♀Hannah Mansfield

Hannah Mansfield (living in 1712) was the eighth great-grandmother of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006), through her son Nathanael Conant (1680–1745). She married Nathaniel Conant (1650 – 1732) before 8 November 1677 and raised eight children with him, first at Beverly and then at Bridgewater, in Plymouth County, Massachusetts. Her husband’s will of 1712 left her a share of their home for her widowhood and made her its executrix together with their eldest son.

Family

A Conant family genealogy published in 1887 names her as a daughter of Andrew and Bithiah Mansfield of Lynn. It quotes her father’s will, proved in 1683, which divided his quarter share of a sloop among his “two sons and four daughters Andrew and Daniel Mansfield, Hannah and Bethia Conant, Lydia and Deborah Mansfield”.

Beverly and Bridgewater

Nathaniel and Hannah’s first children were born at Beverly, beginning with a daughter, Bithiah, in November 1677; their eldest son, Nathanael, followed about 1680. The family had moved to Bridgewater, in Plymouth Colony^W, by 1689: when their son Lot was baptized at Beverly that year, the record described his parents as of Bridgewater. The genealogy gives two more daughters, Lydia and Rebekah, born at Bridgewater in the 1690s.

On 3 July 1712 Nathaniel made his will. He left Hannah a third of the homestead, two cows and household goods for her widowhood, and named her executrix together with their eldest son, Nathanael. The will names eight children: the eldest son, Nathanael, already settled on land his father had deeded to him; Josiah; Lot, the youngest son, who was to have the homestead; three married daughters, Bithiah, Hannah and Martha; and two younger daughters, Lydia and Rebekah, who were to share the movable goods left after their mother’s death.

Nathaniel died at Bridgewater before 2 August 1732, when the will was proved. Whether Hannah outlived him is not known, and her death is not on record.

Notes

• Hannah’s maiden name and parents are known here only from the 1887 Conant genealogy and the will of Andrew Mansfield that it quotes; no record of her own gives her name as Mansfield.
• The genealogy says her husband’s will was proved on 24 August 1735. The probate record gives 2 August 1732, and the inventory of his estate is dated 18 August 1732.
• The marriage is dated before the birth of their daughter Bithiah, recorded 8 November 1677 in the Beverly town births (Vital Records of Beverly, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849).