Ancestors of Tim Farr and Descendants of Stephen Farr Sr. of Concord, Massachusetts and Lidlington, Bedfordshire, England


Nicholas CLAPP [Parents] 1 was born 2 in 1612 in Sudbury, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom. He died 3 on 24 Nov 1679 in Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States. Nicholas married 4 Abigail SHARP about 1667 in Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States.

Other marriages:
CLAPP, Sarah
WHIPPLE, Anna

NICHOLAS CLAP AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
[Compiled from MS. of EBENEZER CLAP of Dorchester.]

NICHOLAS CLAP, fourth son of Richard  Clap of England1 was born in 1612. He was a cousin of the celebrated Capt. Roger Clap, through whose influence, it is supposed, Nicholas2 came to this country about 1633, and settled in Dorchester, Mass. His name appears on the Town Records various times in connection with the municipat affairs of the town; and he was a deacon of the church. His first wife was Sarah Clap, a sister of Ca1it. Roger Clap; his second, Abigail, 1widow of Robert Sharp of Brookline. it is presumed that the residence of Nicholas  Clap was in the north part of the town of Dorchester, near the house now standing, which was occupied by the late Deacon Ehenezer Clap, senior, who died March 6th, 1860. See Reg. XIV. 284. Nicholas Clap died suddenly, in his barn, Nov. 24th, 1679.  His estate was appraised by James Hum-frey, William Sumner, Henry Leadhetter. The balance, after deducting the debts, was £358, 4, 4. His sons, Nathaniel and Ebenezer, were ad. ministrators. He had four brothers, viz.: Ambrose  and Richard,  who lived and died in England; Thomas,2 b. in 1597, d. in Scituate, Mass., April 20, 1684, leaving descendants; John,  d. in Dorchester, July 24, 1655. John left a widow, Joan, (who m. subsequently, John Ellis of Medfield,) but no children. In his will, dated July 11, 1655, be gives to his wife his dwelling-house, with all his lands, during her life. After her decease, said house and lands are given "to the muintwnance of the ministry and a Schoole in Dorchester foreuer." The portion of the land situated at "Dorchester neck," now South Boston Point, was sold in 1835, for upwards of $13,000. See Hist. Dorchester,p. 442.

DEATH: Died suddenly in his barn.

Abigail SHARP. Abigail married 1 Nicholas CLAPP about 1667 in Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States.


Nicholas CLAPP [Parents] 1 was born 2 in 1612 in Sudbury, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom. He died 3 on 24 Nov 1679 in Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States. Nicholas married 4 Anna WHIPPLE on 14 Oct 1666.

Other marriages:
CLAPP, Sarah
SHARP, Abigail

NICHOLAS CLAP AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
[Compiled from MS. of EBENEZER CLAP of Dorchester.]

NICHOLAS CLAP, fourth son of Richard  Clap of England1 was born in 1612. He was a cousin of the celebrated Capt. Roger Clap, through whose influence, it is supposed, Nicholas2 came to this country about 1633, and settled in Dorchester, Mass. His name appears on the Town Records various times in connection with the municipat affairs of the town; and he was a deacon of the church. His first wife was Sarah Clap, a sister of Ca1it. Roger Clap; his second, Abigail, 1widow of Robert Sharp of Brookline. it is presumed that the residence of Nicholas  Clap was in the north part of the town of Dorchester, near the house now standing, which was occupied by the late Deacon Ehenezer Clap, senior, who died March 6th, 1860. See Reg. XIV. 284. Nicholas Clap died suddenly, in his barn, Nov. 24th, 1679.  His estate was appraised by James Hum-frey, William Sumner, Henry Leadhetter. The balance, after deducting the debts, was £358, 4, 4. His sons, Nathaniel and Ebenezer, were ad. ministrators. He had four brothers, viz.: Ambrose  and Richard,  who lived and died in England; Thomas,2 b. in 1597, d. in Scituate, Mass., April 20, 1684, leaving descendants; John,  d. in Dorchester, July 24, 1655. John left a widow, Joan, (who m. subsequently, John Ellis of Medfield,) but no children. In his will, dated July 11, 1655, be gives to his wife his dwelling-house, with all his lands, during her life. After her decease, said house and lands are given "to the muintwnance of the ministry and a Schoole in Dorchester foreuer." The portion of the land situated at "Dorchester neck," now South Boston Point, was sold in 1835, for upwards of $13,000. See Hist. Dorchester,p. 442.

DEATH: Died suddenly in his barn.

Anna WHIPPLE. Anna married 1 Nicholas CLAPP on 14 Oct 1666.


John CLAPP [Parents] 1 was born 2 about 1616 in of Sudbury, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom. He died 3 on 24 Jul 1655 in Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States. John married 4, 5, 6 Joan about 1644 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.

