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Grissell (Fletcher) [Jewell] [Griggs] [Kibby] [Gurney] Burge: Mysteries Surrounding the Most Married Woman in New England Colonial History

Grissell (Fletcher) [Jewell] [Griggs] [Kibby] [Gurney] Burge: Mysteries Surrounding the Most Married Woman in New England Colonial History

April 26, 2023

 

Letitia D. Richardson, J.D, LL.M.

 

 

 

From time to time something outside of the ordinary piques my genealogical interest.  It might be a name, a building, a missing link, or other detail that lodges itself in my head, pestering incessantly until I put aside other matters and begin to research it.  This was the case with my husband's ninth great-grandmother Grissell Fletcher.  Her unusual name, her five marriages, and the many mysteries surrounding her spurred me to learn more.  It soon became apparent that there were more questions than answers to her story.   

 

Researching female ancestors can be frustrating because records are often incomplete and even when complete are usually limited to dates of birth, marriage, and death, children, wills, and inventories.  The back story rarely appears, and researchers must pull at various threads to piece together a more complete tapestry of a woman's life.  Sometimes, however, additional information adds details but fails to uncover the big picture.  This happened with Grissell. 

 

Several family genealogies were written about the Fletchers, but they are are full of inconsistencies and don't tell us much about Grissell, when they mention her at all.  Attempts by Fletcher family members to add information to official records only muddied the waters.  In his History of Braintree (where Grissell spent much of her life) Charles Francis Adams noted that a mere 36 pages of town records cover a 53 year period (1640-1693), and its Church records from 1639-1709 are lost entirely.[i]  In 1933, historian Mary Lovering Holman wrote an article, aptly titled "Grissell of the Many Marriages", clarifying the facts surrounding Grissell's marriages but inadvertently introducing one unfortunate error to the record. [ii] 

 

It is in this context that I hoped to discover the real Grissell Fletcher.  Most of all, I wanted to learn the motivations for the choices she made.  I don't believe I can declare victory on that front, but at least I have a fuller picture of Grissell's life and times.

 

So, who was Grissell?  Was she the daughter of wealthy parents as family historians suggest?  Did she marry for love or money?  Was she a femme fatal, a victim of the times, or a young widow desperate to provide a home for her young children and prevent her family from slipping into poverty?  Did she love each of her husbands or indeed any of them?  Let's start with what we know.

 

What We Know About Grisell

Grissell's Parents

Robert Fletcher was born c.1592 in England.[iii]  His wife, whose first and maiden names are unknown, bore at least four children there and another either on route to New England or just after arriving.[iv]  The children were Grissell, Francis, William, Luke, and Samuel.[v]  Robert died in Concord, Massachusetts Bay Colony (MBC) in 1677 at the age of 85.[vi]  He wrote his will on 4 February 1672, stating he was "fouerscor" years of "adge" and mentioning his loving wife and sons Francis, William, and Samuel.  Francis was named executor.[vii]  His inventory was dated 12 May 1677 and attested to 19 June 1677.[viii]  When his will was probated, Robert's wife received nothing, which indicates that she died before him.  The inventory shows Francis paid £5 "for his mother's and father' burials", which implies their deaths occurred close in time.[ix]

 

Early Fletcher genealogies make two claims.  First, that the family came with the famous Winthrop Fleet of 1630 that brought the first large wave of Puritans to American shores.  Second, that Robert Fletcher was a wealthy and well-connected man. 

 

After the Mayflower, the Winthrop Fleet is arguably the most significant historical reference point for New England immigration.  However, Charles Robert Anderson's definitive book "The Winthrop Fleet" makes no mention of Robert Fletcher, and so this supposed connection is unlikely to be accurate.[x]  

 

Nonetheless, some MBC records compound the confusion.  The Vital Records of Littleton repeat the 1630 settlement date, name Robert's sons correctly, but incorrectly identify Grissell as "Cary" and misstate her birthdate. [xi]   Robert never lived in Littleton, which was settled in 1686, long after his death and 56 years after the Winthrop Fleet arrived.  Robert's grandson, Sherebiah Kibby, did move to Littleton and may have requested that the family lore be added to official records there.  Whatever the reason, the family story was added to an official record.  This was not common, and we can see why as it muddles the record rather than clarifying it. 

 

Similarly, the records of Wales, Massachusetts (settled 1726, incorporated as South Brimfield 1775, and renamed Wales in 1828) include an ancestry chart for Amos Fletcher, a Wales resident, showing his descendancy from Francis Fletcher, Robert's eldest son, and repeating the same errors, again clearly after the fact.[xii]

 

Another resource, the Fletcher Genealogy, repeats the mistakes regarding Robert's arrival date in New England and his supposed wealth, lists his sons, and completely ignores the existence of his daughter![xiii]  Adding insult to injury, the author, William Fletcher, invites the participation "of any and all who bear the name."[xiv]  It seems this man didn't feel that a daughter or her descendants merited inclusion in the family history at all. 

 

So again, we must ask, "What do we know?" 

