Mary (Unknown) Pierce (abt. 1617 - bef. 1654)

Born about 1617 in England [uncertain]

Wife of John (Pierce) Pearce — married 6 Mar 1639 in Dorchester, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Descendants

Died before 1654 before about age 37 in Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Cindy Barnett [send private message]

Biography

Birth

Mary's origins are unknown. This profile originally asserted a birth date of 7 Mar 1612 at Walkern, Hertfordshire England as daughter of Edware Barnett.^[1] This is apparently in some unsupported belief that she was a sister of Alice Barnett of which there is absolutely no proof. That Alice Barnett was previously attached as a spouse of John Pierce of Dorchester apparently because of an unsupported claim in a 1907 genealogy book about the family of John Rogers asserting that Mercy Pierce, daughter of John Pierce and this Mary Uknown, was actually daughter of John Pierce and Alice Barnett.^[2] There is no proof that John Pierce of Dorchester married Alice Anybody. So, "Barnett" as a surname for Mary has no factual support at this time.

WikiTree standards are to estimate 20 years of age for a female at first marriage placing her birth at about 1617. This would mean she was born (most likely) in England.

Marriage

She was known to be married to John Pierce of Dorchester (there was only one and this is proven by his will, see his profile for details) by the birth of their first child, Mary on 6 Mar 1639.^[3]

Torrey in "New England Marriages to 1700" asserts no surname for her:

PIERCE, John (-1661) & 2/wf Mary ____ (-1647); by 1638; Dorchester^[4]

A comment on this profile originally asserted that there were two John Pierces of Dorchester; there were not. This mistaken information was asserted in "History of the Town of Dorchester" by Ebenezer Clapp.^[5] Clapp assumed, reasonably that the Dorchester Vital Records were accurate in showing that Parnell Unknown, wife of John Pierce died in October 1639, 7 months after the birth of Mary Pierce noted above and therefore there were two John Pierces, one married to Parnell Unknown and one to Mary Unknown.

What Clapp apparently did not know about was the 1661 will of John Pierce which bequeathed to his daughter Abigail (married to Jeremiah Rogers) who was daughter of Parnell, and also to the 5 children that he had with Mary. Therefore Clapp was wrong in his assertion and there was only one John Pierce of Dorchester.^[6]

Anderson in his "Great Migration" analysis of John Pierce correctly assimilated this information and realized that the Dorchester VR transcription (or original record) must have been wrong and that Parnell died before John Pierce remarried to Mary Unknown. Possibly Parnell died as a result of the birth of her last child Nehemiah in 1637.

Children

^[7]

1. Mary was b. Dorchester 6 March 1638[/9]; probably died before the birth of her sister of the same name who was not yet eighteen when her father wrote his will.
2. Nehemiah b. Dorchester 17 January 1641 (the record as published is for 1631, but it comes after the entry for Mary, and after the birth for the earlier Nehemiah, so the entry must be a simple error for 1641)]; m. (1) by 1663 Phebe Blantin (eldest child b. Boston 31 August 1663 [BVR 89]), daughter of William Blantin (on 16 October 1696 "Mearcy Pearse of Boston ... spinster, daughter of Nehemiah Pearse late of Boston, cooper, deceased," sold to Thomas Peck Jr. a parcel of land in Boston "formerly known to be the reputed land and estate of my grandfather William Planting Senior, deceased" [SLR 14:297-98; see also SLR 12:383-85]); m. (2) shortly after 18 September 1684 Anne (Addington) Moseley, daughter of Isaac Addington and widow of Samuel Moseley (or Maudsley) [SLR 13:420 (marriage contract); Sewall 94].
3. Mary was b. say 1644; minor (under eighteen) in father's will; m 19 Jul 1678 John Simmons of Bradford
4. Mercy, b. say 1646 m 22 Aug 1667 Manasseh Marston at Charlestown^[8]
5. Exercise, b. say 1648; minor (under eighteen) in father's will d 13 Nov 1731; m 17 Oct 1668 at Lynn, Nehemiah Jewett
6. Samuel b. say 1650; m. by 1673 Mary _____ (son Samuel b. at Boston on 28 January 1673[/4?] [BVR 129]). He was a cooper [SLR 8:74, 198, 215, 12:64 (and compare with SLR 3:190-91)].

Unfortunately vital record entries for births of the last four children are not yet found although land and town records for John Pierce place him in Dorchester during most of this time.

Death

A death record for Mary Pierce appears in Dorchester on 12 July 1647 but it is PROBABLY NOT THIS Mary Pierce as the death record lists her as "servant of Nathaniel Sparhawke", NOT "wife of John Pierce".^[9] Anderson states that she died in 1647 in Dorchester but then goes on to list two children, Exercise and Samuel born after that year with no explanation.^[3] This simply seems to be a mistake on Anderson's part and all we can say of Mary is that she died before 10 Aug 1654 when John remarried to Rebecca Wheeler."Massachusetts Marriages, 1695-1910, 1921-1924", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHQQ-BJX : 28 July 2021), John Peirce, 1654.

Sources

1. ↑ England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 : https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NR4G-95T : citing Mary Barnett, christened 7 Mar 1612 Walkern, Hertfordshire, England & Edward Barnett (father)
2. ↑ Genealogy of John Rogers of Boxford, Mass by Dodge, Esther Fidelia Publication date 1907 Publisher [Manassas, Va. : s.n. p. 4
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2010), (Originally Published as: New England Historic Genealogical Society. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III, 3 vols., 1995). Vol. 3 p. 1469 entry for John Pierce $subscription required
4. ↑ New England Marriages to 1700. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Originally published as: New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015. Vol. 2 p. 1189
5. ↑ Ebenezer Clapp, History of the town of Dorchester, Massachusetts By Dorchester Antiquarian and Historical Society, Boston, Mass., 1859, p. 71
6. ↑ Suffolk County, MA: Probate File Papers.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2017-2019. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives. Digitized mages provided by FamilySearch.org) Case 276: Will, Book 1
7. ↑ Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 for John Pierce Dorchester Births, Marriages Deaths, 1631-1844 $subscription required and free image courtesy of ancestry.com
8. ↑ Proof of parentage is from Suffolk County Deed, 30 Dec 1726: Mercy Marston of Boxford, widow of Manasseh Marstonsells lands in Dorchester from "her honored father John Pierce late of Boston". Vol 40, Page 183
9. ↑ Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 for Mary Pierce Boston Transcript County Records $subscription required and free image courtesy of ancestry.com