♀Mary Washburn

Mary Washburn (before 24 July 1662 – 28 February 1740) was a colonist of Plymouth Colony and a granddaughter of the Plymouth settler Experience Mitchell, who married Samuel Kingsley and spent her widowhood at Easton^W. No record of her birth has been found; it is known only from a letter written in Amsterdam in July 1662, which congratulated her mother on a daughter born after six sons. She was the seventh great-grandmother of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006), through her daughter Susanna Kingsley (1702–1775).

Early life

She was born, probably at Bridgewater^W, to John Washburn (died 1686) and Elizabeth Mitchell (1629–1684), whose own descent from the Mayflower passenger Francis Cooke rests on circumstantial evidence. On 24 July 1662 Thomas Mitchell of Amsterdam, answering a letter from his uncle Experience Mitchell, wished “my cousin Elizabeth much joy with her daughter that God has given her to her 6 sons”. That daughter was Mary, and the letter is the only evidence of when she was born. She grew up at Bridgewater in a family of eleven children.

Marriage and family

She married Samuel Kingsley, born at Braintree^W in 1662, before 28 July 1690. On 10 September 1694 he joined her brothers and brothers-in-law, all of Bridgewater, in selling land “left unwilled by our Father & ffather in law John Washburne Deceased”. The couple later lived in the Taunton North Purchase, the district north of Taunton^W from which Easton was afterwards formed. A Mayflower genealogy records eight children, six daughters and two sons, born between about 1690 and about 1706, all named in the division of their father’s estate.

Widowhood

Samuel Kingsley died on 17 December 1713, and his inventory was taken on 19 February 1713/14. On 8 July 1714 his widow petitioned the court to appoint her eldest son, Samuel, administrator of the estate. The real estate was divided on 5 October 1722, with a share to the widow and to each of the eight children, the two youngest daughters then still minors under a guardian. She outlived her husband by twenty-six years and died at Easton on 28 February 1740.

Notes

The year 1662 is an estimate from the letter’s date. Thomas Mitchell was replying to a letter his uncle had written on 23 April 1661, and the Mayflower genealogy places her birth shortly before July 1662; an older compilation gives about 1661.