 

In the 1600's, towns allotted land to new arrivals, and men who immigrated had to petition to establish residency and buy or rent property for their families to inhabit.  Towns also established lists of taxpayers, lists of men able to bear arms, lists of births, marriages, and deaths and other recordable events.  Sometimes, some other contemporaneous document, such as a journal, served as an adequate contemporary record.  Genealogists and historians tend to accept an individual's first appearance in the records as being the date "by which" the person arrived in the colonies and consider it unlikely that the individual could have been there much earlier.[xv]  

 

Robert Fletcher's first appearance in New England records dates to 1637 when he was chosen Constable for Concord, MBC.[xvi]  Nonetheless, a couple of things point to a somewhat earlier arrival.  First, the Constable's position was an important one, and only a well-known and respected man would have been chosen.  So, either Robert had been in New England long enough to develop a good reputation, or he knew the other Concord settlers from England and had quickly gained their support in New England.  Second, he is often listed in respected secondary sources as being among the "known" Concord settlers of 1635-1636.  This generally meant men had committed to moving to Concord, and perhaps built a rude lean-to, cabin, or cattle enclosure, but had yet to move their families due to the lack of infrastructure. 

 

The most likely scenario is that Robert immigrated c.1635 and settled temporarily in Boston while waiting for the MBC government to formally grant the land that would become Concord (September 1635), for the Pennacook to sign a deed of conveyance (1636), and for surveyors to set the bounds and decide where and how to allocate lands, and to position roads and bridges.[xvii] 

 

Fletcher family lore also holds that Robert was a wealthy man.  Again, little evidence supports this conclusion, although at least there is some basis for the confusion.  A Robert Fletcher, a merchant "late of London" purchased property in Boston: a house, garden, orchards, and tarpits on the south corner of Hanover and Court Streets as well as some land on Court Street near Bowdoin Square from Joseph Houchin in 1646.[xviii]  However, no evidence connects this Boston man to the Robert Fletcher living in Concord since at least 1636-7. 

 

Robert of Concord appears in the records pleading for relief from taxes and fines, which indicates that he couldn't afford to pay, that he was philosophically opposed to taxation and fines, or that he was a real cheapskate.  When 17 of the 67 Concord families moved away leaving the town with a large tax levy and fewer residents to pay it, Robert pled for relief.[xix]   In 1669, he asked for relief from a fine levied against his grandson, claiming that he was "bereaved of sight", that his wife was ill, and that his son, the miscreant's father, couldn't pay either.[xx]    He signed documents with a mark and did not assume any town positions that would require a great deal of education. 

 

In his will Robert stated that he had already given property to his children, which was not uncommon.[xxi]  Many parents gifted land and property to their children in return for late-life care. However, Robert's inventory and appraisal only claim property worth £28, much less than a wealthy man would have left even accounting for the prior gifts to his children.  His sons left much more.  William Fletcher left an estate of £990.[xxii]  Luke, who died young, left £41.[xxiii]  Robert's estate seems paltry in comparison.  It seems unlikely that Robert Fletcher was a wealthy man.

 

Grissell

Grissell Fletcher was born, most likely in England, c.1618.  She died in 1669 in Chelmsford, MBC, at about 51 years of age.  During her short life, she married five times, was widowed four times, and bore seven children.[xxiv] 

 

Grissell's husbands included Thomas Jewell of Braintree (married 1639-1654), Humphrey Griggs of Braintree (married 1655-1657), Henry Kibby of Dorchester (married 1657-1661), John Gurney of Braintree (married 1661-1663), and finally John Burge of Chelmsford (married 1667-1669).[xxv]  What stands out in this list of husbands, in addition to their number, is the odd coincidence that she was married to three of them for almost exactly two years.  When I first noticed this pattern, I wondered if Grissell had somehow done away with her husbands.  However, I could find nothing in any record that indicated that the town authorities or the Church considered murder to be a possibility.  Puritans were a suspicious lot, so if anyone thought something amiss, they would have said so.  Of course, there is the matter of those pesky missing records.

 

We can track Grissell's residences through her marriages, assuming she cohabited with her husbands, which seems likely.  While her marriage with Thomas Jewell is unrecorded, we know he was granted land in Braintree in February 1639/40 and that he already had a wife and child.[xxvi], [xxvii]  The birth of this child was not recorded at Braintree.  While some historians thought this meant he had a wife before Grissell, others deduce that neither the marriage nor the birth were recorded because Braintree had yet to be separated from Boston and so did not have official records.[xxviii]  The events were not recorded in Boston for similar reasons.  In any case, Grissell's subsequent children with Thomas Jewell were recorded at Braintree: Joseph (1642), Hannah (1643), Nathaniel (1648), Grissell (1651), and Mercy (1653).[xxix]  Thomas died in 1654.  In his will dated 10 April 1654 and proved 21 July 1654, he gave "all ye estate to my wife as long as she is a widow if she mary then to devide it into three parts, two parts among my children, the third to be hirs.  William Neadam & Tho. Ffoster to take care & oversight of Estate for my wife & children."  He didn't name an executor, and administration was granted to Grissell on 21 July 1654.[xxx] 

 

About 1 ½ years after Thomas' death, Grissell married Humphrey Griggs in Braintree.  Filed along with Thomas' will is the arrangement of Humphrey Griggs of Braintree "who with Gods leave is Suddenly to marry the Relict of Thomas Jewell," to take possession of her estate and have use of it, paying to the daughters at age 18 and the sons at age 21.[xxxi]  He further agreed that he would raise the Jewell children until they were old enough to be apprenticed, would teach them to read, and would pay the eldest son £15 (a double portion) at age 21, each other son £7-10s at the same age, and the same amount to each daughter at marriage or upon turning 18.[xxxii]  This totaled out to about £50.  Humphrey died in Braintree less than two years after the marriage, and administration of his estate was granted to Grissell.[xxxiii] 

