Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy

Mary or Marie

Female Abt 1599 - 1626  (~ 27 years)


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  • Name Mary or Marie  
    Born Abt 1599  of Crewkerne, Somerset, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Female 
    Buried 13 Aug 1626  Crewkerne, Somerset, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I2054  Petersen-de Lanskoy
    Last Modified 27 May 2021 

    Family William Phelps,   b. Abt 1593, of Crewkerne, Somerset, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 14 Jul 1672, Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 79 years) 
    Married Bef 1618  of Crewkerne, Somerset, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
     1. William Phelps,   c. 9 Sep 1618, Crewkerne, Somerset, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 10/10 Feb 1681/2, Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 63 years)
     2. Samuel Phelps,   c. 5 Aug 1621, Crewkerne, Somerset, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 15 May 1669, Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 47 years)
     3. Phelps,   bur. 8/08 Jan 1623/4, Crewkerne, Somerset, England Find all individuals with events at this location
     4. Nathaniel Phelps,   c. 6/06 Mar 1624/5, Crewkerne, Somerset, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 27 May 1702, Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 77 years)
    Last Modified 28 May 2021 
    Family ID F1207  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • RESEARCH_NOTES:
      1. From the book "Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-33": "William Phelps:
      Origin: Crewkerne, Somersetshire Migration: 1630 on Mary & John First Residence: Dorchester Removes: Windsor 1635... Birth: By about 1593 based on estimated date of marriage. Death: Windsor 14 July 1672 ("Old Mr. William Phelps died" [Births Marriages and Deaths Returned from Hartford, Windsor and Fairfield and Entered in the Early Land Records of the Colony of Connecticut..., Edwin Stanley Welles, ed. (Hartford 1898), hereinafter referred to as CTVR, 27]). Marriage: (1) By 1618 Mary ____, who was buried at Crewkerne 13 August 1626. (2) Crewkerne 14 November 1626 Anne Dover. "Mistress Phelps" was the first on the list of women members of the church at Dorchester who came with Mr. Warham to Windsor ["Matthew Grant Record, 1639-1681" in Some Early Records and Documents of and Relating to the Town of Windsor, Connecticut, 1639-1703 (Hartford 1930) hereinafter refered to as "Matthew Grant Record, 1639-1681" 9]. She died Windsor 30 August 1689 ("Mrs. An Phelps died" [CTVR 57]). Children:
      With first wife
      i William, bp. Crewkerne 9 September 1618; m. (1) Windsor 4 June 1645 Isabel Wilson ["Matthew Grant Record, 1639-1681" 55; The American Genealogist, Volume 9 to present (1932+) 52:78]; m. (2) Windsor 20 December 1676 Sarah Pinney ["Matthew Grant Record, 1639-1681" 72].
      ii Samuel, bp. Crewkerne 5 August 1621; m. Windsor 10 November 1650 Sarah Griswold ["Matthew Grant Record, 1639-1681" 55].
      iii Infant, bur. Crewkerne 8 January 1623[/4].
      iv Nathaniel, bp. Crewkerne 6 March 1624[/5]; m. Windsor 17 September 1650 Elizabeth (____) Copley ["Matthew Grant Record, 1639-1681" 55].
      With second wife
      v Cornelius, bp. Crewkerne 13 October 1627; no further record.
      vi Joseph (twin), bp. Crewkerne 13 November 1628; m. (1) Windsor 20 September 1660 Hannah Newton ["Matthew Grant Record, 1639-1681" in Some Early Records and Documents of and Relating to the Town of Windsor, Connecticut, 1639-1703 (Hartford 1930) 57; The American Genealogist, Volume 9 to present (1932+) 65:13-16]; m. (2) Northampton 19 December 1676 Mary (____) Salmon [Manuscript volume of vital records kept by John Pynchon, at Connecticut Valley Historical Museum 20].
      vii Mary (twin), bp. Crewkerne 13 November 1628; d. soon.
      viii Mary, bp. Crewkerne 6 December 1629; no further record.
      ix Sarah, b. say 1632; m. Windsor 9 June 1658 William Wade [Loomis 1:63].
