Alice Firmage

Alice Blessing, the second daughter of William Blessing, was born ca 1593 and died 09 February 1656 at Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts; her will was proven 24 April 1656.

Alice married, ca 1615 at Great Yarmouth, Mark? Samuel? Firmage/Vermaes who died either in England or on the voyage to New England.

biographical notes

Alice Vermace emigrated from Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, in 1638. Alice set sail with six children, in company with Margaret and Robert Buffam, her sister and brother-in law. They followed other relatives: William and Joanna Towne, who left Yarmouth in 1635, and Edmund Towne, who left in 1637. All settled at Salem: an extended family network of twenty settlers, if household servants are included.

Alice, as widow Alice Firmage/ Vermaes, appeared before the town meeting of Salem on 19 October 1638 where she asked for accommodation which was granted to her in the form of fifty acres on 04 February 1639. The will of Alice Firmage of Boston was proved 24 April 1656 wherein she speaks “of her sister Joane Towne”, i.e., Joan Blessing Towne which is the evidence of her being the fourth daughter of William Blessing.

From  http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~cetowne/Towne_Bowditch/p17...

The will of Alice Fermace of Boston was proved on 24 April 1656 in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts. Her estate was very modest, and her legacies generally consisted of small personal items. She left items of clothing to her sister Joan Towne, her daughters Ester Estick and Sary Langdon, and her grandchild Susan Goose. Her three "negro servants," named Pilgrim, Edee, and Ellizabeth, were left to her son [in-law] Edward Hutchinson, who was named executor, but their services were also to be divided with her daughters Susan Goose and Abigail Hutchinson. Whatever was left was to be divided equally among her children. Her property was appraised at £18:3:0 on 20 February 1655/56, and a separate appraisal on 11 March 1656 valued her Boston property at £11:10:0.1

Sources:

1. Walter Goodwin Davis, The Ancestry of Dudley Wildes, p. 121-125.
2. About Towne, Shirley Drury Patterson, "Baptism Record Found for Joanna Blessing," Vol. XXI, No. 4, December 2001, pp. 64-67.
3. Walter Goodwin Davis, The Ancestry of Dudley Wildes, pp. 119-120.

   ---

family

BLESSING, Alice m. abt 1615 (____) VERMAYES. Alice came to New England as a widow and d. 9 Feb 1655/6 at Boston, MA. NOTE: The name is also shown as Fermace /Fermaes/ Fermase/ Fermayes/ Firmage/ Formais/ Hermayes/ Veremaes and Vermais.

Children of (____) VERMAYES and Alice BLESSING all b. Norfolk Co, England:

1. Mark, b. abt 1619; no further record [SIC: returned to England, married Ruth] comment: perhaps step son
2. Benjamin, b. abt 1620, m. Mercy Bradford at Boston 21 Dec 1648, dau of Gov. Wm Bradford. comment: perhaps stepson
3. Susan m. bef 1656 at Boston, Peter Vergose, AKA: Fergoose, Vertigoose and Goose.
4. Abigail m. 1st Robert Button of Salem, MA and 2d, Edward Hutchinson, Jr. son of William and Anne (Marbury) Hutchinson. Ann was convicted for her religious beliefs and banished from MA Bay Colony; most of her family went to Portsmouth, RI.
5. Sarah m. John Landgon bef 1656 at Boston, MA - haven't found children yet.
6. Esther / Hester m. abt 1650 Edward Eastwick prob. at Salem, MA.

   ---

supporting data

From Abandoning America: Life-stories from Early New England by Susan Hardman Moore Boydell Press, 2013 - History - 412 pages. Page 301-2

"Mark Vermace [Vermais, Vermase, Fermayes, 'ffermais', 'ffirmace'] is likely to have been a son of Alice Vermace, who emigrated from Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, in 1638. Alice set sail with six children, in company with Margaret and Robert Buffam, her sister and brother-in law. They followed other relatives: William and Joanna Towne, who left Yarmouth in 1635, and Edmund Towne, who left in 1637. All settled at Salem: an extended family network of twenty settlers, if household servants are included. ..."