 

In October 1657, Grissell married Henry Kibby of Dorchester and presumably moved there to live there with him.  Her Jewell children would have ranged in age from 4-18 years old.  In December of either 1657 or 1659 (see discussion below), her son Sherebiah Kibby was born.[xxxiv],[xxxv]  Henry died in Dorchester in September 1661.[xxxvi]

 

Grissell married John Gurney, Sr. of Braintree on 12 Nov 1661.   He was 58 years old; She was about 43.  He died in 1663, some 16 months after the marriage.[xxxvii] In all likelihood, she had moved back to Braintree for the duration of their marriage.  John Gurney petitioned MBC to purchase land in the new town of Mendon in 1662 but died before taking possession.[xxxviii]  The inventory of his estate was filed on March 16, 1663.[xxxix]  Three men presented the inventory, and two additional men, Mr. Samuel Broadstreet and Mr. Richard Wharton were deposed and testified that the inventory presented by the "widow or friends of said Gurney"…"with which they have added a true Inventory of that Estate to their best knowledge."[xl]  The estate appears to have been highly indebted so Grissell likely did not receive the full inventoried amount of £55.14.6.

 

After his death, Grissell then followed through on her former husband's intent to relocate to Mendon when she, along with her adult sons, Thomas and Joseph Jewell, petitioned to purchase land at Mendon, where she lived until 1667 when she remarried for the fifth time.[xli]  Her daughter and son-in-law, Hannah (Jewell) Parish and John Parish also moved to Mendon by 1669 taking a 20-acre proprietor's lot there.

 

In 1667, Grissell moved to Chelmsford to marry John Burge.  She apparently died at her brother William's house two years later.[xlii]

 

Tracking Grissell's movements through the years, we know she first lived in Concord, MBC, a town 17 miles northwest of Boston.  Upon marrying Thomas Jewell, she moved to Braintree, a coastal town south of Boston where she remained through her marriage to Humphrey Griggs.  She moved south along the coast to Dorchester when she married Henry Kibby.  Upon her marriage to John Gurney, she returned to Braintree, and when he died, she moved southwest, settling in the town of Mendon near the Rhode Island border.  Upon her fifth and final marriage to John Burge, she moved northeast beyond Concord to Chelmsford, a town her father and brother had settled some years before.  She died in Chelmsford, having come almost full circle.

 

Despite the many marriages, deaths, and household moves, the only scandal of record in the immediate family concerned her daughter and her nephew.  Joshua Fletcher, a young man of dissipated behavior and evil intent, on several occasions brought a ladder to Reverend John and Lydia (Fletcher) Fiske's house.  Mrs. Fletcher was Joshua's sister and Grissell's niece, but his nocturnal visits were not to visit his sister.  He was there to seduce his cousin, Grissell, Jr.  Climbing the ladder, he would enter Grissell's bedroom and spend the night.  She was 16 years old.  He was 24.  Reverend Fiske reported the matter; the ensuing court writ notes the "Suit of Rev. John Fiske, Senior (against Joshua Fletcher) for Breaking into his House and accompanying with his mayd servant".[xliii]  While oddly worded, its meaning becomes clear from the context and subsequent events.  Grissell Sr., by then on her fifth marriage, had placed her daughter with her niece Lydia (Fletcher) Fiske, likely to assist with the Fiske children.  This put her within reach of the disreputable Joshua who evidently couldn't resist the temptation presented by his young cousin's presence in the household.  He soon confessed to seducing Grissell, and within two months, they found themselves married.[xliv],[xlv]  A child was born soon after[xlvi], but likely died young since his father William's will of September 1674, indicated that Joshua and Grissell Jr. had no living children at that time.[xlvii]  Their only recorded child, a son named Joshua, was born in 1677.[xlviii]

 

Six years after Grissell (Fletcher) [Jewell] [Griggs] [Kibby] [Gurney] Burge died, her brother William, and her widower John Burge presented the terms of her nuncupative (oral) will to the selectmen of Mendon, MBC.  Grissell left her Mendon estate to her son, Joseph Jewell, conditioned on his paying £15 each to full siblings Nathaniel and Mercy and £10 to stepbrother, Sherebiah.[xlix],[l]  She named William and John as Sherebiah's guardians.[li]  She left nothing to her eldest son, Thomas, who had likely received a double portion of his father's estate upon reaching his majority, nor anything to her daughters, Hannah and Grissell, who would have received their portions upon their marriages.  This distribution was quite typical for the times.

 

The Husbands

Having found no evidence that Grissell had been accused of foul play or even considered suspicious, I turned my attention to the husbands.  As usual, the men left many more records than the women in their lives.  These records also give rise to questions.

