Mary Davis - Second Wife of Samuel Warner (1668-1752) of Pomfret, CT - Which one?

 [DRAFT 6/20/2024]

This is complicated!  For context Pomfret, settled after 1705, was comprised of twelve+ families for a decade maintaining a close relationship to Woodstock.  Benjamin Sabin was probably the first and by family connections, marriages, etc., influenced many more to settle in Pomfret.

Samuel Warner's first wife Mehetabel (Sabin-627) Warner [Woodstock VR CT] died in 1707, probably in Pomfret (south of Woodstock) CT.  [Linzee p212 1913]Parker & Ruggles proposes Mary Davis marries Samuel Warner, 16 June 1708, in Roxbury, daughter of William and Jane (3rd wife) Davis of Roxbury.

Wikitree identifies the above Samuel Warner-6707 as husband of Mehetabel.  Mary Davis is omitted from his record, as well as their children.  Mehetabel was Benjamin Sabin's daughter.  

Another source, but indirectly from Wikitree, seems to require or offer alernative Mary Davises as Samuel Warner's second wife.  

• [1]Descendants of William Davis by: Janet Johnson Franke Mary Davis-4876
• [2]Descendants of William Davis, (1) Elisabeth, (2) Alice Thorpe, (3) Jane Adams Mary Davis-4876
• [-]William Davis-4883 Wikitree.com.

These first two sources are difficult to reconcile as there are multiple Mary Davis in different generations of age close enough with seemingly contradictory family trees.  It is not my primary purpose to determine which Mary Davis was the second wife of Samuel Warner-6707 but that she exists and helps explain another mystery?  Annotated images are included to clarify why there are questions.

John Warner-1897 and Mary Truesdell [Truesdell-336 and Truesdell-48] husband and wife have an interesting connection?  John Warner is probably the son of Samuel Warner-6707 and Mary Davis.  There are at least three candidate Mary Davises in the two www links as Samuel's spouse.  [Linzee Parker&Ruggles p277 1913] identify three children - Mary, John and Elizabeth] (see image below). 

Mary Truesdell's parents, Ebenezer and Rachel (Davis-42689) Truesdell were brother-in-law and sister-in-law to Mary (Richards) (Fairbanks) (Truesdell) Gates.  This strongly suggests that Ebenezer and his brother Richard were in the Woodstock/Pomfret area at the same time and that Ebenezer remained there as as did Mary (sister-in-law) although she married Samuel Gates. 

Davis-42689 (see Davis-75413 as well) asserts that Rachel had sisters, Abigail (Davis-32733) Sabin and Mary not recorded in Roxbury.  

Samuel Gates-170 and Joseph Davis-4878 were both of Brookline (Muddy River) near Boston.  Joseph Davis was Rachel's father (died Brookline) .  Ebenezer Truesdale-96 married Rachel Davis in Boston in 1710.  Does this connection offer an explanation of how Samuel Gates found himself in Woodstock/Pomfret sometime earlier? 

For the complete experience one should examine Benjamin Sabin-3, Mehitabel and Jerimiah Sabin-410 were his children by different mothers.

Mary Richards-2135 children are related among themselves forward to Fairbanks, Truesdell, Warner and Gates.

Personal Summary

I do not have access to primary sources that may provide definitive answers to points made herein.  One source that has been used for background is [Larned 1874] The History of Windham County, Connecticut.

Suffice it to say, since this is somewhat speculative, Mary Truesdell and John Warner were related to one another by their Davis ancestry?  I welcome close review!   Additionally, Samuel Warner (John's father) probably has another interesting connection to my Warner/Gates lineage.

[Linzee Parker & Ruggles 1913]

[1] Mary Davis-4876.  Presents Mary as daughter of William and Jane Davis (1st generation) with a husband George Bacon.

[2] Mary Davis-4876.  See 'Comments' Davis-48 of Gillby Weldon. Presents Mary (b. 1676) as daughter of John and Mary (Devotion) Davis (2nd Generation)

Mashamoquet Purchase Renamed Pomfret, Colony of Connecticut 1713 and Connections to Mary Richards (1675-1732)

Mashamoquet Purchase Renamed Pomfret, Colony of Connecticut 1713 and Connections to Mary Richards (1675-1732)

It is with thanks to Ellen Douglas Larned and her 1874 works about Windham County, Connecticut that we know confidently as much as we do about my ancient grandmother, née Mary Richards.

Ellen Douglas Larned from the blog posting

(https://blogs.gatehousemedia.com/newenglandhistory/2014/03/26/ellen-larned/)

She is known today as Windham County's most famous historian and a native of Thompson, CT. Ellen Douglas Larned was born on July 13, 1825 to George and Anna Larned. She had three siblings, George, Joseph and Mary.

Miss Larned is most known for her exacting histories of Windham County, volumes 1 and 2, which are still used today by students and others for research. Topics that were of great interest to her were those seemingly of less importance to many. To put it succinctly, life as she saw it in small rural colonial times. ...