11. 5. 1655. JOHN CLAP OF DOCHESTER.
To my wife. my new dwelling house with all my lands both in ye necke & in the woods whc to me doth  appertayne, dureing hir natnrall life. & after my wife's decease I give my said house & land to the maintenance of the ministry, & a Schoole in Dorchester foreuer ; to Brother .Ambros Clap what is due me still from brother Richard Clap in England, w  is three pound or there about ; to brother-in-Law, Edward Clap. three pounds of ye w  in his own hands ; unto Cousins Richard & Elizabeth, Children of my brother Richard Clap, one platter which I haue at my brother Richards aforesaid: to Couscne deborah Clap, daughter of ye brother aforesaide, one Silver Spoone W Spoone is in his fathers hand; to Couscins Nathaniell, Ebenezer, Sarah & Hannah Clap, brother .Nicholis Children, tenn shillings a piece ; to Couseins Elizabeth Prudence & Samuell Clap, Children of my brother Thomas Clap, eight shillings a piece ; y rest of his children each of them five sliillings ; to Couseins Prudeuce, Ezra, .Nehemiah & Susannah Clap. each of them eight shillings a piece; all ye rest of my goods; my funerall discharged, & just debts being payd, I giue to my deare wife whome I make my sole Executrix.

postcript
Allso I giue to my Couseine John Cap en, 2s 6d, to Couseine Roger Clap's children, one shilling a piece; I desyer my brother .Nicholas, Brother Edward, & my Couseine Roger Clap, to be my overseers for the pformance of this my will.   JOHN CLAP.
witnesses
               Edward Clap At a meeting of the Govr Mr Nowell & Recordr
               Sarah Clap              30 Aug 1656.
                Jone Clap               Roger Clap deposed.
An Inventory of the goods Chattells of John Clapp of Dorchester, deceased, 24~ July, 1 655. Taken by Edward Clapp, Nicholas Clapp, Roger Olapp, £140.04.10. 30 Aug. 55. Jone Clapp widow of the deceased deposed.

Joan 1, 2 was born 3 about 1624. She died 4 on 2 Mar 1703/1704 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States. Joan married 5, 6, 7 John CLAPP about 1644 in Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.


Edmund RICE [scrapbook] 1 was born 2 about 1594 in Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom. He died 3, 4 on 3 May 1663 in Marlborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. He was buried 5, 6 in 1663 in Wayland, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. Edmund married 7, 8, 9 Mercy 10 on 1 Mar 1655/1656 in Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.

Edmund's will was probated 11 on 16 Jun 1663 in Marlborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.

Other marriages:
FROST, Thomasine

The modern name Rice comes form the old Welsh name Rhys. The name means "to rush" .

William Rice of Buckinghamshire was granted a coat of arms by Queen Mary of England in 1555 and the Rice family was seated in England some time around 1570. Rice families have been found to have resided in all the thirteen original colonies.

One of the first of the Rice families to immigrate to America was William's grandson Deacon Edmund Rice b 1594 in Buckinghamshire. He and his family settled in Sudbury Massachusetts in 1638.

Re: Edmund Rice 1600's Mass
Posted by Ray W. Justus on March 09, 1999 at 19:52:28:
In Reply to: Re: Edmund Rice 1600's Mass posted by Vicki on March 09, 1999 at 14:23:12:

Edward had a brother, Thomas, but he was not a twin.
Sources:
1. "A Genealogical History of the Rice Family: Descendants of Deacon Edmund Rice" (1858) by Andrew Henshaw Ward
Henshaw does not include daughter Mary (Marie).
2. "More About Those Rices" (1954) by Elsie Hawes Smith
Smith lists all twelve children.  First child is Marie.
3. "Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England" (1965 Reprint) by James Savage
Savage does not include daughters Mary (Marie) and Lydia.
4. "A Treatise on the Rice Family" by Roger E. Price (1989)
Price lists all twelve children..  First child is Mary.

I have also used the following source for corrections:
5. "Supplement the Rice Family: Descendants of Deacon Edmund Rice" (1967) by Edmund Rice (1638)Association, Inc.
This supplement starts with the third generation so no information on the children is included. There have been two additional supplements which I have not seen.


Some sources say that Edmund had no daughter named Mary or that she died in England. Mary's Christening record has been found in the Stanstead, Suffolk, England records as being 18 Aug 1618 and her father as "Edm.".
[See notes on Mary Rice]

Mercy 1 was born about 1615 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. She died 2 on 22 Dec 1695 in Marlborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. Mercy married 3, 4, 5 Edmund RICE 6 on 1 Mar 1655/1656 in Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.

Other marriages:
BRIGHAM, Thomas
HUNT, William

The Hurd line given here may be incorrect according to "The Great Migration" by Robert Charles Anderson. However Thomas Brigham's wife was Mercy____, and she did marry Edmund Rice.

The Great Migration 1634-1635, Vol. 1 A-B, pp. 402-404 by Robert Charles Anderson:
Regarding the tradition that Thomas's wife, Mercy, was Mercy Hurd, Winifred Lovering Holman remarked that the "names of Hurd and Hunt could be easily confused and without further evidence I do not accept that her maiden name was Hurd" [Stevens-Miller Anc 2:109-31, especially 115]. We concur.

