Hannah (Unknown) Gardner (abt. 1620 - bef. 1654)

Born about 1620 in England [uncertain]

Descendants

Died before 1654 before about age 34 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts Bay [uncertain]

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Biography

George Gardner's first wife was probably born close to 1620, based on their marriage by 1644; her maiden surname is uncertain, and she is therefore recorded here as Hannah Unknown. Clarence Almon Torrey thought it probable that she was Hannah Shattuck^[1]; Torrey was following sources including George McCracken, who after extensive research in 1954 acknowledged this possibility^[2], and by 1964 appears to have become essentially convinced of its accuracy^[3]. However, the Shattuck surname has not to date (Jan. 2023) been proven with direct evidence.

Similarly, the date of the couple's marriage is uncertain; Torrey entered only, "by 1644", relying on a birth record for their daughter (and first known child), Hannah. A Hanna Gardener [sic] is noted by McCracken to have joined the church at Salem on 4 March 1649/50^[4]; whether this was the wife of George – as McCracken thought – or was Hannah (?Hapscott/Hopcott) Gardner, the wife of George's brother Thomas, as might be inferred from G. Andrews Moriarty's brief 1950 piece on her^[5], might seem open to question... except that the 1974 transcribed version of the First Church records shows the entry for "4 : 1" of 1649 as, "Hanna Gardener dead"^[6]. The word dead was presumably added at a later date; regardless, it is known that George's first wife Hannah passed away before 1654, the birth year of at least one child of George by his second wife, Elizabeth (Freestone) [Turner] Gardner. Hannah (?Hapscott/Hopcott) Gardner, on the other hand, is believed to have lived until at least 1664. For this and other reasons (see Research Notes below), the church record is almost certainly not for her, but for the Hannah of this profile.

Research Notes

George McCracken, FASG, who in his 1954 TAG article regarded it as "possible" that Hannah's mother was née Hannah Shattuck^[7], clearly became increasingly convinced that this was the case: a decade later, again writing in TAG^[8], he stated that George Gardner's "first wife was almost certainly Hannah Shattuck".

Torrey's sources include Ancestry and Descendants of James Hensman Coltman and Betsey Tobey^[9]. Compiler Edith Bartlett Sumner straightforwardly identifies Hannah Shattuck, daughter of the widow Damaris (Unknown) Shattuck (later the second wife of the senior Thomas Gardner, father of George and the junior Thomas), as George Gardner's (first) wife. She does not, however indicate a specific source.

The claim is currently (17 Jan. 2023) made on the profile of Hannah (Unknown) Gardner, wife of George's brother Thomas, that she is the "Hanna Gardener" who joined First Church on 4 March 1649. The records of the First Church from 1629-1660 are distinct from those from 1660 onwards: the original book, which was in disrepair, was "sequestered by the vote of the church" in 1660 [see https://archive.org/details/recordsoffirstch00firs_0/page/n25/mode/2up], with selected records transcribed into a new book; the original was later lost and has never been recovered. From 1660 onward, a different record book was used. Thus, given the sequestration, the 1649 entry, "Hanna Gardener dead" – even assuming that "dead" was added at a later date – must have been written in its entirety prior to 1660. If the profile for Thomas's wife is correct in stating that she survived past 1664, the entry then must be regarded as pertaining to the wife of George Gardner.

To reiterate, either the "after 1664" death date, or the statement that the 1649 record applies to Thomas's wife, must be incorrect. Thomas's profile shows him remarried to second wife Elizabeth Horne "about 1665"; Torrey dates the marriage to "about 1668"^[10]. Either way, the tendency of widowers in this period to remarry a relatively short time after a wife's death – usually less than five years – supports the notion that Thomas's Hannah lived into the 1660s.

Note that a "Hannah Shattocke" was christened at West Monkton, in Somerset, in early May of 1623; see https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_queries/63c5d80dc2333027cfb855af?locale=en. Unfortunately, no parent is shown in the transcribed record. A "Sarah Shattocke" of a previous generation was married to Roger Loe nearby (about 10 mi.), at West Bagborough, in January of 1604; see https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_queries/63c5da2a865574aa025867b8?locale=en; again, no parents are named. Both given names, however, are thought to be present in the Shattuck family at Salem,

Note that the following passage, as currently appearing (16 Jan. 2023) on Hannah's husband's profile, is in error in claiming that it was his first wife who was convicted of being present at Quaker meeting in 1658; from the date, this must necessarily have been George Gardner's second wife, Elizabeth (Freestone) [Turner] Gardner:

"Whoever George's first wife was, we know that she was convicted in the 5th mo. 1658 of 'being at a disorderly quaking meeting & alsoe of her frequent absenting her selfe from the publike worship of God upon the Lord's Day; to pay 5 shillings costs.' She was also fined again in 1658 and in 1669 for non-attendance at church."

Sources

1. ↑ Marriage (NEHGS/Torrey): "GARDNER, George (-1679) & 1/wf Hannah [?SHATTUCK]; by 1644; Salem/Hartford {Salem 1:68; Coltman Anc. 166; Gardner (ms); Gen Mag. 2:4; Holman Ms: Gardner 3; Dawes-Gates 1:306; Reg. 25:49; EIHC 37:100, 210; Mr. Moriarty; TAG 30:162, 166, 168}" -- Vol. 1, p. 598, New England Marriages to 1700. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Originally published as: New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015; https://www.americanancestors.org/DB1568/i/21174/598/426886827 (by subscription)
2. ↑ "The Salem Gardners: Comments and Clues", by George E. McCracken FASG, Vol. 30 (1954), p. 166 and p. 168, The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .); https://www.americanancestors.org/DB283/i/11829/164/23576658 (by subscription)
3. ↑ "Lieutenant John Buttolph's Second Wife", by George E. McCracken FASG, TAG 40 (1964), p. 50; The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .); https://www.americanancestors.org/DB283/i/11879/50/134864137 (by subscription)
4. ↑ "The Salem Gardners", by George E. McCracken FASG, TAG 30, as above, p. 164 (by subscription)
5. ↑ G. Andrews Moriarty, "Hannah, First Wife of Thomas Gardner Jr. of Salem, Mass.," TAG, Vol. 26 (1950), p. 108; The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .); https://www.americanancestors.org/DB283/i/11819/108/0 (by subscription)
6. ↑ The Records of the First Church in Salem, Massachusetts, 1629-1736, by First Church (Salem, Mass.), 1974, p. 13; https://archive.org/details/recordsoffirstch00firs_0/page/12/mode/2up
7. ↑ "The Salem Gardners: Comments and Clues", by George E. McCracken FASG, TAG 30 as above, p. 166 and p. 168; https://www.americanancestors.org/DB283/i/11829/164/23576658 (by subscription
8. ↑ "Lieutenant John Buttolph's Second Wife", TAG 40 (1964), p. 50, as above; https://www.americanancestors.org/DB283/i/11879/50/134864137 (by subscription)
9. ↑ Ancestry and descendants of James Hensman Coltman and Betsey Tobey, compiled by Edith Bartlett Sumner, Los Angeles, Calif. : E.B. Sumner, 1957, p. 166; https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89066037367&view=1up&seq=178
10. ↑ Vol. 1, p. 600, New England Marriages to 1700. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Originally published as: New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015; https://www.americanancestors.org/DB1568/i/21174/600/426886871 (by subscription)

Acknowledgments

• The profile of Hannah (Unknown) Gardner was originally created from information as remembered by Grant Glover, Tuesday, January 28, 2014.