Margaret Gardner

no children

Margaret Gardner is NOT the mother of Thomas Gardner (1591-1674) of Salem's children. He married 3 times: 1. to unknown (9 known children). 2. to Margaret. 3. to Damaris, widow of ? Shattuck. Margaret's parentage is not unverified.

Margaret Gardner was born 1589 Ixworth Parish, Suffolk, England [not verified] and died before 7 October 1658. She was buried 7 October 1658 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts.

Parents: not known

Seen as Thomas Friar without supporting evidence .

Married:

1. between 1638 and 1640 to Thomas Gardner (1591-1674) of Salem, as his second wife. He was the son of Thomas Gardner (ca. 1565-1635) & Elizabeth White (1564-1648). He was married first to an unknown woman who is the mother of his 9 known children, and he married thirdly to Damaris, widow of ?? Shattuck.

No known children.

Notes

From Thomas Gardner Society, found record of Thomas and Margaret's marriage and parents
Marriage of Thomas and Margaret Dr. Frank A. wrote the following over 100 years ago: Various writers, including Rev. Joseph B. Felt, have stated that her maiden name was Fryer (or Friar), but the writer has thus far failed to find the authority for this statement.

Today, we can announce that the "authority" may have been discovered. That is, Rev. Felt may have been correct; even though, we do not know how (from whom?, etc.) he got the information (early 1800s) for his assertion.

Where was this authority found? In the records of the Sherborne parish. Attached is an image from the record of April 1617 that shows Thomas Gardiner and Margaret Frier marrying on the 28th. Not only do the records show this, they have the following: the birth records of Thomas, Richard, George, and John; Wills of interest; and more, We have Margaret's parents: Walter Friar and Grace Mullins. And, there is a record that may show Thomas' parents: Thomas Gardner and Christine Saule.

https://thomasgardnerofsalem.blogspot.com/2014/09/thomas-and-margar...

The Great Migration Begins states:

"In the Salem land grant of 1637 Thomas Gardner received acreage for a household of seven. His sons Thomas and George were already old enough to receive grants of their own and be considered separate households. Seven younger children of Thomas Sr. were still under age and presumably residing at home, which would make a household of eight. One or more of the children could have been serving in another family, but this accounting raises the possibility that Thomas did not have a wife living in 1637. This hypothesis is supported by the admission to church membership of a Margaret Gardner on 24 March 1639/40; had she been with Thomas Gardner since his arrival in New England, we would expect that she would appear in the list of church members compiled in late 1636 at the reorganization of the church. Consequently, we propose that Thomas Gardner had three wives, the first of them of unknown name, who died at the birth of the youngest child, Seeth, whose baptism is one of the first recorded in late 1636."

There is a great deal of confusion concerning the wives of Thomas Gardner. Most older sources assign only two wives with the first, the mother of his children, given as Margaret Fryer. However Robert Charles Anderson in his highly respected "The Great Migration Begins" assigns three wives to Thomas as follows: the name of his first wife, the mother of all of his children is unknown. She came with him to New England, (while Anderson doesn't say when it probably wasn't when Thomas first arrived at the Cape Ann Colony, but later, after he had removed to Naumkeag (Salem)). Wife #1 died, probably in Salem, before 1639. Thomas married (2) Margaret (_____) by 1639; and after her death married (3) the wid. Damaris (_____) Shattuck.[6]

GEDCOM Note

Biography

Margaret Frier was baptised 25 June 1598 in Sherborne, Dorset. No parents name given.<ref>Dorset History Centre; Dorchester, England; DorsetParish Registers. 1598 June 25 Margaret Friar bapts (Ancestry has herindexed for some reason as Margaret Lalane)</ref>: A Walter Friar and Grace Mullins married in Sherborne in the right time frame to be her parents. (See image from Dorset record office)
::: There is no evidence to suggest she was daughter of Margaret Merritt. She married Thomas Gardiner there in 1617.<ref>Dorset History Centre; Dorchester, England; Dorset Parish Registers; Sherborne combined register, Reference: PE/SH:RE1/1: 1617: 28 Thomas Gardiner et Margarete Frier nuptia</ref>

She probably died shortly after the 1636 birth of her last child.

Disputed Origins

From The American Genealogist, volume 30 (1953), p 156:
:"The surname Friar appears to have been first stated in print by the Rev. Joseph B. Felt, well over a century ago. Neither Dr. Gardner nor Mr. Moriarty was ever successful in finding Mr. Felt's evidence; but it would be well not to reject the possibility that Friar (or a variant) is right until we can either prove that the true name was something else or explain how the error arose." And even if her maiden name was Friar (of whatever spelling variant), there is no documentation of her parents. Possibilities that need confirmation through solid documentation include:

• Thomas Freyer and Elizabeth Unknown*Also removed as suggested parents Thomas Friar and Elizabeth Merritt

Also: :"B. Margaret Friar: This is the name many times stated to have been that of that earlier wife of Thomas(1) Gardner whose existence is demonstrable from the allusion in his will, dated 7 Dec. 1668, probated 29 March 1675 [Essex Wills, file 301:62: Probate Records, 2:423], to his then wife Damaris, "mother-in-law" of the sons. Damaris was the WiddowShattock who joined First Church, Salem, 2 July 1641. When the earlier wife died and the second marriage took place are unknown, but Damaris died on 28 Nov 1674, a month before Thomas(1) Gardner died in 29 Dec1675. Thomas(1) Gardner's name appears fifteenth on the covenant of First Church, signed 6 of 6th month 1629, and a woman named Margaret Gardener is the next member of the family to join on "1639-24-1" [24 Mar1639/40?]. On "15-10" in the same year, in any case later than the date of Margaret's admission, the name of Tho. Gardener Junyr appears. Though he was by this year certainly old enough to be married, and it is possible that Margaret was his wife, the baptisms of his children donot start until 28 Jan. 1643/4, so I am inclined to agree with Dr. Gardner and Mr. Moriarty that Margaret was actually the name of the earlier wife of Thomas(1) Gardner."

Sources

• The American Genealogist, volume 30 (1953), p 156* Robert Charles Anderson, Great Migration Begins...," Boston, MA: NEHGS 1995* https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35748684/margaret-gardner - no tombstone, no burial.
• Pedigree Resource File," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:943B-S7M : accessed 16 October 2018), entry for Margaret Fryer; file (2:2:2:MM9R-SW5), submitted 19 June 2003 by rwylie2770211 [identity withheld for privacy].

Acknowledgements

• Helen Ford
• John M. Switlik (Thomas Gardner Society, Inc.)