Mary Brockett

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/h/e/f/Rick-Heflin-Ohio/W...

On 14 August 1635 John Brockett, gentleman, of St. Michaels, Hertford Parish married Mary Blackwell of the same locality. The marriage license says that Mary was the daughter of Elizabeth Blackwell, widow of Richard Blackwell, late of Bushey. The Blackwell family was prominant among the Puritans living in St. Michaels, Hertford Parish.

Tradition says that John fell in love with a Puritan maiden and when he married her, his family disowned him. Therefore, he had nothing to loose by going to America and starting anew. This may well be true as the will of John Brockett, Esq., proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury in 1649-50, makes no mention of son John. Whether this is true or not, John Brockett did come to America with the Puritan leader Rev. John Davenport. He arrived in Boston Harbor in the ship "Hector" on 26 June 1637.

• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: Aug 4 2019, 23:03:05 UTC

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1 _UID 613C6B7E9103D611828100606E3BD45C

1 _UID 613C6B7E9103D611828100606E3BD45C3D9A

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We know very little about the wife of Jo

We know very little about the wife of John Brockett except by tradition. However the town records of New Haven in 1665 does provide a small glimpse into the character of not only her, but the Puritan life style of New Haven. "John Clark & Mary ffuller [Mary, born 1651, daughter of Lancelot and Hannah - John Clark, son of John born 1637] having been complayned of for being together alone at an unfeafonable time of night, & in an uncomely manner, in the houfe of goom Brockett which goow: ffinch had hired, & having beene examined before ye Magifrates & upon examination warned to attend this Court, they was now called; firft Jno Clarke, whoe was told yt he knew well for wt he was warned to attend this Court, yt is to anfwr for fundry diforders in goeing out of his Mafters houfe at an unfeatsonable time of ye night to ye houfe yt goodw: ffinch lives in, & there was found wth her daughter Mary ffuller alone in an uncomely manner, & yt this he did after ferious warneing to ye contrary by his mafter; he was told of his prfumptuous obftinate denieing of it before ye magiftrate, though goodw: Brockett tooke ym in ye Act & layd her hand on them & fpake to ym, & this fhee teftified to his face, yet that he would with fuch boldnes deny it as that he could anfwr it before god at ye day of Judgemt, &c. & yt (as goodw: Tompfon teftifyed) after Mary ffuller had told her the whole story of it the next morneing, how goody Brockett came in & tooke ym together & wt fhee fd to ym wth feverall Circumftances: And yet after this at another time being examined, Confefsed yt it was all true which goodwife Brocket had teftified: he was therefore now afked, wt he had to fay in ye cafe? He anfwrs That being at goom. Brocketts houfe at ye beginning of ye night, & Betty Thomas was there wth Mary ffuller, & wn he went away he told her yt he would come againe by & by, & Mary anfwrs That she fhould be glad of his Company, & foe after their folks was in Bed he rofe againe & came to her & was wt h her about two houres before goodw: Brockett came in and Mary & he fate together; he had his armes over fhoulders, and fhee Leaned upon him, &c. Then Mary ffuller was afked what fhe had to fay? She granted yt wt Jno Clarke fd was true, onely denied yt fhe defired him to come. She was told the evill of her Carrige in her examination that notwithftanding all meanes ufed to bring her to an ingenuous fubtill evafions put it off, though goodw: Brockett teftified it to her face: They were both afked if they had any further to fay in ye case? They both declared that they were forry for wt they had done & hoped it fhould be a warneing to ym, & that they fhould doe foe noe more & threfore defired the Court to be favorable to ym." The Court then considered the case against them. John Clarke "for his severall miscarriages" in this and after such warnings from his Master and his so presumptuously denying again and again was to be severely whipped. Even 100 years later, lashes were common form of punishment. During the Revolutionary War, at Washingtons insistance, Congress increased the number of lashes from thirty-nine to a hundred for drunkendness or sleeping on guard duty. Putting things in perspective, John was 28 years old and Mary was but 14 years old. Even by todays standards their actions would not be acceptable and had the action gone further, today he would be on trail for statuary rape. But because of the "infirmennes" of her body, Mary Fuller, she was to stand by him while the sentence of the Court "is inflicted on him, for her shame and so was sharpley reprooved seriously warned to Carry it better for the future."

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Puritan She was Puritan whose husband John Brockett was disinherited for marrying her. He was the 1st son of Sir John Brockett of Brockett Hall in Hertfordshire, England. John Brockett laid out the plan for N

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Note from Cathi Lippert, she got Mary as

Note from Cathi Lippert, she got Mary as John Brockett's wife from Ancestral File;

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NOTE: Marriage Licence1 between John Br

NOTE: Marriage Licence1 between John Brockett and Mary Blackwell John Brockett of the parish of St. Michaels in the county ofHertfordshire, gentleman, and John Mott of the town of St. AIbans inthe said county, glover, are bound firmly to the obligation of onehundred pounds to the venerable Professor, Thomas Westfield,Archdeacon of St. Albans in the diocese of London, as witnessed bytheir seals and signatures to observe the conditions as set out belowthis 14th. day of August in the eleventh year of the reign of Charles,King, thank God, of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Defender ofthe Faith 1635. The condicon of this obligacon is such that whereas the above boundenJohn Brockett of St. Michaels Batchelor And one Mary Blackwell of thesame maiden daughter of Elizabeth Blackwell the late relicte andwiddowe of Richard Blackwell late of Bushey deceased. are licensed tobe married together If therefore there shall not hereafter appeare anylawfull lett or impediment by reason of any precontracte,consanguinity or Affinity or any other lawfull meanes whatsoever butthat the said parties may be lawfully married together And that therebe noe suite or demand moved or dependinge before any JudgeEcc[lesias]ticall or Civill for or concerninge any such lawfullhindrance And that the said parties doe not proceed to thesolemnizacon of the said marriage without the goodwill or consent oftheire parents or governors whoe are hereby licensed to marry And thatthe said marriage be openly solemnized in the parish Church ofSandridge And that betweene the howers of eight & twelve of the clockein the forenoone that then this present obligacon to be void or ellsto stand in full force and vertue. 1 Held at Herts. Record Office. The first paragraph is in Latin andthe translation is not always literal. It was checked with the HROArchivist in August 1998, in particular the abbreviation of the word"gentleman". The second paragraph is in English and has beentranscribed literally (by AAB, 29/9/98). The Latin sentence at theend, to the left of JB's signature, has not been translated.