I feel Mary Richards must have been a pragmatic, indomitable woman.  On the single page, reproduced below, a husband, a brother-in-law and a man who was almost certainly my ancient grandfather appear and lend their identities to support a petition in 1713 to the Connecticut General Assembly in recognizing and naming Pomfret, Connecticut.  That's not to say that the details are definite but the facts are clear.  

There are many other details about this place and times in Larned's works.  These men and others are numerously linked through the pages in The History of Windham County, Connecticut.  Fortunately 'vital statistics records' supplement the perspective on life and death for women, children and men although certainly not completely.

 [Larned Ellen D  Windham CT Vol 1 (p191) Gates-Warner-Truesdell 1713 Naming Pomfret 1874]History_of_Windham_County_Connecticut_16 annotated 2024-06-08

Mary Richards was born in Dedham (MS) in 1675. Her father died when she was ten years old.  At eighteen (1693) she married Benjamin Fairbanks.  Evidence by father's probate proceedings.  She had at least two children before Benjamin died.  

In 1697 she married Richard Truesdell while still in Dedham.     She had five children by him before he died in 1707.  "Richard Trufdell dyed adjacent to Woodstock October 24th 1707", [Woodstock VR-CT p13 1913].  She was thirty-two.  Does 'adjacent' imply 'Mashamoquet/Pomfret'?  Mary died in Ridgefield, CT March 25th, 1732.

The following are relevant excerpts from [Woodstock VR-CT 1913] found by various 'name' variants.

John 'Trufdel' son of Richard 'Trusdel' by Mary his wife born October 7th, 1704, [Woodstock VR-CT p11 1913].  This is the only birth to Richard and Mary recorded in Woodstock VR-CT suggesting  the latest they arrived in Woodstock/Pomfret.

Thomas 'Trufdel ' son of Ebenezer Trufdel & Rachell his wife born November 1st, 1711 [Ibid p17].  Ebenezer-96 (Wikipedia) is documented Richard's younger brother.

 

According to town records of Woodstock (VR-CT) she married Samuel Gates in February 12, 1709/10. 

Samuel Warner's second marriage to Mary Davis-? as documented in [Linzee p276 1913] is missing from the Wikitree (6/14/2024) Warner-6707 

Mary Davis - several candidates as Samuel Warner's second wife

Examine at sources in Mary Davis-4876 - [Linzee 1913] ... right name wrong Mary? 

Making Sense of Dates in Colonial America      

Y-DNA R-FT345366 as of June 2024 in Pictures from ScaledInnovation website

From 50000 feet view

R-BY65758 represents the English origins of this Warner subclade

    R-FT345366 represents the Ipswich Massachusetts branch

    R-BY69380 represents the Hartford Connecticut branch

R-FT345366

Map of Watertown Masschusetts from [Bond & Jones 1860]: Boxted to Watertown 1630

 

The 'Map' illustrates settlement and political divisions from colonial times of 1630. See the source for added interpretation ... page 984-985.

Bond & Jones 1860

Genealogies of the families and descendants of the early settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts, including Waltham and Weston : to which is appended the early history of the town.

by

 

Bond, Henry, 1790-1859; Jones, Horatio Gates, 1822-1893

I include this map for a curious fact.  Vicar George Phillips of Boxted, Essex, England is described along with Sir Richard Saltonstall as founding Watertown in 1630.  They were members of the Winthrop party and Sir Saltonstall a signatory (12) of the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (Cambridge Agreement).

How did this come about?  Who were the families from Boxted that accompanied Vicar Phillips?

William Warner, sons and daughter came along several years later (~1637 by many accounts) also from Boxted and settled in Ipswich.  Thomas Welles who later married Abigail Warner (William's daughter) is thought to have come earlier (and prepared the way?).

Thomas Welles came onboard the same ship, Susan and Ellen* (1635) with Richard Saltonstall, Jr., (son of Sir Richard).  John Winthrop, Jr., the eldest son, is described as among founders of Ipswich in 1630.  The 'Colonial' court delayed the founding of Ipswich until 1633.

Again, this begs the question, 'How did this come about?'

* By count it appears there were no more than 42 independent parties (including families) on the Susan and Ellen.

_____

The Winthrop fleet of 1630; an account of the vessels, the voyage, the passengers, and their English homes from original authorities by Banks, Charles Edward, 1854-1931

On page 52, Banks provides - 'Thus twenty-five of the two hundred and forty-seven possible heads of families were of a social rank above that of yeomen or husbandmen. '

Reviewer: GenieOlogy - - November 15, 2019
Subject: Beware of inaccuracies; documented corrections are available

"Banks made many unwarranted assumptions, and this work should not be considered reliable. Many corrections to the list compiled by Banks will be found in [ "The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633" Volumes I-III, 3 vols., 1995, New England Historic Genealogical Society. Robert Charles Anderson]"