Mary (Unknown) Walker (abt. 1610 - 1690)

Born about 1610 in England [uncertain]

Wife of Abraham Robinson — married before 1630 in England [uncertain]

Wife of William Brown — married 15 Jul 1646 in Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts Bay

Wife of Henry Walker — married 26 Sep 1662 in Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts Bay

Descendants

Died 17 Apr 1690 at about age 80 in Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts Bay

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Biography

Mary's origins are unknown. It is likely that she was born in England and arrived in America with her first husband, Abraham Robinson, in 1630 aboard the "Lyon".^[1] (needs verification). Mary and Abraham had one child, Abraham Jr., who was born before 1645/46.^[2]

Abraham Robinson Sr. died in Feb 1645 or 1646 and Mary married as her second husband, William Brown, on 15 Jul 1646 in Gloucester, Massachusetts.^[3][4] They had the following children:^[2][5]

• Mary, b.28 Jul 1649, bap.28 Jan 1656/57, d.12 Nov 1715, m.William Haskell 1667;
• James, bap.2 Jan 1658, likely died before 1662 as he was not named in his father's will.

In Feb 1648/49, William Brown was appointed executor of the small estate left by Mary's first husband, Abraham Robinson.^[2]

William Brown died on 3 May 1662 in Gloucester, Massachusetts.^[6] Mary married her third husband, Henry Walker^[1] on 26 Sep 1662 in Gloucester, Massachusetts.^[3]

Mary Walker died on 17 Apr 1690 in Gloucester, Massachusetts.^[2][3]

A careful reading of Essex county probate records available at American Ancestors will prove beyond any doubt that the Mary represented in this profile married three times to 1) Abraham Robinson Sr 2) William Brown and 3) Henry Walker and will also prove that her daughter Mary (Brown) Haskell was half-sister to her son Abraham Robinson, Jr. Babson does a fairly good job at outlining the probate records but the information is scattered over many pages (See page numbers below).^[7] George F. Butterick actually has a more concise two page summary.^[8]

See Babson, History, p. 175:

• "Henry Walker is mentioned as an owner of land before 1650. He married, Sept. 26, 1662, Widow Mary Brown, who first appeared here as the wife of Abraham Robinson. He had his residence on the west side of Annisquam River, where a creek still perpetuates the name. He was selectman in 1667 and several subsequent years. He died Aug. 29, 1693: his wife died April 17, 1690. His estate, the largest that had then been accumulated in town, was appraised £922.10s., consisting chiefly of land. Having no children, he left legacies to the descendants of his wife by her two previous husbands ..."^[7]

Also Babson, p. 135:

• Abraham Robinson "left a widow Mary, who married William Brown, July 15, 1646; and, again becoming a widow in 1662, married Henry Walker in the same year, and died April 17, 1690."^[7]

Again Babson, p. 65:

• "William Brown was among the earliest settlers ... He married Mary, widow of Abraham Robinson, in 1646; and died May 3, 1662, leaving a daughter Mary, born in 1649, who married William Haskell. His widow married, for her third husband, Henry Walker. His estate, which was considerable for the time and place (£223. 7s.) was mostly left to his son-in-law, Abraham Robinson."^[7]

Abraham Robinson II was raised by his stepfather William Brown - Babson, p. 135-6:

• [Abraham, son of Abraham Robinson] "on coming to maturity, received several lots of land bequeathed him by his step-father Brown ... " [, at the age of eleven years] "was living with his paternal grandmother, and her husband, Henry Walker, who left him, by will, a legacy of twenty pounds. In the vicinity of this early home, which was surrounded for many miles by a dense forest, he probably acquired the passion for hunting; which in manhood often led him several days at a time upon distant excursions, from which he always returned with abundant proof of his courage and skill"^[7]

Butterick, p. 522:

• "Abraham Robinson II was born before 1646, his father's death; his mother married William Brown that year and upon his death, married, for the third time, Henry Walker, in 1662, when Abraham Robinson was at least sixteen-so Walker can hardly be said to have raised him. The marriage of Henry Walker's step-daughter to William Haskell, son of William Haskell."^[8]

Babson, p. 100:

• "William married Mary Walker, July 3, 1667; who died Nov. 12, 1715, aged sixty-six. She was the daughter of William Brown; but she took the name of her step-father, Henry Walker."^[7]

Babson, p. 209:

• "thirty-one lots laid out on the west side of the Cut in 1688 to settlers, including five Haskells and Henry Walker."^[7]

Research Notes: Unknown Maiden Name

There is a marriage record in St Gregory by St Paul, London, England for Mary Watson to Abraham Robinson on 15 Jul 1610 but we can't be certain it is the same couple.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Sumner, Edith Bartlett. "Descendants of Thomas Farr of Harpswell, Maine and Ninety Allied Families." Los Angeles, CA: Lithographed from compiler's typescript by American Offset Printers, 1989. Page 43.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Ferris, Mary Walton, “Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines: A Memorial Volume Containing the American Ancestry of Rufus R. Dawes.” Accessed at HathiTrust, page 120-121.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} "Vital Records of Gloucester, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849." Online database accessed 27 Jul 2018. Marriages p.109 "Browne, William, and Mary Robeson, July 15, 1646."; p.559 "Walker, Henery, and Mary Browne wid., Sept. 26, 1662."; Deaths p.315 "Walker, Mary, Apr. 17, 1690."
4. ↑ Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England (Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1862). Vol.1, page 277.
5. ↑ Pope, Charles Henry. "The Pioneers of Massachusetts, 1620-1650." [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Page 75.
6. ↑ "Massachusetts Deaths and Burials, 1795-1910," database FamilySearch: 10 Feb 2018, William Browne, 3 May 1662; citing Gloucester, Essex, MA, reference v 1 p 39; FHL microfilm 864,859.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6} Babson, John J., History of the Town of Gloucester, Cape Ann, Including the Town of Rockport, (Gloucester, Peter Smith Publisher, Inc. 1972 (reprinted from original, published in 1860)) p.35, p.65, p.100, p.134-6, p.175.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} Butterick, George F., A Guide to The Maximus Poems of Charles Olson, (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1978) p.521-522 at GoogleBooks.