      x Timothy, b. Windsor Aug. or 1 September 1639 ["Matthew Grant Record, 1639-1681" 55]; m. Windsor 19 March 1661[/2?] Mary Griswold ["Matthew Grant Record, 1639-1681" 56].
      xi Mary, b. March 1644 ["Matthew Grant Record, 1639-1681" 55]; m. Windsor 17 December 1663 Thomas Barber ["Matthew Grant Record, 1639-1681" 25]. Comments: In 1919 Mary Lovering Holman prepared a brief account of the family of William Phelps [Mary Lovering Holman, The Scott Genealogy.... (Boston 1919), 252-53]. In 1990 Myrtle S. Hyde resolved the problem of the identity of the wives of William Phelps and was also able to find the baptisms of his children in England [The American Genealogist, Volume 9 to present (1932+) 65:161-66]. All the Crewkerne records cited above are taken from her article."

      2. "The American Genealogist," 68(Jul 1990):161-166, "The English Origin of William1 Phelps of Dorchester, Mass., and Windsor, Conn., with Notes on His Marriages," by Myrtle Stevens Hyde:
      "William1 Phelps of Dorchester, Mass., and Windsor, Conn., now has an identified home in England. In 1982, my article questioning Phelps' claimed English origin in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire was published in TAG (58:243-44) Afterward, Mr. Burton Spear of Toledo, Ohio, kindly shared with me entries sent to him from an index of the parish registers of Crewkerne, Co. Somerset, that Obviously relate to this family.
      William Phelps undoubtedly came to Dorchester Massachusetts Bay, in 1630 on the ship Mary and John; the passengers on this ship had been principally resident in the southwest counties of England: Dorset, Somerset, and Devon (Charles Edward Banks, "The Planters of the Commonwealth" [Boston 1930] pp. 87-91). Five known children were born to William Phelps before he moved from Dorchester to Windsor In order of their dates of marriage, they were (Oliver Seymour Phelps and Andrew T. Servin, Jr., "The Phelps Family of America, and Their English Ancestors," 2 vols. [Pittsfield, Mass., 1899], hereafter Phelps Fam., 1:87, 88, 90, 91):
      William m. (1) 4 June 1645 Isabel Wilson.
      Nathaniel m. 17 Sept. 1650 Widow Elizabeth Copley.
      Samuel m. 10 Nov. 1650 Sarah Griswold.
      Sarah m. 9 June 1658 William Wade.
      Joseph m. (1) 20 Sept. 1660 Hannah Newton.
      The parish registers of Crewkerne, co. Somerset, have baptisms for the following children of William Phelps, without giving the name of the mother:
      William bp. 9 Sept. 1618.
      Samuel bp. 5 Aug. 1621.
      Nathaniel bp. 6 March 1624[/5].
      Cornelius bp. 13 Oct. 1627.
      Joseph bp. 13 Nov. 1628.
      Mary bp. same day [13 Nov. 1628].
      Mary bp. 6 Dec. 1629.
      Burton Spear included these entries, with years only, in his "Search for the Passengers of the Mary & John 1630" (Toledo, Ohio, 1985-), 2:94, 3:68, 7:99. At my request, the Somerset County Archivist provided the full dates above.
      Also in my behalf, J.D. Clements of Alhampton Somerset, carried out a search of the Crewkerne registers for Phelps burials. The results:
      An infant of Wm Phelpes bur. 8 Jan. 1623[/4].
      Marie wife of Wm Phelps bur. 13 Aug. 1626.
      Crewkerne marriages are printed, beginning with entries in 1559, and Burton Spear obtained a copy of them up to 1632. The only Phelps entries are (W.P.W. Phillimore and D.M. Ross., eds., "Somerset Parish Registers: Marriages" 5[London 1904]:24-25):
      1624, 27 April: William Russell, of S. Petherton, & Elizabeth Phelpes.
      1626, 14 Nov.: William Phelpes & Anne Dover.
      Because Crewkerne is near the county of Dorset, I searched indexes of both Somerset and Dorset marriages. Neither search turned up the marriage of a William Phelps and a Mary around 1617.
