Mercy Hunt

Mercy Hurd (?) was born circa 1618 at England. She died on 22 December 1693 at Marlborough, MA; under the name Hunt.

Parents: NOT the daughter of John Hurd of CT (1613-1681), who is the son of John Hurd (1585-1649). Said to have emigrated with her sister on account of religious differences in England (source1)

Married:

1. circa 1637 at Cambridge, M to Thomas Brigham
2. on 1 March 1655/56 at Sudbury, MA; (literally 1655) registered as Mary Brigham to Deacon Edmund Rice as his second wife; he was married to Thomasine Frost first.
3. in May 1663 at Cambridge, MA to William Hunt of Marlborough

Children of Mercy Hurd (?) and Thomas Brigham

1. Mary Brigham
2. Thomas Brigham
3. John Brigham
4. Hannah Brigham
5. Samuel Brigham

Children of Mercy Hurd (?) and Deacon Edmund Rice

1. Lydia Rice, born abt 1657 at Sudbury, MA, died May 26, 1718, married James Hawkins circa 1678
2. Ruth Rice, born September 29, 1659 at Marlborough, MA, died March 30, 1742 at Glastonbury, Connecticut, married Capt. Samuel Welles, son of Thomas Welles on 20 June 1683

A Lady of High Character

Of Mrs. Mercy (Hurd) Brigham, Rev. Abner Morse says:

"Thomas Brigham married about 1637, Mercy Hurd, a lady ten or fifteen years his junior, of whom tradition has brought down a high character, alleging that she and her sister, who married Wm. (?) Cutler, were so tantalized in England for non-conformity that they resolved to seek their liberty and fortunes in New England, and arrived unattended by husbands or lovers."

Mr. Morse says the tradition is direct and proably reliable.

"Success rewarded the enterprise. They were in as quick demand as unmarried teachers at the West, and if the number of worthy husbands whom a lady marries is the measure of her worth, then Madain Brigham was a most worthy and attractive woman, for she married no less than three . . . During her third widowhood she saw two bloody Indian wars. During the first Marlborough was burnt, and she with one of her sons is believed to have retreated to their former Home on the rocks in Cambridge, while her two sons went in pursuit of the enemy."

Notes

• As Mercy Hunt, she sued Robert Wilson in 1673 for debts owed to the estate of 'Edmund Rice sometime her husband.9' The 1656 marriage record apparently gives her name as Mary, while the Brigham probate records call her both Mary and Mercy. However, it should be noted that 'Marcy' is often misread as 'Mary.' The probate file of Thomas Brigham confirms that his widow Mercy was married to Edmund Rice by 1656.

Links

• Edmund Rice Organization
• Wikipedia: Edmund Rice (1638)

Sources

1. Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal ..., Volume 2 p. 434 By Ellery Bicknell Crane
2. Rev. Abner Morse's "Genealogical Register of Several Ancient Puritan Families," noted on http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~converse/books/2.html

