Lydia (Gaymer) Turner (abt. 1602 - bef. 1670)

Born about 28 May 1602 in Terling, Essex, England

Ancestors

Wife of Humphrey Turner — married 24 Oct 1618 in Sandon, Essex, England

Descendants

Died before 28 Feb 1670 before about age 67 in Scituate, Plymouth, Massachusetts

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Lydia (Gaymer) Turner migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Note on Origins

In The Great Migration Begins, Anderson observed that "all secondary sources" identify Humphrey Turner's wife as Lydia Gamer, but he disagreed. Anderson stated that "nowhere is there any evidence for this surname." He notes that a tombstone in the South Parish Cemetery in Norwell, Massachusetts, gives her name as Gamer, but discounts this evidence because the tombstone was not erected until 1856.^[1] Subsequently, Vernon Dow Turner's 1997 paper "Lydia Gaymer, the Wife of Humphrey Turner of Scituate" described "strong evidence" from English parish register that Humphrey Turner came from county Essex in England and that his wife was Lydia Gaymer.

Biography

Lydia Gaymer, daughter of Richard Gaymer and Margaret Mason, was born in Terling, Essex, England, before May 18, 1602 (chr. date).^[2] Lydia died before 1673 in Scituate, Massachusetts, at age unknown.

She married Humphrey Turner October 24, 1618 in Sandon, Essex, England.^[2] Samuel Deane, in his History of Scituate, Massachusetts says Humphrey "arrived with his family in Plymouth in 1628." That statement is put in doubt by the record of the baptism of his daughter Lydia in Little Baddow, in Essex, on 17 February 1629/30.^[2] Deane says he had a house lot assigned to him in 1629, and built a house and resided there until probably 1633, when his house lot on Kent Street, "4th from the corner of Satuit brook", was layed out. Perhaps he built his first house, and then sent for his wife and young children. He erected a tannery in 1636, and was thereafter frequently mentioned in the public records.

Eugene Stratton, in Plymouth Colony Its History & People 1620-1691, listed him among those who had been freemen before 1 January 1632/3, and on the 1633 and 1634 tax lists of Plymouth Colony. Humphrey, Lydia his wife, and John the elder, John the younger, and Thomas, sons of Humphrey, and Lydia, his daughter appear in a list of 1627-1634 arrivals.

Deane quotes from his will, which named his children, in this order: "John, Joseph, young son John, Daniel, Nathaniel, Thomas, daughter Mary Parker -- daughter Lydia Doughty -- Grandchildren, Humphrey (son of Thomas) Mary Doughty -- Jonathan, Joseph and Ezekiel (sons of John, sen.) and Abigail, daughter of Nathaniel." Executors were Nathaniel and young son John.

She was baptized May 18, 1602 in Terling, Essex, England.^[2]

Although there is no document that connects the daughter of Richard and Margaret Gaymer of Terling to the Lydia Gamar who was married in Sandon, the circumstantial evidence is strong. No other Lydia Ga-m-r of an appropriate age is known. The orphaned Lydia would very likely have married soon after her sixteenth birthday. The Turners came to Terling to baptize their son, John. It may be noteworthy, however, that the couple apparently named no child after either of the Gaymers.

Sources

1. ↑ Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, page 1846.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Turner, Vernon Dow. Lydia Gaymer, The Wife of Humphrey Turner of Scituate, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register (NEHGS, Boston, Mass., 1997) Vol. 151, Page 286.

See also:

• Lydia Gaymer, England Births and Christenings. Christening Date 18 May 1602. Christening Place TERLING,ESSEX,ENGLAND. Father's Name Ric Gaymer. England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N51T-LXM : accessed 21 March 2016), Lydia Gaymer, 18 May 1602; citing TERLING,ESSEX,ENGLAND, reference ; FHL microfilm 0962530 IT 2.
• The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2010), (Originally Published as: New England Historic Genealogical Society. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III, 3 vols., 1995). Humphrey Turner, pages 1843 - 1846
• Yates Publishing, U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 (Generations Network, Inc., Provo, UT, USA, 2004)
• Filby, P. William. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s (Gale Research, Farmington Hills, MI, USA, 2012)
• Torrey, Clarence Almon. Torrey’s New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Baltimore, 1985)