Mary (Scudamore) French (bef. 1599)

Born before 1599 in Upton Bishop, Herefordshire, England

Ancestors

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Mary (Scudamore) French migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

A pedigree found in the 1683 Visitation of Gloucester refers to William (III) Scudamore of Herefordshire with daughter Mary French, "of Boston in New England".^[1] The 1636 will of William (III)'s son William (IV) Scudamore makes a bequest to "all the now children of Mary French his [sic] sister".^[2]

Nothing in the Herefordshire records indicates which of the numerous New England French families Mary Scudamore might have married into. However, several researchers^[1][2] have suggested that this Mary Scudamore was the wife of New England immigrant Thomas French (1608-1680) of Boston and Ipswich, whose wife Mary (-1681) is named in his will.^[3]

Certain dates in the lives of these two Marys are problematic. William (III) Scudamore was buried in December 1598, so his daughter's birth could not have been later than 1599. This would make her at least 10 years older than Thomas French, at least 33 years old at the birth of the earliest known French child around 1632, and at least 44 at the birth of the youngest around 1643. These dates would be unusual for a first marriage during this period, but could fit as a second marriage.^[1]

Anderson, in his 1996 Great Migration Begins profile of the immigrant Thomas French, confirms "Mary" as the given name for Thomas' wife, but does not endorse Scudamore or any other maiden name.^[3] See the G2G discussion "How shall we represent the questionableness of Mary (Scudamore?) French?".

Sometime after 2006, researcher Warren Skidmore discovered evidence that members of the Pengry/Bower/Redfern family of Herefordshire, who migrated to Ipswich in New England, making them neighbors of Thomas and Mary French, also had connections via property to the Scudamores of Upton Bishop. Though indirect, this link strengthens the claim that Mary French of Ipswich might have been the Mary Scudamore French named in Herefordshire documents.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Skidmore, Warren. "Mary Scudamore (ca. 1598-1681), Wife of Thomas French of Ipswich, Massachusetts. An Old Debate Newly Resolved." Occasional Papers series at the Skidmore/Scudamore genealogy site (free), undated, sometime after 2006.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} French, A.D. Weld. "Frenches of Ipswich." New England Historic and Genealogical Register 47 (1893), p. 362.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. Vol. 1. Boston: New England Historic and Genealogical Society, 1996, p. 705.

• Brian J.L. Berry, "Was Mary French a Scudamore?" in The Shapely Connection, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Oct. 1992), pp. 66, 79-81.
• Boaz, Adrienne. Specific Ancestral Lines of the Boaz, Paul, Welty & Fishel Families. 2014, citing the two above, pp. 406-8. Digital image online at Google Books (free in preview).