• ______________
• Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal ..., Volume 4 By Ellery Bicknell Crane
• http://books.google.com/books?id=ByzhgLUOIRIC&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=M...
• Pg. 15
• HUBBARD HAMMOND BRIGHAM, M.D.
• Thomas Brigham (1), the pioneer ancestor of the Brigham family and of Dr. Hubbard Hammon Brigham, of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, was undoubtedly an Englishman by birth. The name Brigham is from the Saxon brigg (bridge) and ham (house). There is a Manor of the name in county Cumberland, adjoining Scotland, and in ancient days part of Scotland. They Barony from which the family name is derived is now generally called by another name, Cockermouth. The old castle was one of the strongest in its day. It was built largely of material taken from an olf Roman castle in the vicinity. As late as 1648 it was garrisoned and stood siege for a month. After it was captured it was nearly destroyed, but at last accounts a small part was still habitable. From this Manor the English and American Brighams get their names, and all probably are descended from the early Brighams of this place.
• Thomas Brigham embarked at London for New England, April 18, 1635, in the ship "Susan and Ellen," Edwary Pyne, master. No other of the same name is known to have embarked for the American colonies. He settled in Watertown. In 1637 he had a fourteen acre lot there, bought of John Doggett. It was situated in a part later annexed to Cambridge. He built his house in Cambridge on a lot containing three acres and a half. His neighbors were Joseph, Isaac and Simon Crosby. His home was about two-thirds of a mile from Harvard College, and at one point abutted on Charles river. He resided there until 1648. He was admitted a freeman April 18, 1637. He was one of the leading citizens, was selectman in 1640, 1642, and 1647, and was a constable in 1639 and 1642. He made a specialty on his farm of raising hogs, and in 1647 owned a third of all the swine in the town. He was fined for letting his hogs get away and run at large. He owned a wind mill in which corn was ground.
• He died December 8, 1653. His will was dated December 7, 1653-4, and was proved October 3, 1654. He married (first) Mercy Hurd, who is said to have come with her sister alone from England owing to religious difference from which they suffered annoyance and persecution at home. After the death of Mr. Brigham she married (second), March 1, 1655, Edmund Rice, of Sudbury, and Marlboro, ancestor of a notable Worcester family, by whom she had two daughters. (See Rice Sketch). He died 1663, and she married (third) William Hunt, of Marlboro, 1664. He died 1667, and she died December 23, 1693, after being in her third widowhood a period of twenty-six years. The children of Thomas and Mercy (Hurd) Brigham were: Mary, born probably at Watertown; Thomas, see forward; John, March 9, 1644, died September 16, 1728, aged eighty-four years; Hannah, March 9, 1649, married Samuel Wells; Samuel, born January 12, 1652-3, died July 24, 1713.
• (II) Thomas Brigham, second child of Thomas Brigham (I), was born 1640-1, died November 25, 1717, aged seventy-six years. On the death of his father and the marriage of his mother to Edmund Rice he seems to have lived with his mother in the Rice family. He bought of his father-in-law or step-father, as we now call it, Edmund Rice, a town right when he was of age. He paid thirty pounds for this valuable right to shares of the common land in Marlboro. The deed was given by Edmund Rice's executors, August 28, 1665. Through this purchase he became the ower of extensive tracts located in four of the richest farming towns of Massachusetts.
