| Notes |
- Halls of New England, p. 294
The Posterity of W'd Mary Hall,
of Cambridge and Concord, Mass.
WIDOW MARY HALL, is first mentioned by William Wilcox of Cambridge, in his will made 1653; in which he bequeaths her 20 shillings, and to her son William and daughter Susan shillings each.
She was a member in full communion of the church of Cambridge when William Wilcox made his will, as he calls he "Sister Widow Hall. And Rev. Mr. Mitchell in his new roll of members after the church records were burned in 1658, make mention of Widow Mary Hall, as a member in full communion, and adds that her children being of adult years when she was admitted, were not baptized, of whom two, John and Susanna have since been admitted to the church of Concord.
In 1662 Widow Mary Hall received a grant of land from the town of Cambridge.
Her son William having died in 1667, she petitioned the court to order a division of his property for her benefit. It appears from the papers found in the probate office at Cambridge, that she had assigned her property to her son William in consideration of her support during her life, and that she lived with hi, in Concord at the time of his death.
The paper was found on an upper shelf, filed with several otheers "No. 11-1688, 10-5, petition of Mary Hall of Concord, mother of William, deceased." The 1688 might have been intended for 1668. The paper seems to have been made by an attorney, but signed by her own hand very plainly without any ornamentation, and giving evidence that she was accustomed to use her pen.
It is not known who her husband was, but tradition asserts that he came with his family in the same ship with his brother John, to Charleston, Mass., in 1630, descendants of the two families, settled in Sutton, Mass., and in Granville, N. Y., have claimed a relationship to each other. There is no name Hall, on any of the early records of Massachusetts which gives any probability of being his, except that of "Mr. Nathaniel Hall" to whom the town of Dorchester assigned Sept. 1, 1634, a lot of three acres which had been previously assigned to Capt. Lovell. This is the only time that the name of "Mr. Nathaniel Hall" is mentioned in any of the records. The honorable prefix of Mr. (which was accorded to only a very few) shows that he held a very respectable rank in society.
The names of the children of Widow Mary Hall appear to have been as follows:
1. John, b. about 1627 or 7 (See Halls of Medford).
2. Susanna, member of the church of Concord.
3. William who lived in Concord in 1653, and m. there Oct. 14, 1758, Sarah Merriam and d. March 10, 1667, leaving no children.
4. Stephen, who lived in Concord; m. Dec. 3, 1663, and removed to Stow (See Halls of Stow); and it is probably that Isabel Hall who m. Francis Whitmore, of Cambridge, b. 1625, was the dau. of Widow Hall. Francis Whitmore was a kinsman to Thomas Whitmore or Wetmore who m. Sarah, dau. of John Hall of Middletown, Conn.
It is to be hoped that something more may be found in the records of Massachusetts, concerning Widow Mary Hall and Mr. Nathaniel Hall. Perhaps something satisfactory might be found in the records of Coventry, Warwicjshire, England.
If any doubt should arise on examining the records of Coventry concerning Widow Mary Hall or Mr. Nathaniel Hall having lived there, the records of St. Edmus Berry where William Wilcox came from, and where Bishop Joseph Hall lived, might be examined with a possibility of success.
The Hall family of Warwickshire is not as old a family as that of Kent.
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![Mary [--?--]](badges/thumb_Immigrant-Ancestor.jpg)
- Unknown
