Martha (Everett) Lord (abt. 1638 - 1736)

Born about 1638 in England [uncertain]

Wife of Nathan Lord — married before 20 Jun 1656 in Kittery, York, Massachusetts Bay Colony (Maine)

Descendants

Died 15 Nov 1736 at about age 98 in Berwick, York, Massachusetts Bay (Maine)

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Toby Rockwell [send private message]

Biography

Martha (Everett) Lord immigrated to New England as a child during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640).

Based on reported age at death, Martha was born about 1638, probably in England. She was the daughter of William and Margery (Unknown) Everett. William arrived by 1639 and his origins are not yet known.^[1] William's widow married Issac Nash of Dover, and she and their daughter Martha, wife of Nathan Lord, sold his land in 1674.^[2]

Nathan Lawd & Martha his wife, the daughter o the with in named Margery Nash & heyre & by her husband Administrator to the Estate of William Everitt deceased, appeared before mee this Three & Twenteth day of November one thousand six hundred seaventy foure… & did voluntarily give up their whole right… in any of the with in bargained Premisses… as heyre to the aforesd Margery or as Administrators to ye aforesd William Everitt… a true Coppy… relateing to a Certen Deed made by Isaac Nash & Margery his wife standing now upon the ould Records."'^[3]

Nathan Lord and Martha Everett were married by 20 Jun 1656 in Kittery, York, Maine.^[4][5] Administration of her brother's estate was assigned to Nathan Lord on 12 May 1674.^[6]

In Feb 1690/1, Martha was granted administration of Nathan's estate. He died intestate. [Sons] Nathan Lord and Abraham Lord of Kittery sureties on the bond.^[7][8][5]

The widow Martha Lord died at Berwick, York, Maine, on 15 November 1736 reportedly aged 98 years.^[9]

Children of Nathan' and Martha (Everett) Lord:^[5][10][10]

1. Nathan Lord, b. ca. 1656-^[5][10]
2. Abraham Lord, b. ca. 1658.^[5][10]
3. Samuel Lord^[5][10]
4. Martha Lord^[5] m 1st Moses Littlefield and 2nd Joseph Abbott (weaver)^[11][10]
5. Mary Lord^[5] m Thomas Downs^[11][10]
6. Sarah Lord^[5][10]
7. Margery Lord^[5][10]
8. Anne Lord^[5][10]
9. Benjamin Lord (Weaver)^[5][10]

Martha's husband, Nathan Lord

Nathan Lord was, bp at Rye, Sussex, England on 1 Sept. 1633, and died at Kittery, Maine, before 13 Feb. 1690/1^{[5][12] [10]} He was the son of Nathan Lord of Rye, Shoemaker (1599 - 1633) and Ann (Unknown) Conley.^[5] After the death of his father his mother married Abraham Conley of Wittersham, Clothier as his first wife.^[5] Abraham Conley, his wife Anne (Unknown) (Lord) Conley and young Nathan Lord, and possibly the infant Abraham Conley, immigrated to Maine together, probably by 1638.^[5][12] Nathan Lord received a land grand of 60 acres of salt marsh by the town of Kittery, York, Maine, on December 16, 1652 the same year he signed the Submission to Massachusetts.^[8] He purchased an estate called OLD FIELDS near Mount Misery.^[13] Nathan Lord married Martha Everett before 20 Jun 1656 in Kittery, York, Maine.^{[4] [5]} It was claimed that he was aged 87 years when he died before Feb 1690/1 when Martha was granted administration of his estate in GDMNH. However, Anderson and Easton show in later research that he was actually only 57.^[8][5] In 1903 a second wife was proposed by Charles Chase Lord who was supposedly the daughter of Abraham Conley and Abraham Conley's first wife.^[13] However, in 2010 Joseph C Anderson a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists published an article in The American Genealogist proving that Abraham Conley didn't have a first wife and disputes that he ever had a daughter who married Nathan Lord (see discussion below).^[5]

To summarize Nathan Lord of Maine was the step-son of Abraham Conley who had married his mother. Joseph C Anderson II a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists (FASG) has found not evidence that Abraham Conley had a relationship to the wife (or wives) of Nathan Lord of Maine. He has disproved that Abraham Conley was the step-father of Nathan Lord's wife Martha Everett. He found no evidence of the existence of a daughter of Abraham Conley who married Nathan Lord of Maine. Charles Chase Lord had previously proposed such a daughter but cited no evidence that she ever existed. Certainly we must concede that we can't prove that she didn't exist either. However, the only evidence we have is the un-sourced work of Charles Chase Lord.