• In 1686 he was one of a company to buy 6,000 acres of land near Marlboro and afterwards annexed to it. He drew many lots in the south-west part of Marlboro, and the adjoining towns of Northboro and Westboro as now bounded. He settled in the southwest part of Marlboro, known in later years as Warren Brigham's farm, on the south road to Northboro. His house built not long after King Philip's war is now or was lately standing. It was strongly built and used as a garrison house in time of Indian wars. Thomas Brigham was a leading citizen in his day. His will was made April 17, 1716, and proved January 2, 1717. He gave his sons, David and Gershom Brigham, all his lands on the west side of the Assabet river and other lands near them. He bequeathed to Nathan and Jonathan in equial shares all that part of the Eaton family's on the east side of the Assabet river. Elnathan settled on part of the homestead. Nathan, Jonathan and Gershom were executors.
• He married Mary Rice, who was born September 19, 1646, daugher of Henry and Elizabeth (Moore) Rice, granddaughter of Edmund Rice, of Sudbury. He married (second), August 30, 1695, Susanna (Shattuck) Morse, widow. The children of Thomas and Mary (Rice) Brigham were: Thomas, born February 14, 1666; Nathan, see forward: David, August 11, 1673, died young; Jonathan, February 22, 1674, married Mary Fay; David, April 12, 1678; Gershom, Dr., February 23, 1680; Elnathan, March 7, 1683; Mary, October 26, 1687.
• ____________
• The Warren-Clarke genealogy : a record of persons related within the sixth degree to the children of Samuel Dennis Warren and Susan Cornelia Clarke (1894)
• http://www.archive.org/details/warrenclarkegene00hunt
• http://www.archive.org/stream/warrenclarkegene00hunt#page/n221/mode...
• Hurd, Mercy.
• Father :
• Mother :
• Birth :
• Death : Marlborough, Mass. . . Oct 1667.
• 1st Husband : Thomas Bridgeman.
  • Issue :
• 2d Husband : Edmund Rice . . . Mar. 1, 1655.
  • Issue :
• 3d Husband : William Hunt . . . 1664.
  • Issue :
• _______________________
• Genealogy of the name and family of Hunt : early established in America from Europe; exhibiting pedigrees of ten thousand persons... (1862)
• http://www.archive.org/details/genealogyofnamef00wyma
• http://www.archive.org/stream/genealogyofnamef00wyma#page/42/mode/1up
• WILLIAM HUNT.
• William Hunt, one of the first settlers of Concord, was made freeman, June 2, 1641. He was a large landed proprietor, and left considerable estates to his sons. He removed to Marlborough, and died in October, 1667, having made his will on the 21st of the same month. His first wife, and the mother of his children, was Elizabeth ____ , who died at Concord, Dec. 27, 1661 ; and, in 1664, he married Mercy, daughter of Hurd, whose first husband was Thomas Brigham ; and, second, Edmund Rice.
• ________________________
• Mercy Hurd
• F, b. circa 1613, d. 28 December 1693
• Father John Hurd b. c 1589
• Mercy Hurd was born circa 1613 at England. She married Thomas Brigham, son of John Brigham and Constance Watson, circa 1637. Mercy Hurd married Edmund Rice, son of Henry (Thomas) Rice and Margaret Baker, on 1 March 1655 at Sudbury, Middlesex, MA. Mercy Hurd died on 28 December 1693 at Marlborough, Middlesex, MA.
• Family 1 Thomas Brigham b. c 1603, d. 8 Dec 1653
• Children
  • Thomas Brigham+ b. 9 Mar 1641, d. 25 Nov 1717
  • Capt. Samuel Brigham+ b. 12 Jan 1652, d. 24 Jul 1713
• Family 2 Edmund Rice b. 11 Aug 1600, d. 3 May 1663
• Child
  • Ruth Rice+ b. 29 Sep 1659, d. 30 Mar 1742
