Rachel (Unknown) Saunders (abt. 1590 - 1651)

Born about 1590 in Sudbury, Suffolk, England [uncertain]

Wife of Peter Brackett — married 1607 (to 1616) in England

Wife of Martin Saunders — married 1618 (to 15 Jul 1651) in Suffolk, England

Descendants

Died 15 Sep 1651 at about age 61 in Braintree, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony

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

Disputed Parentage

Although many family trees list Rachel's parents (and name at birth) as unknown, others report her as the daughter of Frank Wheatleigh (Wheatley) and Mary Fienes. Hannibal Wheatley's 1902 Genealogy of the Wheatley Family states, without documentation, that Frank Wheatleigh married "Mary Fienes granddaughter of Lord Dacre, who was executed in 1541." There appears to be no evidence that Frank Wheatleigh even had a wife named Mary, so Mary Fiennes may never have existed.

Biography

With her first husband, Peter Brackett, Rachel, was mother of Richard, Peter and of Rachel (Brackett) Newcomb, wife of Francis Newcomb.

Peter Bracket, died about 1616 and in 1618, Rachel married secondly Martin Sanders( or Saunders). They had 7 children: Mary Eliot, Martin, Leah (Wheatley) Parmenter, Judith, John, Martin (again), and Daniel.

After being left a widow, Rachel doesn't appear in any other English records yet found for two years. Then, however, she remarried to Martin Saunders, a currier of Sudbury. On or about 10 April 1635, Martin Saunders, Rachel, and their seven minor children, and also her daughter Rachel (Brackett) Newcomb and her husband Francis and two children, all set sail from London aboard the Planter, Nicholas Trerice, Master. They arrived in Boston 7 June following. On the passenger list, Martin and Rachel are listed as aged 40 and from Sudbury. With them also were three servants: Mary Fuller age 15, Richard Smith age 14, and Richard Ridley age 16. No more is known of the three young servants.

Now the ages given on the passenger list for the Saunders family members were mere estimates on the part of the clerk, as can be shown in the case of the children. Martin and Rachel were apparently nearer 45, or born around 1590, which would make her about 18 at the birth of her first child and 42 at the birth of the last one.

The Bracketts, Newcombs and Saunders, all from Sudbury, all settled in that part of Boston which was soon set off as the town of Braintree. Rachel Saunders was of course the mother of Richard and Peter Brackett, of Rachel Newcomb, and the Saunders children. Rachel Saunders was admitted to the Boston church on 8 November 1635, the same time as was Richard Brackett's wife, Alice. On 16 April 1639 she was dismissed to the new Braintree church. Rachel died at Braintree 15 September 1651.^[1]

Martin Saunders remarried 23 May 1654 to Elizabeth Bancroft, widow of Roger. When his son John was about to marry Mary Munjoy, he deeded him some of his land. Martin Saunders died 4 August 1658, having made his will 5 July preceding.

Research notes

(Research):According to GMB, Richard was the son of Peter and Rachel BRACKETT and was baptized at St. Gregory, Sudbury, Suffolk on 16 Sep 1610 [TAG 52:73]. His brother was Peter BRACKETT, who came to Braintree about 1636 [TAG 52:65-75,92]. About 1618 the mother Rachel remarried to Martin SANDERS. In 1635 SANDERS, his wife, their SANDERS children, along with Peter and Richard's sister Rachel (BRACKETT) NEWCOMB and her husband Francis NEWCOMB, and their children sailed for New England on "The Planter" [Hotten 48-49, TAG 55:215-217]. Richard BRACKETT had already come to Boston in 1632. He had traveled to England in 1633 for his marriage to Alice BLOWER, daughter of Thomas and Alice (FROST) BLOWER. That marriage took place on 6 Jan 1633/4 at St. Katherine by the Tower, London, England [NEHGR 127:17]. Richard and his wife then returned to New England in 1634. He moved to Braintree in 1641. Alice BLOWER was baptized in St. Gregory, Sudbury, Suffolk on 30 Jun 1615 [TAG 52:74].

Sources

1. ↑ Boston Vital Records, p 637

• Robert Charles Anderson, Great Migration Begins, Boston, NY: NEHGS 1995, p 206.
• Anderson, Robert C. The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634-1635 Vol. VI R-S (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Great Migration Study Project, Boston, 2009) p 175. View with NEHGS Membership
• Find A Grave: Memorial #208862078
• Threlfall, John Brooks. The English Ancestry of Richard and Alice (Blower) Brackett of Braintree, The American Genealogist (The American Genealogist, Barrington, RI, 1976) Vol. 52, Page 73
• Richardson, Douglas. The Bracket-Newcomb-Sanders Connection TAG 1979 Volume 55: 215-17 View with NEHGS Membership