John Hussey and Mary Wood or Moor
John Hussey married Mary Wood (also transcribed as Moor) 5 December 1593 in Dorking, Surrey, England. Information about the Hussey and Wood ancestry is inconclusive.
There is some speculation that John, not his son Christopher (who undoubtedly died in New Hampshire), was, according to family legend, the castaway devoured by native cannibals near the coast of Florida. However, this is just speculation. A John Hussey, aged 74, was buried 24 May 1632 in Dorking, Surrey, England.[1] In any case, Mary was a widow by 1638.
Mary came with her son Christopher and his family to New England aboard the William and Francis, leaving London 9 March 1632 and arriving 5 June. The Husseys settled at Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts, then Newbury, Essex, Massachusetts. A Mary Hussey vidua (the last word meaning “widow”) was one of the original grantees of Hampton, Norfolk, Massachusetts (now Rockingham County, New Hampshire) in 1638. Mary died 16 June 1660 in Hampton, Rockingham, New Hampshire.John and Mary's children are:
- John Hussey, baptized 29 Apr 1594 in Dorking, Surrey, England, died 8 Nov 1597 in Dorking, Surrey, England.
- Christopher Hussey, baptized 18 Feb 1598/9 in Dorking, Surrey, England, married 1) Theodate Bachiler and 2) Ann Capon (widow of Jeffrey Mingay) 9 Dec 1658, emigrated to America aboard the William and Francis in 1632, original grantee of Hampton, will made 26 Feb 1684/5 with codicil 28 October, died 6 Mar 1685/6 in Hampton, Rockingham, New Hampshire, buried 8 Mar at Hampton.
- Marie Hussey, baptized 31 Jan 1601/2 in Dorking, Surrey, England.
Sources:
- Noyes, Sybil, Libby, Charles Thornton, and Davis, Walter Goodwin, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, Portland, Maine: The Southward Press, 1928.
- Austin, John Osborne, One Hundred and Sixty Allied Families, Salem, MA, 1893, pgs. 145.
- Hussey Millennium Manuscript, courtesy of the Gowen Research Foundation, www.llano.net/gowen/hussey_millenium.htm, 2001.
- Sanborn, Victor Channing, The Grantees and Settlement of Hampton, N. H., Essex Institute Historical Collections, 53 - (1917), pgs. 228-49.
- Historic Nantucket, Vol. 27, Oct 1979, No. 2.
Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire
Hussey,a Wiltshire and Somersetshire name.
Mary, Mrs., widow, original grantee of Hampton, proprietor 1638-1640. As Mary Wood she had married John Hussey at Dorking, county Surrey, 5 December 1593, and, a widow, came with or followed her son’s family to New England. Not unlikely her husband was the early voyager Hussey [p.365] east away upon Cape Florida and there devoured by the native cannibals, a fate attributed to Christopher by his great-grandson Joseph Marshall of Nantucket, in his signed ‘Genealogy of the Husseys.’ Christopher himself certainly died in Hampton, if not in his bed. In Hampton 25 April 1648 she sold to John Woodin a joint possession until her death in 16 acres, partly adjoining Christopher. She was living 4 March 1649-50; Woodin sold alone 27 July 1657. Lists 392a, 393ab. In 1695 Thomas Leavitt and Joseph Marston drew in 3rd West Division in her original right. Children baptized at Dorking: John, 29 April 1594, died 8 November 1597. Christopher, 18 February 1599.Source: Noyes, Sybil, Libby, Charles Thornton, and Davis, Walter Goodwin, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, Portland, Maine: The Southward Press, 1928.
Austin's One Hundred and Sixty Allied Families
Dorking, Surrey Co., Eng. Hussey.
1—John.
The church records at Dorking give his marriage, and the baptisms of his two sons; with the death of the older son (John) while yet an infant. As his widow came to New England with her son Christopher, or very soon followed him there, it is probable that he was the only child living at that time. She was at Hampton in 1638, when her son was resident there.Source: Austin, John Osborne, One Hundred and Sixty Allied Families, Salem, MA, 1893, pgs. 145.
The Grantees and Settlement of Hampton, N. H.
