Elizabeth Woolnough (mtDNA)
Contents
Status summary
As of September 28, 2020
- Page created for Elizabeth Woolnough, wife of Richard More
- Currently Unknown whether there are any living descendants of Elizabeth WOOLNOUGH More
- Low priority
Background
For more information see: Sherman, Robert M., Robert S. Wakefield and Lydia D. Finlay, Mayflower Families Through Five Generations: vol. 15 More
Biography
The life of Richard More reads like a soap opera. His mother, Katherine Moore, married her distant cousin, Samuel Moore, at Shipton, Shropshire, England 4 Feb 1610. She had four children baptized there (Eleanor, Jasper, Richard & Mary). The father divorced Katherine, accusing his wife of having a long standing affair with a man named Jacob Blakeway. While Samuel Moore claimed he was not the father of the children, he was able to take the children away from their mother and had made an agreement with John Carver and Robert Cushman to have the children taken aboard the Mayflower.
Richard was the only one of the More siblings to survive the first deadly winter. He married at Plymouth 20 Oct 1636 Christian Hunt, and soon after moved to Salem (in Massachusetts Bay Colony) where he became a mariner. Richard made several voyages to England and there exists a variety of records on both sides of the Atlantic charging Richard with extramarital affairs and other unseemly behaviors stereotypical of sailors. While he was still married, the following record undoubtedly pertains to him: "Richard Moore of Salem in New England Maryner and Elizabeth Woolno of Lymehouse" married at St. Dunstan's Stepney, Middlesex, England 23 Oct 1645[1] However, this apparently was not Richard's first time meeting with Elizabeth. The couple had their daughter, Elizabeth, baptized at St. Dunstan's 2 Mar 1645/6. It is likely she was not an infant when baptized, as an Apr 1646 court record speaks of an eight year old child, believed to be Elizabeth.
Elizabeth Woolnough was baptized at St. Dunstan's 21 Dec 1623, daughter of Capt. William Woolnough.[2]
It is believed Richard More was the father of Elizabeth's daughter, Elizabeth (mentioned above).
Second Generation
While speculative, an Elizabeth More of an appropriate age was in Salem, where she married about 1660 Richard Clarke (a shipwright). They soon moved to Southampton, Long Island, but it is currently unknown if they had any children.
- ↑ St. Dunstan's Marriage Register 2:51]
- ↑ Capt. Woolnough was a trans-Atlantic sea captain often sailing to the Virginia Colony.
mtDNA Results
It is currently unknown whether Elizabeth More, supposedly the daughter of (Capt.) Richard More and Elizabeth Woolnough, ever had any children.
References and External Links
- wikipedia article on Richard More
- Familypedia.com article on Richard More
- 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. p. 82
- Lindsay, David, Mayflower Bastard: A Stranger among the Pilgrims 2002, New York: St. Martins Press
- Sherman, Robert M., Robert S. Wakefield and Lydia D. Finlay. Mayflower Families Through Five Generations vol. 15 More 1997, Plymouth, MA General Society of Mayflower Descendants
