Ancestors

Mary Pierce

Mary Pierce was born at Scituate, Massachusetts, on 4 February 1717. The town clerk entered her as "Mary, d. Benjamin Jr. and Mary, Feb. 4, 1717." Her parents were Benjamin Pierce Jr. and Mary Cowen. Her sister Martha had been born on 5 January 1712/13, and there was a brother, Benjamin. Her father later married Elizabeth Perry.

Deane's History of Scituate traces her father's line from Capt. Michael Pierce, through his son Benjamin, who married Martha Adams, to her father. Her great-grandfather had been killed with nearly all his company at Pierce's Fight near Pawtucket in March 1676.

On 18 March 1741 she married Ebenezer Keith of Bridgewater. Both the Scituate town book and the first church's record carry the marriage. He took her inland to Bridgewater, where his grandfather had been the first minister.

She bore nine children in fourteen years. Luther was born in April 1743, Rachel in July 1744 and Mary in October 1745. Ebenezer followed in September 1747 and Amos in February 1749/50. Lucy was born in July 1751 and Susanna on 11 April 1753. Caleb came in May 1755 and Calvin in May 1757.

She died on 9 August 1758, in her forty first year. Her eldest was fifteen and her youngest fifteen months. She is buried in the Scotland Cemetery at Bridgewater under a slate stone. The next year her husband married the widow Hephzibah Carver. Her daughter Susanna married Caleb Fobes in 1776 and went north to Lyme, New Hampshire.

She is the only Mary Pierce born at Scituate in those years, and her age at death fits her birth entry. Her parents' names are also written Benjamin Pierce and Mary Cowing.

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Cite: Heirology, "Mary Pierce (1717-1758)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/mary-pierce-1717-1758-65523d.