Margery (Deane) Strong (abt. 1604 - abt. 1635)

Born about 1604 in Chard, Somerset, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died about 1635 at about age 31 in Massachusetts

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Margery (Deane) Strong migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

Margery Deane was born about 1604 to 1607 at Chard Near Taunton, Somerset, England. She was the daughter of William Deane, and sister of John Dean and Walter Deane, both of Taunton, Massachusetts.^[1]

Margery married Elder John Strong as his first wife,^[1] at Taunton, Somerset, England about 1624 or 1625.

Child

1. John

Other (older) sources state that perhaps Thomas was their son; some include a son named Josiah. "Great Migration" indicates only one child, name: John.

Other sources claim a son named Josiah, and some indicate that Thomas was her child. ^[2]but Anderson in "Great Migration" states that neither were he children.^[1]

Migration

Margery migrated with her husband in 1635 on the Hopewell of Weymouth as it says "Jon. Stronge and family" on the migration papers (citation at Great Migration is NGSQ 71:173).^[1]

Death

"Great Migration" states "there is no record for John Strong in New England prior to 1635, and we now know that he sailed for New England in 1635." Based on this and that John Strong migrated with his family, the conclusion is drawn that Margery (Deane) Strong died about 1635.

Margery was living in 1634 since she was specifically mentioned in her father's will of 22 July 1634. William Deane of Chard left four pounds per year to each of his daughters (Susan, Eleanor, Margerie and Elizabeth). Also, "To my daughter Margerie Strong a brass pot, my best cauldron and 10 pounds and to her son and my grandchild John Strong 5 pounds to be paid two years after my decease."^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Great Migration
2. ↑ http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=adgedge&id=I26933&style=TEXT
3. ↑ http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=adgedge&id=I25002

• Robert Charles Anderson, "John Strong", The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634-1635, Vol VI, Boston, New England Historic Genealogical Society 2009. pp.581-588.[ https://www.americanancestors.org/databases/great-migration-immigrants-to-new-england-1634-1635-volume-vi-r-s/image?pageName=584&volumeId=12124&rId=23901664 subscribers$]

See also:

• NEHGS "Register," Vol. 147, Jul 1993, p.240-254, "Eleanor Cogan, The Wife of Walter Deane of Taunton - An Evaluation of the Evidence," by H. Clark Dean. Cites: (a) Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Seager 86, in NEHGS "Register" (1897) 51:432-433.

• "A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register," by James Savage (1860-1862; rpt. "Savage New England Register," http://www.usgennet.org/usa/topic/newengland/savage/bk4/stone-sutherland.htm, 5 Feb 2017) Vol. 4.

• "Genealogies of Connecticut Families From the New England Historical and Genealogical Register" (Genealogical Pub. Co., Baltimore, 1983; rpt. Broderbund Software, 1997, CD 179). "The New England Ancestry of H.R.H. The Princess of Wales," by Gary Boyd Roberts. Vol. 3, p.650,672.

• "Samuel Stebbins of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island," by Joan A. Hunter, CG, "The American Genealogist," Vol. 80, No. 4 (Oct 2005) p.276. Cites: (a) Hampshire Co., MA Probates, 3:47. FHL rfilm #879,184."

• The History of the Descendants of Elder John Strong, of Northampton, Volume 1, by Benjamin Woodbridge Dwight, page xxv ("The History of this Book")

• Emery, Samuel Hopkins. "History of Taunton Massachusetts", Syracuse, NY, D. Mason & Co., 1893.

Research Note

This note on two issues stems from the chance discovery of a letter of unknown but old date, published in an unidentified newspaper, criticizing the Dwight book, clipped and pasted by someone opposite page 2 of the copy of that book that has been imaged on archive.com. I have attempted to copy that image of a yellowed clipping, but so far the result is unreadable. It may be viewable at [1], opposite page 2 of 768. On to the two issues:

1. Did Elder John Strong come to America before 1635? The letter (by S.M.F_______ of Kansas) makes a strong case that the July 1634 will of Margerie Dean Strong's father William Deane confirms that Margerie was then alive and married to John Strong, and the phrasing in the will (quoted in its entirety in his profile) strongly suggests that she, John and their first child John Jr. were still residing in England at that date. Robert Charles Anderson concluded that he, and presumably his family, crossed the ocean on Hopewell in 1635, settling first in Hingham and then in Taunton. In light of that, plus, plus the absence of any proofs to the contrary, the oft-seen references to Elder John Strong arriving in the New World as early as 1930 seem clearly incorrect.

2. Is his son Thomas Strong the son of Margerie Deane Strong? The letter also makes a good case for Thomas being the son of John's first wife Margerie Dean Strong, the subject of this profile, rather than his second wife Abigail Ford Strong as Dwight and others have assumed. The writer's argument is based on age. Abigail, born 1619, would have been a mere 16 or 17 at Thomas's birth, which would have to have been no later than 1635 or perhaps early 1636, in advance of Jedediah's documented birth by Abigail on 7 May 1637, when she was just 18.

It is speculated that Margerie died of some ailment during the voyage on Hopewell. As a counter-speculation, perhaps, instead, it was complications of giving birth to Thomas, shortly after their arrival in Massachusetts, that caused Margerie's early death, followed by John's marrying Abigail.