• From: http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p2509.htm#...
• ______________
• Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume 1 By Henry Sweetser Burrage, Albert Roscoe Stubbs
• http://books.google.com/books?id=LDryyTRj8tgC&pg=PA245&lpg=PA245&dq...
• Pg. 245
• Her grandfather, Thomas Brigham, of Watertown and Cambridge, embarked in the "Susan and Ellen" April 18, 1625, was a freeman 1629, and selectman. His will dated 17, 10, 1654, was probated 25, 11, 1654. He married, about 1637, Mercy Hurd, who survived him. She married (second) Edmund Rice, and (third) William Hunt, and died at Marlboro, December 23, 1693.
• ________________
• History of Cambridge Massachusetts: Supplement and Index By Mary Isabella Gozzaldi
• http://books.google.com/books?id=EcAbhpypCD0C&pg=PA82&lpg=PA82&dq=s...
• Pg. 81
• Brigham, Elizabeth (Capt. Sam) of Marlborough, m. (1) Samuel Robinson, (Wm.) 16 Oct. 1711, (2) Joseph Rice, 24 Dec. 1728, d. 1738, 644
• Hannah (Thos.) b. 9 Mar. 1651, m. [%281%29 Gresham Ames, of Marlboro], (2) William Ward, of Marlboro, 501
• Harriet, of Westboro, descendant of Thomas, 501; m. William F. Stone, pub. 22 Sept. 1826, d. 2 July 1868, 666
• Pg. 82
• Jedediah (Sam., Thos.) b. Marlboro, 8 June 1693, m. Bethia Howe (Jos.) 18 May 1720, d. 21 May 1763, Guardian to Samuel Robinson, 1725, 644 M. W.
• John (Thos.) b. 9 Mar. 1645, d. 16 Sept. 1728, 501
• Lincoln, votre 1822, 448; selectman, 1823, 466, M. Adm. 1832
• Mary (Thos.) m. John Fay, of Marlboro bef. 1699, 501
• Samuel (Thos.) b. 12 Jan 1653, of Marlboro, m. Elizabeth Howe; d. 24 July 1713, 501, M. Adm.
• Sebastian bought house N. W. cor. Holyoke and Winthrop Sts., sold to John Bridge 1639, prob. rem. to Rowley. See Gage's History of Rowley, 501
• Taylor, voter 1822 [of Westboro, prob. m. Ann L. Jacobs, 11 Mar. 1827, V. R.], 448
• Thomas, b. 1603 [at Caverston, Oxfordshire] came to New Eng., 1635, in the Susan and Ellen, 35; res. E. cor Brattle and Ash Sts., rem. to Ipswich, 35 n.; constable 1639, 1642, m. Mercy Hurd, who m. (2) Edmund Rice, Sen. of Sudbury (3) William Hunt, of Concord, 501, 502; selectman 1639-40, 1642-47, 463; lot at Shawshine, 59; d. 1653. M. W.
• Thomas (Thos.) b. ab. 1641 [m. Mary Rice (Hen.) of Sudbury], d. 25 Nov. 1717, 501. M. W.
• ____________________
• Genealogical guide to the early settlers of America: with a brief history of ... By Henry Whittemore
• http://books.google.com/books?id=cSrlHHj2AFcC&pg=PA89&lpg=PA89&dq=s...
• Pg.60
• BRIGHAM: - THOMAS BRIGHAM. of Cambreidge, Mass., came in the "Susan and Ellen," 1635, aged 32; admited freeman April 18, 1636. by wife Mercy Hurd, he had Thomas 1642, John 1645, Mary Hannah, Samuel 1653.
  • References .... etc.
• Pg. 276
• WILLIAM HUNT, Concord, freeman 1641, had Samuel, Nehemiah, Isaac, William, who died before his father, and several daughters, of whom perhaps the youngest was Hannah, born 1641. His widow Eliz. died 1661. He removed to Marlborough, married 1664, Mercy, widow of Edmund Rice, who had been widow of Thomas Brigham, whose maiden name was Hurd; died 1667.
• ____________________
• HURD, Mercy
• b. ABT 1615 England
• d. 28 DEC 1693 Marlborough, Middlesex, Mass.
• Family:
• Spouse:HUNT, William
• Family:
• Marriage: ABT 1637
• Spouse: BRIGHAM, Thomas
• b. 1603 England
• d. 8 DEC 1653
• Children:
  • BRIGHAM, Mary
  • BRIGHAM, Thomas
  • BRIGHAM, John
  • BRIGHAM, Hannah
  • BRIGHAM, Samuel
• Family:
• Marriage: 1 MAR 1654/5
• Spouse:Rice, Edmund
• Children:
  • RICE, Ruth
  • RICE, Ann
• From: http://www.genealogyofnewengland.com/f_7.htm#291
• ___________________