 

Thomas Jewell

Thomas immigrated on the Planter in 1635.[lii]  His place of origin is unknown, although he was granted a certificate from the Minister of Kingston-Upon-Thames, County Surrey to sail upon the Planter, so he may have been from there.[liii]  Twenty-seven years old, he was a miller by trade.  He settled first in Boston and removed south to an area of some ill-renown previously called Merry Mount (and successively Mount Wollaston and then Braintree) before 1640.[liv], [lv] 

 

Merry Mount originally gained notoriety when its leader was arrested and sent back to England for selling arms and ammunition to the Native Americans and conducting other unsavory business.  The area's notoriety continued when a resident, Reverend John Wheelwright, helped instigate the Antinomian Crisis, which almost tore the young colony apart.  He was banished, along with his sister-in-law, Anne Hutchinson, and rehabilitation of the town's reputation began anew.

 

In the late 1630's, MBC authorized an "enlargement" of Boston into the area and renamed it "Mount Wollaston".  Several large land grants were made and recorded, while smaller grants appear to have gone unrecorded or the records lost.  In his History of Braintree, Charles Adams speculates that the early grantees of large tracts i.e. "person(s) of note or substance" did not establish residency at the Mount, merely building some modest homes and other structures.[lvi]  The actual residents were servants of these more noteworthy people.  As the enlargement process progressed, these "common people" were allowed to purchase and/or confirm previous grants at the rate of four acres per family member, and by May 1640, 105 smaller allotments had been made, accommodating 565 authorized inhabitants.[lvii]  Upon the town's incorporation as "Braintree", negotiations between the residents and the Boston authorities became heated, and eventually, the town was freed from certain tax liabilities in return for payments of 1 shilling per acre for "Boston people" and 3 shillings per acre for others.[lviii]  Thomas Jewell paid 3 shillings per acre.[lix] 

 

Of more interest to a social historian than all these facts is how Thomas and Grissell might have met.  It is quite intriguing that a young woman from Concord, MBC, married a man from Braintree, MBC.  These communities are not close to one another, and travel between English settlements was difficult. So, we are left with questions.

 

Did they meet in England?  The Fletchers are said to have come from Yorkshire.[lx]  Thomas' origin is unknown, although he obtained his Certificate of Conformity and Confirmation that he was not a "Subsidy Man" from the Minister of Kingston Upon Thames, County Surrey.[lxi]  While it is likely that sympathetic ministers provided such certificates to Puritans unknown to them, a County Surrey origin is a possibility.[lxii]   Yorkshire, Shropshire, and Surrey are not close to one another; nonetheless, given the vagueness of the Fletcher and Jewell origins, a previous relationship between the families is one possibility. 

 

Did they meet aboard ship?  Thomas arrived in 1635 on the Planter.[lxiii]  Passenger lists - as we know them today - were not kept, so our knowledge about ship passengers is incomplete.  The Fletchers and Thomas sailed around the same time.  If the Fletchers were on the Planter, Thomas and Grissell might have met onboard. 

 

Did they meet in Boston?  Thomas lived first in Boston and then removed to the Mount.  Grissell probably spent some time in Boston before removing to Concord, if in fact she did move there with the rest of her family.  If Thomas and Grissell met in Boston around 1635, she would have been about 17.  While on the young side, she could have fallen in love and married after 1635 and before 1640, when she and Thomas were in Braintree. 

 

Did they meet in Concord?  William Buttrick, an ostler (horse minder), also sailed on the Planter.[lxiv]  He settled in Concord.[lxv]   Did they meet through William?  This possibility seems a bit more farfetched since courting a woman who lived about 40 miles northwest before Braintree had roads connecting it to inland communities might have been challenging for even the most ardent suitor.

 

All these options are a possibility, but it is unlikely we will ever find an answer, especially if we cannot determine where either of these families originated so that we might at least reduce the possibilities of potential meeting places.

 

Another thing we don't know about Thomas is whether he was able to exercise his profession as a miller.  On the first page of the town records, a monopoly for grinding corn was granted to Richard Wright.[lxvi]  If another man was granted a monopoly on grinding corn, what would Thomas have ground?  And where?  The records are silent on this, although he was called a miller when land was granted to him in Braintree.[lxvii]

 

Finally, how did Thomas die?  Records are frustratingly silent on this matter.  If there wasn't an identifiable accident, murder, or suicide, clerks rarely attempted to mention a cause of death, and historians are left wondering how a given individual died.  Adams mentions diseases caused by excessive drinking, including delirium tremens, kidney and bladder troubles, and running sores, which frequently caused death between the ages of forty and fifty.[lxviii]  Thomas was about 46 when he died.  Rheumatism and Bright's Disease (aka dropsy) were also common causes of death.[lxix]  Smallpox was prevalent.[lxx]  However, since neither Grissell nor any of the children died, infectious disease seems unlikely, but again, we'll probably never know.

 

In any case, Thomas was Grissell's first husband, and she bore him several children.  Perhaps, in the absence of other information, we can assume that they had a happy marriage and that he died of natural causes.

