Person:Thankful Clesson (1)

1) Info from Cliff McCarthy via e-mail 20 October 2002: The next question concerns Thankful, the wife of Samuel, Jr. Some genealogies have her as Thankful Mason; some as Thankful Clesson. One Ancestry genealogy got it right -- she is both. Thankful was the daughter of Mathew Clesson (Cleson) of Northampton (VR). Mathews' will, probated 1716 in Hampshire Co., clearly names Thankful Davis as one of his daughters. However, Rockwell's "Davis Families of Early Roxbury & Boston" also states that Samuel Jr. married Thankful Mason. Although, I have not seen first-hand a record of marriage between Thankful Clesson & Joseph Mason, I believe from reading the published genealogies, that it is included in Northampton's VR. The best answer came when I read several accounts of a 1693 Indian massacre in Brookfield:

"In any case, in broad daylight, at midday on July 27th, the eastern portion of the settlement was attacked by a band of approximately 40 Indians. They killed the wife (Rebecca) and two children of Joseph Wolcott, Thomas Lawrence, Joseph Mason and his son. Daniel Lawrence, approximately 18 years of age, brother of Thomas, and Mrs. Joseph Mason with an infant child were taken prisoners by the Indians. The infant was killed soon after capture." ("History of East Brookfield, MA, 1689-1970" by Louis E. Roy, M.D.) The account goes on to relate that Daniel Lawrence and Mrs. Mason were rescued by some of Pynchon's troops dispatched from Springfield, who killed at least four of the natives. Mrs. Mason later resettled in Brookfield and the belief that she married Samuel Davis, Jr. (on 23 Oct 1695, according to George L. Davis' book) is supported by the point that in 1698 the Joseph Mason estate was sold to Samuel Davis. He must have purchased his wife's home. I have more detailed (and gory) accounts of the raid, as well, which all support the same conclusion. Grace Combs states in her notes: "Samuel Davis, born Jan 31, 1672 in Northampton; married Oct 23, 1695 Thankful Mason, possible a daughter of Joseph Mason of Brookfield as Samuel purchased the Joseph Mason estate in 1698." This is incorrect as we already know that Thankful was the daughter of Mathew Clesson.

2) BIRTH: from BUSH entry at GenCircles, gives date and mother's name. http://www.gencircles.com/users/trulygolden/3/data/388

2a) BIRTH: as per Northampton Vital Recs and Pynchon, William & John, "Index to Hampshire Records of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1638-1696," Families of the Pioneer Valley, CD-ROM, Regional Publications, West Springfield, MA, 2000. From Cliff McCarthy, via e-mail 3 August 2003.

3) DEATH: "The Scott Genealogy" by Mary Lovering Holman, Boston, Mass. 1919. FHL US/Can book 929.273 Sc84h, P. 243. FHL film 1033607 (1/2003)

INHERITANCE: Received a cow and steer and utensils from the estate of her father Matthew Cleeson in1716.