Mary, second wife of Peter Browne (mtDNA)

From Mayflower DNA
Jump to: navigation, search

Status summary

As of September 26, 2020

  • Page created for Mary, wife of Peter Browne
  • recruitment of individuals who are mtDNA descendants of Mary. Folks who believe they are matrilineal (all female line) descendants should Read me First

IMPORTANT: Read me First

Paper Trail

For more information see: Wakefield, Robert S., Mayflower Families through Five Generations vol. 7 Brown. Names in bold font have mtDNA descendants who have mtDNA tested.

First Generation

Almost nothing is known about Mary, the second wife of Peter Brown(e). She married Peter by 1631[1] and survived her husband by at least one year.[2] Peter and Mary had two children; a child who died young and Rebecca.

Second Generation

Rebecca Browne was born in Plymouth about 1631.[3] She married about 1654 to William Snow.[4] William and Rebecca had eight children: Mary (c1658) William (1662), Hannah (1664), Joseph (c1664), James (c1665, never married), Lydia (c1667), Benjamin (1668) and Rebecca (1671). All eight were named in their father's 1698 will but ufortunately, William only gave the first names to his daughters (even those known to have been married). Thus we are not certain of whether all his daughters married and who their spouses were.

Third Generation

Mary Snow was born presumably in Bridgewater about 1658. There are conflicting reports about whether she was the wife of John Rickard (brother to Samuel & Giles Rickard who married her sisters) or whether Mary never married. mtDNA testing of a living "umbilical" descendant of John & Mary Rickard may be able to support or refute this claim. A mismatch to the mtDNA of her sisters' umbilical descendants would prove John Rickard's wife was not Mary Snow (daughter of William Snow & Rebecca Brown). A match to the sister's would certainly support a link, but would not (in and of itself) prove the link. John Rickard and his wife Mary had eight children; three sons and seven daughters (Mary, Lydia, Mercy/Marcy, Patience [1689 unk if marr], Joanna, Abigail [1694, unknown if married], & Rebecca).

Hannah Snow was born about 1664 (possibly in Bridgewater) and died at Yarmouth 29 Mar 1723. She married twice, first to Giles Rickard 7 Nov 1683 at Plymouth, and second to Joseph Howes on 9 Mar 1713/4. Her first husband's will failed to list any children (and bequests were made to his siblings children) so it is assumed they had no surviving children. Hannah would have been too old to have had any children by her second marriage.

Rebecca Snow was born in Plymouth 23 Jul 1671 and died 4 Apr 1740 in Plympton. She married Plymouth 31 Dec 1689 to Samuel Rickard. They had six children, three sons and three daughters (Hannah, Bethia & Mehitable).

Fourth Generation

Mary Rickard was born Plymouth 1677 and is said to have died in 1711. She is said to have married Jabez Eddy before 1700 and they had: Jabez (1701), Mary (1702/3 m. Giles Rickard), Lydia (1703/4 m. Theophilus Crocker & Josiah Richmond), Beulah (1707 m. Nathaniel Fisher (II)) and Hezekiah (1711 m. Shubael Lewis & John Cole (III)).

Lydia Rickard was born Plymouth 12 Jul 1679 and died there in 1736. She married Plymouth 27 Mar 1706 John Tilson and they had (born Plympton): Timothy (1707), Mary (1708), Patience (1711 m. Thomas Harlow (II)), John (1713), Jonathan (1715) and Patience (1718)

Mercy Rickard was born Plymouth 7 May 1687 and died Plympton 6 Jan 1767. She married Plympton 14 Apr 1709 Ephraim Tilson (II) and they had (born Plympton): Lemuel (1711), Hannah (1713), Mercy (1716), Content (1718), Lois (1720/1), Waitstill (1723), Martha (1725) and Abigail (1729).

Joanna Rickard was born Bridgewater 22 Sep 1691 and died Plympton 6 Jan 1767. She married twice: First Plympton 18 Jun 1713 Israel Dunham (d. 1726) and second there 10 Oct 1728 Elisha Whiton. By her first husband Joanna had two sons (born Plympton): Sylvanus (1714) and Ebenezer (1718/9). By her second husband (Elisha Whiton) Joanna had five more children (born Hingham): Elisha (c1729), Joanna (1731), Alpheus (1733), Azariah (c1735) and Mercy (1737).

Rebecca Rickard was born Plymouth 3 Jan 1699. She married Plymouth 8 Oct 1724 Thomas Pratt and had at least one child: Rebecca (1725).


Hannah Rickard was born Plymouth 25 Sep 1693. She married Bridgewater 12 Apr 1720 Josiah Byram and they had five children (born Bridgewater): Susanna (1721 m. Jonathan Bass), Josiah (1722/3), Theophilus (1725), Mehitable (1730 m. Daniel Beals) and Rebecca (1732 m. Samuel Bowditch).

Bethia Rickard was born Plymouth 15 Oct 1698 and died Duxbury 21 Mar 1764. She married Plympton 6 May 1724 John Chandler. Unknown if they had any children

Mehitable Rickard was born Plympton 1 Apr 1707 and died Bridgewater before 20 May 1741. She married Bridgewater 12 Nov 1730 Arthur Harris; believed to only have had one daughter, Lucy.


  1. WikiTree profile for Mary gives her the surname of Hard and states they were married at Plymouth 27 Oct 1630. No source was stated, and this information is not found in reputable references.
  2. Plymouth Colony Records 1:28 (dated 27 Mar 1634), but was probably dead by Oct 1647 when one of her daughters sold her father's land without referring to the widow's dower rights. (TGMB I:261). Roser's Mayflower Passenger References (p. 156) states an article in the Mayflower Quarterly 53:13 questioned whether she married second, James Lendall of Duxbury, but concluded this was unlikely.
  3. Her father died in 1633 so she could not have been born after 1634.
  4. Plymouth Colony Land Records 5:197

mtDNA Results

According to the GSMD/FTDNA Mayflower DNA Project online presentation (passcode ajI2.8wq) two matrilineal descendants[1] of Mary ____, the second wife of Peter Browne have ordered mtDNA tests. To date, the project does not publish the results of these tests.[2]

  1. The two descend from different daughters of Mary's only known daughter, Rebecca BROWNE Snow.
  2. It is unknown whether the test results have not been published on their site for privacy reasons.


References and External Links

  • Wakefield, Robert S., Mayflower Families Through Five Generations: vol. 7 Brown General Society of Mayflower Descendants, Plymouth, MA. Second edition 2002
  • Roser, Susan E., Mayflower Increasings From the Files of George Ernest Bowman at the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, MD, Second edition 1995, 1996. pp. 29-32
  • Roser, Susan E, Mayflower Passenger References (from contemporary records & scholarly journals) Second edition, 2015. Canada ([www.stewartbooks.com Stewart Publishing & Printing]
  • Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, vol. I A-F. 1995 Boston, MA. New England Historic Genealogical Society
  • The Brown Family - The Mayflower Society


© 2015-2022 mayflowerdna.org All Rights Reserved