Nathan's Origins

In 2010 Joseph C Anderson II FASG and Priscilla Easton CG published new discoveries from England including the baptism record of Nathan Lord at Rye, Sussex, England, on 1 September 1633 in "The English Origins of Nathan1 Lord of Kittery, Maine: With an Account of the Conley Family of Cranbrook, Kent, England and the Ancestry of Abraham1 Conley of Kittery" in The American Genealogist.^[5] They also discovered the original marriage record of the widow of Nathan Lord of Rye, Ann, and Abraham Conley on 30 Dec 1634 in Canterbury.

Anderson and Easton also published the records of Kennington:^[14]

Kennington Baptisms:

• 28 March 1596 Honowerthe Lorde, daughter [sic: son] of Abraham Lord.
• 14 May 1599 Nathan Lorde, son of Abraham Lord.
• 6 June 1601 Mary Lorde, daughter of Abraham Lorde.
• 11 March 1603/4 Elizabeth Lorde, daughter of Abraham Lorde.
• 2 Jan. 1619/20 Honourethe Lord of Ashford & Sara Frowd of this parish.

Kennington Marriage:

• 15 Sept. 1618 Susanna, daughter of Honourethe Lord.

Kennington Burials:

• 2 April 1606 "Daughter and infant" of Abraham Lord.
• 3 April 1621 Marie Lord, widow.
• 25 April [1622?) Grace Lord, wife of Nathan Lord.14

The Archdeacon's Transcripts for the neighboring town of Ashford record:

• 3 April 1608 Beniamine the sone of Abraham lord baptised

Hope All Saints, co. Kent Marriage:

• 24 November 1621 Nathan Lord and Grace Millanes^[15]

Rye Baptisms:

• 16 July 1626 John, "the so: of Nathan Lord."
• 9 Nov. 1628 Mary, "the dat'r of Nathan Lord."
• [one-sheet gap in the register for baptisms from June 1630 to March 1631.]
• 25 March 1632 John, "the sonne of Nathan Lord."
• 1 Sept. 1633 Nathan, "the sonne of Nathan Lord."

Rye Burials:

• 22Feb.1630/l Abraham, "the son of Nathan Lord."
• 15 April 1632 John, "the sonne of Nathan Lord."
• 1 Feb. 1633/4 Nathan Lord, "Shoomaker."

They also located the probate records for Nathan Lord, shoemaker who was buried on 1 Feb 1633. Administration of his estate was granted to the relict, Anne Lord, on 29 April 1634:^[5][16]

• 30 Dec. 1634. "W[hi]ch day appeered p[e]rsonally Abraham Conley of Wittresham in the Diosesse of Canterbury clothworker & a bachelor of the age of 31 years or thereaboute, & allegeth that he intendeth to marry with Anne Lorde of the same parish parish [sic] widow the relict of Nathanael [sic] Lord deceased And of the truth of the premisses that he knoweth of no lawfull let or ompediment by reason of any precontract, consanguinity, affinity or otherwise to hinder his intended marriage. He made faith & [signed] Abraham (X) Conley."^[17][18]
• I Jan. 1634/5 Abraham Condly & Ann Lord vid [widow] married by license.
• 5 Nov. 1636 Abraham, son of Abraham & Anne Condly, baptized.^[19]

Taken together Joseph C Anderson argues these data show that Nathan Lord of Maine was the son of Nathan Lord of Rye, shoemaker, and Ann (Unknown). Nathan Lord of Rye was in turn the son of Abraham Lord Kennington. Nathan Lord of Rye's widow, Ann, married second to Abraham Conley. Previous genealogies had supposed that Abraham Conley had a first wife before marrying to Ann. These records clearly show that Abraham Conley of Wittersham had never been married before he married to the widow Ann (Unknown) Lord. Joseph C Anderson also demonstrates that Abraham Conley had only the birth of one child was recorded, a son named Abraham Conley of which there is no further record. No record of a daughter was found.^[5]

