Mayo Line

The ancestry of Sarah Mayo (bapt. Truro 1725), first wife of Deacon Elisha Holbrook of Wellfleet and mother of Capt. Gideon Holbrook. Her father was a yeoman and precinct treasurer of the North Precinct of Eastham, now Wellfleet; behind him are the Mayos of Eastham and the immigrant minister Rev. John Mayo, and through the wives the Howes family of Yarmouth, Gov. Thomas Prence, the Mulfords of Eastham and Truro, the Bassetts and the Barnes family of Hingham.

This line replaces the “Mary Mayhew” of Mollie’s typescript. Her Mayhew, Wetherell, Skiff, Bayes and Newcomb lines are not ancestral: Daniel Mayo’s will of 1754 names “Sarah the wife of Elisha Holbrook,” and Mollie’s Mary Mayhew was a Plymouth girl born in 1742 (MD 19:90) who did not marry a Holbrook.

The line at a glance

• Father’s side: Rev. John Mayo (bapt. 1597, d. Yarmouth 1676) > John Mayo (c. 1627/30-by 1706) and Hannah Lecraft > Daniel Mayo (1664-by 1715) and Sarah Howes > Daniel Mayo “Senr.” (c. 1686/93-1754/5) > Sarah.
• Sarah Howes: daughter of Jeremiah Howes (c. 1637-1708) and Sarah Prence (c. 1646/7-1706/7), daughter of Gov. Thomas Prence, probably by Mary Collier.
• Mother’s side: Mary Mulford (1695-by 1760), daughter of Elder Thomas Mulford of Truro and Mary Bassett; through them Thomas Mulford Sr. and Elizabeth Barnes of Hingham, and Nathaniel Bassett, son of William Bassett of the Fortune (1621).

No Mayflower descent

None was found through either parent. Daniel (b. 1664) was a son of John Mayo and Hannah Lecraft, not of Nathaniel Mayo and Hannah Prence, who were his uncle and aunt. The Prence descent is real but comes through Sarah Prence, born about 1646/7, long after Patience Brewster’s death in 1634, so there is no Brewster line. Prence and William Bassett came on the Fortune. WikiTree’s Mayflower lines for Mary Bassett are unsupported. (The rejected Mayhew line would have given a real Brewster descent.)

The weakest links

• Daniel Mayo Sr. as son of Daniel (b. 1664): the 1715 administration and 1716 division are known only through WikiTree’s citations; that the administrator is Mary Mulford’s husband is our inference, argued in the research file, section (b).
• Sarah Howes as wife of Daniel (b. 1664): compiled (Hawes; Elliot), supported by a son named Jeremiah and Middleborough land.
• Sarah Prence’s mother: Mary Collier (Hawes) or Apphia (Quicke) Freeman; Stratton has Mary Collier dying about 1644. If Apphia, the Colliers drop out.
• John Mayo as son of Rev. John: a John Mayo signed for the estate in 1676; that he is the Eastham John is compiled (Pratt; Hawes).
• The Mulford generation above Elder Thomas: compiled only (WikiTree citing TAG 40:193-198, not read).

Open questions

• The 1742 marriage record reads “Annah Mayo”; get the image of the Eastham original and the intention.
• Check the Barnstable probate images against the compiled transcripts: Daniel (1664), John Mayo, Jeremiah Howes, Nathaniel Bassett, Thomas Mulford, Daniel Sr., and Mary Mayo’s administration and division.
• MD volumes 26-34, not on archive.org, should have the births of Elisha and Sarah’s children (Elisha/Sarah at 29:13).
• Sources for the FamilySearch dates of Sarah’s birth (6 Dec 1721) and death (16 May 1767).
• Who is the broken Chequesset Neck stone, “wife of DANIEL … 65th,” for?
• Who was Martha Holbrook, wife of Daniel Mayo Jr., and how was she related to Elisha?
• Read Barclay (TAG 40:193-198), Nickerson (NEHGR 95, 103) and Chauncey Mayo (1927).