 

Humphrey Griggs

Humphrey was likely born in Cavendish, County Suffolk, England to Thomas and Elizabeth Griggs c.1620-1623.[lxxi]  He married Grissell (Fletcher) Jewell in 1655 when he was between 32-35 years old.  She appears to have been his first wife.  In 1634, when Humphrey was 14-17 years old,  his father left him a bequest of £40 to be paid upon Humphrey's majority, so we can surmise he received this before he married Grissell and likely before he immigrated to New England, although we have no record of his arrival in MBC.[lxxii]  However, we know he was in New England by 1646 since both his brother (will proved 1646) and his mother (will proved 1651) left him legacies in their wills conditioned on his coming back to England.[lxxiii] 

 

His family's desire to lure him back to England seems, on the one hand sweet, but it also raises the question of whether they felt guilty over some rift that drove Humphrey to escape to New England in the first place.  There is no evidence that he ever went back to England to collect the legacies although it appears he still managed to collect on the one from his brother, Thomas.  Humphrey authorized an attorney-in-fact to collect the legacy from the executor of Thomas's will.[lxxiv]  The executor, William Griggs, was another brother, so while Humphrey wanted the legacy, it appears he didn't want to contact his family directly.  The fact that the executor paid when the deceased specifically conditioned the bequest on Humphrey's coming back to England is also interesting.  Of course, we don't know if the executor, paid out of Thomas' estate or out of his own pocket, but we do know that Humphrey signed a release indicating satisfaction on the payment.[lxxv]

 

One other thing to note about Humphrey: his age at marriage (32-35).  Englishmen usually married in their mid to late twenties.  Standard practice in New England was for people to pair off earlier rather than later because a colonial household normally required both female and male skill sets to run smoothly.  For both reasons, if this was Humphrey's first marriage, his age raises some questions. 

 

Humphrey died less than two years after marrying Grissell.  His inventory, taken in August 1657, amounted to £109.11, but some of this may have been part of Thomas Jewell's estate.[lxxvi]

 

Henry Kibby

About two months after Humphrey died, Grissell married Henry Kibby, who had been widowed three months before.[lxxvii]  Henry's New England records are sparse and give rise to as many questions as answers.  He was in Dorchester by 1636, where he later bought a home and joined the Church.[lxxviii],[lxxix]   His wife was named Rachel (maiden name unknown).  He, too, seemed to avoid scandal, although the same cannot be said of his daughter, Susanna.

 

Henry's daughter Susanna married David Selleck at the age of 14 according to her 1656 deposition, and this certainly raises questions (if not eyebrows) because Puritans did not tend to marry that young.  On the other hand, we don't really know if the Kibbys were committed Puritans.  While Susanna's husband joined the Church, he then embarked on a mercantile career that included transporting and trading slaves and was always embroiled in one scheme or another with financial goals that never quite succeeded.  He was frequently on the road, and in later years, Susanna was the victim of slander concerning an illegitimate child.  Several witnesses contradicted one another about the birth and parentage of the mysterious child.  The parentage was never successfully ascertained.  Susanna, however, was absolved.[lxxx]

 

In December of either 1657 or 1659, Grissell gave birth to Henry's child, who they named Sherebiah.  I mentioned above that Mary Holman Lovering, the genealogist, had untangled several mysteries surrounding Grissell and her marriages, but on one notable occasion she confused, rather than cleared up matters.  Her mistake concerns Sherebiah's birthdate.  Most sources claim that Sherebiah was born in 1659, a perfectly reasonable date given Grissell and Henry's marriage year of 1657.  However, on one occasion, Ms. Lovering states (or her publisher misprinted) that Sherebiah was born in 1657.  Of course, this happens to have been the date that I first read, and this seemed to confirm the poor opinion I initially had of Grissell.

 

Henry's previous wife, Rachel, had died 15 July 1657, almost exactly when Grissell's husband, Humphrey, died.[lxxxi]  If Sherebiah was born in December 1657, Grissell would have been 4-5 months pregnant when Rachel died and 3-4 months pregnant when her former husband, Humphrey died.  Hmmm, evidence that Grissell was not an upstanding citizen?  Two pages later, however, Lovering (or her publisher) gave Sherebiah a 1659 birthdate.  Mystery (un)solved.

 

Henry died 10 Aug. 1661 and administration was granted to Grissell on 15 August 1661 in Dorchester.[lxxxii]  They were married just under four years.  His estate totaled £67.[lxxxiii]  The amount of the estate which Grissell brought to the marriage was likely around £71-10-6.

 

John Gurney, Sr.

Grissell married fourth John Gurney, Sr. of Braintree on 12 Nov 1661 (3 months after Henry died). [lxxxiv]  John was in Braintree before 1645.[lxxxv]  He was a tailor, and according to his 1653 deposition, he was born in 1603.[lxxxvi]  He had five children with his unidentified first wife, who died in September 1661.[lxxxvii]  When he married Grissell he was about 58 years old.  She was about 43.

 

Of John Gurney's family, historian Charles Francis Adams says, "This family is exceedingly obscure."[lxxxviii]

 

After John's death, Grissell moved to Mendon and seems to have paused her relentless marital activity, remaining single for four years. 

 

John Burge

In 1667, Grissell married widower John Burge of Weymouth and Chelmsford.[lxxxix]  She moved to Chelmsford with her new husband and died there on 9 July 1669, two years and six days after the wedding.  Present at her deathbed were John and her brother, William Fletcher, both of Chelmsford, and they witnessed her noncupative will.  The Court appointed the two men as Sherebiah's guardians per her request.  She also left her land at Mendon to son, Joseph Jewell.  Sherebiah was 12 when she died.  John died 22 Oct. 1678. 

 

What are the Remaining Mysteries?