Nathan's Disputed First Wife

In 2010 Joseph C Anderson II a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists (FASG) and Priscilla Easton CG published a genealogy of Nathan Lord in "The English Origins of Nathan1 Lord of Kittery, Maine: With an Account of the Conley Family of Cranbrook, Kent, England and the Ancestry of Abraham1 Conley of Kittery" in The American Genealogist.^[5] Abraham Conley referred to Nathan Lord as his "son-in-law" in his will. Joseph C Anderson argues that the meaning of the term "son-in-law" also meant "step-son" during this period. As proven above Nathan Lord of Maine was the step-son of Abraham Conley because Abraham Conley had married his mother Ann. Joseph C Anderson writes:

• "It seems that C. C. Lord and Stackpole were trying to explain why Abraham Conley referred to Nathan Lord as his "son-in-law" in his will (see Conley Family below). A modem-day assumption would be that Nathan had married a daughter of Abraham Conley. Nathan's oldest son named a daughter Judith, so this was a plausible name. Son-in-law in Abraham's time, however, also meant stepson a term that precisely describes Nathan's relationship to Abraham Conley when Abraham married the widow Anne Lord in 1634/5. There was no need to invent the fictitious Judith Conley. The name Judith was taken from one of Nathan's daughters and proposed as the name of his first wife. Hence the creation of a Judith Conley who never existed." "One crucial claim made by C. C. Lord (and repeated many times since) appears manifestly. incorrect. This is the claim that Abraham Conley had a first wife and that he and this first wife were the parents of a daughter, Judith Conley, who became Nathan1 Lord's first wife." "Stackpole also said that Nathan's first wife was a daughter of Abraham Conley, but he expressed some uncertainty about her given name. On his marriage license, Abraham Conley was described as a "bachelor," indicating he had not been married previously. No Judith Conley or Judith Lord has been found in any English or American records, and there is no indication that she existed. Nor is there a record showing or suggesting that Nathan had a wife prior to his proven wife, Martha Everett."^[5]

Joseph C Anderson reviewed the previous literature and source maternal and found no primary evidence for a first wife named Judith Conley.^[5] In 1903 a second wife of John Lord was proposed by Charles Chase Lord who was supposedly the daughter of Abraham Conley and Abraham Conley's first wife who he married before he married to John Lord's mother Ann (Unknown).^[13] However, Joseph C Anderson proved that Abraham Conley didn't have a first wife (see above) and finds no evidence he had a daughter who married Nathan Lord.^[5]

Stackpole in 1903 published the earliest account of Nathan Lord based on information provided to him by Charles Chase Lord who posited that Abraham Conley was Nathan Lord's father-in-law. However, Stackpole quested that her given name was Judith:

• "Nathan Lord is thought to have come from the county of Kent, Eng., with Abraham Conley, whose daughter (Judith?) was his [Nathan's] first wife. He married (2) Martha, daughter of William and Margery Everett, who was born about 1640, as a deposition shows. Nathan Lord died about 1690, aged about 87 years."^[20]

In 1912 Charles Chase Lord (Stackpole's informant) published his own book and states that Judith Conley, Nathan Lord's first wife were step-siblings via Abraham Conley. In other words Judith Conley was the daughter of Abraham Conley by his first wife before he married Ann:

• The Rev. John Heard Lord of Berwick, Me., writing from London, Eng., to the Biddeford, Me., Journal, under the date of August 15, 1901, says that there he has found the family register of Nathan Lord, father of Nathan1 Lord, of ancient Kittery, Me., and that Nathan Lord's mother, Anne, a widow, married Abraham Conley. The first wife of Nathan 1 Lord was a daughter of Abraham Conley by a wife antecedent to Anne Lord. Abraham Conley, said to have been from Kent, England, was the father of Judith, first wife of Nathan1 Lord, and is said to have been in Kittery, Me., as early as 1637. September 28, 1653, he had a town grant of seven acres adjoining the sixty granted to Nathan 1 Lord. This is said to have been about the time of the marriage of Nathan Lord and Judith Conley."^[13]