---

From About Towne, vol. 1, #1, pp. 2-3; excerpt from W.G. Davis, The Ancestry of Dudley Wildes.

Widow Alice Vermais requested "accomodation" (i.e., land) at the Salem town council on 29 October 1638, receiving 50 acres on 4 February 1638/9. There were two sons and four daughters. Alice Fermace later moved to Boston, her will proven 24 April 1656 in which a sister Joan Towne was named. Also mentioned are "daughters" (or nieces) Susan Goose and Abigail Hutchinson; also Peter, Abigail, Sarah and Esther.

comment: Davis suggested that sons Benjamin and Mark were stepsons as they were not mentioned in her will, although Benjamin didn't die until 1665 and Mark, who had returned to England by 1652, was perhaps still living, and with known children.

---

From link to Perley, Sidney, The History of Salem, Massachusetts (Salem, Massachusetts: S. Perley, 1924-1928.), 2:42

Mark Vermais was perhaps the son of Mrs. Alice Vermais. She was admitted to the Salem Church in 1639. He was engaged to be married to Katherine -- in 1640, but she forsook him and married Nicholas Pacy of Lowestoft, Suffolkshire, England, merchant. Mrs. Vermais had a daughter Abigail, who was admitted to the church in Salem in 1640, and married, first, Robert Bethune of Boston; second, Edward Hutchinson; and probably a son Benjamin, who belonged to the Salem church, and married Mercy, eldest daughter of Gov. William Bradford of Plymouth in 1648, and removed to Boston, and thence to Plymouth. The Vermais family remained in Salem only a few years. Mrs. Vermais conveyed the title to some land in the Northfield in 1655, but had previously removed from the town. She died Feb. 9, 1656. There is a small hill in Danvers, lying south-westerly from the junction of Andover Street and Pope's lane, which perpetuates the name, though spelled differently. In 1666, it was called Shermaid's hill; in 1699, Scarcemaid's hill; in 1701, Scaremaid's hill; and in 1703, Fairmaid's hill. The family name is sometimes written Fearmayes.

---

From link to Perley, Sidney, The History of Salem, Massachusetts (Salem, Massachusetts: S. Perley, 1924-1928.), 2:61

Feb 4, 1638/9, the town granted ... fifty acres of land to widow Vermais ....

---

Sources Cited

• Roger Thompson, Divided we stand: Watertown, Massachusetts, 1630-80 (Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1994), 148, 190; Salem TR, 72, 74; Salem CR, 8; NEHGR 3: 187; Yarmouth CB, 20 January 1647/8, 30 March 1649, 20 January 1651/2, 17 August 1658.
• The ancestry of Sarah Johnson, 1775-1824, wife of Joseph Neal ... Davis, Walter Goodwin, 1885-1966. 37: See Alice Blessing Firmage https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89066175886;view=1up;seq=55
• The ancestry of Abel Lunt, 1769-1806, of Newbury, Massachusetts / By: Davis, Walter Goodwin, 119-25 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89061707337;view=1up;seq=137
• Great Migration Directory 350: "Vermayes, Alice: Great Yarmouth, Norfolk; 1638; Salem, Boston[SChR 8; STR 1:72, 73; EQC 1:23; MBCR 1 :377; Sarah Johnson Anc 37-43; Dudley Wildes Anc 119-25]."
• The ancestry of Dudley Wildes : 1759-1820, of Topsfield, Massachusetts by Davis, Walter Goodwin, 1885-1966 link
• link to Perley, Sidney, The History of Salem, Massachusetts (Salem, Massachusetts: S. Perley, 1924-1928.), 2:42

  ---

Links

• http://stanleyhistory.net/descnarratives/blessingwilliam7662.shtml
• http://news.rootsweb.com/th/read/SALEM-WITCH/2007-04/1177980226
• http://www.dickcoveney.us/Chris%27%20Ancestry/Chris%27%20Ancestry/C...
• https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:LCTD-DQY
• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=selvage1&...