Ruth Whittier

Biography

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Green-300

Ruth Green married Thomas Whittier about 1646, probably in Salisbury. There are no records of the date or place of their marriage. The date of marriage is based on the date of birth of their first known child, Mary, in October 1647.[1] Their place of marriage is based on Thomas's presumed residency at the time and the place of birth of their first child.

Children

Ruth and Thomas had 10 children, all born in Haverhill except their first child, who was born in Salisbury.

1. Mary, b. 9: 8m: 1647 [October 9, 1647],[1] m. September 21, 1666 Benjamin Page in Haverhill[7]
2. John, b. December 23, 1649,[2] m. January 14, 1685/6 Mary Hoyt[7]
3. Ruth, b. August 9, 1651,[3] m. April 20, 1675 Joseph True in Salisbury[7]
4. Thomas, b. January 12, 1653/4,[3] d. October 17, 1728 in Haverhill, no children[7]
5. Susanna, b. March 27, 1656,[3] m. July 15, 1674 Jacob Morrill[7]
6. Nathaniel, b. August 11, 1658,[3] m. 1st August 26, 1685 Mary Osgood,[7] m. 2d June 1710 Mary Ring[7]
7. Hannah, b. September 10, 1660,[2] m. May 30, 1683 Edward Young in Haverhill[7]
8. Richard, b. June 27, 1663,[3] d. March 5, 1724/5, no children[7]
9. Elizabeth, b. November 21, 1666,[2] m. June 22, 1699 James Sanders in Haverhill[7]
10. Joseph, b. May 8, 1669,[2] m. May 24, 1694 Mary Peasley[7]

Death

Ruth's husband, Thomas, died in Haverhill in 1696.[20][7]

Ruth (Green) Whittier died in Haverhill in July 1710.[20][7]

Origin and Parentage

The first proven record of Ruth, the wife of Thomas Whittier, is a Salisbury record of the birth of a child named Mary, daughter of Tho and Ruth Whittier, on 9: 8m: 1647 [October 9, 1647].[1] The Haverhill birth records for Thomas Whittier's later-born children indicate that Ruth's maiden name was Green,[2][3] and her identity as Ruth Green has been accepted by the secondary sources.[4][5][6][7] The origin and parentage of Ruth Green has, however, remained a mystery.

Rolfe Connection Debunked

A brief 1882 NEHGR article about Henry and John Rolfe caused great mischief when it stated that:

The sister of Henry and John Rolfe, as we learn from their wills, married Thomas Whittier of Haverhill, but as the records of that town call his wife's name "Ruth Green," she must have been either a half sister to Rolfe, or a widow (Green) when she married Whittier. John Rolfe in his will expressly names two of Whittier's sons as my "sisters sons."[8]

A 1912 NEHGR article, however, disclosed records in England that convincingly established that a sister of Henry and John Rolfe named Mary married Richard Whittier (Thomas's father) and was Thomas's mother. With this new evidence, it became clear that the author of the 1882 NEHGR article about Henry and John Rolfe had misinterpreted the language in their wills. The bequests by John Rolfe to "Richard whittyr my sisters sonn" and "her [or his, depending on the transcription] sonn John whityr"[9] were not bequests to Thomas Whittier's children but to Thomas's brothers (or, brother and nephew under the "his" transcription), and Henry's will referred to Thomas Whittier as a "my Kinsman"[10] not because Thomas had married Henry's sister, but because Thomas was the son of Henry's sister. It thus turns out that, contrary to the claim in the 1882 NEHGR article, there is nothing in Henry and John Rolfe's wills that suggests that Ruth Green was related to the Rolfes. The updated interpretation of the wills of Henry and John Rolfe was acknowledged and adopted by the author of the 1937 "Descendants of Thomas Whittier and Ruth Green,"[11] which, given the absence of any evidence connecting her to the Rolfes, simply stated that "nothing is known of [Ruth Green's] parentage."[4]