Martha Boreman

Also Martha Borman · Martha Boardman · Martha Low

Wife of Deacon Thomas Low of Ipswich, Massachusetts, whom she married in 1660, and a daughter of Thomas Boreman; probably the mother of David Low. In 1669 she testified at the trial of their servant John Chub for killing Reynold Foster's horse, and her husband's will of 1708 left her "the new end" of the house and "a horse to ride at her pleasure." She died in 1720, in her 79th year.

Family tree →Migration map →
01

Life

  1. c. 1641
    Born
    c. 1641/2

    From her age at death, "in her 79th y.," and "aged twenty-eight years" in March 1669 (Essex Quarterly Courts 4:125).

    documentedprobable
    Sources· 2 found
  2. 1660
    Married Thomas Low
    4 July 1660, Ipswich, Massachusetts

    "Thomas, and Martha Borman, July 4, 1660. ct. r." (2:292).

    documentedproven
    Sources· 1 found
  3. 1720
    Died
    22 Jan 1720, Ipswich, Massachusetts

    "Jan. 22, 1720, in her 79th y." (2:625).

    documentedproven
    Sources· 1 found
02

Family

Father
Thomas Boreman 1601–1673

Item to my daughter Martha the wife of Thomas Loe to her children twenty pounds.

documentedproven
Sources· 1 found
Mother
Margaret Boreman d. 1679

The widow Margaret's will leaves "my daughter Loe all my peuter."

documentedproven
Sources· 1 found
03

Pedigree

documentedcompiledinferred
04

Notes

Wife of Deacon Thomas Low of Ipswich. She signed with her mark, “Martha (her mark) Low,” the 1668 petition of Chebacco neighbours for Thomas Wells and his wife. In March 1669, when their servant John Chub was tried for killing Reynold Foster’s horse, she deposed that Chub had said “if he could save himself by telling two or three lies and turn it to anybody else, he was bound in conscience to do so.” In 1670 she and her husband testified that Thomas Brag was one of “the quietest young men in all oure ende: one of few words and Therfor the mos apt for to be abused by any one” (Essex Quarterly Courts 4:76, 124-126, 243). His will of 1708 left her “the new end” of the house, “a horse to ride at her pleasure,” and her food, cider, wool and flax for life.

Open questions

  • Is the gravestone’s “Jan. 22, 1720” 1719/20 or 1720/21?
Mollie's typescript· 2 passages · 2 claims checked

What Mollie wrote about her in The Holbrook and Low Families, and her claims about her checked against the records.

  1. As the widow of Deacon Thomas Low she was left a new end of the mansion, food, fuel, the milk of two cows, a horse to ride and a garden.

    a horse to ride at her pleasure and convenience, together with a garden at the end of the house." She was Martha Boreman (see forward).
    p. 75 →

  2. Her father's will of 1670 left £20 to her children, and her mother's will left her pewter, fine sheets, two cows, a black gown and a red petticoat.

    To my daughter Martha wife of Thomas Loe (Low) to her children 20 pounds three years after the decease of my wife
    p. 90 →

Checked against the records

  • Unlikely
    Deacon Low's widow Martha spoke of her loss in accents of sorrow

    These are not her words. They come from Crowell's imagined visit to the widow in 1712 (History of Essex, 1868, pp. 120-121), a scene he wrote himself, not a record. The will they describe, dated 17 June 1708, is real.

    Read it in the book, p. 75 →
  • Proven
    Deacon Low's will provided his widow food, cider, wool and a horse

    His will of 17 June 1708 left Martha "the new end" of the house, which he had built a few years before, with pork, winter apples, cider, malt, corn, wheat, wool, flax, firewood, the milk of two cows and "a horse to ride at her pleasure" (Crowell, 1868, summarizing the will).

    Read it in the book, p. 75 →
05

Connections

In her ancestry
1 notable connection →

Every notable ancestor and famous relative that Martha's own ancestors lead to, with the lines drawn down to her.

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