In 1928 Sybil Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby, and Walter Goodwin Davis in The Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire published that Abraham Conley was instead the stepfather of Nathan's wife Martha Everett and not related to Nathan himself otherwise.^[8] They pointed out that he was administrator of the estate of both his brother-in-law William Everett Jr in 1678 and Abraham Conley in 1678 who they believed was the step-father of his wife Martha Everett.^[8] They state that Abraham Conley married Matha's mother Margery. They disposed of the theory published previously back Stackpole and Lord that Nathan Lord has a second wife named Judith Conley.^[8] Joseph C Anderson also finds this conclusion incorrect. His new evidence (see above) clearly shows that Abraham Conley's first wife of Ann (Unknown) Lord, widow of Nathan Lord of Rye and mother of Nathan Lord of Maine. He shows that is second wife was Elizabeth (Unknown) who was a witness in 1674. But he finds no evidence for a wife Margery, the mother of Martha Everett. Joseph C Anderson points out that Martha Everett's mother Margery had married second to Isaac Nash and on a deed dated 1674 she was still known as Margery Nash just three months before the death of Abraham Conley and therefore not the wife of Abraham Conley.^[5] Joseph C Anderson writes, "such rationalization would have been unnecessary if the authors of the Genealogical Dictionary had known that Abraham Conley had raised Nathan from the time of Nathan's infancy; Abraham was effectively, if not genetically, Nathan's father."^[5]

To summarize Nathan Lord of Maine was the step-son of Abraham Conley who married his mother. Joseph C Anderson II a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists has found no evidence that Abraham Conley had any relationship to the wife or wives of Nathan Lord of Maine. He disproved that Abraham Conley was the step-father of Nathan Lord's wife Martha Everett. He finds no primary evidence to support the existence of a daughter of Abraham Conley who married Nathan Lord. Such a daughter was proposed by Charles Chase Lord but he offered no evidence. We must concede that we can't prove that Judith Conley didn't exist. However, the only evidence we have of her comes from the un-sourced work of Charles Chase Lord.

Nathan's Burial

In Lord Cemetery in South Berwick, Maine a cenotaph erected by the family association in August of 1922 read: "In memory of Nathan Lord Pioneer Settler of ancient Kittery, Maine, 1652, A native of Kent County, England."^[21]

Sources

1. ↑ Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Directory: Immigrants to New England, 1620–1640 (Boston, Massachusetts. New England Historic and Genealogical Society. 2015) p 109
2. ↑ [York De. IV]
3. ↑ York Deeds- Vol. IV, fol. 5
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Clarance Almon Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, April 2011) Vol 2 p 965 link Torrey Vol 2 p 965 ("LORD, Nathan (?1603-1690) & 2/wf Martha [EVERETT] (1640-1723+); by 20 Jun 1656; Kittery, ME/Cold Harbor {Kittery 587; GDMNH 226, 443; Wentworth 1:122; Coltman Anc. 71, 131}") and ("LORD, Nathan (?1603-1690) & 1/wf ____ [CONLY]; ca 1653-4; Kittery, ME/Berwick, ME {Kittery 587; GDMNH 443; Lord 11, 113}")
5. ↑ ^{5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.15 5.16 5.17 5.18 5.19 5.20 5.21 5.22 5.23 5.24 5.25 5.26 5.27} Joseph C Anderson II FASG and Priscilla Easton CG, "The English Origins of Nathan1 Lord of Kittery, Maine: With an Account of the Conley Family of Cranbrook, Kent, England and the Ancestry of Abraham1 Conley of Kittery" in The American Genealogist (New Haven, Conn.: D.L. Jacobus, Apr 2010) Vol 84 p 81 – 94 American Ancestors Link$
6. ↑ Sybil Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby, and Walter Goodwin Davis, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire (Portland, Maine, 1928-39), 159, 226, 701-2 (??) (Links on Archive.org.)
7. ↑ York County, Maine Probate Records, No. 1, 1687-1707, database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89JS-L9ZS-F : 6 April 2021), FHL microfilm 007600380, image 58-59. Administration on estate of Nathan Lord, late of Kittery, granted to Martha Lord.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5} Sybil Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby, and Walter Goodwin Davis, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire (Portland, Maine, 1928-39), 159, 701-2
9. ↑ Codman, Ogden. Boston Athenaeum. Index of obituaries in Boston newspapers, 1704-1800. (Boston, G. K. Hall, 1968.) 3 vols. Volume 3, page 75 ([https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/31691/?offset=0#page=77&viewer=picture&o=&n=0&q= Image 77 of 605).

