Ancestor Birthday - January 18th - Mary Wicom 1679/80–1741/42

Although I'm posting a blog about Mary today, January 18th probably isn't her birthday, but it was the date of her baptism or christening in 1679/80. Her birthday most likely was within the week before January 18th. I found that 6 of her 9 children have both birth and baptism dates recorded and all the dates are less than a week apart.

In genealogical classes we are taught to research women in the past by looking at the men in their lives: father, husband, brother, or son. Mary is mentioned in the book, Early Settlers of Rowley, Massachusetts by George Brainard Blodgette and Amos Everett Jewett on page 172 in the entry for her husband, Jonathan Jewett, who she married 24 Jan 1679/1700. She is also mentioned as a child of her parents, John Wicom and Abigail Kimball, on page 409. Her children are named as a part of Jonathan's entry on page 173.

Going back 300 years to 1717, we could find Mary alive, living on Bradford Street in Rowley with her husband Jonathan, who was a tanner.  By 1717, 7 of her 9 children had been born. Before her death on 21 Jan 1741/42, the 9 children had been born, all living to adulthood and 8 were already married. One son, Jedidiah, had graduated from Harvard College in 1726 and then was ordained in 1729 and became the minister at First Congregational Church in Rowley.  Do you suppose she was more regular in attendance when her son was the minister?

There were at least 20 grandchildren born before her death, so we can imagine she enjoyed those babies and children. Mary died in Exeter, New Hampshire "while there visiting."  It is probable she was visiting her son Moses and family who lived there. Maybe she wanted to see the grandchild who was born in 1740.