In our searches for elusive, often frustrating forebears many of us have
submitted queries to NEXUS and other publications, carefully counting our
words to specify what we need and what we have already seen. A long-since
published query can be the best (or only) source for some obscure lines -
even if it was never answered. Imagine the delight, then, when our own
further research brings a solution! Sometimes answers lie in published works now
seen from a new angle; at other times, proof emerges from documents. However
readers solve their own queries, the editors wish them the pleasure of many such
discoveries. -JHO
Rebecca (Estey) Tucker (1708-1777), Wife of Matthias Puffer (10:85)
My ancestor Matthias Puffer, son of Eleazer and Elizabeth (Talbot) Puffer,
married Rebecca Tucker in Stoughton, Mass., 7 April 1743 and had six children,
all baptized in Stoughton between 11 March 1744 and 9 Sept. 1753. Rebecca died
in Sharon, Mass., 22 Feb. 1777, “in her 68th year.” One could thus
conclude that Rebecca was born ca. 1709/10, and was about 33 years old when she
married Matthias Puffer. Knowing that age at death is often exaggerated, I
assumed that Rebecca must have been born closer to 1720 to 1710. This assumption
cost me dearly in time and effort.
Neither Charles Null, Descendants of George Puffer of Braintree,
Massachusetts, 1639-1915(1915) nor published VRs gave me any clue to Rebecca
Tucker’s ancestry. Ephraim Tucker, Genealogy of the Tucker Family (1895)
showed that the immigrant Robert1 Tucker of Weymouth and Milton had
many descendants in the Stoughton-Sharon-Milton-Canton area, derived from the
original Dorchester. An unnamed daughter was born to Joseph3 Tucker
(Joseph2, Robert1) and first wife Judith
Clapp, possibly ca. 1710. Stoughton, Dorchester and Milton VRs include eight
children born to Joseph and Judith - but no Rebecca.
Two local Rebecca Tuckers were born closer to ca. 1720: a daughter of Samuel
and Rebecca (Leeds) Tucker, born at Milton 27 Nov. 1722; and a daughter of
Ebenezer and Jemima (Daniels) Tucker, born at Malden 19 Sept. 1720. One of these
Rebeccas (probably the second) married (int.) Leicester, Mass. 25 Sept. 1737
William Green, Jr.
I next wrote the Mass. State Archives for copies of the probate file
(Suffolk Probate ~8414) of Joseph3 Tucker (d. Stoughton 25
Sept. 1745). These papers finally led me to an answer. One of Joseph’s sons by
Judith Clapp, Preserved Tucker, married at Topsfield, Mass., 12 Nov. 1729,
Rebecca Estey, daughter of Isaac and Abigail (Kimball) Estey. Preserved
predeceased his father (who died intestate). Because Joseph had earlier granted
property to his son, Preserved’s heirs were given nothing in the estate
division. However, on the listing of accounts filed by the widow, the name of
Matthias Puffer appears three times: “on a Note of hand,” for £6; “for Nurseing
my child,” £1 13s.; and £77 8s 6d “to Matthias Puffer, Guardian for two
of ye heirs of ye sd Preserved.” Thus Rebecca Tucker, wife of
Matthias Puffer, was possibly the widow of Preserved Tucker, who must
have died ante 7Apri1 1743 (when Matthias married Rebecca). Topsfield VRs
showed a Rebecca Estey, daughter of Isaac and Abigail (Kimball) Estey, baptized
there 8 Aug. 1708 - a date in agreement with her age at death. In addition L.A.
Munson and S.P. Sharples, History of the Kimball Family in America
(1897), p. 31, gives Rebecca Estey’s two marriages. Matthias and Rebecca’s
fourth and fifth children were Abigail and Isaac, undoubtedly named for their
maternal grandparents. Rebecca Estey’s paternal grandmother, moreover, was
convicted “witch” Mary (Towne) Estey, wife of Isaac Estey, Sr. Mary and sister
Rebecca (Towne) Nurse were both hanged at Salem 22 Sept. 1692. For other Towne
family connections and sources see NEXUS 9[1992]:108-11.
In sum, never assume that a bride’s surname is her maiden name, especially if
she seems to marry late in life!
Stanley E. Shaw, 26 Trowbridge Rd., Keene, NH 03431