Return to main Howland file

FRANCIS COOMBS (d. 1682), son of John Coombs and Sarah Priest

MARY BARKER (c. 1647–1711/8), daughter of John Barker and Ann Williams

---

Mr. Francis Coombs died the last day of December 1682. [1] He married first Deborah, the daughter of John Morton, by 1673. [2] He married second, as her second husband Mary Barker.

Mary, the daughter of John and Ann (Williams) Barker, was born about 1647. [3] She died between 15 May 1711 and May 1718. She married first Samuel Pratt, the son of Phineas and Mary (Priest) Pratt, in 1667/8. [3] Samuel was the grandson of Mayflower passenger Degory Priest and the first cousin of Francis Coombs. He was killed in the Pawtucket Fight on 26 March 1676 in King Philip's War. [4] Mary married third David Wood on 5 March 1684/5. [3] David, the son of Henry Wood, was born on 17 October 1751 in Plymouth and died on 31 December 1717 in Middleborough, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. [3]

In his will of 29 October 1673, John Morton refers to his daughter Deborah, the wife of Francis Coombs. [5]

Mary Barker's grandfather John Williams of Scituate, Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts made his will on 19 December 1667. He referred to his granddaughter Mary as "Mary Barker". In the division of her father's estate on 9 June 1653, her portion was to be paid when she reached 21 or after marriage. Her mother's second husband settled with Samuel Pratt on 2 November 1668. [6][7, 1:175]

Mary's uncle John Williams left his kinswoman Mary, the wife of David Wood, 60 acres he had bought from John Hanmer, his bed, a mare and colt, two cows, and two steers. He released her and her husband from debts due him and gave Mary the 20 sheep in her possession. He clarified that Mary's Woods children with her husband Coombs were not included in his beneficiaries because he had already made provision for them. [8]{9]

Francis was probably illiterate; he signed documents with his mark.

On 2 December 1656 Samuel Cuthbert sold to Francis Coombs of Plymouth for 50 shillings half a lot of land estimated at about five acres, in the tract of land once possessed by John Coombs, gentleman. [10] On 24 May 1661 Edward Gray sold to Francis Coombs of Plymouth for six pounds and five shillings a four-acre parcel of meadow. [10]

On 31 December 1668 Francis Coombs, yeoman of New Plymouth, sold to Edward Gray for 95 pounds: one house and thirty acres in the town of Plymouth; a lot that had been granted to his father, Mr. John Coombs, by the town of Plymouth on 30 December 1641; four acres of meadow that he had bought from Edward Gray on 24 May 1661; 50 acres of upland granted to him by the town of Plymouth on 24 May 1660; four acres of meadow that had been granted to him by the town of Plymouth on 27 October 1662. [11]

Francis was a freeman in Middleborough in 1670. [12] He was a selectman in Middleborough in 1674, 1675 and 1680. [12]

On 1 July 1674 Francis exchanged four acres of land in Middleborough with Samuel Wood. [12]

Francis and Isaac Howland were on a Middleborough commission to distribute charity from Ireland after King Philip's War in 1676 and 1677. [12]

In 1678 Francis bought land in Middleborough from Edward Grey for 36 pounds. [12]

Francis had a license to keep an ordinary in Middleborough in 1678. After he died it was renewed for his wife until 1 July 1684. [12]

Inventory was taken on Francis's estate by Isaac Howland and Samuel Wood on 5 January 1678. [12]

The 15 May 1711 division of the estate of Francis Coombs names heirs: the widow, Mary Wood; Ralph Jones and his wife Deborah; Frances Coombs; Samuel Barrow and his wife Mercy; John Miller and his wife Lydia; Ebenezer Bennett and his wife Ruth. An additional division on 2 February 1712 names heirs Samuel Barrow and his wife Mercy; John Miller, Jr. and his wife Lydia; Ebenezer Bennett and his wife Ruth; Nathan Howland and his wife Frances. [13]

The administration of the estate of David Woods of Middleborough was granted to his son David on 11 March 1718. His inventory, taken in May, included his wife's "wearing clothes and spectacles." [3]

Children of Francis Coombs and Deborah Morten:

i. Deborah Coombs was born about mid-May 1673 in Middleborough. [1] She married Ralph Jones by 1696 in Plymouth. [14] Ralph was born on 1 October 1669 in Barnstable, Barnstable County, Massachusetts. [15] He was the son of Ralph Jones and Mary Fuller and probably the grandson of Matthew Fuller. [16]

ii. Mercy Cooms was born on 3 January 1674/[5?] in Middleborough. [1] She died on 25 March 1718, age 43. [17] She married Deacon Samuel Barrows as his first wife. [17] Samuel, the son of Robert and Ruth (Bonham) Barrows, was born about 1673. [17] He died on 30 December 1755 and is buried in the Old Cemetery at The Green in Middleborough. [17] He married second as her second husband Joanna (Wood) Smith. [17] Joanna, the daughter of Samuel (Henry) and Rebecca (Morton) Wood, was born about 1675, died on 14 August 1752, age 77, and is buried in the Old Cemetery. [17] She married first John Smith. [17]

On 13 March 1697 Mercy Coombs and Lydia Coombs, on behalf of themselves and their sisters, took possession of the mill and farm in Middleborough, which was their father Francis Coombs', as the heirs to his estate. [18]

Mercy (Coombs) Barrows was admitted to the First Church in Middleborough before 1708. [4]

Samuel Barrows was admitted to full communion in the First Church in Middleborough on 20 February 1714/5. [19]

Children of Francis Coombs and Mary Barker:

iii. Lydia Coombs was born on 8 May 1679 in Middleborough. [1] She died on 6 March 1734. [20] She married John Miller on 12 February 1701[?/2] in Middleborough. [1] John, the son of John and Mercy Miller, was born in 1669 in Middleborough and died on 8 August 1727. [20]

A law suit brought by Ebenezer Bennett, yeoman of Middleborough, against Sarah Thomas, spinster of Middleborough, and Jabez Thomas, husbandman of Middleborough, was heard at the September 1735 Court of Common Pleas. Ebenezer claimed that four acres of land in Middleborough were part of a lot that had been given to Ruth in the division of the estate of Francis Coombs, formerly of Middleborough, deceased, in 1710. Ruth, who had died on 11 March 1717, had then been Ebenezer's wife. Ebenezer stated that Sarah and Jabez had refused to yield the land to him. The court awarded the land to Ebenezer, subject to Ebenezer providing an easement. [23]

v. Frances Coombs was born on 6 January 1682 in Middleborough. She died after October 1762. She married Nathan Howland.

Children of Samuel Pratt and Mary Barker:

i. Samuel Pratt was born on 15 November 1670 in Middleborough. [4] He died about 1745. [4]

Samuel was a wheelwright.

Fearing that he might be compelled to serve as a soldier in the French and Indian War, his mother wrote the petition in the box below. [4]

iii. Patience Pratt married Ebenezer Lincoln in October 1l703. [4]

Children of David Wood and Mary Barker:

i. John Wood was born on 19 March 1686 in Middleborough. [3]

ii. David Wood was born on 29 March 1688 in Middleborough. [3]

iii. Jabez Wood was born on 1 July 1691 in Middleborough. [3]

References:

1. Barbara Lambert Merrick and Alicia Crane Williams, