Family:Joseph King and Mercy Dunham (1)

The marriage is found in the vital records of Plymouth. It is difficult to identify with certainty the people named therein.

The Husband

There are two Joseph Kings in Plymouth.

• One is Joseph King, s/o Samuel King and Anne Finney, b. abt. 1649 based on his age at death. He m. 15 Jan 1689/90 Elizabeth Bryant, b. 17 Oct 1665. [See NEHGR, p. 148:327 ("The Finney Family") or ibid, p. 153:424 ("Descendants of Stephen Bryant") or MD, p. 13:205 ("Plymouth, Mass., Vital Records")].
• The other is his nephew Joseph King, s/o brother Samuel King and his wife Sarah Dunham, b. 16 Feb 1680/81. [See MD, p. 5:55 ("Plymouth, Mass., Vital Records") or NEHGR, p. 148:327 ("The Finney Family")].

Although Mercy is roughly the same age as Elizabeth Bryant, it seems probable that she married the younger Joseph King, as suggested by:

• The use of the word "Junior" in the following birth record: [from MD, p. 5:55 ("Plymouth, Mass., Vital Records")]
  

The Child of Joseph King Junior and Marsey King his Wife
Nathaniel born May 26 : 1707 : deseased february 7th : 1734/5

• Although no sources cite any explicit mention of Elizabeth (Bryant) King after 1698, neither is there any evidence that she might have died at a date earlier enough to allow a remarriage in 1701. So a scenario where the older Joseph King married both women is entirely speculative. The older Joseph is usually said to have had a daughter Mercy b. 1707 which is in obvious conflict with the birth of Nathaniel above, suggesting his wife Elizabeth (Bryant) King was still alive.

The Wife

Dunham Genealogy is full of errors and probably adds more confusion than clarity to this situation as a result. There are three obvious Mercy Dunhams in Plymouth.

• Mercy Dunham, d/o Joseph Dunham and Mercy Morton. She is usually quoted as b. abt. 1660, and certainly before her mother died 19 Feb 1666/67. [See for example, Dunham Genealogy, p. 160.]
• Mercy Dunham, d/o John Dunham and Mary ---, b. 1660-1670. [See for example, Dunham Genealogy, p. 17, or TAG, p. 30:148 ("Dunham Family of Plymouth").]
• Mercy Dunham, d/o Eleazer Dunham and Bathsheba Pratt, b. 10 Dec 1686. [See for example, Dunham Genealogy, p. 160, or MD, p. 1:141 ("Plymouth, Mass., Vital Records").]

The last Mercy can be ruled out based on age alone. She would not have been old enough to marry in 1701 (only 15). So, on the surface, the Dunham Genealogy may have gotten this one right when it said she is the one who married Samuel Kempton 8 Apr 1706 [it is recorded in MD, p. 14:35 ("Plymouth, Mass., Vital Records")].

The first Mercy, d/o Joseph, would be quite a bit older than Joseph King. The Dunham Genealogy says she is the one who married Joseph King who is 20 years younger then her. However, TAG, p. 30:148 ("Dunham Family of Plymouth") says a deed dated 10 Mar 1714/15 shows her to still be unmarried as of that date.

That leaves the middle Mercy as the most likely candidate. She is a little older than Joseph, but no so much as the first Mercy, and exact date of her birth is not known with any precision. Her life situation may have contributed to her getting married in 1701 as she was the youngest daughter of parents that had recently died and inherited a significant portion of their estate. She is known have been unmarried 17 Feb 1698/99 by a deed, and so could not have been the wife of Israel Hatch as asserted by Dunham Genealogy, p. 17, since Israel Hatch m. 1699 his cousin Elizabeth Hatch, who d. as his wife in 1733. (MD, p. 2:171 ("Scituate, Mass., Births, Marriages and Deaths"), MD, p. 9:95-6 ("Gravestone Records from the Cemetery at Marshfield Hills, Mass.")

It is possible there could be another Mercy Dunham, possibly a widow, that should be investigated.

1. ↑ Plymouth, Mass., Vital Records, in Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants. Mayflower Descendant: An Illustrated Quarterly Magazine of Pilgrim Genealogy, History and Biography
   14:35.

   Joseph King was Married to Marsey Dunham November 1701.