3. MARY HUSSEY, VIDUA. Why she should be the only female grantee is hard to answer. She was perhaps a relative of Captain Christopher Hussey, but no affirmative evidence of this has been found. [Later research strongly suggests that she was, indeed, Christopher’s mother.] She has been ingeniously worked up into Christopher’s mother; and the name of the wife of John Hussey having been transformed from Moor to Wood, she has been linked with John Woodin, to whom she conveyed 16 acres of land in Hampton 25 April, 1648.[2] All this seems pure surmise, and wild genealogical guessing. In 1650 seats in the Hampton meeting-house were assigned to “ould mistris husse” and to “her dafter husse”.[3] Widow Mary Hussey died at Hampton 16 June, 1660; and troubles us no further. It may be noted that “Mary Hussey, widow”, appears among the associates of John White in his New England adventure.[4] On the list her name is given between the names of two associates living in New England, but she is not specifically so described.
…The parish register of Dorking contains the marriage of John Hussey and Marie Moor (or Wood) on 5 Dec., 1593, and the baptisms of their three children:[5]v. John, baptized 29 April, 1596; buried 8 Nov., 1597.
vi. Christopher, baptized 18 Feb., 1598-9.
vii. Marie, baptized 31 Jan., 1601-2.
Source: Sanborn, Victor Channing, The Grantees and Settlement of Hampton, N. H., Essex Institute Historical Collections, 53 - (1917), pgs. 228-49.Parish Registers
J. William Bardoe, Director of Research, English Genealogical Research, Guildford, Surrey, furnished the entries below, some of which he re-checked for accuracy, and stated that the registers of the adjacent parishes of Abinger and Sheir (Shera) do not contain Hussey entries prior to 5th 12. 1593. Neither do the Richmond Parish Registers reveal anything pertinent to the ancestry of Christopher Hussey. 1503-178_ Dorking Parish Registers, Co. Surrey, England
MARRIAGES
25th 9. 1569. John Wood Joane Taylor
5th 12. 1593 John Hussey Marie Wood
BAPTISMS
28th 6. 1562. John Wood, son of John Wood (senior) and Audrey, his wife
5th 5. 1581 Sara Wood, daughter of John Wood (junior)
9th 7. 1581 Marie Wood, granddaughter of John Wood (senior)
30th 8. 1584 Elias Wood, son of John Wood (junior)
3rd 10. 1588 Martha Wood, daughter of John Wood (junior)
29th 4. 1596 John Hussey, first child of John Hussey and Marie Wood
18th 2. 1598 Christopher Hussey, second child of John Hussey and Marie Wood
31st 1. 1601 Marie Hussey, third child of John Hussey and Marie Wood
BURIALS
1581 Marie Wood, daughter of John Wood (senior)
1586 Joane Wood, daughter of John Wood (senior)
8th 11. 1597 John Hussey, son of John Hussey and Marie Wood
18th 2. 1603 Audrey, wife of John Wood (senior)
5th 4. 1612 John Wood (senior)
24th 5. 1632 John Hussey, aged 74Source: Historic Nantucket, Vol. 27, Oct 1979, No. 2.
[1] The Hussey Millenium Manuscript theorizes that John could have been the castaway, who, instead of being killed, made his way back to England years later, or that Mary left him and made up the story to explain why she was without her husband. If the first were true, this would have likely been an event that would have attracted attention and a record would certainly have been left. The second is unlikely, as well, since Mary could have simply said that her husband had died of natural causes, instead of making up an elaborate story about his death. The story could be just that: a story that somehow got mixed in with fact and was repeated a number of times. There is some speculation but no proof that Mary and her son Christopher were in Holland before arriving in the New World.
[2] Land Records of old Norfolk County (Essex Antiquarian, vol. I, p. 22).
[3] Dow’s Hampton, p. 759.
[4] Register, vol. 61, p. 280.
[5] These dates are from a letter dated 17 Oct., 1894, from C. L. Hussey of Oxford, England, to Miss Hussey of Cornwall, N. Y. In this letter the name of John Hussey's wife is given as “Wood” Miss Sarah Hussey, now deceased, searched the Dorking register; she read the name “Moor.”