Mary (Kennion) Atherton (abt. 1600 - 1672)

Born about 1600 in Winwick, Lancashire, England

Wife of Humphrey Atherton Esq. — married 29 Mar 1625 in Winwick, Lancashire, England

Descendants

Died 17 Aug 1672 at about age 72 in Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts

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

NOTE: The LNAB of Humphrey Atherton's wife Mary has been disputed. Her correct name is Mary Kennion/Kenion NOT Mary Wales (see research notes, below).

Biography

This profile is part of the Atherton Name Study.

Mary Kenion was the daughter of James Kenion of Haydock, Lancaster, and she is named in his 1632 will, along with her husband Humphrey Atherton "of Winstanley", who was appointed executor of James' will.^[1] Mary's date and place of birth are unknown and are estimated.

The original marriage records for Humphrey Atherton and Mary Kennion have been found in Winwick Parish Register, Lancashire, showing Humphrey of Wigan Parish and Mary Kennion of Winwick, (Winwick and Wigan are neighboring parishes), the marriage dated 29 March 1624/25.^[2] Based on his 1607 baptismal record, we know that Humphrey lived in Wigan Parish. The actual entry in the register reads "Humphrey Atherton - Wigan Mary Kennion 'istius' [of this place, namely Winwick] March 29".^[2]

Mary gave birth to three children while living in Lancaster: Jonathan (b. 1627), Elizabeth (b. 1628) and Isabel (b. 1630).

By 1635 or 1636, the Athertons and other Puritan families following the Rev. Richard Mathers "packed what they could, sold what they could not, and loaded their possessions on pack horses, the children riding in baskets slung across a horse. They traveled across the west of England, down the Severn valley to Bristol, and from there they took passage to America."^{[citation needed]}

Many think the Atherton family of five sailed on the emigrant ship James, which left Bristol, England in 1635^[3] (the James departed 23 May 1635, and arrived in Boston 17 August 1635).^{[citation needed]} Others think they arrived in 1637.^[4]

Before they left England, Mary's father, James Kenion, wrote his will dated 6 April 1632, in which he names Mary and her husband Humphrey Atherton of Winstanley as his son-in-law and also nominates him as Executor of his Will, written as follows:

"I give and bequeath unto the children of Humphrey Atherton and Marie his now wyffe here begotten or to be begotten, betwixte them to be equally divided amongest them.

"And I do constitute ordayne and make Humphrey Atherton of Winstanley within the County of Lancaster Yeoman, my loving sonne-in-law my true and lawful Executor, hoping that he will execute this my said Will according to the trust in him reposed."^[5]

James Kenion died and was buried at Winwick 13 March 1636,^[6]after Humphrey and Mary had gone to Massachusetts, so Humphrey could not act as executor.

Mary's husband became quite prominent in civic and military affairs in Dorchester and in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. While Humphrey was busy with his official duties, Mary was busy having and raising her twelve children, nine of which were born in Massachusetts:

• Elizabeth, who married Timothy Mather,^[3] was baptized 28 September 1628 in Winwick, Lancashire, England, ^[4]
• Jonathan, baptized 26 December 1629 in Winwick.^[4] He may have been the Jonathan Atherton, mariner, who returned to England and married Sarah Firebread of Lancashire^[3]
• Isabel, baptized 23 January 1630 in Winwick, married Nathaniel Wales^[4][3]
• Jonathan^[4]
• Consider,^[4] married Anne Annable^[3]
• Mary, married Joseph Weeks^[4][3]
• Margaret, married James Trowbridge^[4][3]
• Rest, baptized at Dorchester 26 May 1639, married Obadiah Swift^[4][3]
• Increase, baptized 11 April 1641^[4] or 2 January 1642, died at sea, his brother Jonathan administered his estate in 1673^[3]
• Thankful, baptized 29 April 1644, married Thomas Bird Jr.^[4][3]
• Rev. Hope, baptized 30 August 1646,^[4] married Sarah Hollister^[3]
• Watching, baptized 24 August 1651,^[4] married Elizabeth Rigby^[3]
• Patience, baptized 21 April 1654, married Isaac Humphrey^[4][3]

Humphrey Atherton died 17 September 1661 and he left an extensive estate on which administration was granted 27 September 1661.^[4]

Mary died on 17 August 1672 in Dorchester and was buried in the Dorchester North Burying Ground.^{[citation needed]} She left a will dated 21 February 1671. In it, she mentions daughters: Patience and Mary, daughters Mather, Swifte, Bird; sons Watching, Consider, Hope; and grandchildren Mary Walls, Mary Weeks, Elizabeth Throwbridge, Katherine Mather, Rest Swifte, and Thankfull Bird. The witnesses to her will were deposed 3 October 1672.^{[citation needed]}

Research Notes

Mary's Last Name at Birth

Humphrey Atherton's wife, Mary, is incorrectly called Mary "Wales" based on an interpretation of the will of Nathaniel Wales, Sr. In his will dated 20 June 1661, Nathaniel calls Humphrey Atherton "my Brother in Law" and appointed him as overseer of his will.^[7]

The "brother-in-law" statement leaves many to incorrectly conclude that Humphrey married Mary Wales, the sister of Nathaniel and daughter of their father John. Yet the will of John Wales (d. 1610), the father of Nathaniel, mentions no daughter named Mary.

However, in this era, the term "in-law" simply signified any relationship established by marriage. Thus, the brother-in-law reference may have an entirely different interpretation. We know that Nathaniel Wales Jr. married Humphrey's Atherton's daughter Isabel. Thus, with the marriage of Nathaniel's son and Humphrey's daughter, the two men were jointly fathers-in-law and this relationship made them "brothers-in-law" which then had a broader meaning than what we use today. Unfortunately the misinterpretation of the term "brother-in-law" leading to the assumption that Humphrey's wife was Mary Wales, appears in many published sources and continues to be used incorrectly.

This matter is firmly settled by the original marriage records of Mary Kennion and Humphrey Atherton in the Winwick Parish Register showing Humphrey Atherton of Wigan Parish and Mary Kennion of Winwick were married 29 March 1624/25.

That Mary Kenion, not Mary Wales, was Humphrey Atherton's wife is further confirmed by the will of James Kenion of Haydock, Lancashire (Mary's father) which names his daughter Mary and Humphrey Atherton of Winstanley as his son-in-law and nominates him as Executor of his Will.

Sources

1. ↑ Lancashire County Council Archives The Will of James Kenion of Haydock made 6th April 1632
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Winwick Parish Register, Lancashire: see attached image
3. ↑ ^{3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12} John C.J. Brown. "The Atherton Family in England" in The New England Historical & Genealogical Register. Vol. 35 (Jan 1881) 67-72 at page 72. Online at AmericanAncestors.org($)
4. ↑ ^{4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14} Charles Henry Pope. The Pioneers of Massachusetts, A Descriptive List, Drawn from Records of the Colonies, Towns and Churches, and other Contemporaneous Documents. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1900. Online at FamilySearch.org, pages 22-23.
5. ↑ Lancashire County Council Archives- Archdeaconry of Cheshire - Will of James KENNION/KENION, 1636 (FHL#089,536)
6. ↑ Find my Past' of Winwick Chapel: Winwick Parish Records
7. ↑ William B. Trask. "Abstracts of the Earliest Wills in Suffolk" in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Boston, MA: NEHGS, April 1878. Vol. 32, pages 197-204 at page 204. Online at AmericanAncestors.org.

• Magazine of American Genealogy
• The Genealogy of Walter Gilbert