Hannah (Rogers) Harding (1669 - 1733)

Born 20 Mar 1669 in Eastham, Plymouth Colony

Ancestors

Wife of Maziah Harding — married before 1694 (to 13 Jul 1733) in Barnstable County, Province of Massachusetts Bay [uncertain]

Descendants

Died 18 Jul 1733 at age 64 in Eastham, Barnstable, Province of Massachusetts Bay

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Biography

Hannah Rogers was born on 20 March 1669 in Eastham, (then) Plymouth Colony, the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Snow) Rogers.^[1][2] She was a grandchild of Joseph Rogers, a Mayflower passenger.

She married Maziah/Amaziah Harding, the son of Joseph and Bethia (Cooke) Harding, by 1694 (birth of their first child).^[3] Between 1694 and 1717 they had nine children born in Eastham.

In 1704, Amaziah and Hannah complained to the Barnstable County Court that her father's estate had not been properly settled, and that she was a minor when she signed the agreement wherein she did not receive her full portion. An agreement, dated 8 July 1704, was reached where they were to receive an additional sum from the estate.^[4][5]

Hannah Harding's tragic death on 18 July 1733 is best described in the Boston Newsletter of 19 - 26 July1733:^[6]

We hear from Eastham on Cape Cod, That the beginning of last Week, a most barbarous Murder was committed there, on the body of one Mrs. Harding, suppos'd to be done by her own Husband Amaziah Harding; he having for a great while before, as 'tis said, carried it very ill towards her, to the imparing of her Reason; and now being found in the Room alone with her, where she lay dead near him, with her Neck twisted and broke, and about her Mouth and Throat much beat and bruis'd. The hard-hearted Man being thus surpriz'd, and charg'd with the Fact, by those who first discover'd it, endeavoured to put an end to his own Life, by stabing a Knife into his Bowels, which stroke not proving mortal immediately, he went to repeat it, aiming at his Breast, but was prevented by those about him, and on Friday last he was sent to Barnstable Goal.(sic)

At Amaziah's trial in May 1734,^[7][8] Mary and Hannah Freeman testified that on 18 July 1733 they met him at the door of his house, asked if his wife was dead, and were told, "yes & he was glad of it." They went into the house and "saw his wives Dead body lay on a bed wrapped up in bed clothes & when I looked on her I saw a [proof?] on her cheek & on her throat & lip that the blood was jelled which seemed to me to be occasioned by some bruise or hurt." They asked how it happened and he "answered shee was as well as shee used to be for ought hee knew & he sd shee had drunk her fill of Rum and sat on the Door sill & he laid on the bed & fell asleep & when he awoke he called for her but shee gave him no answer. Then he rose and went into the other Room and found her Dead on the bed." Mary noticed that he was perhaps drunk. He declared many times that he was glad his wife was dead "because shee had been a Plague to him for above these twenty years past & he hoped now he should git somebody to keep his house clean & look after his things." Harding was "very urgent with me [Mary Freeman] to help clean linen to bury his wife in & he would pay me for it & was very desirous that I would lay out his wife & sd he would help me to do it urging shee might be buried with all speed fore he sd shee was covered with lice, Rags & dirt. I told him I would not meddle with her nor advise any others till a Jurie had past upon her. Whereupon the sd Harding Replied & sd a Jurie, then sd he there will arise a Cursed Damnd Mobb & seemed to bee then something surprised & uneasy & [disembled?] and sd there was no occasion of a Jurie for others he named had died suddenly & no Jurie on them. Then I told him there was not the like occasion of a Jurie for others he named had died when several were present. Then he seemed to be more Restless in his mind & sd this is the fruite of mens wives taking their Neighbours parts against their husbands which has brought it to this & uttered many sensurious Reflections on his neighbors."

He was sentenced to the gallows and executed in the town of Barnstable on June 5, 1734.^[7][9][10]

Children born Eastham:^[11]

1. Hannah, b. 15 Feb 1694; m. Bartholomew Fish 1716.
2. John, b. ca. 1696, d. bef. 20 Mar 1761; m. Elizabeth Young 1731.
3. Thomas, b. 13 Nov 1699, d. bef. 14 Dec 1722, unmarried.
4. James, b. 02 Nov 1702, d. 30 Apr 1732; m. Mary Nickerson 1724.
5. Mary, b. 02 Apr 1706, d. bef. Apr 1734; m. Lot Clark 1728.
6. Elizabeth, b. Apr 1708, d. 27 Apr 1791 Sandwich; m. Rowland Fish 1731.
7. Phebe, b. Apr 1710, alive in 1747; m. Benjamin Rogers 1732.
8. Nathan, b. 29 Oct 1711, d. 1801 Easthampton CT; m. (1) Anne Brown (int.) 1737 Eastham, (2) Abigail West 1750 Middletown CT.
9. Cornelius, b. 31 Mar 1717, d. ?; m. Priscilla Curtis 1740 Eastham.

Sources

1. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (20 May 2014), Barnstable > Eastham, Orleans > Births, marriages, deaths, land grants 1649-1722 > image 121 of 157; town clerk offices, Massachusetts.
   Eastham & Orleans Births, Marriages, Deaths, Land Grants 1649-1722, p.34.

   Hannah Rogers the daughter of Thomas Rogers was borne the twentyeth of March 1669.

2. ↑ George Ernest Bowman, "Eastham & Orleans, Mass., Vital Records" "Mayflower Descendant" Vol. 6:14.
3. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (20 May 2014), Barnstable > Eastham, Orleans > Births, marriages, deaths, land grants 1649-1722 > image 109 of 157; town clerk offices, Massachusetts.
   Eastham & Orleans Births, Marriages, Deaths, Land Grants 1649-1722, p. 10 (also paginated as 6).
4. ↑ George Ernest Bowman, "Rogers Notes, Estate of Thomas(3) Rogers," Mayflower Descendant Vol. 11:179-80, citing BCP 2:167, 169.
5. ↑ "Probate records v. 1-3 1686-1747" database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9YB-5S1S : 23 April 2024), Film# 007705950, Barnstable, Massachusetts, image 188, Vol 2, Page 167.
6. ↑ "We hear from Eastham," Boston Weekly News-Letter, Boston, Mass., issue date 19-26 Jul 1733, p. 2. See exhibit attached to this profile.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} Daniel Hearn, Legal Executions In New England, 1623 - 1960 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 1999)
8. ↑ Suffolk Co. Superior Court of Judicature Record Book, Vol. 259:55 (#37237)
9. ↑ Suffolk Co. Superior Court of Judicature Record Book, Vol. 260:48 (#37376)
10. ↑ Suffolk Co. Superior Court of Judicature Records, Court records 1733-1738, Vol. 1734:81-2
11. ↑ Ann Reeves and Alice W.A. Westgate, Mayflower Families Through 5 Generations, Thomas Rogers, Vol. 19 (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2000 [3rd printing]), p. 20.

See also:

• Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, Volume Nineteen: Thomas Rogers, Ann T. Reeves, Volume: 19, Alice W.A. Westgate (General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2000) pp. 10, 19-20.
• John D. Austin, Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, Vol 6, Stephen Hopkins, Plymouth, Mass.: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2001 [3rd edition], Pages 19, 68-69.
• Lonnie Chrisman, The Chrisman Pedigree
• David Pane-Joyce, Pane-Joyce Genealogy

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