Who was Grissell's mother?  Family lore suggests that her name was Sarah based on the "fact" that Robert's three sons named daughters Sarah.[xc]  However, subsequent researchers have been unable to find any documentation regarding two of these supposed daughters, putting the family lore into question on this point as well. 

 

Given the unusual nature of the name Grissell and the fact that naming patterns in 17th century New England often repeated given names, we can surmise that either her mother or her grandmother was named Grissell.  Grissell also named a daughter Grissell, adding weight to this theory.  On the other hand, not one of Grissell's brothers named a daughter Grissell. 

 

Additional research should be done on a Robert Fletcher who married Sibill (Barnes) Phillips in Chester, England on the border of Wales (where Robert Fletcher was rumored to be from) and on Grissell, daughter of Joseph Fletcher, baptized 6 Aug 1663, in Worksop, Nottinghampshire, England.[xci]  It is hard to imagine that the two Grissell Fletchers were not related, but more work must be done to ascertain the exact relationship.

 

At this point, I surrender.  I have discovered facts, but I can't deliver the whole story.  Who was Grissell Fletcher really?  Why did she marry so many times?  Why did so many of her husbands die soon?  I'll keep an eye on new research, but we may never know the answers to these questions.

 

 



[i] Adams, Charles Francis, History of Braintree Massachusetts (1639-1708), (Cambridge, Riverside Press, 1891.)
[ii] Holman, Mary Lovering, "Grissell of the Many Marriages" The American Genealogist, Vol 10, pp 70-73. (New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-)  (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .)

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB283/i/11841/71/23568319
[iii] Holman, Winifred Lovering, "Robert Fletcher of Concord, Massachusetts Bay, 1627: A Study of his Life and Family from the New England Records", compiled for Henry Fletcher, Esq., (unpublished manuscript, 1930.)  Available at the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/stream/robertfletcherof00holm/robertfletcherof00holm_djvu.txt (2018).
[iv] Ibid.
[v] Ibid.
[vi] Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620-1850, Vol. VI, p 19. (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016).

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB190/i/7685/19/142158310
[vii] Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871, "Robert Fletcher", (New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014)  p. 7913:1-4.  Online database. AmericanAncestors.org.  (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives. Digitized images provided by FamilySearch.org)

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB536/i/14471/7913-co4/38245929
[viii] Ibid. p. 7913:3.
[ix] Ibid.
[x] Anderson, Robert Charles, "The Winthrop Fleet: Massachusetts Bay Colony Immigrants to New England 1629-1630", (Great Migration Study Project, New England Historical and Genealogical Society, Boston 2012.)
[xi] Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620-1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, (New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016).  Littleton, V.1, p. 438.

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB190/i/13484/438/26124394
[xii] (V. Wales V.1 p. 1140 in the chart of Amos Fletcher saying that he came from Yorkshire.)
[xiii] Fletcher, Edward H., "Fletcher Genealogy", compiled by Edward H. Fletcher, Esq. New York, NY, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-. V.22, p. 389.  (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2018.)

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB202/i/11687/389/23489103
[xiv] Ibid. p. 392.
[xv] Sometimes, men did disappear from the records for a time, but this was rare.
[xvi] WLH, "Robert Fletcher of Concord, Mass.", op cit.
[xvii] Hudson, Alfred Sereno, The History of Concord, Massachusetts, Volume 1, Colonial Concord, (The Erudite Press, Concord, Massachusetts 1904.)
[xviii] Boston, MA: Inhabitants and Estates of the Town of Boston, 1630-1822, p. 8194 (Thwing Collection), and The Crooked and Narrow Streets of Boston, 1630–1822. CD-ROM. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014.)

https://www-americanancestors-org.nehgs.idm.oclc.org/DB530/i/14226/8194/38014539.
[xix] Holman, W.L. op cit.
[xx] Middlesex County, MA: Abstracts of Court Records, 1643-1674, (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2003), (Unpublished abstracts by Thomas Bellows Wyman, "Abstract of Middlesex court files from 1649," n.d.), V.2, p.83.

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB432/i/12381/83/138354973
[xxi] MA County Probate Records, "Robert Fletcher", op cit.
[xxii] Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871, "William Fletcher 1677", (New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014)  p. 7913:1-4.  Online database. AmericanAncestors.org.  (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives. Digitized images provided by FamilySearch.org)

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB536/i/14471/7913-co4/38245929
[xxiii] Holman, W.L. "Robert Fletcher of Concord", op cit.
[xxiv] Holman, M.L. "Grissell Fletcher", op. cit.
[xxv] Ibid.
[xxvi] Anderson, Robert Charles, Great Migrations Begins, Immigrants to New England 1634-1635, Vol. I-L "Thomas Jewell". (Boston, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2005), 61. https://www.americanancestors.org/DB394/i/12108/61/23896524
[xxvii] The English refused to utilize the newer Gregorian calendar, using instead the older Julian calendar, which began the new year in March rather than January.  Double dating is utilized to acknowledge this.  Today the date would be 1640.
[xxviii] Ibid.
[xxix] Ibid.
[xxx] Ibid.
[xxxi] Ibid., p. 60.
[xxxii] Rucke, Jr. Thomas, "Abstracts of the Earliest Wills upon Record in the County of Suffolk, Mass." The New England Historical and Genealogical Register (Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-) V. 5, p. 305. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2018.)