Little is known about Mercy's family or even her birth but she was a strong willed woman who traveled to America with her sister without a male relative. She ran men off her land when they attempted to repossess pigs that were not fenced in. After the death of her husband Thomas she remarried Dea. Edmund Rice and had two more daughters. After Edmund's death she married William Hunt, a settler of Concord. She outlived William by 26 years. She was recorded as owning land in Marlborough in 1680, much earlier than was normal for a woman to own land. She had 8 children and 15 stepchildren and roughly a hundred grandchildren and over a thousand great-grandchildren. She was the matriarch of the entire Brigham family. An antique box she took with her from England is held at the Worcester Historical Museum for all her descendants to view. It is considered the oldest piece of furniture in New England, dating from the 1400s.

• _______________________

  ---

  
  

Mercy Hurd (?) was born circa 1618 at England. She died on 22 December 1693 at Marlborough, MA; under the name Hunt. Parents: NOT the daughter of John Hurd of CT (1613-1681), who is the son of John Hurd (1585-1649). Said to have emigrated with her sister on account of religious differences in England (source1) Married: circa 1637 at Cambridge, M to Thomas Brigham on 1 March 1655/56 at Sudbury, MA; (literally 1655) registered as Mary Brigham to Deacon Edmund Rice as his second wife; he was married to Thomasine Frost first. in May 1663 at Cambridge, MA to William Hunt of Marlborough Children of Mercy Hurd (?) and Thomas Brigham Mary Brigham Thomas Brigham John Brigham Hannah Brigham Samuel Brigham Children of Mercy Hurd (?) and Deacon Edmund Rice Lydia Rice, born abt 1657 at Sudbury, MA, died May 26, 1718, married James Hawkins circa 1678 Ruth Rice, born September 29, 1659 at Marlborough, MA, died March 30, 1742 at Glastonbury, Connecticut, married Capt. Samuel Welles, son of Thomas Welles on 20 June 1683 A Lady of High Character Of Mrs. Mercy (Hurd) Brigham, Rev. Abner Morse says: "Thomas Brigham married about 1637, Mercy Hurd, a lady ten or fifteen years his junior, of whom tradition has brought down a high character, alleging that she and her sister, who married Wm. (?) Cutler, were so tantalized in England for non-conformity that they resolved to seek their liberty and fortunes in New England, and arrived unattended by husbands or lovers."

Mr. Morse says the tradition is direct and proably reliable. "Success rewarded the enterprise. They were in as quick demand as unmarried teachers at the West, and if the number of worthy husbands whom a lady marries is the measure of her worth, then Madain Brigham was a most worthy and attractive woman, for she married no less than three . . . During her third widowhood she saw two bloody Indian wars. During the first Marlborough was burnt, and she with one of her sons is believed to have retreated to their former Home on the rocks in Cambridge, while her two sons went in pursuit of the enemy."

