MERCY HURD (BRIGHAM) (RICE) (HUNT) 1613-1693

[Ancestral Link: Marguerite Anderson (Miller), daughter of Hannah Anderson (Anderson), daughter of Mary Margaret Edmiston (Anderson), daughter of Martha Jane Snow (Edmiston), daughter of Gardner Snow, son of James Snow, son of Zerrubbabel Snow, son of Abigail Brigham (Snow), daughter of Gershom Brigham, son of Thomas Brigham, son of Mercy Hurd (Brigham).]

Re Mercy Hurd http://www.immigrantships.net/v4/1600v4/suzanandellen16350311.html
Correspondence added November 5, 2008 - I am as well a descendant of Thomas Brigham, he also being my 9th maternal great grandfather. His descendants settled in Cambridge and then to Central Massachusetts, where a large clan grew through the 17th-19th centuries, first in Marlborough, West Boylston, and eventually Rutland, Barre and Hubbardston. The last remaining of the directly descended Brighams in central Massachusetts, Mr. Herbert Elliot Brigham II, born 1891 died 1980 in Hubbardston, Massachusetts, is my great grandfather. A large pond in Hubbardston is named for the Brigham clan.
The record indicates that his wife Mercy Hurd was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, although the dates and/or places are suspect. Her birth is recorded at 1613, which would predate the settlement of Newtowne (renamed Cambridge), the official settlement of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1620, and the landing of the Mayflower.
It could make her one of the first European descendants to be born in the New World. The only way her birth could be so early is if she is descended from what remained of the Popham Colony in what is now the Mid-coast region of Maine.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.a ncestry.com/~barbpretz/PS03/PS03_444.HTM
She was Mercy Hurd, of whom tradition says was of high character; and she and her sister were so 'tantalized' in England for their non-conformity, that they resolved on seeking their liberty and fortunes in New England, where they arrived unattended by husbands or lovers. The tradition is direct and no doubt reliable that success rewarded the enterprise. We are told that 'they were in as quick demand as unmarried teachers in the West; and if the number of worthy husbands whom a lady marries is the measure of her worth, then Madame Brigham was a most worthy and attractive woman, for she married no less than three, viz., Thomas Brigham of Cambridge, who was ten or fifteen years her senior and the ancestor of the numerous Brighams who settled in Marlborough; 2d, Edmund Rice, and 3d, William Hunt of Marlborough. She died 1693 after the third widowhood of 26 years. During this period she saw two bloody Indian wars. During the first, Marlborough was burnt and she with one of her sons is believed to have retreated to their former home, on the rocks in Cambridge, withile her other sons went in pursuit of he enemy."

From The History of the Brigham Family (1907)
Thomas Brigham married probably in 1637 his wife Mercy, but of this date there is no record. We know she must have been a woman of unusual strength, force and determination. The Rev. Abner Morse says, on the authority of tradition, that her maiden name was Mercy Hurd, that she was 10 or 15 years younger than her husband, and that, persecuted in England for nonconformity, she came to New England with her sister, who married William (?) Cutter. Tradition should be taken as a clue to the truth rather than truth itself, for investigation where practicable is likely to find the basis of truth small in tradition a century old. The Cutter Genealogy states that when William Cutter returned to England, probably he was a bachelor.

She married for her second husband, 1 March, 1655, Edmund 1 Rice, then of Sudbury, but who removed in 1660 to Marlboro, where he died 3 May, 1663. He was born 1594, and came from Barkhamstead, Hertfordshire, England; settled in Sudbury in 1638-9; resided on east side of Sudbury River in the southerly part of what is now Wayland, near the great meadows . . . . He was select man in 1644, and deacon of the church in 1648. His first wife was Tamazine, who came with him from England; also eight children. His residence in Marlboro was in the westerly part of the town, on an old county road leading from; Marlboro to Northboro, and in the bend, as it passes around the northerly side of Williams Pond, a short distance north of the ancient Williams Tavern. He was intrusted by the General Court (1640 and 1643) with various duties. He was buried in Sudbury and his estate settled by his widow.

On her second marriage she took with her to Sudbury and Marlboro all her children {History of Cambridge, p. 501).

Children of Edmund Rice and Mercy (Hurd) (Brighawi) Rice:

i Ruth, born in Sudbury, Massachusetts., 29 September, 1659; died 30 March, 1742, age 83; married 20 June, 1683, Samuel, son of Capt. Samuel and grandson of Gov. Thomas Welles of Conn. (Gov. Welles settled at Hartford, 1636; Capt. Samuel settled at Weathersfield; Samuel resided at Glastonbury, Connecticut); her husband was born 13 April, 1660; died 28 August, 1731. On the first day of June, 1684, a deed was made by Samuel and Ruth (Rice) Welles to Eleazer Howe of Marlboro, of her land inherited from her father, 12£ acres, bounded by Samuel Brigham. She made her " mark." Their first child, who died in infancy, was named " Mercy."

ii Ann, born in Marlboro, 19 November, 1661; probably married Nathaniel Gary (Gerry) of Roxbury, Massachusetts, 12 November, 1685; he was born 4 July, 1663, son of Nathaniel Gery and Ann Dugglas, who were married in Roxbury, 14 October, 1658.

A petition for a division of Edmund Rice's estate was signed 16 (4) 1663 by his widow Mercy with eight elder and two younger children. His inventory made a total of £ 556 0s. 7d (Mid. Files). His inventory made a total of £ 556 0s. 7d (Mid. Files).

