Anna Bridges (1762 - 1853)

Born 1 Feb 1762 in Marblehead, Essex, Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Wife of Samuel Poore — married 21 Oct 1784 in Rowley, Essex, Massachusetts, United States

Descendants

Died 21 Apr 1853 at age 91 in Hooksett, Merrimack, New Hampshire, United States

Biography

Anna Bridges was born in Marblehead, MA in 1762, the daughter of John Bridges and Ann Lambert. She was baptized on 14 Feb. 1762.^[1][2]

On 21 Oct. 1784, Anna married Samuel Poore.^[3]

The couple settled in what was originally Goffstown, NH., and their farm was in the southwesterly part of the town made in 1822 from a portion of Dunbarton, Goffstown, and ancient Chester, and called by the name of Hooksett. Samuel's father had acquired 140 acres of land in Goffstown in 1782, as an inheritance for any of his children who wanted to settle there.

Samuel and Anna had the following ten children, born in Goffstown, NH:  

1. John Poore,   b. 26 Apr 1786, Goffstown, Hillsborough, NH ,   d. 29 Jan 1865 MORETOWN, VT
2. Samuel Poore,   b. 6 Apr 1787, Goffstown, Hillsborough, NH ,   d. 20 Oct 1882, Goffstown, Hillsborough, NH
3. Job Poore,   b. 22 Jul 1789, Goffstown, Hillsborough, NH ,   d. 7 Feb 1871, Stewartstown, Coos, NH
4. Benjamin Poore,   b. 12 Aug 1791, Goffstown, Hillsborough, NH ,   d. 1 Jun 1874, Goffstown, Hillsborough, NH
5. Peggy Poore,   b. 6 Dec 1794, Goffstown, Hillsborough, NH ,   d. 16 Jan 1795, Goffstown, Hillsborough, NH
6. Jesse Poore,   b. 16 Aug 1796, Goffstown, Hillsborough, NH ,   d. 7 May 1836
7. Ira Poore,   b. 10 Oct 1798, Goffstown, Hillsborough, NH ,   d. 1852, Bexar, TX
8. Erie Poore,   b. 21 Nov 1800, Goffstown, Hillsborough, NH ,   d. 28 Jan 1874
9. Asa Poore,   b. 29 Jan 1803, Goffstown, Hillsborough, NH, and
10. Joseph Poore,   b. 9 Nov 1805, Goffstown, Hillsborough, NH ,   d. 20 Apr 1880.

The Gift

One February day in 1853, Anna stood at her old ironing board, which Sam had made for her in 1784. As she ironed lace tablecloths for Arria, a bird landed on the windowsill. It was a yellow hammer woodpecker, very rare in New England. She was immediately aware of what it meant; as the speckled bird stared into her eyes—Ira, her wayward son, was dead in Texas at age 54. Longingly she remembered his last visit home.

How she knew is a question that will never be answered. It is not uncommon for a mother to share the feelings of her children, but in this case, Ira had been away from home for 20 years; the last 18 in far away Texas. Anna had known such things for some time and it was a gift that was not taken lightly. Although her Bridges ancestors had similar ‘superstitions’ (they were of Flemish origin and had once been West Country wool merchants), the ‘Bird at the Window’ was purely a Poore thing, leading directly back to a very ancient past.

For uncountable generations, the ‘Gift’ had been handed down from mother to daughter among a select few in the family line. How it began, or how it survived the Puritan Era is a miracle in itself, most would have taken it as witchcraft. Transferable, it had been passed on to whoever was best suited and that was agreeable, not always within the same household. Henry Poore’s sister Mary (1654-1728) had received it from her aunt Alice Poore Little in 1679, passing it on, in turn, to Rebecca Poore Moody (1705-1755) of Newbury, daughter of Jonathan of Newbury Neck. None of Rebecca’s three daughters would have anything to do with the Gift. Looking at her options, Rebecca transferred it, before she died, to her 13-year-old cousin Mary Poore (1742-1784), daughter of Jeremiah of Rowley. Mary lived her life in Byfield, married to Jon Wheeler and her only daughter preceded her in death. In 1784 she passed the Gift to her second cousin Ruth Poore (1762-1828), who had married Mary’s brother Ben and was the only daughter of Joseph Poore of New Rowley. Ruth’s daughters, Betsey and Mary Ann, shunned the Gift all their lives. They called it a ‘Tool of the Devil’ and denounced their mother for toying with it. She finally transferred it to the only receptive person she could find, Anna Bridges Poore of Hooksett NH, in 1828.

https://web.archive.org/web/20160222082512/http://www.poorefarm.org/files/Legacy%20of%20John%20Poore%20story%201635.pdf

Anna lost her husband in 1841. She survived another 12 years, being recorded at age 88 on the 1850 census in Hooksett, NH.^[4] She received a widow's pension, on account of Samuel's Revolutionary War service. After she died in 1853 at the age of 91 years, she was buried beside her husband in Riverside Cemetery in Hooksett, NH.^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ Vital Records of Marblehead, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 (The Essex Institute, Salem, Mass., 1903-1908)| Page 65
2. ↑ The Lambert Family of Salem, Massachusetts| Page 26
3. ↑ Vital Records of Rowley, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 (The Essex institute, Salem, Mass., 1928-31)| Page 382
4. ↑ United States Census, 1850," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MWZJ-RP2
5. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #92730079 for Anna Bridges Poor

See Also:

• Family Search | Anna Bridges
• A Genealogy of the Descendants of Richard Bailey of Rowley, Massachusetts, Historical and Genealogical Researches, of Merrimack Valley, Vol 1, Nbr. 1, April 1857, Published by Alfred Poor, Haverhill,| Page 92, top left-hand column
• A Memoir and Genealogy of John Poore, by Alfred Poore, Genealogist, Salem, Mass., 1881| Page 205
• http://www.thetaggarts.net/genealogy