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB202/i/11586/295/23527597
[xxxiii] Adams, Oscar Fay, "Our English Parent Towns", The New England Historical and Genealogical Register (Boston, MA: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1847), 183.  Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2018.)

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB202/i/11676/179/0
[xxxiv] Holman, M.L. op. cit. p. 72 has his birth year as 1657, p. 73 has it in 1659.
[xxxv] "Marriages, Births, and Deaths in Dorchester, Mass. 1648-1643", New England Historical and Genealogical Register (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-),153. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2018.) https://www.americanancestors.org/DB202/i/11592/152/0
[xxxvi] Ibid.
[xxxvii] Vital Records From the NEHGR, "John Gurney", Vital Records from the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Vol. 12, p.53.  Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014.) (Compiled from articles originally published in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register.)

https://www-americanancestors-org.nehgs.idm.oclc.org/DB522/i/21076/53/1429275924
[xxxviii] Morse, Abner, "Origin of Mendon and the Name of Medway", Vital Records from the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, (Boston: New England Historic and Genealogical Society, 1854), Vol. 9, p.51. Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (Compiled from articles originally published in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register.)

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB522/i/21073/51/1427076592
[xxxix] VR from the NEHGR, "John Gurney" op cit.
[xl] VR from the NEHGR, "John Gurney" op cit.
[xli] "Grissell Gurney", Vital Records from the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, communicated by John G. Metcalf, of Mendon, Vol. 22, P. 43. Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (Compiled from articles originally published in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register.)

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB522/i/60865/43/74460208
[xlii] Holman, M.L. op cit.  p. 72.
[xliii] Middlesex County, MA: Abstracts of Court Files, 1649–1675, (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2003), (Unpublished abstracts by Thomas Bellows Wyman, "Abstract of Middlesex court files from 1649," n.d.) https://www.americanancestors.org/DB432/i/12381/53/138353988
[xliv] Vital Records from the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014, Vol. 51, p.308. (Compiled from articles originally published in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register.)

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB522/i/21115/308/426714975
[xlv] Joshua was also fined, and both his father, William Fletcher, and his grandfather, Robert Fletcher, were held liable for the fine, which Joshua apparently never paid, and for which he, his wife, and his grandfather pled for leniency.  It is unclear from the record that the fine was ever paid.
[xlvi] Thompson, Roger, Sex in Middlesex: Popular Mores in a Massachusetts County, 1649-1699 (Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press 1986), p.86.  Citing Files 47.49; Robert G. Pope, ed. "The Notebook of Reverend John Fiske," Pubs. Col. Soc. Mass. 47 (1974): 209-12.  (The notebook must be the source of the information about the child born to Grissell and Joshua.  I found no record of it elsewhere.)
[xlvii] Holman, W.L. op cit. p. 45.
[xlviii] Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620-1850, Chelmsford V.1. p.64. (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016).

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB190/i/7680/64/141922200
[xlix] Some historians, including M.L. Holman, have concluded that because she left her Mendon estate to Joseph, he was Grissell's eldest son.  Others disagree based on the probability that she was the mother of all of Thomas Jewell's children and that Thomas was the elder.  By the date of her death, Thomas would have received his legacy from his mother or one or another of the stepfathers when they had control of the estate.  I agree with the latter reasoning and believe Thomas to have been the elder son.
[l] Holman, M.L. op. cit.
[li] Holman, M. L. op. cit.
[lii] Anderson, Great Migration Begins, "Thomas Jewell", op cit.
[liii] Great Migration Newsletter, V.1-20, "Focus on the Planter", (Online Database: American Ancestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society 2018) Vol. 16, p.3, https://www.americanancestors.org/DB1567/i/21160/3/426836354
[liv] Anderson, Great Migrations Begins, "Thomas Jewell", op cit.
[lv] Adams, History of Braintree, op cit.
[lvi] Ibid. p.4
[lvii] Ibid. p.6
[lviii] Ibid. p.9
[lix] Anderson, Great Migration Begins, "Thomas Jewell", op cit.
[lx] Holman, Winifred Lovering, "Robert Fletcher", op cit.
[lxi] Great Migration Newsletter, "Focus on the Planter", op cit.
[lxii] Ibid.
[lxiii] Ibid.
[lxiv] Ibid, although the article recognizes that another William Buttrick sailed on the Susan and Ellen a few weeks later.
[lxv] Anderson, Great Migrations Begins, V. A-B, "William Buttrick", p. 522.
[lxvi] Adams, History of Braintree, p.196.
[lxvii] Great Migration Newsletter, Focus on the Planter", op cit.
[lxviii] Ibid. p.186. 
[lxix] Ibid.
[lxx] Ibid. 
[lxxi] Pitman, H. Minot, "Early Griggs Families of Massachusetts", The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, (Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-.), Vol. 123, p. 173.  (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2018.)

https://www-americanancestors-org.nehgs.idm.oclc.org/DB202/i/11620/173/235591260
[lxxii] Ibid.
[lxxiii] Ibid. citing V.63, p. 284-5.
[lxxiv] Adams, "Our English Parent Towns" op. cit.
[lxxv]  Adams, Ibid.
[lxxvi] Trask, William B., compiler, "Abstracts for the Earliest Wills on Record in the County of Suffolk, Mass.", The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-. Vol. 9, p. 343. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2018.)