Mercy married, 1664, as her third husband, William Hunt, then of Marlboro, but formerly an early settler in Concord. He was made Freeman 2 June, 1641, and was a large land holder. His first wife Elizabeth, the mother of his children (Nehemiah, Samuel, Elizabeth and Isaac), died 27 December 1661. His will probated 17 December 1667, made the following provision for his widow:

" I doe give and bequeath to Mercy Hunt my well beloved Wife all my cart and plow Irons here at Marlboro, one spade, also one bedstead and Cord, one pair of Curtains and Valionts, one Chest, one cupboard, two Cushion stools, two Joyn-stools, three Cushions, two frying pans, one peuter flaggon, one peuter bowle, one peior of Tongs, three small peuter plates, one winnowing sheete, one forke, one little keeller, two hand pigine pails, one booke, one fine sheet" (Hunt Family Gen.).

She died in Marlboro, 23 December 1693, after a third widowhood of 26 years. During this period she saw two bloody Indian wars. The 26th of March 1676, the Marlboro people were assembled in their meeting house for worship when the alarm was sounded and they barely reached the garrison house in time to find safety from the attacking Indians, who burned houses and barns and destroyed orchards and cattle. The people shortly retreated to the towns to the eastward, where they remained for some months until peace was assured.
found on ancestry.com


Mercy Brigham Rice Hunt Mercy married Thomas Brigham about 1641. They had five children: Thomas, John, Mary Fay, Hannah Eames Ward, and Samuel.
She married (2) at Sudbury, 1 March 1655/6, Edmund Rice (with whom she had 2 more children).
She married (3) Marlborough, October or November 1664, William Hunt, as his 2nd wife. She was buried at Marlborough, Massachusetts 22 December 1693.
found on ancestry.com


Name Origins Recorded in several spellings including Herd, Hurd, Hurde, Hurdman, and the patronymics or diminiutives Hurdis, Hurdiss and Herdson, this is an English surname. It is one of the occupational names for a keeper of animals, generally cows or sheep. The derivation is from the pre 7th Century Olde English word 'hierde' meaning a herd or flock. Occupational surnames were amongst the earliest to be created, but often they did not become hereditary unless a son or sometimes a grandson, followed in the footsteps of the father. In this case early examples of the surname recordings taken from surviving rolls and registers of the medieval period include those of: Thomas Hord of the county of Staffordshire in the year 1221, Reginald Le Herd of Somerset in 1243, and Richard Le Hurde of Sussex, in the subsidy rolls of that county for 1296. Robert Herdsman is recorded in Colchester in 1367 and Nicholas Herder in Somerset slightly earlier in 1333. Later examples include Ellen Hurdis, the daughter of Thomas Hurdis, who was christened at St Brides church, Fleet Street, in the city of London on March 20th 1598, and Katherine Hurdiss, the daughter of William, who was christened at St Olave's church, Hart Street, also in the city of London, on July 12th 1697. The first recorded spelling of the family name may be that of William Le Hird. This was dated 1189, in the Curia Regis rolls, during the reign of King Richard 1st of England and known as "The Lionheart", 1189 - 1199. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.
© Copyright: Name Orgin Research
found on ancestry.com


Emigrated from England The History of the Brigham Family
We know Mercy must have been a woman of unusual strength, force and determination. The Rev. Abner Morse says, on the authority of tradition, that her maiden name was Mercy Hurd, that she was 10 or 15 years younger than her husband, and that, persecuted in England for nonconformity, she came to New England with her sister, who married William (?) Cutter. On her second marriage she took with her to Sudbury and Marlboro all her children (History of Cambridge, p. 501). During her third widowhood of 26 years, she saw two bloody Indian wars. The 26th of March 1676, the Marlboro people were assembled in their meeting house for worship when the alarm was sounded and they barely reached the garrison house in time to find safety from the attacking Indians, who burned houses and barns and destroyed orchards and cattle. The people shortly retreated to the towns to the eastward,where they remained for some months until peace was assured.
found on ancestry.com


History Mercy Hurd. who is said to have come with her sister alone from England owing to religious differences from which they suffered annoyance and persecution at home. After the death of Mr. Brigham she married (second) March 1. 1655 Edmund Rice, of Sudbury, and Marlboro, ancestor of a notable Worcester family, by whom she had two daughters.

He died 1663, and she married (third) William Hunt, of Marlboro, 1664. He died 1667, and she died December 23, 1693, after being in her third widowhood a period of twenty-six years. The children of Thomas and Mercy (Hurd) Brigham were: Mary, born probably at Watertown; Thomas; John, March 9, 1644, died September 16, 1728, aged eighty-four years; Hannah, March 9, 1649, married Samuel Wells; Samuel, born January 12 1652-3, died July 24, 1713.
found on ancestry.com


Indian War Marcy Hurd lived though 26 March 1676, Marlboro, Massachusetts
26th of March 1676
The people of Marlboro, Massachusetts were in the meeting house for worship when the alarm sounded. They had barley reached the garrison in time to find safety from the attacking Indians. The Indians burned the houses and barns and destroyed the orchards and cattles. The Marlboro people retreated to the towns to the east and remained there for several months until peace was restored.

This was found in the book, "The history of the Brigham family, a record of several thousand decendants of Thomas"
killroy44 added this on 29 October 2010

A short story of one Indian War Mercy was present for.
found on ancestry.com