Faith (Clarke) Phillips (1618 - 1675)

Born 6 Jan 1618 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England

Wife of Edward Doty Sr. — married 6 Jan 1635 in Plymouth, Plymouth Colony

Wife of John Phillips — married 14 Mar 1667 in Plymouth, Plymouth Colony

Descendants

Died 21 Dec 1675 at age 57 in Marshfield, Plymouth Colony

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Biography

Faith Clarke came from Ipswich, England on the "Francis" in April 1634. She is listed (as "Faith Clearke") among those passengers not taking the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy at the Custom House at Ipswich, due to being under age. Her age is indicated as 15 years in the record. She is listed in the group with John Pease which has made some question if she was Thurston's daughter. However, her relationship to Thurston is confirmed by this court document:

[1 Jun 1663 Plymouth Court:] "concerning the disposing of the estate of Faith Clarke, widow, deceased, that her daughter, Faith Dotey, widow, shall have a quarter part, or one part of four, of the goods and chattels of the said Faith Clarke, her debts being discharged; and the remainder three parts of four, or three-quarters thereof, shall be equally divided betwixt her [widow Faith Clarke's] two sons, Henery and Thurston Clarke [jr]"^[1]

Therefore, she was not the daughter of a Richard Clarke and Faith Loes.

Less than a year after her arrival at Plymouth, she married Edward Doty on 6 January 1634/5 in Plymouth.^[2][3] In his "History of Plymouth Plantation" completed in 1650, Governor William Bradford refers to her as Edward Doty's second wife. The colony records contain no indications that Edward was married earlier and no clues to the identity of his first wife.

She and her husband had nine children, the youngest born less than two years prior to his death in 1655.

On 14 March 1665/6? she married John Phillips,^[4] a widower, and moved to Marshfield where she lived until her death 21 Feb (Dec?) 1675 at about 56 years of age.

Faith gave a deed of gift to her son John in May 1671 of a house and land at High Cliff, Plymouth, that had been bequeathed to her in Edward Doty's will.^[5]

Last Will & Testament

Faith's will was proved 8 Jun 1676. When she married second to John Phillips there was a pre-nuptial agreement to ensure her right to care for her children and her property. In her will she stated Faith Phillips the wife of John Phillips, of Marshfield, though weak in body she bequeathed to "my daughter Mary 9 pounds in my son John's hands, to my daughter Elizabeth 6 pounds, to my daughter Mary 3 pounds due by bill of sale, to my daughter Desire 6 pounds, due by my bill of sale and a warming pan. On 4 Nov 1676 letters of administration were granted to her son-in-law, John Rouse, Jr. of Marshfield, husband of her daughter Elizabeth ... in behalf of himself his wife and sisters: viz Desire [torn] and Mary Doten.^[6]

Inscription on the Headstone of Faith Clarke Doty Phillips placed in 1989

"FAITH, DAUGHTER OF FAITH AND THURSTON CLARKE OF IPSWICK CO. SUFFOLK ENGLAND, CAME IN SHIP ‘FRANCIS’ AT AGE 15 WITH HER FATHER IN 1634; MARRIED EDWARD DOTY OF THE ‘MAYFLOWER’ ON 6 JAN 1634/35; MOTHER OF 9 CHILDREN, ALL BORN AT HIGH CLIFFE IN PLYMOUTH. AFTER EDWARD'S DEATH 23 AUG 1655 IN PLYMOUTH, SHE REMAINED IN HER HOME AT HIGH CLIFFE UNTIL 14 MAR 1666/67, WHEN SHE MARRIED SECOND AT PLYMOUTH JOHN PHILLIPS OF MARSHFIELD AS HIS THIRD WIFE. FAITH DIED 21 DEC 1675 IN THIS CEMETERY (WINSLOW BURYING GROUND). TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN MEMORY OF FAITH CLARKE DOTY PHILLIPS. THIS MONUMENT DEDICATED 6 MAY 1989 BY THE PILGRIM EDWARD DOTY SOCIETY." ^[7]

Notes

• It is recorded on her headstone (placed in 1989) that Faith was 15 when she came to America in 1634, which means she had to have been born in 1618/1619.

• Faith Clarke was born about 1619, and died 21 Dec 1675 in Marshfield, Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts. She left a will dated 12 Dec 1675 (MD 3:87-9). She married 6 Jan 1634. (MD 13:83 and Bank's Planters, pp 121-4)^[8]

Sources

1. ↑ Anderson, Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume II, C-F, Boston, MA: NEHGS (2000), p 99 citing Plymouth Colony Records 4:39
2. ↑ Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleff, and David Pulsifer, ed., Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England (New York : AMS Press, 1855), 12 vols., Vol. 1:32.

   "January 6, 1634[/35]. Edward Doten and Fayth Clarke wer maried."

3. ↑ “Plymouth Colony records, court orders, 1633-1690”, database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3S3-4QXK-6  : 3 April 2023), , FHL microfilm 008492483, image 53, Plymouth, Massachusetts, Vol 1-3, 166-1640, Page 75.
4. ↑ "Plymouth Colony Vital Records," in Mayflower Descendant, 18(1916):56: "John Phillips Married to ffaith Dotey the 14th of March 1666"
5. ↑ Bowman, George Ernest, "Edward Doty's Will and Inventory, and the Will of Faith (Clark) (Doty) Phillips," The Mayflower Descendant, Vol. 3(1901):87-91. Archive.org
6. ↑ "Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Probate Records, 1633-1967," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-997D-V3FK : 11 March 2023), Wills 1633-1686 vol 1-4 > image 401 of 616; State Archives, Boston.
7. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/16705388/faith-doty_phillips : accessed 07 September 2021), memorial page for Faith Clarke Doty Phillips (6 Jan 1619–21 Dec 1675), Find A Grave: Memorial #16705388, citing Old Winslow Burying Ground, Marshfield, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, USA ; Maintained by Sunshine (contributor 46632730) . (Includes gravestone photo of modern stone.)
8. ↑ Peter B. Hill, "Edward Doty: His Descendants Through sons Isaac & Joseph & daughter Mary," in Mayflower Families Through 5 Generations, Vol 11, part 3, Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, Plymouth, MA (2000), pp. 1-3

• Shurtleff, Nathaniel Bradstreet. Records of The Colony of New Plymouth, in New England (William White, Bostons, 1855) Vol. 1: Court Orders 1633-1640, Page 32
• Marion B. Cushman, Richard Fetzer, Peter B. Hill & Robert S. Wakefield, Mayflower Families in Progress-Edward Doty, General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1991
• Ethan Allen Doty, The Doty-Doten Family in America: Descendants of Edward Doty, An Emigrant by the Mayflower, 1620, Brooklyn, NY (1897)
• Olive K. Porter, The Doty-Doten Family in America (Porter), Salt Lake City, Utah: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1977.
• Susan E. Roser, "Mayflower Increasings," Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co. (1995), NEHGS #B2-85056
• Charles Edward Banks, "The Planters of the Commonwealth: 1620-1640 Passengers and Ships," Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Pub. Co., Inc. (1972) (Orange FHL 974.w2p, pg. 124)(Public Record Office MSS) (Banks: The Winthrop Fleet of 1630)
• Mary Lovering Holman, Descendants of William Sherman of Marshfield, Massachusetts, Brookline Massachusetts: Harriet Grace Scott (1936)