Mary Jeffries

Mary Gould

• Birth: ABT 1620 Newport, Rhode Island ?
• Death: AFT 02 JAN 1675
• parents: Jeremiah Gould and Priscilla Grover

Family

William Jeffries married by 1642 to Mary Gould, daughter of Jeremy Gould of Weymouth and Newport (Daniel and John Gould, sons of Jeremiah Gould, were appointed overseers of the will of their brother-in-law William Jefferys [Austin 306, citing an unknown source]. She survived him.

CHILDREN:

• i MARY, b. Weymouth 20 March 1642; m. by about 1665 John Greene [Austin 87].
• ii THOMAS, b. say 1646; named in father's will, 8 December 1674; perhaps returned to England, having inherited his father's estate there.
• iii SARAH, b. say 1650; m. by 1675 James Barker [Austin 14].
• iv PRISCILLA, b. say 1652; m. by about 1682 as his first wife Thomas Coddington [Austin 278].
• v SUSANNAH, b. about 1656; m. by about 1688 Edward Thurston [Austin 201].

From The Journal of William Jefferay, Gentleman: Born at Chiddingly, Old England...1591; Died at Newport, New England...1675. Being Some Account of Divers People, Places and Happenings, Chiefly in New England; a Diary that Might Have Been. John Osborne Austin. Press of E. L. Friedman & Sons (1899). Page 139 - 141 GoogleBooks

”Dec. 8, 1674. I have, therefore, put my house in order for the great change, and in my will (this day made), have provided, as my estate will allow, for my dear wife and children.My eldest daughter, Mary, hath been sometime wife to John Greene, and I have made her executrix; giving her some London estate received by me from my mother's will. Sarah hath lately married James Barker, Jr., and I believe there is a leaning in Susannah toward one Edward Thurston, Jr., and of Priscilla to Thomas Coddington (son of our now Governor, by his third wife, who is a sister of Mr. Brinley). I think they be all hopeful young men.To my son Thomas I have given houses and tenements, &c, owned by me in England (all save what I give to my daughter, Mary Greene), and I hope he may see that old home, whether he remaineth in England or not.”

Origins

Jeremiah’s wife Priscilla Grover was born 3 Jun 1582 in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England. Her parents were William Grover and [__?__]. Priscilla died 1655 in Middletown, Newport, Rhode Island.

Jeremy was living in Aston Abbotts in 1631, but was in Rhode Island in 1638. He was at Weymouth, MA by 1641 and then moved Middletown, RI. Jeremy may have returned to England after Priscilla died.

Feb 1640/41 – “Jeremy Gould of Rode Island yeoman & Will[ia]m Jeffreys of Weymouth … gent” were bound in £30, on the condition that on or before the following 24 Aug Gould would convey to Henry Waltham three acres of meadow in Weymouth [Lechford 372-73]. (William Jeffreys may already have been married to Jeremy Gould’s daughter Mary by the date of this transaction.)

References

• The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. Vol. 1-3. Boston, MA, USA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. link
• https://www.caskey-family.com/james-barker/
• Turner, H E, and R H. Tilley. The Rhode Island historical magazine, Volumes 1-2. Newport, R.I: Newport Historical Pub. Co, 1880 page 256. James Barker, (4) of Newport, R.I., b 1647; mar. 1673, Sarah, dau. of Wm. and Mary (Gould) Jeffrey. He died 1722
• The Journal of William Jefferay, Gentleman: Born at Chiddingly, Old England...1591; Died at Newport, New England...1675. Being Some Account of Divers People, Places and Happenings, Chiefly in New England; a Diary that Might Have Been. John Osborne Austin. Press of E. L. Friedman & Sons (1899) Page 18. GoogleBooks “1640. I came to New England seeking wonders, and now there befell me one truly at last, that ever new befalling, the falling in love, as the saying is. It was indeed so sudden that the strangeness and sweetness of it hath never left me. It may be counted most singular by some, that I should have lived to see near fifty years ere this happening, for few in the old world, and less in the new, tarry half that time. Indeed I will confess to passing fancies, in Old England and New, for many good women have I known, and have sometimes thought one would prove my anchorage, yet it came to naught but friendship, which is another matter. But as to this happening, it thus befell; going, as had been my wont upon occasion, to Newport, I chanced to pass by Sergeant Bull's house (where also he keepeth the gaol), and meeting there a most comely maid, inquired for the house of one Jeremiah Gould. "Why that is my father sir," she saith, " and I am now going that way." They were simple words, but so prettily said, and she looked so fair and bright as she hesitated a moment if I would come with her, that, going at once, I fell into a kind of dumbness, which amazed me much, as always before of most ready speech to either maid or dame. But knowing soon my heart (which told me that my fate, at last, had come), though I had little speech to her, yet many times, I said to myself (ere we did reach her father's), "Thou shalt go my way through life, fair maid, if love can show thee that 'tis thine." ...”

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Mary was born about 1618. She is the daughter of Jeremy Gould and Priscilla Grover.

Jeremy Gould son of Richard of Bovingdon, born about 1581; married 1604, Nov. 27, at Chesham, Priscilla, daughter of William Grover of Codmore. Was assessed in 1623 for property in Halton and Weston Turville co., Bucks. In the registry of his marriage he is called son of Richard Gould late of Bovingdon. He was in Rhode Island as early as 1638.

Family tradition states that he went back to England and returned in 1642, bringing his wife and three children; Daniel aet. 16. Thomas and John. He settled in the part of the island which is now Middletown and there his wife Priscilla died later than 1655. Soon afterward he returned to England where he died. (p. 19)

Family

Children: Mary m. 1640, William Jeffrey, one of the earliest settlers in Massachusetts Bay before Endicott or Winthrop; d. 1675.(p. 20)[1]

Children

1. Mary, b Weymouth 20 Mar 1642; m by about 1665 John Greene
2. Tomas, b abt 1646, named in father's will 8 Dec 1675; perhaps returned to England, having inherited his father's estate there.
3. Sarah, b abt 1650; m by 1675 James Barker
4. Priscilla, b abt 1652; m by abt 1682 as his first wife Thomas Coddington
5. Susannah, b abt 1656; m by abt 1688 Edward Thurston
6. A slightly better than cursory examination reveals William and Mary had three additional children: William, Jr, William III, and Mary Ann Branch (born Jefferys). This writer believes these three were intentionally written out of the will.