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WILLIAM NELSON
MARTHA FORD
William Nelson married Martha Ford on 29 October 1640. [NBS1]
In 1623 land in Plymouth was divided, with each family received one acre per member. The Widow Ford [possibly Martha's mother], who came on the Fortune in November 1621 received four acres, possibly one for her self, one for her husband who must have died on the voyage or shortly after arrival, and possibly one for each of two children. [DL23]
On the last day of March 1637/[8?] William Nelson was hired to keep the cows of the town of Plymouth at the same wages he had gotten the previous year: 50 bushels of Indian corn. [RTP]
John Ford was granted 30 acres and some meadow on 2 November 1640. [NBS1]
On 22 July 1648 John was on an inquest into the death of the four-year-old daughter of Alice Bishop. Alice later confessed to murdering her child and was executed. [NBS2]
Children of William Nelson and Martha Ford:
i. Martha Nelson married John Cobb.
ii. John Nelson died after 29 April 1697, when he made his will. [HWAA] He married first Sarah Wood on 4 March 1675 in Plymouth. [HWAA] Sarah, the daughter of Henry and Abigail (Jenney) Wood and granddaughter of John and Sarah (Cary) Jenney, died on 4 March 1675 in Plymouth. [HWAA] John married second Lydia (Bartlett) Barnaby. [HWAA] Lydia was the widow of James Barnaby. [HTMM] He married third Patience Morton. [HWAA] Patience was the daughter of Ephraim Morton. [HTMM]
John was constable and surveyor of highways in Middleborough in 1669; he was a selectman in 1681, 1682, 1683, 1685 and 1686. [HTMM] In 1687 he moved to Lakeview. [HTMM]
iii. William Nelson married Ruth Foxwell. [RSW]
References:
RSW. Robert S. Wakefield, "Men of the 'Fortune': Ford," The American Genealogist 56 (1980): 32–35.
NBS1. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, vol. 1, Court Orders, 1633–1640 (Boston: William White, 1855).
NBS2. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, vol. 2, Court Orders, 1641–1651 (Boston: William White, 1855).
DL21. "Division of Land," Mayflower Descendant 1 (1899): 227–30.
RTP. Records of the Town of Plymouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1995).
HWAA. Alicia Crane Williams, "Henry Wood alias Atwooed of Middleborough, Massachusetts," Mayflower Descendant 48 (1998): 135–40, specifically 16–18.
HTMM. Thomas Weston, History of the Town of Middleborough, Massachusetts (New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1906), 50–51 (William and John).
Last revised: 22-Jun-2021