Mary Miller (abt. 1768 - 1807)

Ancestors

Wife of John Pearce Jones — married 26 Nov 1797 in Providence, Providence, Rhode Island

Descendants

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Biography

Mary was born about 1768.

Mary married John Pearce Jones on 26 November 1797, as his third wife. His first wife, Hope Miller, was probably Mary's sister.

Mary passed away in 1807. An newspaper announced:^[1]

"On Thursday evening last, in the 39th year of her age, Mrs. Mary Jones, wife of Elder John Jones, of this town"

Research Notes

Mary's maiden surname Miller is provided in the death record of her daughter Mary Hope (Jones) Thurber.^[2] It being a common surname, one would desire more evidence to prove that she was indeed the daughter of Benjamin Millard and Hope Cole. The same death record has "Hope Miller" written, and the Hope was struck through and Mary written instead. The fact that she named a daughter "Mary Hope Miller" is suggestive that Hope was an important family name. It is very suggestive that her husband's first wife was Hope Miller, and it is a reasonable conclusion that both Millers were sisters. But no documentation has been found to demonstrate Mary's parentage, and only one original record is currently known to document her surname even as Miller.

Mary was a widow when she married John, married previously to _____ Cornell.

An Oliver Cornell b. ca. 1760 died at Newport on 10 June 1797, which would fit well with her age and her second marriage later that year.^[3] He had married Hannah B. Cornell at Portsmouth in 1793 — no death record for Hannah is known. However, this theory seems to be disproved by Oliver's will of 18 May 1797,^[4] which names his wife Hannah.

Newspaper announcements from April 1796 state that the estate of the late Richard Cornell Jr. of Providence, mariner, was insolvent. The administrator was Richard Cornell Sr., his father (as per the Providence town council records). No further information is currently known about Richard Jr.

Sources

1. ↑ Providence Gazette of 6 June 1807, page 3
2. ↑ Putnam Co., Conn. births, marriages, and deaths, volume 1 page 222
3. ↑ Rhode Island Historical Cemetery Commission, gravestone image online
4. ↑ Cornell, page 69

• Chapin, Descendants of Samuel Dunn (1699-1749) of Newport, Including Descendants of William Jones (1691-1740)

• John Cornell, Genealogy of the Cornell family: being an account of the descendants of Thomas Cornell