Mary (Faunce) Church (1720 - 1780)

Born 25 Apr 1720 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Ancestors

Wife of Amos Curtis — married 8 Jan 1745 in Kingston, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Wife of Nathaniel Church III — married 2 Nov 1758 in Scituate, Plymouth, Province of Massachusetts Bay

Descendants

Died 27 Apr 1780 at age 60 in Scituate, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States

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Biography

Mary was born 25 April 1720^[1] in Plymouth, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of John Faunce and Lydia Cooke Faunce.

On 8 January 1745, aged 24, she married Amos Curtis of Scituate, in Kingston, ^[2]. Kingston lies just 3 miles north of Plymouth along the coast. In the register she was lsited as being Mrs Mary Faunce implying that she was a widow, which she most certainly wasn't. However she was more than seven months pregnant and this probably explains why she and Amos were married in a town that neither of them came from, situated between their respective towns. Either way, she gave birth to their first child, Samuel, the following month in Scituate^[3].

Their second child, Amos Jr, was born two years later^[4]. Tragically, Amos Sr, died the year after that in his 27th year. It was clearly sudden as the probate makes no reference to a will and his brother, Simeon, and her father, John, stand as sureties for her administration^[5]. The inventory totalled £3,692.5, a significant sum at that time.

On 2 November 1758, aged 38, she remarried to Nathaniel Church, who was 24 years her senior, in Scituate^[6]. He was a widower with 13 children. They went on to have two children together, Mary in 1760 and Nathaniel in 1763.

Her husband Nathaniel passed away in 1778, aged 80. Mary outlived him by two years and died in 1780, aged 60.

Sources

1. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q29L-G3PW : 18 February 2020), Mary Faunce, 25 Apr 1720; citing Birth, Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston; FHL microfilm 004934186.
2. ↑ Massachusetts Vital Records; Kingston page 201 https://ma-vitalrecords.org/MA/Plymouth/Kingston/Images/Kingston_M201.shtml
3. ↑ Massachusetts Vital Records; Scituate page 113 https://ma-vitalrecords.org/MA/Plymouth/Scituate/Images/Scituate_B113.shtml
4. ↑ Massachusetts Vital Records; Scituate page 106 https://ma-vitalrecords.org/MA/Plymouth/Scituate/Images/Scituate_B106.shtml
5. ↑ Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Probate Estate Files; Author: Massachusetts. Probate Court (Plymouth County); Probate Place: Plymouth, Massachusetts; File no 5353
6. ↑ Massachusetts Vital Records; Scituate page 58 https://ma-vitalrecords.org/MA/Plymouth/Scituate/Images/Scituate_M058.shtml