They had the following children.

  F i Lydia RICE was born about 1657. She died on 26 May 1718.
  F ii Ruth RICE was born on 29 Sep 1659. She died on 30 Mar 1742.

Edward FROST [Parents] 1 was christened 2 on 13 Mar 1560 in Glemsford, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom. He was buried 3 on 3 Aug 1616 in Stanstead, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom. Edward married 4 Thomasine BELGRAVE on 26 Sep 1585 in Glemsford, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom.

EDWARD FROST (John) was baptized 13 March 1560/6 1 at Glemsford, Suffolk, England. On 26 September 1585 at Glemsford he married Thomasine Belgrave, daughter of John and Joanna (Strutt) Belgrave. She was baptized 1 February 1561/2 at Leveringtonin Cambridgeshire. Edward Frost was a clothier. About 1588-9 they moved to Stanstead, the next town to the northeast, for there their children born thereafter were baptized. Edward was buried at Stanstead on 3 August 1616, his wife surviving him. An abstract of his will follows.

26 July 1616 -the will of Edward Frost of Stanstead, county of Suffolk, clothier. ..bequests to Thomasme my wife, to William my son, to my five daughters: Elizabeth, now the wife of Hemy Rice; Anne, now the wife of Lawrence Collen; Alice, wife of Thomas Blower, Mary Frost and Thomasine Frost..and to Edward Rice, son of my daughter Elizabeth Rice. Executrix to be my wife Thomasine. Witnesses: Ambrose Bigges, senior & Ambrose Bigges, junior. Proved 4 October 1616. (Prerogative Court of Canterbury 129 Cope)

Ref.: American Genealogist, Jan. 1950; Parish Registers; Bishop's Transcripts

Thomasine BELGRAVE [Parents] was christened 1 on 1 Feb 1561 in Leverington, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom. Thomasine married 2 Edward FROST on 26 Sep 1585 in Glemsford, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom.

They had the following children.

  F i
Anne FROST was christened 1 on 28 Nov 1586 in Glemsford, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom. She was buried 2 on 27 Dec 1586.
  F ii Elizabeth FROST was christened on 24 Mar 1587. She died on 20 Jun 1647.
  M iii William FROST was christened on 19 Sep 1589. He was buried on 3 Feb 1624.
  F iv Alice FROST was christened on 1 Dec 1594.
  F v Ann FROST was christened on 3 Dec 1592.
  F vi
Mary FROST was christened 1 on 20 Sep 1596 in Stanstead, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom. She was buried 2 on 13 Nov 1596 in Stanstead, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom.
  F vii
Mary FROST 1 was born 2 about 1597 in Stanstead, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom.

Living& unm. 1616; she was prob. the Mary Frost who m 11 Sept. 1617 at Stanstead, Edmund Salloman, or 18 Sept. 1622, John Scott
  F viii Thomasine FROST was christened on 10 Aug 1600. She died on 13 Jun 1654.

Joseph RICE [Parents] was christened 1 on 14 Mar 1636/1637 in Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom. Joseph married 2, 3 Mary KING on 4 May 1658 in Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.

Mary KING. Mary married 1, 2 Joseph RICE on 4 May 1658 in Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.


Thomas AXTELL [scrapbook] was christened 1 on 26 Jan 1619 in Great Berkhampstead, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom. He died 2 on 8 Mar 1646 in Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. He was buried in Mar 1646 in Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. Thomas married 3 Mary RICE on 10 Oct 1638 in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom.

Thomas owned 4 in Oct 1643 in Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. His will was probated 5 on 6 May 1646 in Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.

The Inventory of the goods of Thomas Axtell of Sudbury late Deceased.
Imprimi: His land & house¹  8/ 10s
Itm for Cattle 8/ 10s
Itm for his Wearing apparel & bedding with his Armes 10/
Itm for Brass & Pewter 5/
Prised by Edmund Rice, Philemon Whale, Edward Rice 
¹Edmond Rice bought back the land, six acres, and dwelling house.

Will:
He expressed that Mary his wife should have all his estate for to bring up his children.
Testified by Edmund Rice uppon Oath the 6 (3) 1646 before the Govenor Deputy & c & Increase Nowel Secret.


In the town records of Sudbury Thomas received land from Edmund and borders Edmunds land. John Maynard shows in the town records as having a Meadow next to Edmund Rice's meadow.

Mary RICE [Parents] [scrapbook] was christened 1 on 18 Aug 1619 in Stanstead, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom. She died about 1680 in Massachusetts, United States. Mary married 2 Thomas AXTELL on 10 Oct 1638 in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom.

Other marriages:
MAYNARD, John

FamilySearch had Mary's chr. as the 23

Some sources say that Edmund had no daughter named Mary or that she died in England. Mary's Christening record has been found in the Stanstead, Suffolk, England records as being 18 Aug 1618 and her father as "Edm.".

