Elizabeth Raymer Died 14 February 1675/6.

Married:

1. on 10 August 1632 at Shipley, Sussex, England to Edmund Freeman (ca 1596-1682) as his second wife.

Child:

1. Mary Freeman (ca 1637-)

Notes

• She is buried about 1 1/3 mile west of the Town Hall.
• Mary was the only child of Elizabeth and Edmund

Discussion Notes

There is some good research that has pinned down the two wives of Edmund Freeman pretty well, I think. His first wife and the mother of all his children, Bennett Hodsoll is discussed in the Freeman chapter in the Dawes-Gates Genealogy, published back in the 1930's and 1940's (let me know if you need the exact reference).

Much more recently, it was discovered that the Elizabeth he married and who came to New England with him was Elizabeth Raymer. This is documented in the "Elizabeth (Who?)...." article cited below. It took me quite a while to find a library that stocked the issues of Second Boat, but the Sturgis Library in Sandwich (or is it Barnstable?), Mass. was able to supply a photocopy to me.

Edmund Freeman was long thought to have married Elizabeth Beauchamp Perry, a widow, as his second wife. Her identification as his wife was based on his close association with the Beauchamp family, whose interests he represented in Plymouth Colony after his arrival in New England.

However, in the early 1980's, the record of the marriage of Edmund Freeman to Elizabeth Raymer was discovered in the parish register of Shipley, a town near Pulborough, and she is now thought to be the Elizabeth who was his second wife and who accompanied him to New England.

As described in Banks's "The Planters of the Commonwealth", the ship "Abigail" of London sailed from Plymouth on August 1, 1635 with 220 persons and many cattle. It arrived in Boston on October 8, 1635 infected with smallpox. Aboard were Edmund Freeman, aged 34, gentlemen of Pulborough, Sussex, Mrs. Elizabeth Freeman, 35, Alice Freeman, 17, Edward [i.e. Edmund] Freeman, 15, Elizabeth Freeman, 12, and John Freeman, 8. Another daughter, Mary, who married the Edward Perry mentioned in Edmund Freeman's will, was not listed among the passengers. She may have been born in New England. Her supposed marriage year of about 1653 makes it likely that, if she was not aboard the "Abigail", she may have been born while Edmund and his wife still resided at Saugus (Lynn) before they removed to Sandwich.

- Bob Freeman Edmonds, WA

Links

• http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/gen/report/rr01/rr01_448.htm#P9351
• http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/FREEMAN/1997-10/0877837568

Citations

• Cited in Elizabeth (Who?) Freeman, Mary (Who?) Freeman Perry, Mrs. Sarah (Who?) Perry of Sandwich, Plymouth Colony. Second Boat, v. 5, n. 1, pp. 15, 17, 18 (May 1984)
• Cited in Edmund Freeman of Sandwich, Mass. Second Boat, v. 5, n. 1, pp. 15, 16, 18 (May 1984