Person:Mary Unknown (2082)

Will

Mary Worden's will is dated 6 Mar. 1686, probated 31 May 1687 and was published in "Mayflower Descendants", Vol. 3, p. 201. The original is filed in Barnstable Co., Probate Records, Cape Cod. Her will names one son, Samuel, and three daughters, Mary Burge, Mercy Winslow and Martha Seaverns.

Disputed Information

Peter II did not marry Mary Winslow or Mary Sears (a claim made in a Worden genealogy written over 100 years ago). He did marry Mary, possibly in England because in his will he wrote, “I give to my son Samuel Worden all my estate in old England, both land and other estate that came by my wife”. In 1972 Marjorie Schunke wrote “ I have researched that question as thoroughly as an amateur can and I find no hint at all that Mary was either Sears or Winslow”In 1997 George Bolton wrote “For the sake of completeness I have recently carried out a most exhaustive search...involving consultation with the civil and diocesan record offices of the counties of Lancashire, Cheshire, Worcestershire and Hampshire [England].... I do not believe any such marriage took place at the time and place stated”. Carolyn Stubbs,a Worden descendant, is presently working with a professional genealogist in this area. The Sears family also denies a daughter of Richard named Mary. The speculation probably arose because Richard Sears was a neighbor of Peter Worden, and he left his son Silas Sears land near Yarmouth that bordered on Peter’s. Silas and Samuel Sears also witnessed Mary’s will, and Paul Sears took the inventory.