Notes As Mercy Hunt, she sued Robert Wilson in 1673 for debts owed to the estate of 'Edmund Rice sometime her husband.9' The 1656 marriage record apparently gives her name as Mary, while the Brigham probate records call her both Mary and Mercy. However, it should be noted that 'Marcy' is often misread as 'Mary.' The probate file of Thomas Brigham confirms that his widow Mercy was married to Edmund Rice by 1656. Links Edmund Rice Organization Wikipedia: Edmund Rice (1638) Sources Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal ..., Volume 2 p. 434 By Ellery Bicknell Crane Rev. Abner Morse's "Genealogical Register of Several Ancient Puritan Families," noted on http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~converse/books/2.html ______________ Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal ..., Volume 4 By Ellery Bicknell Crane http://books.google.com/books?id=ByzhgLUOIRIC&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=M... Pg. 15 HUBBARD HAMMOND BRIGHAM, M.D. Thomas Brigham (1), the pioneer ancestor of the Brigham family and of Dr. Hubbard Hammon Brigham, of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, was undoubtedly an Englishman by birth. The name Brigham is from the Saxon brigg (bridge) and ham (house). There is a Manor of the name in county Cumberland, adjoining Scotland, and in ancient days part of Scotland. They Barony from which the family name is derived is now generally called by another name, Cockermouth. The old castle was one of the strongest in its day. It was built largely of material taken from an olf Roman castle in the vicinity. As late as 1648 it was garrisoned and stood siege for a month. After it was captured it was nearly destroyed, but at last accounts a small part was still habitable. From this Manor the English and American Brighams get their names, and all probably are descended from the early Brighams of this place. Thomas Brigham embarked at London for New England, April 18, 1635, in the ship "Susan and Ellen," Edwary Pyne, master. No other of the same name is known to have embarked for the American colonies. He settled in Watertown. In 1637 he had a fourteen acre lot there, bought of John Doggett. It was situated in a part later annexed to Cambridge. He built his house in Cambridge on a lot containing three acres and a half. His neighbors were Joseph, Isaac and Simon Crosby. His home was about two-thirds of a mile from Harvard College, and at one point abutted on Charles river. He resided there until 1648. He was admitted a freeman April 18, 1637. He was one of the leading citizens, was selectman in 1640, 1642, and 1647, and was a constable in 1639 and 1642. He made a specialty on his farm of raising hogs, and in 1647 owned a third of all the swine in the town. He was fined for letting his hogs get away and run at large. He owned a wind mill in which corn was ground. He died December 8, 1653. His will was dated December 7, 1653-4, and was proved October 3, 1654. He married (first) Mercy Hurd, who is said to have come with her sister alone from England owing to religious difference from which they suffered annoyance and persecution at home. After the death of Mr. Brigham she married (second), March 1, 1655, Edmund Rice, of Sudbury, and Marlboro, ancestor of a notable Worcester family, by whom she had two daughters. (See Rice Sketch). He died 1663, and she married (third) William Hunt, of Marlboro, 1664. He died 1667, and she died December 23, 1693, after being in her third widowhood a period of twenty-six years. The children of Thomas and Mercy (Hurd) Brigham were: Mary, born probably at Watertown; Thomas, see forward; John, March 9, 1644, died September 16, 1728, aged eighty-four years; Hannah, March 9, 1649, married Samuel Wells; Samuel, born January 12, 1652-3, died July 24, 1713. (II) Thomas Brigham, second child of Thomas Brigham (I), was born 1640-1, died November 25, 1717, aged seventy-six years. On the death of his father and the marriage of his mother to Edmund Rice he seems to have lived with his mother in the Rice family. He bought of his father-in-law or step-father, as we now call it, Edmund Rice, a town right when he was of age. He paid thirty pounds for this valuable right to shares of the common land in Marlboro. The deed was given by Edmund Rice's executors, August 28, 1665. Through this purchase he became the ower of extensive tracts located in four of the richest farming towns of Massachusetts. In 1686 he was one of a company to buy 6,000 acres of land near Marlboro and afterwards annexed to it. He drew many lots in the south-west part of Marlboro, and the adjoining towns of Northboro and Westboro as now bounded. He settled in the southwest part of Marlboro, known in later years as Warren Brigham's farm, on the south road to Northboro. His house built not long after King Philip's war is now or was lately standing. It was strongly built and used as a garrison house in time of Indian wars. Thomas Brigham was a leading citizen in his day. His will was made April 17, 1716, and proved January 2, 1717. He gave his sons, David and Gershom Brigham, all his lands on the west side of the Assabet river and other lands near them. He bequeathed to Nathan and Jonathan in equial shares all that part of the Eaton family's on the east side of the Assabet river. Elnathan settled on part of the homestead. Nathan, Jonathan and Gershom were executors. He married Mary Rice, who was born September 19, 1646, daugher of Henry and Elizabeth (Moore) Rice, granddaughter of Edmund Rice, of Sudbury. He married (second), August 30, 1695, Susanna (Shattuck) Morse, widow. The children of Thomas and Mary (Rice) Brigham were: Thomas, born February 14, 1666; Nathan, see forward: David, August 11, 1673, died young; Jonathan, February 22, 1674, married Mary Fay; David, April 12, 1678; Gershom, Dr., February 23, 1680; Elnathan, March 7, 1683; Mary, October 26, 1687. ____________

Mercy, (Hurd), (Brigham), (Rice), Hunt;

Mercy Hurd Brigham first married Thomas Brigham, who was born in Holme-on-Spalding Moor, Yorkshire, England, in 1603, d. in Cambridge, Mass., 8 Dec., 1653.

Mercy Hurd, whose surname is supposed to have been Third, who was probably b. in England, and d. in Marlboro, Mass., 23 Dec., 1693; she m. (2) Edmund Rice of Marlboro, and they had two daughters; she died the widow of William Hunt of Marlboro, her third husband. The name Hurd is only traditional, and the Rice Genealogy by Ward is responsible for the tradition. The legend on the illustration of box which faces page 53 of the H. B. F. should read “Mercy Hunt’s Cap box.”

Ref: RENO WARBURTON BACKUS 1966 (Brigham)

Mercy Hurd married her second husband, Edmund Rice, in 01 Mar 1655 Mercy Hunt married her third husband William Hunt married about 1664.

Ref: W. I. Tyler Brigham 1603-1653

It is believed that, when Mercy Brigham married Edmund Rice and came to Marlboro, they lived in the vicinity of the old Ephraim Brigham house on Clover Hill, and there the Brigham boys, Thomas, John and Samuel, and their sisters, Mary and Hannah, had their first home in Marlboro.

Ref: RENO WARBURTON BACKUS 1966 (Brigham)