Family:Joshua Morse and Mary Paine (1)

Marriage and Children

Crane states Joshua's second marriage was to the Widow Mary Paine of Braintree, who died in 1747. Morse Gen. states she was Mary Paine, dau of Samuel and Mary (Penniman) Paign. "Legislators of the Massachusetts General, 1691-1790" p. 291, states he married second "Mary Paine (1680-1747) in c1709, 3/8ch;" citing Morse Gen, Braintree VR & the History of Medfield. In the Vinton Memorial (p 353), we find a Mary born in 1680 to Samuel and Mary (Pennniman) Paine, however, it provides no further information. Cutter adds more to the mystery, naming a widow Mary Page of Braintree, born 27 Oct 1680, which is the birthdate of Mary Paine. Paine sometimes appears as Paign, which can be confused with Paige.
What to conclude? Mary Paine born in 1680 seems a logical choice as her mother Mary (Penniman) Paine did not become a widow, having died 1739 four years before her husband (Vinton Mem). Mary Paine is a cousin to Elizabeth Penniman, Joshua's first wife. Was Mary Paine, a widow about 1705?

The Braintree VRs do not have the marriage, and appear to have been cited because they were the source of the birthdate. Source:Tilden, William S. History of the Town of Medfield, Massachusetts, 1650-1886, p. 441, appears to be older than either Crane or Cutter, and says widow Mary Paine of Braintree. But no date or explanation is given, so we can't tell if her widowhood was an assumption because it was a second marriage for Joshua, or if there might be a probate document that supports this? (The Morse Gen. is older still, but does not share the view of Mary as a widow.)

Tingley, p. 447, says she is "Mary, widow of --- Paige and daughter of Ebenezer and Esther Kingsbury, b. May 6, 1680" (presumably he means Eleazer?, the birth in Dedham on 6 May 1680 is to Eleazer, who m. Esther Judson 1676 according to Dedham records). And while Abner Morse says Mary, d/o Samuel Pain and Mary Penniman, a newer Morse genealogy by Howard Morse, says Mary Kingsbury, d/o Eleazer and Esther. But Dedham records give the death of Mary, "daughter of Eleazar & Ester Kingsbury" on 6 Jun 1717, so apparently the newer sources are wrong here.

Until the primary basis for identifying Joshua's second wife is found, there can be no confidence in these identifications.

Addendum: The answer seems to be daughter of Samuel Paine of Braintree: Suffolk Deeds, Vol. 42, folio 158: 23 Mar 1723/4: Samuel Pain of Braintrey "in Consideration of the Love and Affection that I have to my son Joshua Morse & my daughter Mary Morse" conveys 6 acres of land "out of my homestead ... as hereafter it may be divided by my Children after mine & my wifes decease".

1. ↑ Hon. Joshua Morse, in Morse, Abner. Memorial of the Morses: containing the history of seven persons of the name, who settled in America in the seventeenth century : with a catalogue of ten thousand of their descendants : to which are added biographical sketches of many of their number. (Boston: William Veazie, 1850)
   40, 41.

   Joshua⁴ Hn. wife Elizabeth married November 15, 1699: 2. Mary, born October 27, 1680, m. prior to 1707, and died March 17, 1746-7, r. Medfield.
   Children born after 1705: Mary 1707, Jemima 1709, Joshua 1710, Eliakim 1712, Ruth 1716, Ebenezar 1717/8, Lydia 1719, and Joseph 1721.

2. ↑ Crane, Ellery B. Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worcester County, Massachusetts: With a History of Worcester Society of Antiquity. (New York: Lewis Publishing Co., 1907)
   v 1 p 492.

   He (Joshua Morse) married (second) Widow Mary Paine, of Braintree, who died in 1747.
   Children born after 1705: Mary 1707, Jemima 1709, Joshua 1710, Eliakim 1712, Lydia 1714, Ruth 1716, Ebenezer 1717/8, and Joseph 1721.

3.   Hon. Joshua Morse, in Cutter, William Richard, and William Frederick Adams. Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of the State of Massachusetts. (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1910)
   v 4 p 2275.

   [He married] second Mary Page, widow, of Braintree, born October 27, 1680, died March 1746-47.