Ancestor Birthday - September 17 - Mary Tonge - 1656- 1728

Mary Tonge was my 8th gt-grandmother, born on 17 Sep 1656 or 1657, in New London, Connecticut. She was the daughter of George and Margery Tonge. A New England history stated that George was an early settler in New London and about the time of Mary's birth he was chosen to keep an inn there. He purchased land along the Thames River and it was called the most noted inn in the town. So apparently Mary grew up there with at least 2 older sisters, Elizabeth and Hannah, and a younger brother, George.

When she was 19 or 20, on 6 Nov 1676 she married John Wickwire, a veteran of King Philip's War. They lived in the northern section of the town of New London and in 1786 it was incorporated as a separate town named Montville.

Mary and John had at least 7 children: George, Christopher (my 7th gt-grandfather), John, Elizabeth, Jonathan, Peter and Ann. Some researchers add an 8th child, Phebe. Find A Grave listed Mary's death date as 6 Apr 1728 in Montville. She was buried in Chapman Cemetery, Montville, New London County, Connecticut.

Ancestor Birthday - January 11th - Margery Avery 1757-

When did Margery (Avery) Shipman die?

I believe I know when my 5th great-grandmother, Margery Avery, the daughter of Nathaniel Avery and Mary Wickwire, was born. Looking at the microfilm for the Lyme Connecticut town records I found her born 11 Jan 1757. She also is listed in the town records for Lyme when she married Abner Shipman on 20 Oct 1779. The birthdates for their 13 children are recorded in the Lyme records.

But when did Margery die? The website Find A Grave has a page for her, but without a death date. There is a photograph of a tombstone from Woodlawn Cemetery, Lincklaen, Chenango County, New York. It is a stone with both her husband Abner and her names. It has birth and death dates for him, but only a birthdate for her. The tombstone appears to be much newer than the 1832 death date for Abner, so may have been erected later by one of the descendants.

I've found Margery's birth, marriage and births of her children in 3 different published family histories: Avery, Wickwire and Shipman. None of them gives death information for her.

Maybe the US census could help give a clue. The census listings for Abner show a female of about the correct age in 1790 and 1800 in New London County, Connecticut and 1810 and 1820 in Chenango County, New York. So far I have not been able to locate either of them in the 1830 census. Thus I may use a death date of "after 1820" and continue looking.

See Margery on my website:http://www.joanneskelton.com/p96.htm#i2377

Ancestor Birthday - January 8th - Christopher Wickwire

Christopher was my 7th great-grandfather. He was the son of the immigrant John Wickwire, who was born about 1650 in England. John was in the colonies by 1675 when he served in the military in King Philip's War. It was the next year, 1676, in November when John was married to Christopher's mother, Mary Tonge, in New London, New London County, Connecticut. They were early settlers in the section of New London now known as Montville.

Christopher was the 2nd son, born on 8 Jan 1679/80. My website uses this "double dating" becuase before 1752 the calendar used March 25th as the beginning of the year. So January 8th would be in the latter part of 1679, but in our way of thinking it would be in the beginning of 1680, so I used the double dating system, showing both years.

Christopher was one of 8 children and at least 7 lived long enough to be married. He was married about 1700 to Elizabeth Swaddle. The Wickwire family history compiled by Ellwood Count Curtis shows Christopher and Elizabeth with 9 children and identifies 21 grandchildren. Now I must get busy and enter Christopher's siblings and grandchildren into my database. Part of the goal of blogging about the birthday ancestors is so I will get my database and then my website updated.

check Christopher on my website in a few days and see if I accomplished my goal.

http://www.joanneskelton.com/p96.htm#i2396