Mary (Wheldon) Taylor (abt. 1621 - bef. 1673)

Born about 23 Dec 1621 in England

Ancestors

Wife of Richard Taylor — married before 1648 in Massachusetts

Descendants

Died before Jul 1673 before about age 51 in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Jillaine Smith [send private message], Puritan Great Migration Project WikiTree [send private message], and Morag M [send private message]

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

Biography

Mary Whelden was baptized 23 December 1621, daughter of Gabriel, and presumably of Jane (not proved).^[1]

By a process of elimination, she has been identified as the wife of one of two Richard Taylor, tailors, of early Massachusetts-- either Richard Taylor of Yarmouth, or more likely the Richard Taylor, tailor, of Boston, who was known to have had a wife Mary (who was mother of his son John born in 1647 in Boston).^[2] Because there is more evidence in support of the Boston man, she has been attached as his spouse and mother of his child and detached from Yarmouth man and his children.

If she was the wife of Richard Taylor, tailor of Boston, then she died well before 30 July 1673 when he wrote his will, which mentions his wife Elizabeth.

About the Wife of Richard Taylor, tailor of Yarmouth

The wife of Richard "Tailor" Taylor (vs. Richard "the Rock" Taylor -- both of Yarmouth) was NOT Ruth, daughter of Gabriel Whelden. She may have been Ruth's sister, Mary Whelden, who was known to have married another Richard Taylor, but we're uncertain which Richard Taylor (there were two tailors by this name in colonial Massachusetts-- one in Boston (who is documented has having a wife named Mary); the other tailor in Yarmouth, the wife of whom has no documented first or maiden name.^[3]

She was "found dead in a boat off Duxbury, Plymouth Colony, before 4 Dec. 1673, when there was an inquest." NOTE: This is only true if she married Richard Taylor, tailor of Yarmouth. But there is more evidence that she married Richard Taylor, tailor of Boston. See narrative above.

Sources

1. ↑ Jan Porter and Daniel F. Stramara Jr., “The Origins of Gabriel1 Whelden of Yarmouth and Malden, Massachusetts,” The New England Historical & Genealogical Register, 163 (2009):253–61; 164 (2010):295–96.
2. ↑ [Ninth] Report of the Record Commissioners Containing Boston Births, Baptisms, Marriages and Deaths, 1630–1699 (Boston: Rockwell & Churchill, 1883; repr. Boston: Municipal Printing Office, 1908), 83, “John of Richard & Mary Tailor born 2nd--12th month [1646/7].”
3. ↑ Jillaine S. Smith, "The Two Richard Taylor Families of Early Yarmouth, Massachusetts," NEHGS Register, volumes 165 (July 2011) and 166 (Oct 2011)