      William1 Phelps' Marriages.
      Henry R. Stiles in his "History and Genealogy of Ancient Windsor" ([Hartford 1892] hereafter Stiles' Windsor), 2:563, states that William1 Phelps married first Elizabeth (___), who died in Dorchester, that he married second in Windsor, Mary Dover, and that she died on 27 Nov. 1675, he having predeceased her on 14 July 1672.
      These statements are repeated by Phelps Fam. 1:72-86, Maude Pinney Kuhns (The "Mary and John" [Rutland, Vt., 1943] p. 60), and other works such as Spear (7:63), with the addition of the years 1635 for Elizabeth's death and 1638 for the marriage to Mary Dover. Charles Edward Banks, however, gives the name of the wife with whom William Phelps emigrated as "Mrs. Anne Phelps," without, unfortunately, a citation (Planters p. 90).
      No evidence has been found in American sources for these assertions. The Dorchester vital records do not include those families that left for Windsor before 1643 and have nothing on the death of any Phelps. Windsor records do not include the claimed marriage to Mary Dover, and we have no evidence of her first name. The death record simply names "William Phelps his wife" (Edwin Stanley Welles, "Births, Marriages and Deaths Returned from Hartford, Windsor and Fairfield and Entered on the Early Land Records of the Colony of Connecticut" [Hartford 1898], hereafter Welles, p. 28).
      The Crewkerne records prove that William Phelps had an apparent first wife, named Mary rather than Elizabeth, and that after her death he did indeed marry a Dover. The published assertion about Mary Dover may be a confusion of these two wives, or possibly the misapplication of an unidentified document in which Phelps mentioned a Dover as a relation.
      Whatever the case, no evidence has been found for the claimed marriage to Elizabeth or for the claimed marriage to Mary Dover. The conclusion that the latter marriage occurred in 1638 probably came from the birth of Timothy, son of "ould mr william Phelpes," in August or September 1639 ("Some Early Records and Documents of and Relating to the Town of Windsor" [Hartford 1930], hereafter Windsor Early Recs., p. 55; Windsor Vital Records [transcript] microfilm at Family History Library [FHL], Salt Lake City, hereafter Windsor VR, p. 29). The gap of five years between Timothy and the last child Mary in 1644 (Windsor Early Recs. p. 55) suggests that Mary may have been a menopause baby.
      Further investigation into Connecticut land and court records is necessary to confirm the existence of a later wife. The current state of our knowledge suggests that William1 Phelps had only two wives, Mary (___) and Anne Dover.
      Summary of William1 Phelps.
      William1 Phelps was born say 1592 and died at Windsor Conn., on 14 July 1672 (Welles p. 27). He apparently married first around 1617 Mary ___, who was buried at Crewkerne, co. Somerset, on 13 Aug. 1626. He married second at Crewkerne on 14 Nov. 1626 Anne Dover, who apparently accompanied him to New England and was the "William Phelps his wife" who died in Windsor on 21 Nov. 1675.
      Anne (Dover) Phelps' parentage has not yet been determined. Whereas the Phelps name was common in Somerset and Dorset, the Dover name was scarce. The International Genealogical Index (compiled by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, hereafter IGI) contains only a few Dover entries for the 1500s and l600s for these counties. The Prerogative Court of Canterbury [PCC] has no Dover wills for either Somerset or Dorset from 1584 to 1660.
      No probate has been found for William1 Phelps; he had probably distributed his property among his children before his death.
      Children (Phelps) of William1, prob. by his apparent first wife Mary (___), bp. Crewkerne, co. Somerset:
      i. William2 bp. 9 Sept. 1618, d. Windsor, Conn., 17 Feb. 1681[/2] (Welles p. 54); m. (1) Windsor 4 June 1645 ISABEL WILSON (Windsor Early Recs. p. 55), who d. there 15 July 1674 (see George E. McCracken, "Robert Wilson of Farmington, Conn.," TAG 52:76-85, esp. 78); m. (2) Windsor 20 Dec. 1676 Sarah2 PINNEY (Windsor Early Recs, p. 72), daughter of Humphrey1 and Mary (Hull) Pinney of Windsor (Mary Walton Ferris, "Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines" [n.p. 1931-43], hereafter Dawes-Gates 2:662). No issue by either marriage.
