Ann Hanscom (Downing?)

Ann Hanscom-Tobey was the matriarch and ancestress of the Hanscom family in America. There are indications that she lived to an advanced age (she was living in 1720 according to "The Pioneers of Maine and NH by Pope") and that it was she who was responsible for the infusion of longevity into the early generations of the Hanscom family. Son Job died at 100, grandson Thomas III at 81, granddaughter Anne Hanscom Fogg at 81, granddaughter Martha Hanscom Libby at 87, grandson John Hanscom at 85, grandson Moses Hanscom (son of Thomas, Jr.) at 81, grandson Benaiah Hanscom at 91, and grandson Moses Hanscom, Jr. at 99. But, this cannot be said with certainty for no documentation of Ann's date of death has ever been found. (Source: Hanscom Family Newsletter, Issue #20, Summer 1992.) However, she spent her last years in the home of her son, Moses, who made a significant move about 1727 from Kittery, Maine to what is now Cape Elizabeth, Maine. It is theorized that he made that move shortly after the death of his widowed mother. Her year of death has therefore been inferred as around 1726.

Ann may have been a Downing by birth. She was possibly the daughter of early Kittery settlers, Dennis and Anne Downing, but more proof is needed to state that with any certainty. Following Thomas Hanscom's death, she married 2nd, James Tobey of Kittery, whose first wife, Katherine, had recently died. James Tobey was killed by Indians on 21 May 1705. Ann spent most of her later years in the home of her son, Moses, while her grandson, Thomas Hanscom III, occupied the family homestead. She was still living in 1719 and possibly as late as 1724. As indicated above, she is believed to have died in the home of her son, Moses Hanscom, about 1726, age 80.