John Bearce

Biography

John Bearce was born May 8, 1687 in Barnstable, Barnstable, Plymouth Colony. He died April 6, 1761 in Halifax, Plymouth, Province of Massachusetts Bay.[1]

Disputed Parentage

As of 2020, the Mayflower Society now accepts that John was the son of Experience Howland.

"The Mayflower Society did recently discover evidence that proves that Experience Howland (granddaughter of Mayflower passenger John Howland) married James Bierce. We are currently accepting applications that go through this couple. Currently we have approved applications going through these 4 different children of Experience Howland and James Bierce: 1) James, 2) Priscilla, 3) Rebecca, and 4) Shubael."[2]

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bearce-113

Johnn Jacob Bearce (1687 - 1761)

John Jacob Bearce

Born 8 May 1687 in Barnstable, Barnstable, Plymouth Colony

Son of James Bearse and [mother unknown]

Brother of Shubael Bierce [half], Priscilla (Bearse) Bourne [half], Mary (Bearse) West [half], Experience (Bearse) Egerton [half] and Rebecca (Bearse) Chard [half]

Husband of Sarah (Holmes) Bearce — married 12 May 1720 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay

Father of Joseph Bearce, Gideon Bearce, John Bearse, Lydia (Bearce) Fish, Mary (Bearce) Hall, Sarah (Bearce) Hathaway, Deborah (Bearse) Wood, Jerusha Bearce, Asa Bearce, Keziah (Bearce) Jennings, Lurania (Bearce) Randall, Levi Bearce and Levy Bearce

Died 6 Apr 1761 in Halifax, Plymouth, Province of Massachusetts Bay

Bearce-113 created 26 Oct 2016 | Last modified 7 Oct 2021

John Bearce was related to a passenger on the Mayflower.

Sources

↑ A source for this information is needed. ↑ Mayflower Lineage Match, April 30, 2020, as quoted from a letter to Mr. Doug Rogers from Erin Gillett, Research Assistant, General Society of Mayflower Descendants
See also:

Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620-1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016). [1]
John BERSE
Birth 1687
Location Barnstable, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States
Town Info Barnstable
Volume Name Barnstable - V1 Page 3
Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001 [2]
John Bearse
Marriage Event Date: 12 May 1720
Event Place: Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
Spouse's Name: Sarah Holmes
Plymouth County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1686-1881.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.) [3]
John BEARCE
Probate Record 1761
Location Halifax, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
Original Text BEARCE, John
Case_Number 1764
Note 1 of 6
Case Type Administration
Volume Name Plymouth Cases 1-1999 Page 1764:1
Mayflower Society Application Database: "Community Trees," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:QVQ5-5G8 : accessed 13 June 2021), entry for John BEARSE (BEARS), cites sources; "Mayflower Pilgrim Genealogies" file (2:2:2:MMXD-DP8), submitted 24 February 2020 by FamilySearch.
Barbara Lambert Merrick, E. Virginia Hunt, Mayflower Families in Progress - William Brewster of the Mayflower and the Fifth Generation Descendants of his son Love ([Plymouth, Massachusetts]: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2003)

• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Feb 3 2020, 2:47:16 UTC

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Grandparents: AMERICA THE GREAT MELTING POT

Contact information on HOME page

Direct descendant is highlighted in red

Mary Hyanno

	 see FAMILY TREE Born: 1617 Wampanoag Indian Village, MA	 	  HUSBAND

Augustine Bearse

CHILDREN

1. Mary Bearse b. bef. 16 Aug 1640

2. Martha Bearse b. bef. 06 May 1642

3. Priscilla Bearse b. 10 March 1643

4. Sarah Bearse b. 28 March 1646

5. Abigail Bearse b. 18 Dec 1647

6. Hannah Bearse b. 16 Nov 1649

7. Joseph Bearse b. 25 Jan 1650

8. Hester Bearse b. 02 Oct 1653

9. Lydia Bearse b. Sep 1655

10. Rebecca Bearse b. Sep 1657

11. James Bearse b. Jul 1660

Mary Hyanno, known as "Litttle Dove", is said to have married early Plymouth settler Augustine Bearse. Mary was the daughter of John Hyanno, who was born in 1595 at the Mattachee Village at what is now Barnstable, Massachusetts, and Mary No-Pee, who was born at Gays Head on Martha's Vineyard and was the daughter of No-Took-Seet. John was the son of Iyannough, the sachem of the Mattachee village of Wampanoags of Cape Cod, and Princess Canonicus. He died after 1680 on Cape Cod. Princess Canonicus was the daughter of Canochet (Chief) Canonicus and Posh-Pw. Canochet Canonicus was the son of Wessonsuoum and Keshechoo. Wessonsuoum was the son of Chief Tashtassuck, who was born before 1520.

Mary Hyanno is said to have been of fair complexion and red hair. The Wampanoags were often referred to as "white Indians" due to their light skin and are thought by some to have descended from Viking explorers. This assertion is very controversial. There indeed was an Iyannough, and Hyannis, Massachusetts is named for him.

The Bearse/Hyanno marriage entered the written record via a document filed in the 1930's by Franklin Ele-watum Bearse, a Scaticoke and Eastern Indian, in an attempt to obtain benefits as an Indian from the State of Connecticut. Mr. Bearse's claims are analyzed in a article by Jacobus entitled "Austin Bearse and His Alleged Indian Connectionis" in THE AMERICAN GENEALOGIST published about 1936. Mr. Jacobus does not accept the Franklin Bearse story and endeavored to disprove it. Among other things he points out that all we really know about Augustine Bearse is that he was listed as age "20 in the shipping list of the Confidence of London, which sailed from Southampton the last of April 1638. Most of the passengers on this ship came in family groups, and a large number of these families settled in Essex County, Mass. The name Augustine is, be it noted, a Christian name, in good usage in England. There is no evidence whatever that any of the passengers on this ship were deported criminals. There is no evidence whatever that Austin was sent to Barnstable as a prinsoner. On the contrary, he came to Barnstable with the first company in 1639; he became a member of Mr. Lothrop's church, 29 Apr. 1643, and he is the first person named on the present record of those who joined the church after its removal to Barnstable. He was proposed to be admitted a freeman, 3 June 1652, and was admitted 3 May following. He was called Goodman in the records, bespeaking his good standing. He was a grand juror in 1653 and 1662, and a surveyor of highways in 1674. --- To suppose that a Gypsy, a deported criminal, and the husband of an Indian, would have enjoyed such standing in a Puritan community is absurd. In explanation of his marriage to an Indian, the story is told that he was a Gypsy and hence the Puritan girls would not consider him in marriage; yet his children married into the best families of Barnstable and Yarmouth."

However, family traditions of the Hyanno marriage exist to this day in other branches of the Bearse family. These traditions do not appear to have been derived from Franklin Bearse.

In our family lore, Earle White was told by his parents that he was 1/64th Indian. If in fact they were referring to Mary Hyanno they were off by two generations.