Moses Pengry (abt. 1610 - 1696)

Born about 1610 in England [uncertain]

Husband of Lydia (Clement) Pengry — married about 1644 in Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts

Descendants

Died 2 Jan 1696 at about age 86 in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts

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Moses Pengry migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 259) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Disputed Origin

According to The Great Migration Directory: Immigrants to New England, 1620–1640 the parents and origins of this person are not known.^[1] The family is treated in detail in:

1. Holman, Mary Lovering Ancestry of Charles Stinson Pillsbury and John Sargent Pillsbury / compiled for Helen Pendleton (Winston) Pillsbury, published 1938. Reference Volume 2, page 981-4
2. Pengry: Pingry, William M., A Genealogical Record of the Descendants of Moses Pengry of Ipswich, Mass. (Ludlow Vt.: Warner & Hyde, 1881) 12
3. Rowley Fam: George Brainard Blodgette, comp., Early Settlers of Rowley, Massachusetts (Rowley 1933) 302

None of these or other sources reviewed propose and English origin for this family. However a clue can be found on page 328 of Apsinwall's Notarial Records:

1. A Volume Relating to the Early History of Boston Containing the Aspinwall Notarial Records from 1644 to 1651, in Reports of the Record Commissioners of the City of Bosto, Volume 32 (Boston 1903) 328

• "15 (8) 1650 Moses & Aaron Pengry of Ipswich constituted Theo: Pengrey senion of Glocester their Attr: to receive all such money or rents as are or shallbe due to them from time to time & aquittances for the same to make, also to sett and lett the ffermes in Upton Bishop in County of Hereford called the thornes & Testwood now or late in possession of Thomas Nurdon & granted by will of Isabell Redverne late of Ipswich in N.E. unto Moses Aaron & Thomas Pengry."

1. Warren Skidmore, MARY SCUDAMORE (ca. 1598-1681), WIFE OF THOMAS FRENCH OF IPSWICH, MASSACHUSETTS. AN OLD DEBATE NEWLY RESOLVED reviewed a possible English origin. However, his research was rejected by for publication in NEHGR. He writes:

• "There remains, however, the mystery of where Mary was before the birth of her first known child in 1632 when she would have been, at very least, 34 years old. Some possible kin (certainly friends) were the posterity of John Pengry (alias Pingree, Pingrey) who was born about 1570 at Mitcheldean, Gloucestershire. ^[2] He married about 1600 Catherine (who died in 1624), a daughter of John Bower of Mitcheldean, and died on 23 January 1624 at Lea, Herefordshire leaving at least four children. ^[3] Thomas Pengry was his eldest son and heir, and there was a daughter Bridget and two younger sons Aaron and Moses Pengry, who were both at Ipswich by 1641. Thomas Pengry (1602-1664) and his wife Ann lived at Gloucester where they must have been known to both of the William Scudamores, father and son, living there. He and his family remained at Gloucester, but his two younger brothers went off to Ipswich in America. Moses Pengry (ca. 1611-1674) was at Ipswich by 1639 and married Abigail, a daughter of Robert Clements, on 20 April 1644 at Haverhill, Massachusetts. At Ipswich he was a constable, a surveyor, a selectman, a longtime deacon of the church, and represented the town at the General Court. He established a salt works in 1653 and in 1658 was granted a license to sell liquor and to keep an inn. In 1670 he owned and operated the White Horse, an inn on the High Street in Ipswich and died there on 2 January 1695/6. ^[4] Aaron Pengry, probably the youngest son, also went to Ipswich where he worked with his brother Moses at the salt works in 1653. He left a will dated 4 May 1684 but it was not produced for probate until 17 November 1696. It remembered his wife Jennet, a daughter of John Roberts (who was previously the widow of Robet Starkweather of Roxbury), as well as “my cousins [by which nephews is meant] Moses, Aaron and John, the three sons of my brother Moses Pengry.”

• "Having put the Pengrys firmly in place at Ipswich we must now look at their maternal aunt Isabel, another daughter of John Bower, and a sister of Catherine Pengry both noticed earlier. Isabel married well. She went with her husband Henry Redvern (Redven, Redfern) to St. Michael’s in Gloucester city where he was a successful salt merchant. It seems likely that her three Pengry nephews had all became salters at Gloucester learning the trade from Redvern."

• "Henry Redferne had been named one of the overseers named in the will of John Bowers, his father-in-law, which was proved in 1620. He left a very long and detailed will of his own which was proved on 10 May 1637 at London. It mentions (with much more) his salt house and salt works near St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in Gloucester. ^[5] He had as well another salt works and house at Swansea in Glamorgan, Wales, which he owned in partnership with Anthony Bower, gentleman, his brother-in law. Redfern also mentions among a long list of “all my lands, tenements and hereditaments at Bishopps Upton” in which his wife Isabel was to have a life interest. ^[6] He devised to Thomas and Moses Pengry “to each of them five pounds apeece,” and Thomas Pengry was a witness to his will on 26 December 1636."