      His nuncupative will, dated 10 Feb. 1681[/2], left his entire estate to be disposed of by his [half-]brother Timothy, who was to be executor and receive one third of the "Outlands"; the court, however, awarded the widow, "by Virtue of a Jointure agreernent," the personal estate and housing, and two-thirds of the outlands (Charles W. Manwaring, "A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records" [Hartford 1904-6], hereafter Manwaring, 1:348).
      ii. Samuel bp. 5 Aug. 1621, d. Windsor 15 May 1669 (Windsor Early Recs. p. 55); m. there 10 Nov. 1650 Sarah2 Griswold (Windsor Early Recs. p. 55), dau. of Edward1 and Margaret (___) Griswold of Windsor and Killingworth, Conn. She m. (2) Windsor 21 July 1670 Nathaniel2 Pinney (Humphrey1) (Windsor Early Recs. p. 55; Dawes-Gates 2:403, 662; Donald Lines Jacobus, "The Waterman Family" [New Haven and Hartford 1939-541, hereafter Waterman Fam., 1:665-67; TAG 39:176-80, 40:43-46). For Samuel2 Phelps' probate, see Manwaring 1:225.
      iii. infant bur. Crewkerne 8 Jan. 1623[/4].
      iv. Nathaniel bp. 6 March 1624[/5], d. Northampton, Mass., 27 May 1702 (James Edward Buckman, comp., "Northampton Deaths," in Forbes Library, Northampton, p. 13); m. Windsor 17 Sept. 1650 widow Elizabeth COPLEY (Windsor Early Recs. p. 55; see NEHGR 64[1910]:248 fn.). For his probate, see Hampshire Co., Mass., PR 3:93-94.
      Children (Phelps) of William, v-viii by his second wife Anne (Dover) (bp. Crewkerne), ix-xi either by Anne or by a third wife (see discussion above):
      v. Cornelius bp. 13 Oct. 1627; n.f.r.
      vi. Joseph (twin?) bp. 13 Nov. 1628, d. Simsbury, Conn., bef. 5 March 1683/4 (date of inventory of his estate); m. (1) Windsor 20 Sept. 1660 Hannah2 Newton (Windsor Early Recs. p. 57), prob. dau. of Anthony1 Newton of Dorchester and Milton, Mass. (TAG 65:13-16); m. (2) Northampton 19 [not 9] Jan. 1676 Mary (___), widow of Thomas Salmon of Northampton (Northampton TR, microfilm at FHL; Selim Walker McArthur [ed. Donald Lines Jacobus], "McArthur-Banes Ancestral Lines" [Portland, Maine, 1964] p. 153). For Joseph2 Phelps' probate, see Manwaring 1:347-48.
      vii. Mary (twin?) bp. 13 Nov. 1628, prob. d.y.
      viii. Mary (again) bp. 6 Dec. 1629, prob. d.y.
      ix. Sarah b. say mid-1630s, d. Windsor 10 July 1659; m. there 9 June 1658 William WADE of Middletown (Windsor VR).
      x. Timothy b. Windsor, Aug. or 1 Sept. 1639 (Windsor Early Recs. p. 55; Windsor VR); d. bet. 2 March 1716/7 and 28 Sept. 1719, the dates that his will was executed and that the witnesses made oath to his signature; m. Windsor 19 March 1661[/2?] Mary2 Griswold, dau. of Edward1 and Margaret (___) Griswold (Windsor Early Recs. p. 56; Waterman Fam. 1:667; Dawes-Gates 2:403). For his probate, see Manwaring 2:417-18.
      xi. Mary (again) b. in March 1644, bp. 2 March (Windsor Early Recs. p. 55; Windsor VR), prob. d. Simsbury 13 Feb. 1725/6 as "Marey Barber ye Eldest" (Albert C. Bates, "Simsbury, Connecticut, Births, Marriages and Deaths..." [Hartford 1898] p. 158); m. Windsor 17 Dec. 1663 Thomas Barber (Welles p. 10, as "Marsey").
