Mary Worden

• Not the daughter of Edward Winslow & Magdalene Winslow
• Not the daughter of Richard Sears, the pilgrim & Dorothy Sears

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Family

Peter Worden (1609-1680), son of Peter Worden and Margaret Grice, married Mary, maiden name unknown, by 1638. They had the following children:

1. Mary Worden was born about 1639 and died before 11 May 1724. Married John Burgess.
2. Mercy Worden was born about 1640/1641 and died 22 Sep 1688, age 48. Married Kenelm Winslow ll.
3. Martha Worden was born about 1643 and died last of Mar 1725. Married Joseph Severence.
4. Samuel Worden was born about 1645/1646 and died on 26 Aug 1716. Married 1) Hopestill Holloway 2) Frances West.

In the Yarmouth Register of Births Year 1648 printed in Records of the Plymouth Colony, Shurtleff there is the following: "The daughter of Peeter WORDEN, Febrewary the tenth." Whether this is another daughter of Peter's is unknown.

There is an unproven and possibly spurious attempt to connect Ellen Newton, wife of John Adams and Kenelm Winslow and a documented 1623 migrant, as a daughter/sister of this family.

Widow Mary Worden died on 25 March 1687 at Yarmouth.

Notes

http://www.techstardirect.com/burgess/treerpt80817.pdf

Mary was the wife of the 2nd Peter Worden. Her will (found in the "Mayflower Descendents" Volume 3, Page 201, and the Barnstable County probate records) is dated 06 March 1686. She left her female Indian slave to her son, Samuel. She died on 25 March 1687 in Yarmouth. Both Peter worden and his wife, Mary, are buried in the Worden Cemetery in the Town of Dennis on Cape Cod (formerly the east end of Old Yarmouth).

Her will names one son, Samuel, and three daughters, Mary Burge, Mercy Winslow and Martha Seaverns.

Disputed Origins

Birth seen as circa December 26, 1610 Clayton-le-Moors, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom without supporting evidence.

From https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Sears-1711

Even though her will lists several 'Sears' Witnesses, her last name has never been proven. If you have additional evidence please contact the Worden Family Association, which maintains the definitive genealogy reference for this family (unpublished). See Worden Past, Newsletters of Worden Family Association for much information on the English Ancestry of this line of Wordens (available by subscription only).

'Some Records of Persons by the Name of Worden' by Oliver N. Worden published in 1868 states that Mary's maiden name was SEARS or WINSLOW but this has never been documented. Mary WORDEN's maiden name may be forever lost in the musty records of long ago. See also the footnote.[1]

She also was NOT born Winslow.

References

• 1. Genealogical Advertiser, a Quarterly Magazine of Family History, Volume 3, 1900, p 64: "Mary, not Mercy, wife of Peter Worden, died at Yarmouth, May, 1687. Worden Family Record by O.N. Worden, 1868, thinks she was a Sears or Winslow. She certainly was not a Sears. Freeman's Hist. Cape Cod, II 764, says 'Kenelm Winslow, Jr., married first his cousin, Mercy Worden,' and this indicates a previous Winslow and Worden marriage [disproven later]. Mary Worden's will is recorded at Barnstable. A search of Winslow records might settle the connection." [It did; there wasn't one.]