In 1634, John Barnard, a maltster, aged 36, came to the new world with wife, Mary. The couple never had children, and so he left a significant bequest to the sons of his sister Mary Barnard Bedient.
Mary had been born in England around 1620. She and Mordecai Bedient married in Staines, England, a few miles from where Heathrow Airport now stands. There in 1651, Mordecai, Jr. was born, followed in 1654 by Thomas.
17th Century England was a time of troubles. Protestants and Catholics were at odds. The country was torn between Royalists (who supported the king) and Parliamentarians (who wanted the king gone.) In 1665, the Great Plague hit London, (about 22 miles from Staines), killing a quarter of its population in 18 months. Little wonder that the Bedients left for America to receive that bequest.
The family lived in Westchester NY where son John was born. After Mordecai died around 1670, Mary married Roger Townsend. Widowed again, she married Captain Richard Osborn, the father of her daughter-in-law, the wife of son Thomas. Mary died about 1698.
What doctors wore when treating people with the plague
Notes:
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- Some records refer to the Mordecais (father and son) as Morgan.
- The will of John Barnard references other relatives. Research about them may give clues as to where Mary Barnard came from.
- Six university students in England recently made a three minute video of what London looked like prior to its Great Fire in 1666. They used maps and diaries of that era to create it. This approximates what our ancestors would have seen. It’s at http://www.openculture.com/2013/11/fly-through-17th-century-london.html
Sources:
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- Robert Charles Anderson, Great Migration, 1634-1635, Vol. 1, John Barnard. Online at http://www.americanancestors.org
- Donald Lines Jacobus, Fairfield, CT, Vol.