      The Claimed Phelps Origin in Porlock, co. Somerset.
      In Charles Edward Banks' posthumous "Topographical Dictionary of 2885 English Emigrants to New England" [Philadelphia 1937], p. 144, William1 Phelps is derived from Porlock, co. Somerset, a parish forty-five miles northwest of Crewkerne, and his children appear in the IGI as though they were born in Porlock. Porlock is erroneous as his place of origin, but because it appears in widely-available sources, an explanation is in order. The entries in the IGI are:
      Richard Phelps, son of William and Anna, born Porlock 1619.
      William Phelps, son of William and Anna, born Porlock 1620.
      Sarah Phelps, dau. of William and Anna, born Porlock 1623.
      Nathaniel Phelps, son of William and Anna, born Porlock 1627.
      Joseph Phelps, son of William and Anna, born Porlock 1629.
      At a glance, these entries seem to be from Porlock records, even though parish registers at this time recorded baptisms rather than births. The microfilm copy of the submission pages for these Phelps entries indicates that their source is instead "Anc. & Desc. Josiah Phelps of Stafford Springs, Conn., Library of Congress." This book is listed by the Library of Congress as "The Phelps Family, A history of the ancestors and descendants of Josiah Phelps of Stafford Springs, Conn., and Pittsford, N Y.," by Louise (Copeland) Phelps, Oak Park, Ill., 1918. I have been unable to consult a copy.
      From further investigation in Phelps printed sources I discovered that the Porlock "clue" was probably first published by Oliver Seymour Phelps in "Genealogy of Othniel Phelps, Esq., of Aylmer, Canada West" (St. Catharines, Canada West, 1882). In this work are quoted two letters from Porlock. The first (p. 10), dated 13 Dec. 1860, tells of an interview with an Abraham Phelps who said that, "Some branch of the [Porlock Phelps] family left Plymouth [co. Devon, England] many years since, for some part of America." The second letter (p. 13), dated 12 Aug. 1861, was written by a niece of the above Abraham Phelps; she reported that a search of the early parish registers and parish chest "throw[s] [no] light on the pedigree of the Phelps family." These letters are also printed in Phelps Pam., pp. 36-38.
      The now-extant parish registers of Porlock begin in 1625, so baptisms before that time cannot appear in them. Given this fact, and evaluating the source for the IGI Phelps entries credited to Porlock, I felt no inclination to pay to have a search made for Phelps entries after 1625. The person who submitted the children of William as having been born at Porlock and as all having the mother Anna was merely speculating.
      George1 Phelps of Windsor, Conn.
      A George Phelps of Windsor, Conn., was closely associated with William1 Phelps and has been called his brother.* One of George's Sons was named Abraham and another Joseph. George does not appear in the Crewkerne records, but the names George and Abraham are common in the Phelps family of Porlock, whereas there are apparently no Williams in this group.
      [*Richard Phelps of Dorchester has been called a brother of William and George. Richard is mentioned only once in the Dorchester records: "April. 3. 1633. It is agreed that a doble rayle... shall be set up in the Marish, from the corner of Richard Phelps, his pale Eastward to the Creeke, by the Owners of the Cowes vnder named..." the owners including William Phellps [sic] ("Report of the Record Commissioners" 4[2nd ed. Boston 1883]:1-2). Richard may have died early or returned to England, or the name may be a clerical error for William.]
      Somerset wills were destroyed in World War II, but there are a number of wills for the Phelps family of Porlock in the PCC, including John Philps of Porlock, yeoman, 1607 (67 Huddlestone); Henry Phelps of Porlock, 1637 (94 Goare); Robert Phelpes the elder, of Porlock, yeoman, 1655 (folio 185); and George Philp of Luccombe, Somerset, yeoman, 1656 (folio 366). John Philps (1607) mentioned his "fifth son George Philps," but the wills provide enough information to conclude that this George was the testator of 1656 and not the New England settler.
      Further investigation is necessary to determine the origin of George1 Phelps of Windsor and his possible relationship to William1 Phelps."