Person:Martha Gaines (8)

All of Benjamin Edwards' children in Wenham are recorded as children of Benjamin and Mary. "John Gaines of Ipswich and his wife Mary (Treadwell) had daughters, Mary, b. 1660, and Martha, b. 1661. Benjamin may have married Mary Gaines as a second wife, though there is no proof that he did not marry some other Mary."^S1

It is also possible, since only one marriage is recorded for Benjamin Edwards, that the name on the record is in error and that he married Mary Gaines to begin with. Because Wenham records are notoriously incomplete during this time period, the actual situation may never be clear.

A later Register article on the descendants of Henry Gaines of Lynn Mass indicates that John Gaines wills his estate to his wife during her natural life and then to his son John Gaines, "he to pay unto my fower daughters (now unmarried) the sum of sixteen pounds." This article indicates there is no record of a daughter Mary Gaines who lived to adulthood.^S2

1. ↑ Mills, William Stowell, "The Edwards Family of Wenham prior to 1715, in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society)
   Vol 56 p. 61.

   see text.

2. ↑ "Descendants of Henry Gaines of Lynn Mass", in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society)
   Vol 85 p 32-33.

   New England Historical and Genealogical Register

3. ↑ Gaines, in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts, United States. Vital Records of Ipswich, Massachusetts to End of the Year 1849. (Salem, Massachusetts: Essex Institute, 1910, 1919)
   Vol 1 p. 154.

   "Marth, d. John, Nov 17, 1661 (Essex Cty Quarterly Court records)