Mary Betts

Not the same as Mary Betts

Widow Betts was an early member of the First Church of Hartford, where she occupied herself as the schooldame.

Mary is one of only two women to be recognized as a Founder of Hartford.

Family

From https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Unknown-379030

No colonial records, list her age, maiden name, parents, place of origin, or her husband's given name.

Children

1. Mary Betts b. 1623 England, d. 1684 m. 1642 Samuel Boardman b.1615 d. 1673[12]
2. Martha Betts b. 1625 Claydon Oxfordshire, England d. April 13, 1701 at Wethersfield, Connecticut, m. January 16, 1655 at Wethersfield, Connecticut Nathaniel Graves, Sr., b. 1629 Kent, England, d. September 28, 1682 Wethersfield, Connecticut[13]
3. John Betts b. May 5, 1627 at Claydon Oxfordshire, England, d. May 6, 1690 at Huntington, Suffolk, New York. m. 1) about 1660 at Abigail Elderkin, b. September 13, 1641 at Dedham, Massachusetts, d. January 27, 1686, divorced 1672;[14][15] m. 2) March 13, 1672 at Huntington, Long Island to Abigail Smith widow of John Adams b, 1632 at Werhersfield, Connecticut, d. 1673 at Long Island City, Queens, New York.[16]
4. ? (probably b. c. 1621) An article in The American Genealogist written by Gale Ion Harris in 2005 makes an excellent circumstantial argument that the first wife of Ralph Keeler was the unnamed daughter of Mary Betts of Hartford, a widowed schoolteacher.[17]

Notes

By Jan 1639/40 Widow Betts was an inhabitant of Hartford with Right in undivided lands.[4] She was granted four acres 3 Feb 1639/40[5] Her ownership of land was by the town's courtesie with liberty to fetch wood and keepe Swine or Cowes By proportion on the Common.[6][2] Her name appears as Mary in the land records as an abutter to other lands,[7] and it is mentioned that Seth Grant sold her a small parcel of land (Lot #64 on the map)[8]12 June 1666 12 acres granted, in the right of wid: Betts, on the east side of the Great River.[9] A twelve acre parcel on the east side of the Great River, that had been his mothers was sold by John Betts 22 Jun 1678.[10]

Jacobus in Hale, House and Related Families points out that there were two schools in Hartford at the time. One was taught by William Andrews, and "another probably under humbler auspices, as a primary school ... The mistress of this 'woman's school' held, of course, a somewhat humbler position.

Biographical Summary:

Mary Betts, widow, "the School Dame." She owned land "by the courtesie of the town," and received four acres in the division of 1639-40; her home lot was on the highway, on the north side of the Little River, near what is now the corner of Trumbull and Wells streets. She died in 1647.

Children:

i. John, Wethersfield, 1648; married Abigail ______;she was tried for blasphemy, in 1662; he was divorced from her, Oct., 1672, and went to Huntington, Long Island.

SOURCE: James Hammond Trumbull, editor, The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Volume 1 (Boston, Massachusetts: Edward L. Osgood, 1886), page 230. Retrieved: 3 May 2011 from Google Books