Mary (Ward) Clark (abt. 1607 - 1679)

Born about 1607 in Stretton, Rutland, England [uncertain]

Wife of John Fletcher — married before 10 May 1633 in Stretton, Rutland, England [uncertain]

Wife of John Clark — married after Apr 1662 in Connecticut

Descendants

Died 22 Jan 1679 at about age 72 in Farmington, Hartford, Connecticut

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

Biography

Mary, the daughter of Richard and Joice (birth surname unknown) Ward, was born in England. We get a sense of her birth date from a deposition Mary Ward Fletcher executed in New Haven in 1661 : "....I, Mary Fletcher, of Milford ..in Newengland, aged about 54 yeares, doe upon my certaine knowledge testify upon oath, yet when I was in England, dwelling at Stretton in ye county of Rutland where one Henry Bacon...and I lived at the sayd Stretton for the space of ten yeares .." ^[1]

Mary Ward and John Fletcher married in England; their first child Mary was baptized 10 May 1633 in Stretton, Rutland.^[2] Mary's father, Richard Ward, wrote a will in 1635 that mentioned his daughter Mary Fletcher and her daughter Mary.^[3]

After Mary's father died, the three Fletchers emigrated from Stretton to New England with her brother John and their widowed mother Joice Ward.^[3] They initially lived in Wethersfield, Connecticut where Joice died in 1641.

At Wethersfield, John and Mary joined the Prudden group in a plan to found a new settlement with Peter Prudden as pastor.^[4] Land was purchased, houses were built and John and Mary were among the original 18 founders of Milford, Connecticut.^[4] Six more children were born and baptized there.^[5][6]

Children

1. Mary bap. 10 May 1633 in England; m Thomas Stevens
2. Rebecca b ca 1639; m Andrew Warner
3. Sarah bap. 31 Oct, 1641; m John Stanley
4. Hannah bap. 9 Jul 1643; m John Chittendon
5. Elizabeth bap. Oct 1645; m Elnathan Botsford
6. Samuel b 2 Sep 1649; died young
7. Abigail bap. 13 Jun 1652; m Roger Newton

Mary's husband Deacon John Fletcher died at Milford in April of 1662.^[7] She married a second time to John Clark, also of Milford;^[8] he died there on February 5, 1673/4.^[9]

Mary Clarke made her will on November 28, 1677 and died on January 1678, likely in Farmington, Connecticut; her death was noted in the MIlford Church Records.^[10]

I Mary Clarke of Farmington do make this my last Will & Testament: I give to my daughter Mary Stevens £16, to my daughter Rebeckah Warner £16, to my daughter Chittingdon £15-15. I give unto my son-in-Law Elnathan Bochford 5 Shillings, to my gr. child Elizabeth Bochford £5. I give unto the Rev. Pastor Newton 5 Shillings. I give unto my brother John Ward of Newark 20 Shilings. I give unto my gr. Child Rebeckah Stevens a pewter platter. I give unto my gr. Child Mary Warner a pewter platter. I give unto my gr. child Abigail Standly a featherbed. I give unto my gr. child Elizabeth Chittingdon a bason. I give unto my gr. child Elizabeth Standly my Chest. I give unto my son-in-law John Standly and my daughter Sarah his wife the 1/2 of all my :Lands in Milford, woodland, earable & Meadow, except my Homestead, to be equally divided.

My Will is that my sonn Standly shall have £4-10 by the year paid to him out of the Rent of the Lands at Milford during the Lease of Nathaniel Farand. I give unto my daughter Abigail Fletcher my House, Barn & Homelott, & the 1/2 of all my land in Milford, to be equally divided, that is to say, woodland, Earable Land & Meadow, that is to say, to her & her natural heirs.

My Will is that if she dyes without Issue, that the 1/2 of aforementioned house and Lands shall return to be equally divided betwixt my 4 daughters. And further I give unto her all my Household Goods that is at Milford that is not divided and disposed of; & if she dye, the forementioned Estate Willed to her shall be divided equally between my four daughters, with this proviso, that my daughter Rebeckah Warner shall have £10 more than any of the rest of my daughters, Mary, Rebeckah, Sarah, & Hannah, it shall be equally divided amongst them.

My Will is that what of my Clothing, Woolen or Lynen, that is at Farmington, that is not disposed of at my decease, that my four daughters, MARY, REBECKAH, SARAH & HANNAH, it shall be divided equally amongst them.

I appoint my daughter Abigail Fletcher to be my whole and sole Executrix. And I do desire Honoed Major Robert Treate & Mr. Samuel Eales to be Overseers. Mary X Clarke, L.S. Witness: Robert Porter, John Loomis. 6 Mar 1678/9: Will proven. ^[11]

Sources

1. ↑ Hoadly, Charles J. Records of the Colony or Jurisdiction of New Haven from May 1653 to the Union. Harford, CT: General Assemby of Connecticut, 1858. Page 429.
2. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N274-3ZV : 20 March 2020), Mary in entry for Mary Fletcher, 1633.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Hutchinson, J.R. "Ward of Connecticut I, Widow Joice Ward of Wethersfield." New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. Volume 49, July 1918. Page 264.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Federal Writer's Project. History of Milford Connecticut 1639-1939. Milford, CT: Connecticut Work Project Administration, 1939. Page 3.
5. ↑ Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of the Farmer's Register, Volume II. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company, 1860. Page 173.
6. ↑ Ricker, Jacqueline L. Families of Early Milford Connecticut. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1979. Page 267.
7. ↑ Connecticut: Vital Records (The Barbour Collection), 1630-1870 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011.) From original typescripts, Lucius Barnes Barbour Collection, 1928. https://www.americanancestors.org/DB414/i/12578/69/139530299
8. ↑ 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. https://www.americanancestors.org/DB1568/i/21174/322/426918315
9. ↑ Ancestry.com. Connecticut, Church Record Abstracts, 1630-1920 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: 2013. Original data:Connecticut. Church Records Index. Connecticut State Library, Hartford, Connecticut Ancestry Record 3032 #404174
10. ↑ Connecticut, Church Record Abstracts, 1630-1920 Volume 071 Milford, page 153
11. ↑ Hartford Connecticut Probate Records, Court Record, page 12