   "Lord, Martha, wid, at Berwick, Me., Nov. 15, 1736, a. 98 y. News-Let."

10. ↑ ^{10.00 10.01 10.02 10.03 10.04 10.05 10.06 10.07 10.08 10.09 10.10 10.11} Priscilla Eaton, CG, "The Descendants of Nathan Lord of Kittery and Berwick, Maine" 4 Part series in The Maine Genealogist. Farmington, ME: The Maine Genealogical Society, 1977-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014.) Volume 33, Number 1,2,3, 4 [Feb, May Aug, Nov 2011]
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1} Kenneth Freeman Moseman and Beverly Ruth Fredrichs, "Sisters Matha (-) Stevens Stackpole and Judith (-) Downes of Somersworth, New Hampshire" in The Maine Genealogist. Farmington, ME: The Maine Genealogical Society, 1977-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014.) 2005 Vol 7 p 179-181 link
12. ↑ ^{12.0 12.1} Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Directory: Immigrants to New England, 1620–1640 (Boston, Massachusetts. New England Historic and Genealogical Society. 2015) p 211
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3} Charles Chase Lord, A History of the Descendants of Nathan Lord of Ancient Kittery, Me. (Concord, N.H., 1912), 9, 189.
14. ↑ Kennington, co. Kent, Archdeacon's Transcripts [FHL film #1,751,916, item 4). There are gaps in the A Ts, J 604/5 and 1606/7, years which may include the bps. of additional children of Abraham. And Ashford, co. Kent, Archdeacon's Transcripts [FHL filim #1,751,481, item 2].
15. ↑ Hope All Saints Archdeacon's Transcripts [FHL film # 1, 7 51,916].
16. ↑ Rye, co. Sussex, England, parish register [Family History Library (FHL), Salt Lake City, film #1,067,288].
17. ↑ John Meadows Cowper, ed., Canterbury Marriage Licenses, 2nd ser. (Canterbury, Eng., 1894), 228.
18. ↑ Marriage License Registers of the Diocese of Canterbury, v. 13, 1623-35, f. 151 [FHL film #1,836,332].
19. ↑ Wittersham, co. Kent, parish register [FHL film #2,355,255].
20. ↑ Everett S. Stackpole's Old Kittery and Her Families (1903) p 587
21. ↑ Maine Cemetery Inscriptions: York County, Maine Old Cemetery Association, 4 vols. (Camden, Maine, 1995), 3:2082

See also:

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 08 April 2020), memorial page for Martha Everett Lord (1640–23 Jun 1682), Find A Grave: Memorial #103257800; Maintained by CAS56 (contributor 47844602) Unknown. (Find A Grave with contrary information based on the old genealogies. Martha was still living in 1691.)
• Filby, P. William, ed. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s. Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2010.Original data: Filby, P. William, ed. Passenge Note: APID: 1,7486::0
• Folsom, George,. A catalogue of original documents in the English archives, relating to the early history of the state of Maine. New York: Priv. print., 1858.Original data: Note: Author from p. iv. APID: 1,21865::0
• Pope, Charles Henry. The Pioneers of Maine and New Hampshire, 1623-1660. n.p., 1908.Original data: Pope, Charles Henry. The Pioneers of Maine and New Hampshire, 1623-1 Note: APID: 1,4206::0
• Ancestry and Descendants of James Hensman Coltman and Betsey TobeyEdith Bartlett Sumner, Ancestry and Descendants of James Hensman Coltman and Betsey Tobey (Los Angeles, CA: 1957)
• The Wentworth Genealogy: England and America John Wentworth, The Wentworth Genealogy: England and America , 3 vols. (Boston, MA: Little, Brown & Company, 1878)
• OLD HANCOCK COUNTY FAMILIES by William Macbeth Pierce; published by the Hancock County Publishing Company, Ellsworth, ME: 1933.
• Family Search # KNSS-VZ4