Susan Hathaway recently discovered the marriage record of a Mary Rice and Thomas Axtell in The Herts Genelalogist and Antiquary, edited by William Briggs, Vol. 1, p. 216. They were married 10 Oct 1638 in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England. It was submitted to the Edmund Rice Family Association and accepted. You can find it posted on their Facebook page.

This Thomas and Mary came to Massachusetts after Edmund. It is clear that Thomas bought land from Edmund. After Thomas died, Mary married John Maynard. But there is another Mary Rice in the works from Hertfordshire b. 1815 to Henry Rice and Elizabeth Frost who could have married Thomas Axtell. These two Mary's are likely double cousins.

I had tried to find the marriage in the parish record films online at FamilySearch.org but the pages were missing for the years needed to pin it down. Apparently The Herts Genealogist and Antiquary had somehow received or made a transcription of those pages before they were lost and Susan Hathway found them therein. I double checked and found the record on Google Books and on FamilySearch.

The following article from the Edmund Rice (1638) Association Newsletter; Vol. 90, No. 1 Winter 2016 explains the findings and problems better than I can:
The Enigmatic 1638 Marriage of Mary Rice¹ and Thomas Axtell in Hertfordshire John F. Chandler, Michael A. Rice, Robert V. Rice, and George W. King Ever since the English church records were found specifying the baptisms of Edmund Rice's children in Stanstead and Berkhamstead, we have been faced with two genealogical puzzles. One is the mismatch between his son Edward and the baptism showing the son's name as Edmund (which we resolve by assuming either a clerical error or a misunderstanding in the parish records), and the other is the fact that one of the children cannot be accounted for either by a burial (as in the case of Daniel, born and died in1632) or by arrival with Edmund in Massachusetts. The missing child is the first-born, Mary, baptized in1619. If you turn to the ERA database (available on CD and also on line), you can see the status of the Mary puzzle as of last year: she was presumed to have died before Edmund emigrated, even though no burial record was known, because no other record of her was known either. We had received a report that claimed she married Thomas Axtell (another early Sudbury settler), and the supporting evidence was a marriage license supposedly issued in their names by the Archdeaconry of Saint Albans, a town about 15km (9 miles) from Berkhamstead. If true, this would be a major breakthrough, since Thomas did indeed arrive in Sudbury with a wife named Mary and two children who had been baptized in Berkhamstead, and Mary survived him and went on to have other children by her second husband, John Maynard. However,some inquiries at this point led to a report that the Saint Albans Archdeaconry records no longer exist or cannot be found, and so we regretfully left the matter as an unconfirmed rumor. However, we can now report a new development: although the original records are still unavailable, it turns out that they were translated from Latin and published over a century ago! (We might in fact wonder if the records were lost or misfiled as a direct result of that project to make them more accessible, but that's all in the past.) These records were published serially, along with many other types of records, in a Page 9 periodical called the Herts Genealogist and Antiquary, which is available on-line in both Google Books and the Internet Archive. The work of translating and publishing appears to have been done very carefully, and so we can with some confidence quote the relevant passage (from p. 216 of vol. 1):[1638] Oct. 10 Tho. Axtell of Bushy, bachr and Mary Rice, maiden.These records were rather formulaic, and so the basic information is nearly the same in every case: the date of the license and the name, condition, and home town of each party. However, in this particular record,the home town of Mary Rice is not stated, and so we are left to assume she lived at Saint Albans, since why else would the clerk omit that information? To put this all in context for those who don't live in Hertfordshire, note that Berkhamstead is situated on the western edge of the county, while Saint Albans is near the center, and Bushey is on the southern edge, about 19 km (11 miles) from Berkhamstead and 13km (8 miles) from Saint Albans. The time context is also interesting: this license was issued after (but not long after) Edmund Rice must have left Hertfordshire to catch the fair-weather sailing season of 1638.So is this finally the answer to our genealogical puzzle? Did Edmund's daughter Mary come to New England just a few years after Edmund? Maybe. There is a complication to the story. We know that"our" Mary had a cousin also named Mary Rice, just a few years older, born in 1615. This other Mary was the daughter of Elizabeth Frost (Thomasine's sister) and Henry Rice (very likely Edmund's brother),making her most likely a double cousin. Indeed, Henry's family shows many parallels with Edmund's beyond the fact that they married sisters. Four of the five names bestowed on Henry's children were also given to Edmund's; one child's burial is on record in each family; both families moved to Berkhamstead about 1626 and later to the New World (in Henry's case, it was his widow and her second husband, Philemon Whale, who moved); and, in particular, both Marys are unaccounted for by any known post baptism parish records. The parallels extend even to New England, since both families settled in Sudbury,and, when Thomas Axtell died in 1646, his estate was jointly appraised by Edmund Rice, Edmund’s son Edward, and Philemon Whale. In other words, both Marys, if still alive in 1638, would likely have been living in Hertfordshire, and both were represented in the financial affairs in the closing of Thomas Axtell's estate in Sudbury. The fact that Edmund Rice had sold land to Thomas when the latter emigrated to Massachusetts could be attributed just as easily to an uncle-niece relationship as to a father-daughter one, and the fact that Philemon Whale didn't sell land to Thomas is easily understood because the Whales came over about the same time as the Axtells, around 1643, perhaps even on the same ship (but the precise times of their immigration are not known).Some additional circumstantial evidence may be relevant, though ambiguous: the children of the Axtells known from the Berkhamstead records were named Mary and Henry, the latter being also the name of the eldest sibling of each of the Mary Rices and of the father of the elder one. Further, the Massachusetts records show the birth of another Axtell child in Sudbury, named either Mary (unlikely) or Lydia,depending on which record is consulted (Lydia being also the name of Edmund’s second daughter). Another intriguing but tenuous clue may lie in the probate records of Edmund Rice himself. On page 3 of Ward's 1858 genealogy of the Rice family, the details of Edmund's probate records of 1663 are discussed(original document held in the Massachusetts Commonwealth Archives, File Index #18696, Middlesex County). A supplementary document with crossed out but readable text shows proposed monetary amounts for division of his estate among "eight eldest children" (i.e. living children by Thomasine) and two youngest (i.e. children by the widow Mercy) for a total of ten. It is known through the baptism records that Edmund and Thomasine had ten children with their son Daniel known to be deceased through a Berkhamsted burial record. Edmund’s two daughters by his second wife Mercy are accounted for in the Page 10 total, suggesting that Edmund's daughter Mary may not have been alive at the time, with the time and place of her death unknown. However, even this evidence of an 11-way distribution of assets among Mercy Brigham Rice and the ten living children is muddied by the existence of a second crossed out distribution proposal showing 12 equal shares, with Mercy receiving 3 shares, thus leaving only 9 shares for the children. Since the eldest child would be entitled to a double share, that would signify only 8 children, clearly at odds with the known set of progeny, unless the 3 shares allocated to Mercy were intended to cover her two (very young) daughters as well as herself. Ordinarily, a widow was entitled to athird of the estate, but an ordinary widow’s heirs would be her deceased husband’s children, while Mercy’s were her own Brigham and Rice children. In other words, the complicated situation calls into question the usefulness of these probate records for determining the exact number of Edmund’s living heirs at the time. In short, both Marys can make a good case for being Mary Axtell, so we still have the puzzle, and frustratingly, this may be a very difficult puzzle to resolve. Typically a disputed case of identity of this kind might be resolved by examining differences in the DNA of known descendants of Mary Rice Axtell Maynard on the female descendancy line (mtDNA), but unfortunately this method would not work in this instance. Both Mary Rice, the daughter of Edmund, and Mary Rice, the daughter of Henry, would have a common female ancestor in Thomasine Belgrave Frost, the maternal grandmother of both of them, so we would expect the same mtDNA results from both Marys, and the puzzle would still stand.The one new certainty that this marriage record from St. Albans can provide is that the maiden name of Mary Axtell of Sudbury is indeed now known to be Rice. This finding would rule out the long-held speculation that Mary Axtell’s maiden name was Starr. However, given the high degree of uncertainty about the parents, the Edmund Rice (1638) Association will not be formally listing Edmund's daughter Mary Rice (1619) as being married to Thomas Axtell within the ERA genealogical database, but instead, providing an analysis of existing data records of each of the two Marys.

