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Hannah's mark on her husband's estate administration bond. Other documents show this was her mark of choice.


This family name in the 17th and early 18th centuries is spelled variously depending on the document and the gravestone. There were varying degrees of literacy, even among town clerks and ministers. Spelling was fluid and often reflected phonetics, but the prevailing spelling amongst family members was decidedly "Woodbery." Since there is no ambiguity about this, I see no reason not to use it. I do so with the note that other spelling were used, uncommonly by Woodberys themselves, more commonly by others. This spelling eventually shifted to "Woodberry," and now "Woodbury" is favored.Hannah Woodberry - Hannah Woodbury

10 March 1716/17, she renewed her baptismal covenant at the Manchester Church

     I her will, written on 8 April 1760, her clothes were to be divided among her five daughters, Hannah, Abigail, Sarah, Ruth and Elizabeth. She gave her grandson Nathaniel Marsters £6, thirteen shillings and four pence. To her grandson Benjamin Haskell she gave a seventh of her real and personal estate. She also have a seventh part ot the children of her deceased son Joseph. All the children, including her only surviving son Andrew, but excepting daughter Hannah, were to divide the rest of the estate, they being the other five to get a seventh part. It's possible that Hannah (Marsters) Haskell Ober was already given the value of her part by her mother before 1760, maybe to help support herself and her children in her six years of widowhood. The reason for Benjamin Haskell's special notice isn't obvious, but he may have gone to live with his grandmother after his mother remarried in 1752, when he was 12. Her gravestone says she died in 1770, but a town record of the death says 1771 and initiation of the settling of her estate began on 28 January 1771, so 1771 is undoubtedly correct. The published vital records mistakenly say the gravestone year is 1776.

Children of Hannah Woodbery and Nathaniel Marsturs:

i. Hannah, b. 8 May 1717
ii. Elizabeth, b. 23 June 1718, d. 2 August 1718
iii. Nathaniel, b. 16 December 1719
iv. Abigail, bap. 10 December 1721
v. Elizabeth, bap. 14 October 1722
vi. Ruth, bap. 14 October 1722
vii. Samuel, b. 16 January 1723/24
viii. Ruth, b. 6 November 1725
ix. Sarah, b. 26 November 1727
x. Ruth, b. 4 September 1729
xi. Benjamin, b. 22 August 1731
xii. Joseph, bap. 24 December 1732
xiii. Andrew, b. 7 March 1735
xiv. Elizabeth, bap. 6 March 1736/37

vital records sources: Her birth and death records are in Vital Records of Manchester, Massachusetts to the end of the year 1849 vol. 1 (Topsfield:1903), 126 and ibid, vol. 2 (Topsfield:1907) 276 (record says she was 77 y, 4 m, 4 d, which would put her birth in 1693 - also cites her gravestone but is in error giving the year 1776); her marriage is in Vital Records of Beverly, Massachusetts to the Year 1849, vol. 2 (Topsfield: 1907), 2:352. She has a gravestone in the Old Burial Ground, Manchester, but it say she died in 1770, likely an error by the carver who forgot the year had changed (this was early January). It also says she was in her 78th year (meaning she would turn 78 on her next birthday). This corresponds with her death record but not with her birth date. And if she died in 1770, it would put her birth year in 1692. If she died on 4 January 1771, she was 76 y, 4m, 4d.

all text and photographs © 1998-2020 by Doug Sinclair unless where otherwise noted