Mary (Unknown) Maynard (abt. 1619 - aft. 1710)

Born about 23 Aug 1619 in England

Wife of Thomas Axtell — married about 1638 (to 1646) in Hertfordshire, England [uncertain]

Wife of John Maynard — married 16 Jun 1646 in Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Descendants

Died after 10 Feb 1710 after about age 90 in Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

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Mary (Unknown) Maynard is currently protected by the Puritan Great Migration Project for reasons described in the narrative. Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: PGM

Mary arrived in America between the birth of her second child in 1641 and third child in 1644. She is protected by the Puritan Great Migration project due to her disputed origins causing repeated name changes.

Biography

She married first by 1639 Thomas Axtell who died in Sudbury 8 May 1646. (Their first child was bpt 25 Sep 1639)

She m2 in Sudbury June 16, 1646 John Maynard, not the same man as he of Duxbury.

Mary (_____) Axtell Maynard was still alive when her second husband's estate was probated/administered. The latest record was Mary Marynard widow and Zachariah Maynard executors, attesting to the inventory in court on 1 April 1674 (1.2.1674).^[1]

Children by Thomas Axtell:

• Mary Axtell Goodenow (1639 - 1704); m John Goodenow 19 SEp 1656 in Sudbury
• Henry Axtell (1641 - 1676); m Hannah Merriam 14 Jun 1665 Marlborough
• Lydia Axtell, b 1 Jun 1644 Sudbury; may have been she who m. Joseph Moore; called daughter in her step-father's will. But some argue that she was not an Axtell but a Maynard.^[2]

Children by John Maynard:

• Zacahariah Maynard, b 7 Jun 1647 Sudbury
• Elizabeth, b 26 May 1649 Sudbury
• Lydia, b abt 1651^[3]
• Hannah 30 Jul 1653 Sudbury
• Mary b 3 Aug 1656 Sudbury

Research Notes

Disputed Parents:

• Her maiden name was NOT Starr.^[4]:
  • Mary STARR, dau of Comfort Starr was the wife of another John Maynard -- he of Duxbury, Mass, having married him in that place on the 16th day of May, 1640. Her father, Comfort Starr, died on the 2nd day of January, 1659. His will was probated on the 3rd of February, 1659 and in it he made bequests to the five children of his DECEASED daughter Maynard. Therefore we know that Mary (Starr) MAYNARD was dead by 1659.
  • The Mary who married John Maynard of Sudbury was still alive in 1672: John Maynard of Sudbury made his will in 1672, referring to his wife Mary who was still alive at that time. This also distinguishes him from John Maynard of Duxbury.

• Her maiden name of Rice is unproven. Others suggest she may have been Mary, daughter of Edmund Rice for the following reasons:^[5]
  • Edmund had a daughter of the right age about whom nothing further is known
  • Edmund Rice and the Axtells came from the same parish/town in England (Berkhamstead)
  • Thomas Axtell, upon landing, purchased land from Rice who had arrived in the New World five years earlier.
  • Thomas and Mary's children had the same names as Edmunds, and in the same order.
  • When Thomas Axtel died without a will, Edmund Rice, Philemon Whale & Edward Rice took inventory, implying relationship with Thomas or his widow.

In Mary Lovering Holman's piece, "English Notes on Edmund Rice," concerning Mary Rice she says, "Mary, bapt. 23 Aug. 1619, Stanstead, Suffolk, died before her father, unmarried,"^[6] although she gives no evidence to support her unmarried status or death date.

Sources

1. ↑ Probate Records 1648-1924 (middlesex County, Massachusetts). Salt Lake City, Utah: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1964. Film # 007554519: Probate records (copies) v. 4-5 1672-1673. Vol 4, Page 28. Image 28 of 450.
2. ↑ Neil D. Thompson, "Lydia Maynard, wife of Joseph Moore of Sudbury, MA," in The American Genealogist, 60(1983):53
3. ↑ Neil P. Tompson, "Lydia Maynard, wife of Joseph Moore of Sudbury, MA" in The American Genealogist, 60(1984):53-55
4. ↑ Marilyn Axtell Cheney, "A Myth Put to Rest" (1988)
5. ↑ Eleanor R. Weston, "A probable wife for Thomas Axtell," in Connecticut Nutmegger, 31(1998):390-392
6. ↑ Mary Lovering Holman, “English Notes on Edmund Rice,” in The American Genealogist, vol. 10 (1933):136 (New Haven: D. L. Jacobus, 1933); (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - ), image of p. 136 by subscription AmericanAncestors.

See also:

• "Find a Grave", database, Find A Grave: Memorial #52187450 (accessed 30 January 2024), Memorial page for Mary Rice Maynard (Aug 1619-1710); Maintained by InSearchOf (contributor 47282406). Links to spouses and two children. Unknown burial location
• Geni.com Mary Maynard (Rice) of Sudbury, born 18Aug1619 in Standstead, Suffolk, England. died in 1680 in Sudbury. Daughter of Deacon Edmund Rice and Thomasine. Wife of Thomas Axtell and John Maynard. Mother of 6 listed children.
• Axtell Genealogy A Myth Put To Rest The following is Marilyn (Axtell) Cheney's research on the maiden name of Thomas's (1-1) first wife. (She was not the daughter of Comfort Starr. There are extensive references listed here. The conjecture that Mary was Mary rice does not seem to be proven.)
• Axtell, S. J., "The Axtell Family," NEHGR Vol. 53(1899):359. Archive.org, also AmericanAncestors.org . Provides only that Thomas Axtell's wife was Mary ____, and that she married John Maynard after Thomas' death.

• Axtell One Name Study Wayback Machine, archived 29 Mar 2019
• Geneanet Community Tree, unsourced