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Life Sketch

The wife of John Brockett is unknown but some researchers say she was Mary Blackwell. The genealogy included here back to England has been disputed.

JOHN BROCKETT of New Haven 1 January 2019

Raymond W. Madsen rwmadsen@gmail.com

I was first introduced to John Brockett of New Haven one of the signers of the Covenant of New Haven nearly 50 years ago. John is one of my 9th great grandfathers on my maternal grandmothers’ side. Going back 11 generations there are 2,048 lines I could chose to do research on. 50 years ago I was serving in the U.S. Navy aboard submarines and took an interest in my genealogy. Opportunity and methodologies for genealogies was much different than it is today with no instant access to original records on-line. At that time I did not do any original research on John Brockett but I simply copied what others had already done. Thus for the next 20 years the pedigree of my Brockett line was what for nearly 200 years, perhaps more, extended the line to Sir John Brockett of Brockett Hall. The now infamous story about our New Haven John Brockett was what I thought to be an exciting piece of my family history.

I learned from 40 years of professional family history work, many Americans often latch on to false claims. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is not the first to lay false claim to Native American (Indian) heritage. As with most Americans, we all have immigrants from “across the pond” which often comes with stories of Royal lineage or of the founding fathers with the Pilgrims. Sometimes these stories are true, or at least to some degree. Over time some stories become exaggerated. Sometimes they are completely false. Until original research is done, documenting events, names, relationships and such with sources (by today’s standards) and being willing to accept facts over perceived truths, then we are most likely to continue to promote and believe in false or at the very least inaccurate genealogies.

Having said that, genealogy is not an exact science. Primary sources of evidence may not exist, or leastwise not yet found. An example where proof of identifying the correct ancestor pre-civil registration is often in doubt is in Scotland where there are few burial records found in the parish registers. Knowing that there is a high infant mortality rate, there is very remote chance of knowing if the child found in a christening record lived to adulthood. Unlike in England, the lack of “Last Wills and Testaments” in Scotland creates another disadvantage in trying to form families and relationships from a single source. Often several christenings are found for the same name as one is searching for. Using naming patterns can be used to help narrow the search and although not proof for establishing an ancestral connection, it may be the best methodology available during that time period.

England is not without problems for primary sources. There may be gaps in Parish Registers between 1543 and 1558 when Mary Tudor was on the throne, and more particular to hampering Americans trying to find their Colonial ancestors are the gaps during the English Civil War and the Commonwealth time period of 1642-1660. Sometimes early christening records may only record the name of the child without recording who the parents are. It is not unusual to lose a whole generation during this time period compounding the ability for family reconstitution and pedigree linkage. Thus family reconstitution and record linkage is a continuing work in progress. We hope to find record sources that strengthen our conclusions and when evidence contradicts our conclusions we make corrections and continue on.

It is easy to criticize the work of others in the past when mistakes are found in genealogical and family history. It may be impossible to know the origins of how stories about ancestors developed. But they should not be neglected either. By using the stories one may find the necessary clues to “cross the pond” and find the primary sources to back up the stories, or on the other hand prove otherwise. It is more important that our family lines are accurate then to lay claim to a false pedigree no matter how enticing. In fact we must be ready to make necessary corrections as new evidence is found, which may keep changing over time. FamilySearch Trees allows for such corrections and even allows for disputed multiple lines when in doubt. But once the correct line is established, or if a line is wrong, such changes should be documented and sound reasons stated so that other family descendants can benefit and continue family history research with the new evidence.

Having said that, it has been far too long since I last worked on the Brockett line and acknowledge that our John Brockett of New Haven, is not the John Brockett christened in 1612 in Wheathampstead, who married Mary Blackwell in 1635.

[For a more comprehensive examination- see my full article in Sources and Memories]

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!Conn *2b vol 2 p 323

!Brockett Gen A4C ===
!Conn *2b vol 2 p 323 !Brockett Gen A4C p 30

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1 _IFLAGS 0 Merged record 933K-8J: Birt

1 _IFLAGS 0 Merged record 933K-8J: Birthdate abt 1609 Merged record 933K-8J: Birthdate abt 1609 Ancestral File Number:<AFN> 933K-8J

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1. Ancestral File.

1. Ancestral File.

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!NOTE: The Church of Jesus Christ of Lat

!NOTE: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ancestral File (TM); ; July 1996 (c), data as of 2 January 1996; ; , Family History Library, 35 N West Temple Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84150 USA

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! BIRTH: 1614 ! MARR: 1641 ! DEAT

! BIRTH: 1614 ! MARR: 1641 ! DEATH: ! BAPT: 20 Oct 1934 ! ENDOW: 10 Jan 1935 ! SLG P: ! SLG S: 15 Oct 1993