Mary S. (Davis) Locke (1812 - 1896)

Born 12 Mar 1812 in Warner, Merrimack, New Hampshire

Ancestors

Wife of George Augustus Locke Sr. — married 4 Apr 1839 in Arlington, Middlesex, Massachusetts

Descendants

Died 6 Nov 1896 at age 84 in Belmont, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Kerry Ellard [send private message]

Biography

Mary S. Davis was born on March 12, 1812, in Warner, Merrimack, New Hampshire, to a family of primarily Welsh ancestry.

Her father, William Foster Davis (1783-1861), had also been born in Warner; her mother, Susanna (Collins) Davis (1792-1860), apparently of mixed Irish and English ancestry, including MA Puritan ancestry, appears to have been born in another part of New Hampshire.

Mary's only older sibling, sister Louisa (Davis) Puffer (1811-1893), was born shortly after their wedding , and Mary followed about a year later. About half of their siblings died in infancy, but the others who made it to adulthood were:

• Alice P. (Davis) Merrick (1819-1890)
• Nancy G. (Davis) George Nelson (1821-1900)
• Lucinda F. Davis (1830-1901)
• Francis Evans Davis (1831-1905)

From reviewing these lifespans, it seems that the Davises who made it out of infancy were genetically inclined to be long-lived by the standards of the day.

On April 4, 1839, aged 27, Mary married George Augustus Locke (Sr.), about five years older than she was, in Arlington, Massachusetts. It was the first marriage for both; his family was of Puritan descent and locally prominent in Arlington, but economic and social changes had rapidly changed their lifestyle.

Arlington was in the process of becoming more urbanized, and town lines were redrawn such that her official place of residence became "West Cambridge" and then "Belmont." George and two of his siblings and their families all lived together with his widowed mother, he and his brother William working as yeoman farmers on what they had left of their family's once-extensive local farmland holdings in order to support the family. Younger male relatives worked as laborers, and Mary herself worked as a housekeeper.

Mary had four sons with George, and was widowed at age 52, when he died of cardiac issues thought to be related to chronic asthma.

Their sons were:

• Samuel Locke (1843–1904)
• George Augustus Locke, Jr. (1847-1923)
• Albert Willis Locke (1852-1939)
• Louis Locke (1834-1930)

The 1870 census shows Mary living in her Belmont home with her sons, the wives and young children of Samuel and George, and her sister Lucinda F. Davis (1830-1901).

Mary S. (Davis) Locke died in Belmont in 1896, aged 84. The cause of death was listed as old age.

Notable "Cousins"

• Rev. Nicholas Noyes (1647-1717), who was "involved" in the Salem Witch Trials.
• Joseph Bailey (1648-1723), accuser in the Salem Witch Trials.
• Sarah (Noyes) Hale (1656-1697), accused of but never charged with witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials.

Sources

• Source: S350058341 Ancestry Family Trees Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. Record Collection 1030Ancestry Family Tree APID 192468951472:1030:115577501
• Private family tree maintained by descendant Kerry Ellard and associated Ancestry.com research.