Mercy (Unknown) Martin (abt. 1692 - aft. 1758)

Born about 1692 in Swansea, Bristol County, Province of Massachusetts Bay [uncertain]

Wife of Richard Thurber — married about 1710 in Swansea, Bristol County, Province of Massachusetts Bay

Wife of John Martin II — married about 1713 in Rehoboth, Bristol County, Province of Massachusetts Bay

Descendants

Died after Oct 1758 after about age 66 in Swansea MA

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Biography

Mercy was born say around 1692, probably in Bristol County in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. She was a granddaughter of Samuel Stafford, but her parents are as yet unknown.

Mercy married Richard Thurber probably around 1710. They had a son:

• Edward b. 31 January 1711.^[1]

Richard passed away around the time Edward was born.

Mercy married John Martin after intentions published 4 April 1713 at Rehoboth.^[2][3]Children, the first five recorded at Rehoboth and Benjamin recorded at Swansea:^[4]

• Barbara b. 13 March 1713-14
• Mary b. 17 March 1718
• Hezekiah b. 7 September 1719
• Elizabeth b. 1 October 1722
• Anne b. 22 March 1725
• Benjamin b. 1 July 173[?]^[5]

Mercy passed away after 2 October 1758, when she requested to bow out of her duties as co-executrix of John Matin's estate due to her "many infirmities".

Research Notes

Samuel Stafford named a granddaughter Mercy Thurber in his will of 1711. The presumption that this Thurber is Richard is supported as follows:

• the birth record for Edward in Swansea in January, 1711 (or 1710) names his parents Richard and Mercy Thurber
• Mercy's husband needed to have passed away by 1713 when she remarried
• Richard had seemingly passed by 1716 when her mother wrote her will without naming him as son

Several online trees incorrectly substitute Mercy b.1668, the daughter of Samuel Stafford, for the Mercy who married Richard Thurber. But this would required her to have been in her 60s when son Benjamin was born, and further it would require us to assume a Samuel Stafford had experience a moment of senility when writing his will, incorrectly referring to his daughter as his granddaughter. Occam's razor has us instead assume that one of his children had a daughter Mercy and that this child of Samuel was deceased by the time he wrote his will. The likely candidates for the parent are his son Stukely or his daughter Mercy. In the latter case, it is likely that the Mercy whose profile this is was not a "Stafford" at birth.

The birth year 1692 cannot be moved much. A little later, and it becomes unbelievable that Mercy had a son Edward Thurber in January, 1711. A little earlier and it becomes unlikely that she would have had a son Benjamin in 173[?] (many sources write this as 1734, but in the Swansea record at least, the date is reported as garbled).

Sources

1. ↑ Rounds: Page 61 -- Edward y^e son of Richard Thurber and Mercy his wife was born y^e 31^st of January 1710". There is no indication if this year was written in old-style or new, so this profile presumes it was old-style.
2. ↑ Arnold: Page 473
3. ↑ Woolson: Page 92
4. ↑ Arnold: Page 671
5. ↑ Rounds: Page 43 -- "Benjamin Martin the Son of John Martin and Marcy his wife was born July the firs :1:173[probably 0]"

• Arnold, James. Vital Record of Rehoboth, 1642-1896 (Narragansett Historical Publishing Company, 1897)

• Rounds, H. L. Peter. Vital Records of Swansea, Massachusetts to 1850 (New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1992)

• Woolson, Lula & Woolson, Charles. The Woolson-Fenno Ancestry and Allied Lines (privately printed 1907)