Mary (Unknown) Kimberly (1601 - 1680)

Born 1601 in England

Wife of William Preston — married about 1635 in England

Wife of Thomas Kimberly — married about 1660 in New Haven, New Haven Colony

Descendants

Died 1680 at about age 79 in Connecticut, New England

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Mary (Unknown) Kimberly migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Disputed Surname

Mary, wife of William Preston and Thomas Kimberly, is frequently called Mary Seabrook. Seabrook is listed here as an aka, this is a widely held belief.

Among the Stratford deeds "land was entered to the following persons, which they had by gift from their grandfather Robert Seabrook: Samuel Fairchild, Thomas Fairchild, Jehiel Preston, John Wheeler's wife, Samuel Stiles's wife, and perhaps others not noted."[Fairfield]

• Robert Seabrook's daughter married Thomas Fairchild and had sons Samuel Fairchild and Thomas Fairchild
• Robert's daughter Sarah Seabrook married Thomas Sherwood and had Sara m. John Wheeler and Elizabeth m. Samuel Stiles
• Jehiel Preston was son of William Preston

• Because Jehiel Preston, son of William Preston is on this list, "It has been stated in many accounts that William Preston's second wife Mary was a daughter of Robert Seabrook, but the compiler doubts that this was so and believes that identification to have been based on a misinterpretation of a deed in Stratford.[Kimberly]
• 8 Oct 1670 Jehiel Preston entered his land he was at the time married to Sara Fairchild, daughter of Thomas Fairchild and sister of the first mentioned Samuel and Thomas. Jehiel could just as easily been entering the land his wife Sara inherited from her grandfather.
• Jehiel's marriage to Sara "suffices to explain the term used in the deed. Mary's identity remains unknown." [Parke]
• "The evidence is insufficient for certainty."[Fairfield]

Sources:

• [Fairfield] Jacobus, Donald Lines, MA (compiler, editor.) History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield. Fairfield, Conn.: The Eunice Dennie Burr Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution, 1930. Vol I. p. 523
• [Parke] Parke, Nathan Grier, The Ancestry of Lorenzo Ackley and His Wife Emma Arabella Bosworth (Woodstock, Vt., 1960). p. 133.
• [Kimberly] Jacobus, Donald L. The Genealogy of the Kimberly Family (Neenah, Wis., 1950) p. 11

Biography

Birth

Mary, wife of William Preston and Thomas Kimberly was born about 1601, based on her age of 34 at immigration.

Emigration

Wm Preston .... 44

Marie Preston .. 34

Eliz: Preston .... 11

Sara Preston .... 8

Marie Preston ... 6

Jo: Preston ....... 3

The date of embarkation was 19 Sep 1635. The children are William's by his first wife. Two of Williams sons, Edward and Daniel had gone ahead on two other ships a few months before William and Mary sailed.

There is an interesting sentence bearing on their immigration in her husband’s will; “in consideration she [wife] was a means to bring mee and the rest to New England.”^[2]

Marriage

Mary married twice. 1) After 22 February 1633/4 (death of his first wife, at Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England) she married William Preston (1591-1647) as his second wife. 2) Between April 1660 and August 1661at New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut she married Thomas Kimberly (1604-1673) following the death of her first husband and his first wife, Alice Atwood in 1659. ^[3]

Dorchester, Massachusetts, and New Haven Colony

The family settled for a short time at Dorchester, Massachusetts, before joining the puritan congregation that settled the New Haven Colony.^[4]

5 April 1643 “Itt is ordered thatt sister Preston shall sweep and dresse the meeting house every weeke, and have 1s a weeke for her paines.” She would continue this duty until 23 april 1660 when at her request Sister Prestion was freed from sweeping the meeting house and widow Peck was appointed.^[5]

In 1646, Sister Preston was seated in the meeting house in the 4th row of the cross seats at the end. In 1655, Goodwife Preston Sr. had moved into the thiird row in the same section, and in 1662, as Sister Kimberly she was seated in the second row.^[6]

Sister Preston presented her husband’s will in court 7 Sep 1647.^[5]

