province of Massachusetts Bay

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Biography

Mercy Freeman was born in July 1659 in Eastham, (then) Plymouth Colony, the daughter of John Freeman and Mercy/Marcy Prence.^[1][2]

Mercy married Samuel Knowles in December 1679, probably in Eastham where their family records are written.^[3] The date is given in the Brewster Genealogy as 16 December 1679 without a source.^[4]

Josiah Paine, a local historian, recorded the gravestone inscriptions in the Old Cemetery at Orleans in 1867. At that time he found the stones for both Samuel and Mercy, and gave us:^[5]

Here Lyes the Body of Mr. Samuel Knowles

Formerly Representative for the Town of Eastham;;

Who died June ye 19

1737, in the 86th Year of his age

"He married Mercy, daughter of Major John Freeman, of E[astham], in Dec., 1679. She died in 1744. The inscription upon her gravestone has become illegible."^[5]

Mercy Knowles, widow of Eastham, wrote her will on 05 September 1739 and it was proved on 17 Apr 1745. She mentioned her sons Samuel, Richard, John, Cornelius Amos and James Knowles; daughters Rebecca Withrell, Mercy Rich and Ruth Avery; (unnamed) children of her deceased son Nathaniel Knowles; granddaughter Rebecca, daughter of deceased son Nathaniel; granddaughters Ruth Rich, Mercy Godfree. Son Samuel Knowles named as executor. The inventory of her estate was taken on 22 April 1745.^[6]

Children born Eastham (Knowles):^[3]

1. James, b. 13 Aug 1680
2. Mercy, b. 13 Sep 1681
3. Samuel, b. 15 Jan 1682[/3]
4. Nathaniel, b. 15 May 1686
5. Richard, b. late July 1688
6. Rebeckah, b. mid March 1690
7. John, mid April 1692
8. Ruth b. Nove 1694
9. Cornelius, b. Oct 1695
10. Amos, b. 1702
11. James, b. 1705^[7]

Birth 23 JUN 1659 Eastham, Massachusetts (Barnstable) ^{[citation needed]}

Sources

1. ↑ Bowman, George Ernest, "Plymouth Colony Vital Records," Mayflower Descendant, Vol. 17:200.

   "Marcye ffreeman the Daughter of John ffreeman was borne in July 1659"

2. ↑ Hayward, Elijah, "Plymouth Colony Records," NEHGR Vol. 9(1855):314.

   "Eastham, John Freeman, to Mercy Prince, Feb. 13, 1649-50, and had John, b. Feb. 2, 1650-1, d. an infant; John, Dec 1651; Thomas, Sept. 1653; Edmund, June, 1657; Mercy, July 1659."

3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Bowman, George Ernest, "Eastham and Orleans, Mass., Vital Records," The Mayflower Descendant, Vol. 6:204-5.

   " Samuel Knowles and Mercy ffreeman wear maried december in the year 1679"

4. ↑ Jones, Emma C. Brewster, [http://archive.org/details/brewster_gene The Brewster Genealogy, 1566-1907; a Record of the Descendants of William Brewster of the “Mayflower.” Ruling Elder of the Pilgrim Church Which Founded Plymouth Colony in 1620], (New York : Grafton Press, 1908) accessed May 3, 2021, page 23.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Paine, Josiah, "Inscriptions upon Gravestones in the Old Cemetery at Orleans, Mass.", NEHGR Vol. 21(1867):213.
6. ↑ Barnstable County Probate Records, Vol. 8:87-89, Estate of Mercy Knowles.
7. ↑ Mayflower Families Fifth Generation Descendants, 1700-1880. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2017). From Mayflower Families Through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, Mass., December 1620. Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1975-2015. William Brewster, MFIP Patience, (2001) p. 93. (Link by $ubscription.)

See also:

• Paine, Josiah, Early Settlers of Eastham : Containing Sketches of All Early Settlers of Eastham (Yarmouthport, Mass. : C. W. Swift, 1916), page 27.