Mary whose maiden name is unknown was the wife of Ephraim Pennington.[1][2]
Goodwife Pennington and her husband had seats in the meeting house in Feb. 1655/6 and she had a seat in Jan 1661/2,[3] after his death late in 1660.
5 Feb 1660/1: "An Inventory of the Estate of Ephraim Penington late of Newhaven deceased, was prsented, taken the 10th Decembr, 1660, amounting to 112l, 3s, 0d, wch was by ye widdow of the deceased Attested vpon oath to be a full Inventory of the said Estate to the best of her knowledg; Jo. Cowper & Roger Allen Attested vpon oath that the vallew was iust according to their best light. The Two children, Ephraim & Mary, were desired to propound their guardians the next Court."
5 March 1660/1: "Widdow Penington & her two children came to the Court, to whom it was declared, there being no will left to guide ye disposall of the estate, it is by the Law determined that one third of the estate belongs to the widdow, the remainder being devided into 3 parts, Ephraim the eldest sonne is to have two thirds, and Mary one third, who both now nominated their Mother for their Guardian, wch the Court approued.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89067363812;view=1up;seq=478
16 Oct 1661, 26 May 1662, Magistrates Court at New Haven:
The widow Pennington had a heifer. This heifer was well marked as hers, but had been wandering around some time. Finally captured in May of 1660, the widow killed the heifer, but evidently didn’t go through the proper channels to prove it hers before she killed it. She would later plead “being a widdow yt wch shee did yt way it was ignorantly & was sorry for it.” Samuel Plumb sent two heifers, of similar age and color, to Wethersfield to winter, only one returned.[4] He brought a suit against Pennington for the animal, which was valued at three pounds ten shillings. Plumb presented witnesses saying he had such a heifer. Pennington produced witnesses who had seen the animal and knew it to be hers.
“The Court heareing wt could be sd on both sides did by way of sentence declare, yt by the euidences prsented widdow Pennington had clearest right to the heifer, yet considering how disorderly she tooke it vp & killed it contrary to law, & soe Samll Plumb disaduantaged to cleare his right & occasioned to him more trouble and charges then otherwise he might haue had, therefore did order that widdow Pennington pay vnto Samll Plumb fifteene shillings & alsoe beare the charge of ye action which is ten shillings.” [5]
No more was recorded about the widow Pennington. She may have died soon in New Haven or gone to Milford briefly and died or she may have traveled to New Jersey with one of her children.
Children
Ephraim b. about 1645; bpt 22 Oct 1648; d. about 1694/5 O.S.[1][6]His baptism is indexed as Perrington.[7] "Ephraim Pennington & Mary Brocket were married by mr John Clarke at Milford octobr 25th 1667.[8]
Mary b. about 1646; bpt 22 Oct 1648[1][6] indexed as Perrington.[7] Jonathan Tompkins & Mary Pennington were married by Mr. Wm. Jones Aprill 12th 1666.[8]
Research Notes / Error Discussion
Changed names of locations to be closer to what they would have been at the time. -- corrections are welcome. -- Fiscus-32 09:09, 27 July 2016 (EDT)
Merged "Mary Mary" and "Mary (Unknown) Pennington" together -- there is no documentation on any of the profiles indicating that Ephraim married more than once, and the marriages shown for the two different wives before the merge were 1 year apart. If he did marry more than once, the new wife can be added once documentation can be found to determine her name, dates and locations. -- Fiscus-32 09:22, 27 July 2016 (EDT)
According to the original profile information, she was born sometime between 1622 and 1625 in either England or New Haven, Connecticut (New Haven Colony?). She may have died ca. 1660 and Ephraim then married again and father a son, Timothy, but there is no documentation to support that. It is not clear whether she died in New Haven or New Jersey. -- Fiscus-32 09:33, 27 July 2016 (EDT)
Timothy Pennington at one time attached as son has been removed. He was son of the third Ephraim. B-404 22:40, 30 October 2016 (EDT)
Some have speculated that her last name was Moore, but no documentation other than a reference to an Ancestry.com tree has surfaced for that yet. -- Fiscus-32 12:39, 14 December 2017 (EST)
Sources
↑ 1.01.11.2 Pennington, A.C.M. "The Pennington family of Connecticut and New Jersey." The New England Historical and Genealogical Register 25:286 (288)
↑ Jacobus, Donald Lines (compiler). Families of Ancient New Haven, Vol I-VIII. and Index Vol IX New Haven: 1931. Reprint, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1974, 1981, 1997. Originally published as New Haven Genealogical Magazine, Volumes I-VIII. Rome, NY and New Haven, CT 1922-1932.
↑ 6.06.1 Jacobus, Donald Lines (compiler). Families of Ancient New Haven, Vol I-VIII. and Index Vol IX New Haven: 1931. Reprint, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1974, 1981, 1997. Originally published as New Haven Genealogical Magazine, Volumes I-VIII. Rome, NY and New Haven, CT 1922-1932.
↑ 7.07.1 Ancestry.com. Connecticut, Church Record Abstracts, 1630-1920 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: 2013. Images of Original: Connecticut. Church Records State Library Index. New Haven First Congregational Church. Part 2, J-Z, 1639-1937. Hartford, Connecticut: Connecticut State Library, 1947.