Elizabeth (Unknown) Bread (abt. 1609 - abt. 1687)

Born about 1609 in England

Wife of Allen Bread — married 28 Mar 1656 in Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts

Descendants

Died about 1687 at about age 78 in Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts Bay Colony

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Elizabeth (Unknown) Bread migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

Elizabeth Unknown, wife of 1) William Ballard, 2) William Knight, 3) Allen Bread (spelled "Bread" by Robert C. Anderson)^[1]

Uncertain Origins

Elizabeth Unknown. According to Robert C. Anderson, in his profile of William Ballard, Elizabeth's maiden name is unknown.^[1] Several possibilities have been proposed: Marshall and Lee (apparently without evidence), and Potter, per Lindberg, "She may have been Elizabeth Potter, as her second husband, William Knight, called Nicholas Potter 'our brother' on 2 December 1653 [Probate Records of Essex County 1:213]."^[2]

We do not know Elizabeth's parents or exact birth date. She was born about 1609, based on the immigration record of 1635 in which she is listed as "aged 26"^[1] and upon a 1666 deposition at which time she claimed her age was 59.^[3]

Emigration

Elizabeth Ballard and family sailed from London, on 13 July 1635 on the 2nd voyage of the James as "W[illia]m Ballard," aged 32, husbandman, "Elizabeth Ballard," aged 26, "Hester Ballard," aged 2 and "Jo[hn] Ballard," aged 1 [Hotten 107]^[1] William was granted 60 acres at Lynn, Massachusetts in 1638, as "Will Ballord."^[1]

Family

Elizabeth married three times and had a total of seven children.^[1] Her second marriage brought another four young step-children into the family, for a total of eleven.^[4]

• Elizabeth married by about 1633, as her 1st, to William Ballard.^[1]
• She married by about 1640, as her 2nd, and as his 2nd, to William Knight.^[1] Inventory of his estate was taken on 22 March 1654/5 at Lynn.^[5]
• She married, as her 3rd at Lynn, on 28 March 1656, to Allen Bread.^[1] (the best evidence for the spelling reports it was "Bread" until the 1700's)^[6][7]

Children of Elizabeth and William Ballard:^[1]

1. Hester "Esther" Ballard b ca 1633; m by 1652 Joseph Jenks Jr
2. John Ballard b ca 1634; m by 1669 Rebecca _____. Anderson spends a fair amount of time teasing apart confusion about this son and his relations, as well, including that he had only this one wife, and not a second wife, Susannah Story.
3. Nathaniel Ballard b ca 1636; m in Lynn 16 Dec 1662 Rebecca Hutson

Children of Elizabeth and William Knight:^[4][8]

1. Jacob Knight, b c. 1645, d 17 Jun 1695
2. Daniel Knight
3. Elizabeth Knight mar 1) John Farrington, 2) Mark Graves
4. Mary Knight

William Knight brought four children from his first marriage: John, Anne, Francis, and Johanna who married Thomas Gage of Yarmouth.^[4] When William Knight died, in 1655, he made bequests to his four children by Elizabeth and to John and Nathaniel Ballard of 40sh each, though he did not state their relationship. When they made receipt they stated the money was from their father in law [stepfather].

Note: The Register of the Lynn Historical Society published an article in which they report that Elizabeth (Unknown) (Ballard) Knight was the mother of all of Allen Bread's children.^[9] This cannot be accurate, as Elizabeth was married to William Ballard and having children with him (1633-1636) during the time when Allen Bread's children were born, (and his children were born much before the marriage between Allen and Elizabeth).

Death and Legacy

Elizabeth is said to have died in 1687, (probably at Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts, where she married her third husband, Allen Bread), but we do not have a record of her death.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9} Anderson, Robert Charles, (1995) "William Ballard, Featured Name." Great Migration 1634-1635, A-B. AmericanAncestors.org NEHGS, (Vol A-B, Page 148-50).
2. ↑ Lindberg, Marcia Wiswall. (1991) "The Breed Family: Descendants of Allen Breed (or Bread) of Lynn." The Essex Genealogist, Vol 11. AmericanAncestors.org (11:196, Page 198).
3. ↑ Lindberg, citing Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, VII:199
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} Gage, Asa K., "KNIGHT-TIMES-L: William Knight of Lynn, MA - early 1600's" Archives, Rootsweb: accessed December 14, 2014
5. ↑ "Land Granting." (Vol 1, Page 21) Great Migration Newsletter, V.1-20. (Online Database accessed June 14, 2015: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015.)
6. ↑ "Breed Genealogy," in The Essex Antiquarian, Vol XI (1907):145: prior to 1700, the spelling of the surname was "Bread" but after that became "Breed."
7. ↑ Robert C. Anderson, Great Migration series (profiles of others)
8. ↑ Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850. (Lynn Vol 2, Page 521) (Online Database accessed 18 Mar 2021: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2010).
9. ↑ Lynn Historical Society, "Some of the descendants of Richard Hood, William Basset and Thomas Farrar; who lived on Nahant, Broad and Lewis Streets 1700-1840." (Vol 10, Page 86) The Register of the Lynn Historical Society. Volumes 10-12, HathiTrust accessed June 14, 2015

See also:

• Hotten, James Camden. The original lists of persons of quality; emigrants ..., by (1874) Archive.org, page 107.
• Pope McAdams, "Some Ancestors of Eugene Perrot McAdams & Mary Elizabeth Pope McAdams of Hawesville, Kentucky." (Mimeographed by Lockard Letter Shop, Shively, KY c1936) National Genalogical Society, Call Number: CS71 .M11 1936, Page: "Ballard Family" FamilySearch.org Pages 149-150.
• "Some of the descendants of Richard Hood, William Basset and Thomas Farrar; who lived on Nahant, Broad and Lewis Streets 1700-1840" in The Register of the Lynn Historical Society, Volumes 10-12, page 85.