Person:Elizabeth Cogan (4)

GMB describes the inability to call Endicott's second wife Elizabeth Cogan:

Several inconsistencies suggest the possibility that Endicott had more than two wives. Nothing is known of the Gibson of whom his second wife was supposedly widow. Endicott's wife was Elizabeth at the end of 1636 when the Salem Church members list was compiled. There is no indication after her name that she either died or removed, whereas after Endicott is noted his removal [SChR 5]. In 1640 when Philobert Cogan wrote his will, his daughter Elizabeth was the wife of Endicott. This Elizabeth was fourteen in 1623 at the time of the Somersetshire Visitation. There is a seven year discrepancy from that age when Elizabeth, the Governor's widow deposes, in 1674 [EQC 5:323]. In any event, the former was undoubtedly the mother of their two sons. It is interesting to note that Endicott's last wife importuned him, according to Jeremiah Howchin, in the matter of his will, and in this acted more the part of a stepmother to the sons than a mother.

1.   John Endicott, in Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995).

   Marriage.. 2) probably Boston 18 August 1630 "_____ Gibson" [ WJ 1:35;NEHGR 110:271], born about 1607 [NEHGR 43:310] (but deposed 13 April 1674, aged "about sixty years" [ EQC 5:323]), the daughter of Philobert Cogan of Chard, Somersetshire, who bequeathed to "daughter Elizabeth Endecott" in his 10 February 1640/1 will, evidently the widow of _____ GIBSON [NEHGR 43:309-311]. She died after 13 April 1674.

2.   Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1860-1862)
   2:120.

   Endicott, John... he m. 18 Aug. 1630. Elizabeth Gibson (from Cambridge in Eng. says the fam. geneal.) had John, b. a. 1632; and Zerubbabel, a. 1635.