• "Redfern’s widow Isabel, clearly left in comfortable circumstances, probably remained at St. Michael’s in Gloucester for a time. It is surprising to find that she was later at Ispwich where her will was proved by Robert Lord and Thomas Lovell on 26 June 1650. ^[7] It remembered all three of her Pengry nephews who wasted no time in trying to turn their bequest into money. On August 15th they went to Boston to the notarial office of William Aspinwall where they had the following..."

Biography

Moses Pengry was an early settler in Massachusetts.

Marriage

Wife: Lydia Clement

Date: about 1644 ^[8]

Moses (1610/11-1696) & Lydia [CLEMENT] (?1618-1676); ca 1644, by 1646; Salisbury {Dodge Anc. (1896) 24; Pillsbury Anc. 981; Reg. 94:107; Salisbury Fam. 291; Clement 37; Jewett 35; Essex Ant. 7:159; Sv. 1:408; Cushing (ms) 103; Bradley (1915) 166; EIHC 47:322, 53:254}"

Family

Known children of Moses and Lydia (aka Abigail) are:^[9]

• Sarah, m John Day April 20, 1664
• Lydia; m Thomas Burnum Feb 13, 1665-6
• Moses, b 1650; m first Sarah Converse June 29, 1680; m wnd Abigail (Morse) Hendricks of Newbury
• Aaron, b 1652; m Ann Pickard
• John, b 1654; m Faith Jewett, d of Joseph Jewett May 20, 1678
• Thomas, d Jan 25, 1662
• Mehitable, d Jan 8, 1668
• Abigail, b Jan 30, 1666; d after May 4, 1684 wheen Aaron made his will

Notes

• Brother of Aaron Pengry. Moses and Aaron were both in Ipswich, Massachusetts 1642-1645.^[10]

• Moses was born, probably in England, about 1612. He married Lydia Clements, daughter of Robert, about 1644.^[11][12][13] Per another source, his wife's name was not Lydia, but Abigail Clement, with the same father.^[9]

• Moses died January 2, 1696, at Ipswich, Massachusetts. His wife, Lydia (sic) died January 16, 1676.^[9]

Sources

1. ↑ Anderson
2. ↑ Pingree
3. ↑ Bower
4. ↑ Holman
5. ↑ Redven
6. ↑ Upton Bishop
7. ↑ Probate records
8. ↑ Torrey, pg. 25906
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1 9.2} Pingry, William M A genealogical record of the descendants of Moses Pengry, of Ipswich, Mass., so far as ascertained, published 1881. Reference pages 11-13
10. ↑ Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850, (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016). Reference Littleton, Volume 1, page 461
11. ↑ Holman, Mary Lovering Ancestry of Charles Stinson Pillsbury and John Sargent Pillsbury / compiled for Helen Pendleton (Winston) Pillsbury, published 1938. Reference Volume 2, page 981
12. ↑ Hoyt, David Webster The old families of Salisbury and Amesbury, Massachusetts ; with some related families of Newbury, Haverhill, Ipswich and Hampton, published 1897. Reference page 96
13. ↑ Pope, Charles Henry, The pioneers of Massachusetts, a descriptive list, drawn from records of the colonies, towns and churches and other contemporaneous documents Reference page 362

• Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Directory: Immigrants to New England, 1620–1640 (Boston, Massachusetts. New England Historic and Genealogical Society. 2015) 259: Pengry, Moses: Unknown; 1640; Ipswich [ITR 85; Aspinwall 282 (clue); Rowley Fam 302; Pillsbury 981-84; William M. Pingry, A Genealogical Record of the Descendants of Moses Pengry (Ludlow, Vermont, 1881).

• "The curious name Pingree is said to have been of Huguenot origin. Upton Bishop and Lea in Herefordshire, and Mitcheldean in Gloucestershire are all border parishes only about five miles apart.

• John Bower married Bridget Bridgeman. He is called “a gentleman of Micheldean” in his will which was proved on 6 August 1620. (P.C.C., PROB 11/136).

• Mary Lovering Holman, Ancestry of Charles Pillsbury and John Pillsbury (Concord, N.H., 1935) II, 981-4.

• Will of Henry Redven, “a gentleman of Gloucester.” P.C.C., PROB 11/174.

• How he came by his lands at Upton Bishop is presently unknown.

• Probate Records of Essex County, Massachusetts; 1635-1681 (Salem, 1916) I, 117.

• The question arises was this research overlooked or was it deemed unreliable?

• Savage, James A Genealogical Dictionary of The First Settlers of New England, Before 1692, Volume #3, Pierce - Pinkham

• Source S38 Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2010).

• Torrey, Clarence Almon. New England Marriages Prior to 1700 Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, MD (1985 - 2004) 1009 pages