Ancestors

Mercy Ruscoe

Mercy Ruscoe was born about 1610 at Sawbridgeworth in Hertfordshire, a daughter of Roger Ruscoe, a labourer, and his wife Sarah. Her father died on 17 May 1618, when she was about eight. The day he died he left his goods to his wife for her life and then to his son John, except twenty shillings each to his daughters Mercy and Katherine.

On 18 April 1631 she married Richard Seamer at Sawbridgeworth: "Richard Seamer and Mercy Ruscoe ware maried the 18 Aprill." Their son Thomas was baptised there on 15 July 1632. A daughter Mary was baptised on 9 January 1634/5 and buried on 3 April 1635. Another daughter, Mercy, was baptised on 8 July 1636.

Richard's father was buried in August 1637, and about a year later the family left England. They were at Hartford in Connecticut by 1639, when Richard appears there as a proprietor. A Ruscoe was there already: William Ruscoe, probably Mercy's uncle, sold Richard land at Hartford in 1639/40. Three more sons were born at Hartford. About 1651 the family moved to Norwalk, where Richard was one of the first settlers.

Richard made his will on 29 July 1655 and named his wife Mercy, his eldest son Thomas and three younger sons still under age. He died before October. On 25 November 1655 Mercy married John Steele of Farmington as his second wife and took her younger children to Farmington. Thomas, the only one of age, stayed at Norwalk on his father's land. John Steele died on 27 February 1664/5.

On 4 July 1668 John Winthrop the younger, who practised medicine across the colony, treated her and entered her in his journal as "Mrs. Steele, widow, 67 y. of Farmington."

If Mercy Ruscoe is in your family, start your own tree.

Cite: Heirology, "Mercy Ruscoe (b. 1610)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/mercy-ruscoe-1610-93068d.