Frances Ward

Samuel second married Frances PITCHER who was born circa 1607 in England, as estimated from her death information[1,2]. Frances died in Charlestown, Suffolk co., MA on 11 June 1690; she was 83[1]. She, too, is buried in Copp's Hill Burial Ground, Boston, Suffolk co., MA[1,2,16]. Her gravestone reads: "Here lies the body of Fransis Ward, wife to Samuel Ward, aged 83 years, dyed the 10th of June 1690"[17].

"The Ancestry of Samuel, Freda, and John Warner," (Frederik Chester Warner, "The Ancestry of Samuel, Freda, and John Warner," 1959, typescript of NEHGS, p 694) states without explanation that Frances was the sister of Matthew Cushing's wife (who was Nazareth Pitcher).

James S. Cushing, The Genealogy of the Cushing Family, An Account of the Ancestors and Descendants of Matthew Cushing, Who Came to America in 1638 (Montreal, Canada: The Perrault Printing Co., 1905), page 21. < Archive.Org >

”8. MATTHEW1 CUSHING, son of Peter and Susan (Hawes) Cushing, was baptized in Hardingham [SIC: typo] Eng., 2 March, 1589. He married, 5 August, 1613, Nazareth, daughter of Henry Pitcher, of the famous family of Admiral Pitcher of England. She was baptized 30 Oct., 1586, and died in Hingham, Mass., 6 Jan., 1682. Matthew Cushing died 30 Sept., 1660. For the first fifty years of his life he lived in Hardingham and Hingham, Norfolk County, Eng., until 1638, when with his wife and five children, and his wife's sister (Widow Francis Riecroft, who died a few weeks after their arrival) he embarked in the ship ' ' Diligent' ' of Ipswich, 350 tons … “

NB: Apparently, Frances did survive, and married Samuel Ward.

Inscription

HERE LYES THE BODY OF FRANSIS WARD WIFE TO
SAMUEL WARD AGED 83
YEARS DYED THE 10 OF
JUNE 1690

References

• "England, Norfolk, Parish Registers (County Record Office), 1510-1997", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NXTL-H96 : 6 November 2020), Frances Pitcher in entry for John Rycraft, 5 Aug 1624
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8450442/fransis-reycroft_ward
• http://kristinhall.org/fambly/Ward/SamuelWard.html
• WARD of Hingham and Charlestown, Massachusetts. Samuel Ward, my 10th great grandfather, was an early settler at Hingham, Massachusetts. He might have been the brother of the Henry Ward who was buried there on 15 May 1642. His first wife was Mary Hilliard, who died at Hingham 28 November 1638 ten days after giving birth to my 9th great grandfather, Samuel, Jr. Mary had given four children to Samuel, Sr. His second wife was Frances Pitcher, the widow of a Mr. Reycroft. Frances died in 1690 and is buried at Copp’s Hill Burial Ground in Boston. link
• http://lechpowell.com/getperson.php?personID=I3798&tree=tree1
• History of the Town of Hingham, Massachusetts, Published by the Town, 1893, (University Press: John Wilson and Sons, Cambridge, Mass), v III, page 274-275. “Samuel Ward, perhaps a son of Henry, who died and was buried here, 15 May 1642), had a grant of land on the Lower Plain 1636. …. “
• Descendants of Thomas Farr of Harpswell, Maine, and ninety allied families. by Sumner, Edith Bartlett, Publication date 1959. Page 304. Archive.Org