Person:Bridget Unknown (106)

Identification of Bridget (No Evidence to Prove Her a Bradstreet)

"Robert(1) Mussey. "Bradstreet," on p. 796, should prob. be erased. See p. 803 *Note and p. 385 under 2 Thomas(2) Rowlandson. It does not seem clear that Bridget was Mussey's second wife. Humphrey Bradstreet's wife was named Bridget, but she was not a wid. till 1655. He may perhaps have had a sister Bridget." (III:993)^[5]

"We have been unable to verify the statement made by a correspondent, and printed on p. 796, that she was prob. a Bradstreet. May not the incident ment. on p. 385 have given rise to this statement." (II:803)^[5]

"Robert(1) Mussey. … m. … 2d, Bridget Bradstreet." (II:796)^[5]

"P. 307, Thomas(2) Rowlandson. There seems to have been "a nullitie of marriage" between Thomas Rowlandson of Marblehead and Martha Bradstreet, b. 1632, who afterwards m. William Beale of Marblehead." (I:385)^[5]

"Thomas Rowlandson [Rolenson, or Rawlinson], of Ipswich and Lancaster, m. Bridget -----. He was in Ipswich in 1637; free. 1638; rem. to L. in 1655; d. there, Nov. 17, 1657. Wid. Bridget m. May 31, 1659, William Kerley, Sen.; she d. June 14, 1662." (I:306-307)^[5] [At this point, Hoyt was apparently not aware that Thomas had prior wife who was mother of his children.]

1. ↑ Nourse, Henry Stedman. Birth, Marriage, and Death Register, Church Records and Epitaphs of Lancaster, Massachusetts, 1643-1850. (Clinton, Massachusetts: W.J. Coulter, 1890)
   12.

   Brichett wife of William Kerly Sen'r. died. 14. 4'mo. 1662. [14 Jun 1662]

2.   Hudson, Charles, and Lexington Historical Society (Massachusetts). History of the town of Lexington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from its first settlement to 1868. (Boston, Massachusetts, United States: Houghton Mifflin, 1913)
   476.

   Robert Muzzy of Ipswich died about 1644. His will dated 5 Jan 1642, probated 16 May 1644, names wife Bridget, daughters Mary and Ellen, sons Joseph and Benjamin. His widow Bridget (Bradstreet) married Thomas Rowlandson, who died at Lancaster 17 Nov 1657, and she married 31 May 1659 William Kerley, Senior, and died 14 June 1662.

3.   Pope, Charles Henry. Pioneers of Massachusetts (1620-1650): A Descriptive List, Drawn from Records of the Colonies, Towns and Churches. (Boston: The Author, 1900)
   393.
4. ↑ Robert Mussey, in Anderson, Robert Charles; George F. Sanborn; and Melinde Lutz Sanborn. The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635. (Boston, Massachusetts: NEHGS, 1999-2011)
   V:208-209.

   (Robert Mussey married) by an unknown date Bridget -----. … Hoyt proposed that she was a Bradstreet, and then withdrew that identification [Hoyt 796, 993]. The suggestion that Bridget was a Dane would have been based on the mention in the will of "my brother Dane the elder" which may only have denoted a church relationship.

5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4} Hoyt, David W. The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, Massachusetts. (Providence, RI, 1897-1919).