unknown mother of Herodias Long

From Rebel Puritan

In 1665 Herodias began the account of her life with a tragedy: “I was upon the death of my father sent to London by my mother in much sorrow and grife of speritt.”  Bubonic plague hit England hard in 1636, one year before Herodias married John Hicks in London.  With Herodias’ father dead, the Long family may have been hard-pressed to support itself.  It was common practice for adolescents to work for family members, and Horod’s mother may have sent her daughter to London to reduce her family’s burden.

It is widely believed that Herodias was the daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Long of Charlestown, Massachusetts.  However, a petition for divorce that Herodias filed in 1665 refutes this.  In it, Herod testifies that her father died shortly before she was sent to London, where she married John Hicks in 1637.  She also says that her mother and brother had died "in His Majestyes service" some time before John Hicks abandoned Herod in 1644.  Horde's own words tell us that her parents died in England.

The actual marriage license to John Hicks from 1637 was destroyed during World War II, and we cannot ask Herodias herself.  Unless a baptismal record for Herodias is found, we may never know what her birth name actually was.

In 1639 John Ayshford’s will was proved, leaving five pounds to “Odias Longe.”  That sum would have enabled the Hicks family to relocate to Newport.  Horod probably didn’t get this bequest for another year, and referred to the money as “that Estate which was sent mee by my mother.”