6 June 1654. Widdow Preston sold to William Holt 28 acres of 2nd division land that had belonged to William Preston.^[7]

March 1663: “ Thomas Kemberly senior propounded that it is his wives desire that it may be recorded that shee hath six rod of her proportion of fence in ye subbards quarter abated, for paying twenty shillings: Then some of yt quarter in ye name of the rest declared that it was soe, by the consent of the quarter.^[8]

Children of Mary and William Preston

1. Jehiel Preston bpt. 14 June 1640 in New Haven Colony, Connecticut. He died in 1684 in Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut.^[9]
2. Eliasaph Preston b: 9 Apr 1643 in New Haven Colony, Connecticut^[9]
3. Hackaliah Preston b: 9 Apr 1643 in New Haven Colony, Connecticut^[9]
4. Joseph Preston b: 24 Jan 1646/47 in New Haven Colony, Connecticut. d.s.p. 1733.^[9]

Death

Mary died in about 1680.^[10] It is uncertain where in Connecticut she died. Thomas Kimberly died in New Haven. Because Jacobus lists death after 1680, there is some record with her name on it in 1680. This has not been located but would probably identify her deathplace.

Sources

1. ↑ Hotten, John Camden (editor). The Original Lists of Persons of Quality: Emigrants, Religious Exiles, Political Rebels, Serving Men Sold for a Term of Years, Apprentices, Children Stolen, Maidens Pressed, and Others, who Went from Great Britain to the American Plantations, 1600-1700. London: John Camden Hotten, 1874
2. ↑ Hoadly, Charles J, MA. (editor) Records of the Colony and Plantation of New Haven, From 1638 to 1649.] (Hartford: Case, Tiffany and Company, 1857.) Sweepin pp 86, 449; husband’s will p 323;
3. ↑ Source: #S590 Data: Text: He married (2) MARY (?) Bet. Apr 1660 - Aug 1661 in Connecticut.
4. ↑ Great Migration 1634-1635, M-P. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2010.) Originally published as: The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume V, M-P, by Robert Charles Anderson. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2007. https://www.americanancestors.org/DB401/i/12155/519/0
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Hoadly, Charles J, MA. (editor) Records of the Colony and Plantation of New Haven, From 1638 to 1649.] (Hartford: Case, Tiffany and Company, 1857.) Sweepin pp 86, 449; husband’s will p 323;
6. ↑ Atwater, Edward Elias, and Lucy M. Hewitt, and Bessie E. Beach. History of the Colony of New Haven to Its Absorption Into Connecticut Meriden, Connecticut: 1902. Pp 544, 548, 552
7. ↑ Dexter, Franklin Bowditch (editor) Ancient Town Records Vol 1. New Haven Town Records 1649-1662. (New Haven: New Haven Colony Historical Society, 1917.) p. 215
8. ↑ Dexter, Franklin Bowditch (editor) [Ancient Town Records Vol II. New Haven Town Records 1662-1684. (New Haven: New Haven Colony Historical Society, 1919.) p. 35.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3} Jacobus, Donald Lines (compiler). Families of Ancient New Haven, Vol I-VIII. and Index Vol IX New Haven: 1931. Reprint, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1974, 1981, 1997. Originally published as New Haven Genealogical Magazine, Volumes I-VIII. Rome, NY and New Haven, CT 1922-1932.
10. ↑ Source: [[#S78]: Vol 6, page 1478-79

• Source S78: Abbreviation: Families of Ancient New Haven: Title: Donald Lines Jacobus, Volumes 1-9, printed by Clarence D. Smith, Rome, New York, 1923; originally published as New Haven Genealogical Magazine - reprinted by Genealogical Printing Company, Inc. Baltimore in 1974, 1981, 1997.
• Bradford, Mildred. Moses S. Curtis, Descendants and Ancestors. U. of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin: Gateway Press, 2000.
• Source: S590 The Ancestery of the Nichols, Bedwell, Bundrum & Reaves Families. Found at http://www.nicholsgenealogy.net/bedwell/index.htm Italicized: Y Paranthetical: Y

See Also:

• Source S494. Title: Symons Genealogy