¹Note by Tim Farr: The above being said, I believe that Mary Rice, who married Thomas Axtell and John Maynard, was the daughter of Edmund Rice based on preponderance of evidence. The fact that Thomas Axtell bought land from Edmund and that Edmund and one of his sons prised Thomas' estate, trumps Philemon Whale being mentioned. Edmund Rice is mentioned first, then Philemon Whale, then Edward Rice. Edmund Rice is the one who heard the will of Thomas Axtell verbally. Also a John Maynard, owned a meadow that was next to Edmund Rice's meadow and a house lot next to Henry Rice.

I feel that Mary, daughter of Edmund Rice, should be connected to Thomas Axtell and John Maynard if and until further evidence may be found.


Jane Petersen:
Many past genealogies confused Mary, the widow of Thomas Axtell and wife of John Maynard, with Mary Starr, the daughter of Comfort Starr, who also married a different John Maynard. Unfortunately, the modern Internet multiplies this past error.

The book "The Pioneers of Massachusetts, A Descriptive List, Drawn from Records of the Colonies, Towns and Churches, and other Contemporaneous Documents," by Charles Henry Pope (1900; Boston), p. 308, indicates there were three different John Maynards:
"MAYNARD, MYNARD, see MINOR…
1. John, carpenter, Duxbury, witness to will of John Cole in 1637, contracted to build a prison at Plymouth 4 March, 1638/9, had land grant at Dux. in 1640; town officer, 1645. Rem to Boston, sold Dux land 20 Aug. 1647. He m. 16 May, 1640, Mary, dau of Comfort Starr, ch. Hannah and Lydia, ae about 4 days, bapt 26(9) 1648. Inv of his est filed 7 (9) 1658. List of debts, 25 (9) 1659 [Reg. IX, 347, and XXXI. 175]
2. John, Cambridge, propr 1634; frm. May 29, 1644. May be the folg.
3. John, maulster, Sudbury, propr 1639, selectman, 1646; frm May 2, 1649. He m. 16 (4) 1646, Mary, widow [or dau?] of Thomas Axtell, ch Elizabeth b 26 May, 1649, Hannah b. 30 (7) 1653. Will dated 4 Sept. 1672, prob April 1, 1673, beq to wife Mary, sons John and Zechary; daus Elizabeth, wife of Joseph Graves, Lydia, wife of Joseph Moores, and Mary, unmarried."

Robert Charles Anderson (one of the greatest genealogists of any generation) in his "Great Migration" biography of John Maynard also clarifies that the three John Maynards are all separate individuals. On pp. 487-494, entry for Comfort Starr, he shows that Mary Starr, dau. of Comfort Starr, married in Duxbury in 1640 John Maynard. (That John Maynard is a different John than who married the widow Mary Axtell.) His estate was administered in 1658. The John Maynard who married Mary Axtell died in 1672 in Sudbury and named his wife Mary and son Zechary (among others).

The book "Vital Records of Sudbury, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849," Marriages, pp. 232-34 confirm that it was the (widow) Mary Axtell who married the John Maynard who died in 1672 in Sudbury: "John Maynard and Mary Axdell, June 16, 1646." The John Maynard who died in 1658 did so in Boston where we find his children -- his widow Mary (Starr) died in 1659.


John MAYNARD was born about 1615 in England, United Kingdom. He died in 1672 in Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. John married 1, 2 Mary RICE on 16 Jun 1646 in Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.

Mary RICE [Parents] [scrapbook] was christened 1 on 18 Aug 1619 in Stanstead, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom. She died about 1680 in Massachusetts, United States. Mary married 2, 3 John MAYNARD on 16 Jun 1646 in Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States.

Other marriages:
AXTELL, Thomas

FamilySearch had Mary's chr. as the 23

Some sources say that Edmund had no daughter named Mary or that she died in England. Mary's Christening record has been found in the Stanstead, Suffolk, England records as being 18 Aug 1618 and her father as "Edm.".

Susan Hathaway recently discovered the marriage record of a Mary Rice and Thomas Axtell in The Herts Genelalogist and Antiquary, edited by William Briggs, Vol. 1, p. 216. They were married 10 Oct 1638 in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England. It was submitted to the Edmund Rice Family Association and accepted. You can find it posted on their Facebook page.

This Thomas and Mary came to Massachusetts after Edmund. It is clear that Thomas bought land from Edmund. After Thomas died, Mary married John Maynard. But there is another Mary Rice in the works from Hertfordshire b. 1815 to Henry Rice and Elizabeth Frost who could have married Thomas Axtell. These two Mary's are likely double cousins.

I had tried to find the marriage in the parish record films online at FamilySearch.org but the pages were missing for the years needed to pin it down. Apparently The Herts Genealogist and Antiquary had somehow received or made a transcription of those pages before they were lost and Susan Hathway found them therein. I double checked and found the record on Google Books and on FamilySearch.

