Martha Thorn

Martha Foster was born on 1 Aug 1672 in Ipswich. Perhaps she is the Martha Foster who married Thompson Wood on 8 Dec 1691 in Ipswich.

Notes

From The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 45; Volume 51 (Google eBook) The Society, 1891 - New England. Vols. 37-52 (1883-98) include section: Genealogical gleanings in England, by H. F. Waters. Page 225. "Notes and Queries."

Re: Mercy And Mary.—(register, li., pp. 75 and 76).

"I can add Martha to the confusion. John Thorn married Martha Wood, July 28, 169-.—Ipswich Records. Probate: 335-464.—John Thorn's will, June 15, 1758, mentions "beloved wife Mercy." Inventory, presented Dec. 6, by "Marcy Thorn." There was no second marriage, and they had daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter Mercy, but no Martha. Moreover, the Martha Wood was probably daughter or granddaughter of Mercy Thompson who married Isaiah Wood, 1653. The nearest approach to an explanation I can offer is this:—Final "a" formerly stood for our final "y". (Becca, Doratha, for our Becky and Dorothy;—and I have known elderly persons in New Hampshire who wrote Josie, Josn.) I have heard old persons here pronounce Mercy, Mair-cy. The English still pronounce Ma-ry, Mair-y;—identical with Mair-cy except for the s sound. Mair-thy—Mair-cy pronounced with a lisp. Miss Helen Mansfield."

Links

• The FOSTER Family of Harlow, Essex, England and Ipswich, Essex, MA

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Sources

1. Foster genealogy: being the record of the posterity of Reginald Foster, an early inhabitant of Ipswich, in New England, whose genealogy is traced back to Anacher, great forester of Flanders who dies in 837 A.D. With wills, inventories, biographical sketches, etc. Also, the record of all other American Fosters. By Frederick Clifton Pierce... Published by the author.  Published 1899 by Press o W.B. Conkey company in Chicago.  Page 129
2. Janet Ireland. Isaiah Wood of Ipswich, Massachusetts. New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Oct 1994), 148:312. "Tompson (Wood), b. 31 Jan. 1669; living at Concord, Mass., 18 March 1696/7; d. probably by 1700. He m. at Ipswich, 8 Dec. 1691. Martha Foster, b. at Ipswich 1 Aug. 1672, dau. of Isaac and Mary (Jackson) Foster and sister of Jacob who married Sarah Wood. She is, with little doubt, the same Martha Wood who married (second) at Ipswich on 28 July 169_, John Thorn. In a deed dated 24 Nov. 1690, to Symon Wood, Tompson Wood is described as "late [resident) of Ipswich."
3. Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts, United States. Vital Records of Ipswich, Massachusetts to End of the Year 1849. (Salem, Massachusetts: Essex Institute, 1910, 1919), 1:400. "Wood, Tompson, s. Esaiah, [born] Feb. 18, 1669 (court record, Essex Co. Quarterly Court)."
4. Isaac Foster, in Pierce, Frederick Clifton. Foster Fenealogy: Being a Record of the Posterity of Reginald Foster, an Early Inhabitant of Ipswich in New England, Whose Genealogy is Traced Back to Anacher, Great Forrester of Flanders, Who Died in 837 A.D., with Wills, Inventories, Biographical Sketches, Etc.; Also the Record of all Other American Fosters. (Chicago: The Author, 1899), 129. "Martha (Foster), b. 1 August, 1672; m. Thompson Wood, 8 December, 1691."
5. Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts, United States. Vital Records of Ipswich, Massachusetts to End of the Year 1849. (Salem, Massachusetts: Essex Institute, 1910, 1919), 1:146. "Foster, Martha, d. Isaack, [born] Aug. 1, 1672 (court record, Essex Co. Quarterly Court)."