Josiah Nurse (1694 - abt. 1718)

Born 9 Sep 1694 in Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Husband of Mary (Eaton) Francis — married 20 Dec 1716 in Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Province

Died about 4 Apr 1718 at about age 23 in Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony [uncertain]

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Jeanne Mower [send private message]

Biography

Josiah was the son of Francis Nurse and Sarah Craggen, born in Reading on 9 September 1694.^[1]

Parents: Francis Nurse (1660 - 1716) Sarah Craggen Nurse (1664 - 1707)

Josiah married Mary Eaton on Dec. 20, 1716 in Reading .^[2]

Josiah and Mary had one child, Mary, born in Reading on April 14, 1718,^[3] just ten days after her father's death.

Josiah died in Reading on April 4, 1718^[4]. This was a terrible period for the Nurses in Reading, as Josiah's brothers Nathaniel, Joshua, and Jonathan had all died in the previous 12 months. Cause, presumably an epidemic of some kind, not yet identified.

Josiah's widow Mary married Samuel Francis of Medford nine months later, on January 1, 1718-9^[5] See "puzzle" discussion below; The puzzle is resolved by recognizing that the recorded date for that marriage was in old-style.

Burial: Burying Point Cemetery Salem Essex County Massachusetts, USA

Sources

1. ↑ Middlesex, Vital Records of Reading Massachusetts, to the year 1850, p. 165
2. ↑ Middlesex, Vital Records of Reading Massachusetts, to the year 1850, p. 404
3. ↑ Middlesex, Vital Records of Reading Massachusetts, to the year 1850, p. 165
4. ↑ Middlesex, Vital Records of Reading Massachusetts, to the year 1850, p. 545
5. ↑ Middlesex, Vital Records of Reading Massachusetts, to the year 1850, p. 404

• "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FZD9-JR8 : 4 December 2014), Josiah Nurse, 09 Sep 1694; citing READING,MIDDLESEX,MASSACHUSETTS, ; FHL microfilm 0873745 IT 2.

• Josiah Nurse (1694-1718) on Find A Grave: Memorial #60614487 Retrieved Burns-5616 20:08, 23 January 2018 (EST).

Note

This puzzle was posited at Genforum:

It appears that the Mary Nurse who married Samuel Francis was in fact Mary Eaton and that she had first been married to one of Francis and Rebecca Nurse's sons, thus she was listed as Mary Nurse when she married secondly to Samuel Francis.

NEHGS marriage record indicates that Samuel Francis married Mary Nurse on 1/1/1718 (three months before the death of Josiah Nurse.

I have found it plausible that if Josiah Nurse died in the early winter, that it might be that the date of 4/4 was when he was buried in the spring when the ground had thawed.

Again, this is only speculation to somehow understand within reason as to how the couple could have married prior to Josiah's death. He is said to have died in Wakefield (a neighboring town of Reading). and that Mary Nurse and Samuel Francis married in Reading.

Adding strength to this couple is that there seems to be no other Nurse family living in Reading other than the Josiah Nurse family which he seemed to have nine siblings of which none seem to have held the name of Mary.

My posting at Genforum: 4 Apr 1718 was only a week or so into the year 1718 (old style). The year started on March 25th.

1 Jan 1718 would be early 1719 (our style).

See the article in Wikipedia about the Gregorian and Julian calendars. This is why many dates are now written double, i.e., 1 Jan 1718/19.

So Josiah died about nine months before the Mary Nurse-Samuel Francis marriage.

Acknowlegements

Created by: Bob Brien Record added: Oct 25, 2010

This person was created through the import of Shortened files.ged on 30 December 2010. The following data was included in the gedcom. You may wish to edit it for readability.