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB202/i/11725/343/245312302
[lxxvii] Holman, M.L. op. cit.
[lxxviii] "Focus on the West Country", Great Migration Newsletter, Vols. 1-25, Vols. 21-25, p. 118.
[lxxix] "Focus on Immigration" Great Migration Newsletter, Vols. 1-25, Vol. 19, p. 11.
[lxxx] Kaufman, Paulette Clark "David Selleck, of Somerset England, and of Massachusetts and Virginia: Soap Maker and Merchant Trader", The Genealogist, (American Society of Genealogists, 1980-.) Vol. 19.  (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2022)

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB2817/i/62790/3/75353238), 3-19.
[lxxxi] Waters, Henry F., "Genealogical Gleanings in England", The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-., "Kebby" Vol. 44, p. 194 (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2018.)

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB202/i/11614/186/0
[lxxxii] Trask, William B, "Abstracts of Earliest Wills in the Country of Suffolk, Mass.", "Henry Kibby", Vol. 10, p. 360.
[lxxxiii] Ibid.
[lxxxiv] Holman, M.L., "Grissell of the Many Marriages", op. cit.
[lxxxv] Chamberlain, George Walter, M.S., History of Weymouth, Massachusetts in Four Volumes, Genealogy of Weymouth Families, (Weymouth: Weymouth Historical Society 1923), V.3 p. 251.
[lxxxvi] Ibid.
[lxxxvii] Ibid.
[lxxxviii] Adams, History of Braintree, op cit.
[lxxxix] Holman, M.L. "Grissell of the Many Marriages", op cit.
[xc] Fletcher, Edward H., Fletcher Family History, Descendants of Robert Fletcher of Concord Massachusetts, Rand, Avery, & Co., Boston, 1881, Forgotten Books, 2016.
[xci] England Births & Christenings has Grissell, da of Joseph Fletcher, baptized 6 Aug 1663, Worksop, Nottinghampshire, England, p. 175.  Film #459652, Page #51669719. 

 

Additional Sources:

 

England Births & Christenings has Grissell, da of Joseph Fletcher, baptized 6 Aug 1663, Worksop, Nottinghampshire, England, p. 175.  Film #459652, Page #51669719. 

 

Shattuck, Leumuel, The History of Concord, Mass. from its earliest settlement to 1832,  1835, Source not verified but also cited by Winifren Lovering Holman.  (Clemency for petition.)

 

Holden, Edward F. "American Ancestry of Franklin Pierce Fourteenth President of the United States," The American Genealogist. (New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-.), Vol. 55, pp.142, 144.  (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .)

Greene, D. L. ed., Review of "Ancestry of Dr. J.P. Guilford", The American Genealogist. (New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-.), Vol. 68, p.60  (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .)

 

Torrey, Clarence Alvin, New England Marriages to 1700.  (New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Vol. 1, p. 553.  Torrey: doesn't name wife other than [?Sarah].  (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org.) Originally published as: New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015.

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB1568/i/21174/553/426923376

 

England: Births and Christenings, 1538-1975. Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. (New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014.) (Original index: England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975. FamilySearch, 2014.) Thomas: Film # 991358, Page 67,237,108

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB543/rd/403664202; Edmones: Film # 97138, page 65,741,656

 

Marshall, George W. LL.D. ed., The Registers of Worksop, Co. Nottingham, 1558-1771, (Guildford 1984), online at https://archive.org/details/registersworkso00pargoog/page/n3/mode/2up?view=theater

 

Jewell, Pliny, The Jewell Register: Containing a List of the Descendants of Thomas Jewell, (Hartford, CT, privately printed), available online at https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=IChWAAAAMAAJ&pg=GBS.PA4&hl=en

 

Trask, Wm. B., preparer "Will of Thomas Jewell of Brantrey", Abstracts From the Earliest Wills on Record in the County of Suffolk, Mass, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, (Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-. ), Vol. 5, p. 304(Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2018.)

https://www-americanancestors-org.nehgs.idm.oclc.org/DB202/i/11620/173/235591260

 

Suffolk County, MA: Probate File Papers. "Henry Kibby". Vol. Suffolk Cases 1-1999, p. 278:1.  Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2017-2019. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives. Digitized images provided by FamilySearch.org)

https://www-americanancestors-org.nehgs.idm.oclc.org/DB2735/i/48697/278-co1/1416760432

 

Trask, Wm. B., preparer, "Humphrey Griggs", Abstracts From the Earliest Wills on Record in the County of Suffolk, Mass, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, (Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-. ), Vol. 9, p. 343. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2018.)

https://www-americanancestors-org.nehgs.idm.oclc.org/DB202/i/11620/173/235591260

 

Stott, Clifford L. and Hoffman, Paulette Clark, "The Selleck Family of Gaulden Manor, Tolland, Somerset [Kibby]. The American Genealogist,  (New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. ), Vol. 81, p. 37.(Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .)

https://www-americanancestors-org.nehgs.idm.oclc.org/DB283/i/13264/37/235866745

 

Metcalf, John, G., comm., " Grisell Gurney" V22, p. 43, Vital Records from the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (Compiled from articles originally published in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register.) 

 

Adams, John, Notes on the History of Mt. Wollaston, 19 October 1802; Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-4984. [This is an Early Access document from The Adams Papers. It is not an authoritative final version.]  https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-4984