Mary Foster
Wife of Thomas Thompson of Deer Isle, Maine, whom she married at Roxbury in 1765, and probably the mother of Rebecca (Thompson) Low. Called "a very worthy woman," she was remembered in the family as a small, precise old lady in a cap with her feet on a footstool. Her parents are not known for certain.
Life
- c. 1744Bornc. 1744/5
Died in 1836 aged 91.
compiledprobable - 1765Married Thomas Thompson28 Oct 1765, Roxbury, Massachusetts
"Foster ... Mary, and Thomas Thompson, Oct. 28, 1765" (2:153; also 2:394). Mollie says "in Boston or Dorchester."
documentedproven - 1836DiedDeer Isle, Maine
Hosmer p. 218, "1836, Mrs. Thompson, widow of Thomas Thompson, aged 91." The Deer Isle record quoted in the Deer Isle families typescript has "Widow Mary Thompson Deceased March -- 1837."
Family
- Father
- John Foster
Mollie's claim. Hosmer calls her "the sister of Mr. William Foster" of Deer Isle, who came from Dedham; a William, son of John and Jane Foster, was born at Roxbury in 1753. But John married Jane Lindsey in 1750, about five years after Mary was born, and no Mary is among their children or in the 1773 guardianships. She could be John's daughter by an earlier, unidentified wife, or another Foster altogether.
inferredpossible - Spouse
Pedigree
Notes
Wife of Thomas Thompson of Deer Isle; Hosmer calls her “a very worthy woman” (p. 47). Mollie records her mother’s memory of a small, dainty, precise old lady in a cap with her feet on a footstool.
The tradition that she was “half French and Indian,” which Mollie herself rejects (p. 119), has no support: everything found places her among English Congregational families at Roxbury.
Hosmer names her brother as William Foster of Deer Isle, a blacksmith from Dedham who held a 200-acre lot and had thirteen children: “Of him Deacon Nehemiah Closson learned his trade” (pp. 51-52). William was a Deer Isle selectman in 1789-93 and 1802 (pp. 220-226).
A Mary, daughter of Thomas and Mary Foster, was born at Dorchester on 2 Feb 1741/2, but she would have been 94 in 1836, not 91.
Open questions
- Her parents, the key gap on this side. Read Suffolk Probate no. 12403 (John Foster, 1760) with its division (Mollie’s “Lib. 73, fol. 14”) and the 1773 guardianships (15400, 15401, 15599) for a “Mary Thompson” among the heirs. Look for a first marriage of John Foster about 1743-45, and for her baptism in the Roxbury First Church records.
- Mollie (p. 114) makes Jane, John Foster’s widow, her mother. The 1750 marriage date argues against it.
- Did she die in 1836 (Hosmer) or March 1837 (the Deer Isle record as the typescript quotes it)?
Mollie's typescript
Mollie rejects the family tradition that she was half French and Indian, and records her mother Harriet's memory of being taken as a small child to see her, a small, dainty, precise old lady in a cap with her feet on a footstool; she lived to over ninety.
My mother, distinctly remembered to have been taken, when a very young child, to see her. She recalled that Mary was small and dainty, and very precise, and wore a chic cap and had her little feet, daintily shod, resting on a footstool.
p. 119 →
Checked against the records
- DisprovenThomas Thompson, a Boston man, married in Boston or Dorchester
He married Mary Foster at Roxbury on 28 Oct 1765 (Roxbury vital records), so no children were born before that year; a son Thomas was baptized at Roxbury in Jan 1767. No Boston birth for him is in the printed records, and Hosmer says only that he "removed here from Massachusetts".
Read it in the book, p. 111 → - PossibleMary Foster was a daughter of John Foster and his wife Jane
Possible only. John Foster married Jane Lindsey at Boston on 20 Apr 1750, about five years after Mary was born, and their children recorded at Roxbury (1751-1760) and in the 1773 guardianships include no Mary. Hosmer calls her a sister of William Foster of Deer Isle, so she may be John's daughter by an earlier wife.
Read it in the book, p. 114 → - UnlikelyMary (Foster) Thompson was said to be half French and Indian
Mollie rejects it, and the records lean her way: everything found places Mary among English Congregational families at Roxbury, where she married in 1765. Her mother is unidentified, so it cannot be strictly ruled out.
Read it in the book, p. 119 → - PossibleHarriet remembered being taken as a very young child to see Mary
Possible, but she was very young indeed. Harriet was born on 12 June 1834, and Mary died in 1836 (Hosmer) or March 1837 (the Deer Isle record), so Harriet was two, or not yet three.
Read it in the book, p. 119 →
Connections
- In her ancestry
- 5 notable connections →
Every notable ancestor and famous relative that Mary's own ancestors lead to, with the lines drawn down to her.