Paternity Drama in Colonial America (part 5)

Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry provides more stories about out-of-wedlock births in colonial America, focusing on Andover, Massachusetts. Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, AnceStory Archives, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.

Today I have another round of paternity dramas brought to you by the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the early families residing in Andover. Many of these names appear in the court records of the 1692 Salem Witch hysteria.

The court cases are listed in Melinde Lutz Sanborn’s book Lost Babes: Fornication Abstracts from Court Records, Essex County, Massachusetts, 1692-1745, and the original court documents are on the FamilySearch site Court Records, 1686-1726.

On 25 June 1706, Mary Granger, a single woman and daughter of John Granger and Martha Poor, was accused of the crime of fornication. Granger named Samuel Blanchard as the father of her son Samuel Granger, born on 21 February 1705/6.

The midwife, Hannah (Frye) Chandler, testified that Blanchard was the father and the court ordered him to pay Granger 6s and 2ps per week for maintenance on the child plus court fees. Stephen Osgood and William Foster secured bond.

I do not think Mary ever married, and she died in Andover on 2 October 1750. Her son Samuel could be the husband of Mary Marston; however, Mary had a brother Samuel born in 1701. More research is needed.

The father of Mary’s illegitimate son, Samuel Blanchard, was the son of Samuel Blanchard and Hannah Daggett. He married Sarah Johnson, daughter of William Johnson and Sarah Mary Lovejoy, in Andover on 31 March 1708/9.

In another case, Mary Bixby, daughter of Daniel Bixby and Hannah Chandler, was charged with the crime of fornication on 22 June 1715, and named Joseph Wright (Write/Right) as the father. She was charged a fine of 50s.

Mary Bixby married George Holt, son of Henry Holt and Sarah Ballard, in Andover in June 1716.

Holt was on his 2^nd marriage and his wife, Priscilla Preston, died in childbirth on 29 February 1715/16.

From records it is likely that the illegitimate daughter born to Mary Bixby could be Mary Holt, born on 4 March 1715/16 and raised in the household with the other Holt children born to the couple. However, more research is needed.

This paternity plot is complicated. The above Joseph Wright (Write/Right), son of Walter Wright and Elizabeth Peters, accused of fathering Bixby’s child in 1714, was married at that time to Sarah Chandler, daughter of John Chandler and Hannah Abbott.

On 29 December 1713, Joseph Wright was found guilty of the crime of fornication before marriage with his wife Sarah and fined 30s and court costs. The child born to the couple was John Wright Jr.

When Bixby charged Wright in June 1715, his wife Sarah was with child and gave birth to a daughter, Sarah Wright, on 17 August 1715.

Joseph Wright moved his family to Woodstock, Windham County, Connecticut. The family lived in the home of Sarah’s brother John Chandler Jr., married to Hannah Frye (the above midwife), daughter of Samuel Frye and Hannah Aslett.

In 1737 the Wright family was devastated by a house fire that took the lives of Sarah and one son. The Boston Evening-Post covered the event.

This article reported:

We hear from Woodstock that last Wednesday night a large and stately house, one of the best in that town, (belonging to John Chandler, Jun. Esq. of Worcester, but in occupation of Lieut. Joseph Wright), was consumed by fire, with all the provisions and furniture, and what was of infinitely more value, three persons, viz. Mrs. Wright, her son about twelve years old, and a Negro man [John Page]. ‘Tis said Mrs. Wright got out and might easily have escaped, but being desirous to save her son (and who that is a parent can wonder that she ran some risk?) ventured too far, and perished in the flames.

The Chandler genealogy cites the following source from the town records of Woodstock:

Mrs. Sarah Wright, the wife of Lieut. Joseph Wright, aged about 44 years, and Abial [Abiel/Abel] Wright, son of said Joseph Wright by Sarah his wife, having just completed the 11^th year of his age, and John Page, a servant to said Wright, aged about 30 years, were all burnt to death the following night after the 15^th day of March 1736-7 in the dissolution of his house by fire. (p. 66.) The Chandler Family: The Descendants of William and Annis Chandler Who Settled in Roxbury, Mass., 1637, George Chandler.

On 15 December 1737, in Woodstock, Joseph Wright married Mrs. Elizabeth Chamberlain, widow of Edmund Chamberlain and daughter of William Bartholomew and Mary Johnson.

The daughter Sarah Wright (mentioned above), born at Andover in 1715, married Edmund Chamberlain Jr., son of her father’s 3^rd wife, on 17 January 1734, in Woodstock. Sarah and Edmund had a son, Abial Chamberlain, named in honor of her brother who died in the fire.

Rebecca Farnham (Farnum), daughter of Thomas Farnham and Hannah Hutchinson, was charged with fornication on 16 July 1723, and accused Edward Farrington Jr. of fathering her female child, Mary Farnham, born 31 January 1722/3.

Rebecca married Obadiah Holt, son of Samuel Holt and Hannah Farnum, in 1726 and 2^nd Joseph Berry, son of John and Rachel Berry, in 1742.

The daughter Mary Farnham, born out of wedlock, shows up in vital records under the surname Farrington when she marries John Grow in Andover on 26 October 1742, and the couple left many descendants.

Edward Farrington Jr. was the son of Martha Browne and Edward Farrington Sr. (who was accused of witchcraft, “Covenanting w’th the Devill” and afflicting Mary Warren in 1692 during the Salem witch hysteria). Edward Jr. married Ruth Killam/Kilham, daughter of James Killam and Patience Collins, and left descendants.

To be continued…

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Note on the header image: Old Benjamin Abbott Homestead, 9 Andover Street, West Parish, Andover, Massachusetts. In 1692, Benjamin Abbot accused Martha Carrier of cursing him after a boundary dispute, which led to his own illness and the loss of his cattle. Courtesy of the Andover Historical Society.

Related Articles:

• Paternity Court Drama in 17th Century America
• Paternity Court Drama in 17th Century America, Part II
• Paternity Court Drama in 17th Century America, Part III
• Genealogy Discoveries: Lost Babes of Essex County, MA
• Famous Hotchkiss Family Line Descended from 17th Century ‘Filthy Dalliance’
• Puritan Court Drama: Woman Won’t Identify Child’s Father
• Puritan Court Drama: Woman Won’t Identify Child’s Father, Part II
• Paternity Drama in Colonial America (part 1)
• Paternity Drama in Colonial America (part 2)
• Paternity Drama in Colonial America (part 3)
• Paternity Drama in Colonial America (part 4)