Mary Churchill
Wife of Eleazer Churchill and mother of his eleven children, probably among them Mary, wife of Edward Stephens. She was probably Mary Bryant, born in 1654, daughter of Stephen Bryant and Abigail Shaw. She died at Plymouth in 1715, aged 60, and lies on Burial Hill.
Life
- c. 1655Bornc. 1655
From her age at death, 60 in Dec 1715. If she was Mary Bryant, she was born 29 May 1654.
documentedprobable - 1715Died11 Dec 1715, Plymouth, Massachusetts
"Here lyes ye body of Mrs MARY CHURCHELL wife to Mr Eleazar Churchell aged 60 years decesd Decr ye 11 1715" (Kingman no. 35). So born about 1655.
documentedproven - —Buried
Family
- Father
- Stephen Bryant
Torrey, with a question mark. No will or deed names her. The Bryants and Shaws carry no Mayflower line.
compiledprobableSources
- Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700
- Reasoning:
research/warren/Warren_Line_Research.md
- Mother
- Abigail Shaw
Follows from the Bryant identification.
compiledprobableSources
- Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700
- Reasoning:
research/warren/Warren_Line_Research.md
- Spouse
- Eleazer Churchill
"The children of Eleazer Churchell & Mary his wife"; her stone calls her "wife to Mr Eleazar Churchell."
1 child
Pedigree
Notes
Wife of Eleazer Churchill and mother of his eleven children. Probably Mary Bryant, born 29 May 1654, daughter of Stephen Bryant and Abigail Shaw (Torrey, with a question mark).
Not “Mary Doty”: that was the widow of Thomas Doty, who married Henry Churchill in 1687/8. Mollie Pfeiffer (typescript pp. 52-60) made Eleazer’s wife “Mary Doty,” daughter of Edward Doty of the Mayflower and Faith Clarke, but the record reads “Henery Churchill married Mary Doty widow 8 Feb. 1687/88” (MD 13:204): Henry, not Eleazer, and a widow. So the family has no Doty or Tristram Clarke descent. Mollie wrote of herself, “Maybe she reverted to her ancestor, Edward Doty, and to the persistency of her ancestor Thomas Mayhew” (p. 85); neither is an ancestor, since the Doty link fails here and the Mayhew link at Elisha Holbrook’s wife.
Open questions
- Was she Mary Bryant (b. 1654)? No will or deed names her.
Mollie's typescript
Mollie gives Eleazer Churchill's wife, who died on 11 Dec 1715 aged 60, as Mary Doty, married 8 Feb 1688; the records show that marriage was Henry Churchill's, and that she was not a Doty.
ELEAZER CHURCHILL(3) Joseph 1, John 2) Born Apr. 20, 1652 Died 1716 Married Feb 8, 1688 Mary Doty d. Dec. 11, 1715 age 60
p. 60 →
Checked against the records
- DisprovenEdward Doty's daughter Mary married Eleazer Churchill in 1688
There is no Doty or Clarke descent. The 1687/8 record reads "Henery CHURCHILL married Mary DOTY widow" (Plymouth vital records): Henry married the widow of Edward's son Thomas. Eleazer's one wife, Mary, mother of all his children, was probably Mary Bryant (b. 1654). Edward Doty's own daughter Mary married Samuel Hatch.
Read it in the book, p. 52 → - DisprovenEleazer Churchill married Mary Doty on 8 Feb 1688
8 Feb 1687/8 is the date of Henry Churchill's marriage to "Mary DOTY widow", probably Eleazer's sister Mary, widow of Thomas Doty (p. 64). Eleazer's wife Mary died 11 Dec 1715 "aged 60", so was born about 1655, and Mollie's own list of their children has Stephen born in Feb 1684/5, three years before that wedding.
Read it in the book, p. 60 → - DisprovenEdward Doty and Joseph Wise, younger sons of noble families, were ancestors
Edward Doty was not an ancestor: the "Mary Doty" who married a Churchill in 1687/8 was Thomas Doty's widow, not Eleazer Churchill's wife. Joseph Wise was an ancestor, twice, but of no noble family: he was baptized at Bulkington, Warwickshire, in 1617, son of Henry Wise (West, NEHGR, 2023).
Read it in the book, p. 73 → - DisprovenMollie descended from Edward Doty and Thomas Mayhew
Neither man is an ancestor. The Doty link fails at Eleazer Churchill, whose wife was not Edward Doty's daughter, and the Mayhew link at Elisha Holbrook, whose wife, Gideon's mother, was Sarah Mayo, not Mary Mayhew.
Read it in the book, p. 85 →