Mary Clark

Mary Poore

• Born on 12 Dec 1653 in Newbury, MA.
• daughter of John Poor (ca 1615-21 Nov 1684) & Sarah [Poor] (-3 Dec 1702)
• married John Clark on 10 Jan 1672 in Rowley.
• Died on 10 Sep 1726 in Rowley, MA

notes

From http://www.poorefarm.org/files/Legacy%20of%20John%20Poore%20story%2...

For uncountable generations, the ‘Gift’ had been handed down from mother to daughter among a select few

in the family line. How it began, or how it survived the Puritan Era is a miracle in itself, most would have
taken it as witchcraft. Transferable, it had been passed on to whoever was best suited and that was agreeable, not always within the same household. Henry Poore’s sister Mary (1654-1728) had received it from her aunt Alice Poore Little in 1679, passing it on, in turn, to Rebecca Poore Moody (1705-1755) of Newbury, daughter of Jonathan of Newbury Neck. None of Rebecca’s three daughters would have anything to do with the Gift. Looking at her options, Rebecca transferred it, before she died, to her 13-year-old cousin Mary Poore (1742-1784), daughter of Jeremiah of Rowley. Mary lived her life in Byfield, married to Jon Wheeler and her only daughter preceded her in death. In 1784 she passed the Gift to her second cousin Ruth Poore (1762-1828), who had married Mary’s brother Ben and was the only daughter of Joseph Poore of New Rowley. Ruth’s daughters, Betsey and Mary Ann, shunned the Gift all their lives. They called it a ‘Tool of the Devil’ and denounced their mother for toying with it. She finally transferred it to the only receptive person she could find, Anna Bridges Poore of Hooksett NH, in 1828.

Sources . 

1. NewburyMAVR, website: ma-vitalrecords.org/MA/Essex/Newbury
2. No author, Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850. Online Database: NewEnglandAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2007.

Links

• http://www.treetreetree.org.uk/Poore.htm#Mary