The following article from the Edmund Rice (1638) Association Newsletter; Vol. 90, No. 1 Winter 2016 explains the findings and problems better than I can:
The Enigmatic 1638 Marriage of Mary Rice¹ and Thomas Axtell in Hertfordshire John F. Chandler, Michael A. Rice, Robert V. Rice, and George W. King Ever since the English church records were found specifying the baptisms of Edmund Rice's children in Stanstead and Berkhamstead, we have been faced with two genealogical puzzles. One is the mismatch between his son Edward and the baptism showing the son's name as Edmund (which we resolve by assuming either a clerical error or a misunderstanding in the parish records), and the other is the fact that one of the children cannot be accounted for either by a burial (as in the case of Daniel, born and died in1632) or by arrival with Edmund in Massachusetts. The missing child is the first-born, Mary, baptized in1619. If you turn to the ERA database (available on CD and also on line), you can see the status of the Mary puzzle as of last year: she was presumed to have died before Edmund emigrated, even though no burial record was known, because no other record of her was known either. We had received a report that claimed she married Thomas Axtell (another early Sudbury settler), and the supporting evidence was a marriage license supposedly issued in their names by the Archdeaconry of Saint Albans, a town about 15km (9 miles) from Berkhamstead. If true, this would be a major breakthrough, since Thomas did indeed arrive in Sudbury with a wife named Mary and two children who had been baptized in Berkhamstead, and Mary survived him and went on to have other children by her second husband, John Maynard. However,some inquiries at this point led to a report that the Saint Albans Archdeaconry records no longer exist or cannot be found, and so we regretfully left the matter as an unconfirmed rumor. However, we can now report a new development: although the original records are still unavailable, it turns out that they were translated from Latin and published over a century ago! (We might in fact wonder if the records were lost or misfiled as a direct result of that project to make them more accessible, but that's all in the past.) These records were published serially, along with many other types of records, in a Page 9 periodical called the Herts Genealogist and Antiquary, which is available on-line in both Google Books and the Internet Archive. The work of translating and publishing appears to have been done very carefully, and so we can with some confidence quote the relevant passage (from p. 216 of vol. 1):[1638] Oct. 10 Tho. Axtell of Bushy, bachr and Mary Rice, maiden.These records were rather formulaic, and so the basic information is nearly the same in every case: the date of the license and the name, condition, and home town of each party. However, in this particular record,the home town of Mary Rice is not stated, and so we are left to assume she lived at Saint Albans, since why else would the clerk omit that information? To put this all in context for those who don't live in Hertfordshire, note that Berkhamstead is situated on the western edge of the county, while Saint Albans is near the center, and Bushey is on the southern edge, about 19 km (11 miles) from Berkhamstead and 13km (8 miles) from Saint Albans. The time context is also interesting: this license was issued after (but not long after) Edmund Rice must have left Hertfordshire to catch the fair-weather sailing season of 1638.So is this finally the answer to our genealogical puzzle? Did Edmund's daughter Mary come to New England just a few years after Edmund? Maybe. There is a complication to the story. We know that"our" Mary had a cousin also named Mary Rice, just a few years older, born in 1615. This other Mary was the daughter of Elizabeth Frost (Thomasine's sister) and Henry Rice (very likely Edmund's brother),making her most likely a double cousin. Indeed, Henry's family shows many parallels with Edmund's beyond the fact that they married sisters. Four of the five names bestowed on Henry's children were also given to Edmund's; one child's burial is on record in each family; both families moved to Berkhamstead about 1626 and later to the New World (in Henry's case, it was his widow and her second husband, Philemon Whale, who moved); and, in particular, both Marys are unaccounted for by any known post baptism parish records. The parallels extend even to New England, since both families settled in Sudbury,and, when Thomas Axtell died in 1646, his estate was jointly appraised by Edmund Rice, Edmund’s son Edward, and Philemon Whale. In other words, both Marys, if still alive in 1638, would likely have been living in Hertfordshire, and both were represented in the financial affairs in the closing of Thomas Axtell's estate in Sudbury. The fact that Edmund Rice had sold land to Thomas when the latter emigrated to Massachusetts could be attributed just as easily to an uncle-niece relationship as to a father-daughter one, and the fact that Philemon Whale didn't sell land to Thomas is easily understood because the Whales came over about the same time as the Axtells, around 1643, perhaps even on the same ship (but the precise times of their immigration are not known).Some additional circumstantial evidence may be relevant, though ambiguous: the children of the Axtells known from the Berkhamstead records were named Mary and Henry, the latter being also the name of the eldest sibling of each of the Mary Rices and of the father of the elder one. Further, the Massachusetts records show the birth of another Axtell child in Sudbury, named either Mary (unlikely) or Lydia,depending on which record is consulted (Lydia being also the name of Edmund’s second daughter). Another intriguing but tenuous clue may lie in the probate records of Edmund Rice himself. On page 3 of Ward's 1858 genealogy of the Rice family, the details of Edmund's probate records of 1663 are discussed(original document held in the Massachusetts Commonwealth Archives, File Index #18696, Middlesex County). A supplementary document with crossed out but readable text shows proposed monetary amounts for division of his estate among "eight eldest children" (i.e. living children by Thomasine) and two youngest (i.e. children by the widow Mercy) for a total of ten. It is known through the baptism records that Edmund and Thomasine had ten children with their son Daniel known to be deceased through a Berkhamsted burial record. Edmund’s two daughters by his second wife Mercy are accounted for in the Page 10 total, suggesting that Edmund's daughter Mary may not have been alive at the time, with the time and place of her death unknown. However, even this evidence of an 11-way distribution of assets among Mercy Brigham Rice and the ten living children is muddied by the existence of a second crossed out distribution proposal showing 12 equal shares, with Mercy receiving 3 shares, thus leaving only 9 shares for the children. Since the eldest child would be entitled to a double share, that would signify only 8 children, clearly at odds with the known set of progeny, unless the 3 shares allocated to Mercy were intended to cover her two (very young) daughters as well as herself. Ordinarily, a widow was entitled to athird of the estate, but an ordinary widow’s heirs would be her deceased husband’s children, while Mercy’s were her own Brigham and Rice children. In other words, the complicated situation calls into question the usefulness of these probate records for determining the exact number of Edmund’s living heirs at the time. In short, both Marys can make a good case for being Mary Axtell, so we still have the puzzle, and frustratingly, this may be a very difficult puzzle to resolve. Typically a disputed case of identity of this kind might be resolved by examining differences in the DNA of known descendants of Mary Rice Axtell Maynard on the female descendancy line (mtDNA), but unfortunately this method would not work in this instance. Both Mary Rice, the daughter of Edmund, and Mary Rice, the daughter of Henry, would have a common female ancestor in Thomasine Belgrave Frost, the maternal grandmother of both of them, so we would expect the same mtDNA results from both Marys, and the puzzle would still stand.The one new certainty that this marriage record from St. Albans can provide is that the maiden name of Mary Axtell of Sudbury is indeed now known to be Rice. This finding would rule out the long-held speculation that Mary Axtell’s maiden name was Starr. However, given the high degree of uncertainty about the parents, the Edmund Rice (1638) Association will not be formally listing Edmund's daughter Mary Rice (1619) as being married to Thomas Axtell within the ERA genealogical database, but instead, providing an analysis of existing data records of each of the two Marys.

