Mary Bisbee

Birth: Jan. 19, 1761 Bridgewater Plymouth County Massachusetts, USA Death: Aug. 30, 1811 Sumner Oxford County Maine, USA

GRANDMOTHER OF CIVIL WAR MEDAL-OF-HONOR-WINNER AXEL HAYFORD REED

A BIOGRAPHY OF LT. ELISHA BISBEE, by Larry Overmire (4th great grandson), Aug. 2008:

Mary "Molly" Pettingell was born Jan. 19, 1761, in Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, the youngest of three children of Daniel and Sarah (Gannett) Pettingell. Her father died the year before on July 25. He was a soldier in the British army and perished on some sort of expedition against Canada. Mary's mother did not remarry until 1766 (to Amos Ford), so one can imagine how the family struggled in those years.

Mary married Revolutionary War veteran Lt. Elisha Bisbee on Sept. 22, 1779 in Duxbury. He was the son of Revolutionary War veteran Charles Bisbee and his wife Beulah Howland. Mary gave birth to ten children in the ensuing years: Susan, Sarah "Sally" Howland, Anna, Elisha Jr., Daniel, Mary "Molly," Hopestill, Thursea, Horatio, and Huldah.

In 1784, Elisha and the family moved with his father to Sumner, Maine. He wrote a letter to his uncle William Ford of Pembroke, Mass., on Apr. 29, 1803, that gives an impression of what life was like in Sumner:

"Dear Uncle: I embrace this opportunity to inform you that we are all well as common. I have nothing new to write. It is a general time of health here. We have had a very moderate winter, and as forward spring as we have had since I lived here. Bread and meat are plenty and cheap, and labor bears a very high price and not to be had at any rate... I have not had a line from you this many a day, and have done looking for any, but I am in hopes my scribbling may stir you up so that I may know how you and our relations fare there in that old worn-out country, and pray don't miss any opportunity of writing to me, as I shall take it very hard if you do. We have had a very exceeding snow storm here. It began on Friday, the fifteenth of this instant, early in the morning and grew hotter and hotter until Sunday about noon, when it abated. The snow fell eighteen or twenty inches deep and there is some of it to be seen now. It was by far the smartest storm we have had for the winter past. Our two oldest girls have got married and each of them got a boy. They married men of property and are in a way to live if no misfortune overtakes them. Remember me to all that may inquire..."

On Aug. 30, 1811, Mary died in Sumner at the age of 50. She was buried in the Chaffin Cemetery (aka The Bonney Road Cemetery) there.

Family links:

Spouse:

 Elisha Bisbee (1757 - 1826)

Children:

 Susan Bisbee Bartlett (1780 - 1860)*

 Elisha Bisbee (1786 - 1874)*

 Daniel Bisbee (1788 - 1824)*

 Mary Bisbee Bryant Dunham (1794 - 1832)*

 Hopestill Bisbee (1796 - 1882)*

 Thirza Bisbee Howard (1798 - 1867)*

 Huldah Bisbee Read (1803 - 1842)*

• Calculated relationship

Burial: Chaffin Cemetery Sumner Oxford County Maine, USA

Created by: Laurence Overmire Record added: Aug 28, 2008 Find A Grave Memorial# 29370959