Mary Wales Forbes (Jones) Wilder (1802 - 1893)

Born 12 May 1802 in Raynham, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States [uncertain]

Ancestors

Wife of John Wilder Jr. — married 30 Apr 1826 (to Mar 1844) in Charlton, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States

Descendants

Died 23 Aug 1893 at age 91 in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Christopher Childs [send private message]

Biography

Mary Wales Forbes Jones was born at either Raynham (her parents' residence)^[1] or nearby Plymouth, Massachusetts, in May of 1802, a daughter of Nehemiah Jones (shown for unknown reasons as "Wm" in Mary's death record,^[2] probably explaining why he appears as "William" on her Find A Grave memorial page^[3]) and Mary "Polly" (Alden) Jones; through her mother's lineage, she was a descendant of Mayflower couple John and Priscilla (Mullins) Alden.^[4] She married the Rev. John Wilder, Jr., likely at Charlton, Massachusetts (where their intentions were filed on 30 April), in the spring of 1826; their first child, daughter Mary Eliza, who died in her late teens, was born later that year.^[5]

Widowed in early March of 1844, Mary did not remarry. She died at Lynn, Massachusetts, in August of 1893, aged 91.

Research Notes

The report of Mary's father as "Wm" in her death record is curious, and in the absence of a church or town record of her baptism or birth (which took place either at Raynham, or its near neighbor Plymouth, depending on which later record one favors) it requires some attention. That her father was in fact Nehemiah has been long accepted, appearing in texts such as the 1903 Descendants of Ebenezer and Polly Alden,^[6] and her Mayflower descent has ensured that anything pertaining to the family has been scrupulously examined. It is likely that Mary's death was recorded by someone unfamiliar with the family, possibly working from a difficult handwritten source in which "Nehemiah", was carelessly abbreviated and/or written in less-than-legible cursive, appearing to read "Wm" or "William".

Sources

1. ↑ "United States Census, 1800," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHRZ-5JW : accessed 26 May 2021), Nehemiah Jones, Raynham, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States; citing p. 589, NARA microfilm publication M32, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 19; FHL microfilm 205,612.
2. ↑ "Massachusetts Deaths, 1841-1915, 1921-1924," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NW9Y-LJS : 2 March 2021), Mary W. F. Jones Wilder, 23 Aug 1893; citing Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts, v 436 p 496, State Archives, Boston; FHL microfilm 961,509.
3. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images, memorial page for Mary Wales Forbes Jones Wilder, citing Cambridge Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Maintained by Jacki Earp (contributor 47755371); https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/166871126/mary-wales_forbes-wilder
4. ↑ Representative Women of New England, "Mabel Loomis Todd", by Mary H. Graves; https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Representative_women_of_New_England/Mabel_Loomis_Todd
5. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (www.findagrave.com/memorial/148124713/eliza-mary-wilder : accessed 26 May 2021), memorial page for Eliza Mary Wilder (1826–14 Sep 1845), Find a Grave Memorial ID 148124713, citing Cambridge Cemetery, Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA ; Maintained by James Bianco (contributor 47745493); https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/148124713/eliza-mary-wilder
6. ↑ The descendants of Polly and Ebenezer Alden, who were sixth in descent from John Alden, the pilgrim, by Alden, Ebenezer, and Shaw, Henry, Boston, G.H. Ellis co., printers, 1903, p. 25; https://archive.org/details/descendantsofpol00byualde/page/n31/mode/2up

• Birth (year only), parentage (father erroneously shown as "Wm"), spouse, and death: "Massachusetts Deaths, 1841-1915, 1921-1924," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NW9Y-LJS : 2 March 2021), Mary W. F. Jones Wilder, 23 Aug 1893; citing Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts, v 436 p 496, State Archives, Boston; FHL microfilm 961,509.

• Birth (later record, at Cambridge): "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VQXX-J5X : 15 January 2020), Mary Wales Forbes, 1802. Image of printed record is #475 of 913, p. 906 of "Cambridge Births"; listed w/o maiden surname, as wife of Rev. John Wilder.

• Marriage (NEHGS; image of record): "JONES... Mary W. F. of Raynham and Rev. John Wilder Jr., int. April 30, 1826." -- Charlton VRs, Vol. 1, p. 172; Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620-1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016); https://www.americanancestors.org/DB190/i/7679/172/142414626 (by subscription)

• Birth, family (father erroneously shown as "William" rather than Nehemiah), death, and burial (with image of gravestone): Find a Grave, database and images (www.findagrave.com/memorial/166871126/mary-wales_forbes-wilder : accessed 26 May 2021), memorial page for Mary Wales Forbes Jones Wilder (12 May 1802–23 Aug 1893), Find a Grave Memorial ID 166871126, citing Cambridge Cemetery, Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA ; Maintained by Jacki Earp, Weymouth, Massachusetts (contributor 47755371); https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/166871126/mary-wales_forbes-wilder