¹Note by Tim Farr: The above being said, I believe that Mary Rice, who married Thomas Axtell and John Maynard, was the daughter of Edmund Rice based on preponderance of evidence. The fact that Thomas Axtell bought land from Edmund and that Edmund and one of his sons prised Thomas' estate, trumps Philemon Whale being mentioned. Edmund Rice is mentioned first, then Philemon Whale, then Edward Rice. Edmund Rice is the one who heard the will of Thomas Axtell verbally. Also a John Maynard, owned a meadow that was next to Edmund Rice's meadow and a house lot next to Henry Rice.

I feel that Mary, daughter of Edmund Rice, should be connected to Thomas Axtell and John Maynard if and until further evidence may be found.


Jane Petersen:
Many past genealogies confused Mary, the widow of Thomas Axtell and wife of John Maynard, with Mary Starr, the daughter of Comfort Starr, who also married a different John Maynard. Unfortunately, the modern Internet multiplies this past error.

The book "The Pioneers of Massachusetts, A Descriptive List, Drawn from Records of the Colonies, Towns and Churches, and other Contemporaneous Documents," by Charles Henry Pope (1900; Boston), p. 308, indicates there were three different John Maynards:
"MAYNARD, MYNARD, see MINOR…
1. John, carpenter, Duxbury, witness to will of John Cole in 1637, contracted to build a prison at Plymouth 4 March, 1638/9, had land grant at Dux. in 1640; town officer, 1645. Rem to Boston, sold Dux land 20 Aug. 1647. He m. 16 May, 1640, Mary, dau of Comfort Starr, ch. Hannah and Lydia, ae about 4 days, bapt 26(9) 1648. Inv of his est filed 7 (9) 1658. List of debts, 25 (9) 1659 [Reg. IX, 347, and XXXI. 175]
2. John, Cambridge, propr 1634; frm. May 29, 1644. May be the folg.
3. John, maulster, Sudbury, propr 1639, selectman, 1646; frm May 2, 1649. He m. 16 (4) 1646, Mary, widow [or dau?] of Thomas Axtell, ch Elizabeth b 26 May, 1649, Hannah b. 30 (7) 1653. Will dated 4 Sept. 1672, prob April 1, 1673, beq to wife Mary, sons John and Zechary; daus Elizabeth, wife of Joseph Graves, Lydia, wife of Joseph Moores, and Mary, unmarried."

Robert Charles Anderson (one of the greatest genealogists of any generation) in his "Great Migration" biography of John Maynard also clarifies that the three John Maynards are all separate individuals. On pp. 487-494, entry for Comfort Starr, he shows that Mary Starr, dau. of Comfort Starr, married in Duxbury in 1640 John Maynard. (That John Maynard is a different John than who married the widow Mary Axtell.) His estate was administered in 1658. The John Maynard who married Mary Axtell died in 1672 in Sudbury and named his wife Mary and son Zechary (among others).

The book "Vital Records of Sudbury, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849," Marriages, pp. 232-34 confirm that it was the (widow) Mary Axtell who married the John Maynard who died in 1672 in Sudbury: "John Maynard and Mary Axdell, June 16, 1646." The John Maynard who died in 1658 did so in Boston where we find his children -- his widow Mary (Starr) died in 1659.


Charles ALDOUS [Parents] [scrapbook] was born 1 on 9 Apr 1840 in Fenstanton, Huntingdonshire, England, United Kingdom. He died 2 on 10 Aug 1924 in Parker, Fremont, Idaho, United States. He was buried on 15 Aug 1924 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. Charles married Olive Elzada CHENEY on 4 Sep 1890 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States.

Other marriages:
DRAKE, Lucy

Olive Elzada CHENEY. Olive married Charles ALDOUS on 4 Sep 1890 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States.


Charles ALDOUS [Parents] [scrapbook] was born 1 on 9 Apr 1840 in Fenstanton, Huntingdonshire, England, United Kingdom. He died 2 on 10 Aug 1924 in Parker, Fremont, Idaho, United States. He was buried on 15 Aug 1924 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. Charles married Lucy DRAKE on 26 Nov 1860 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States.

Other marriages:
CHENEY, Olive Elzada

Lucy DRAKE. Lucy married Charles ALDOUS on 26 Nov 1860 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States.

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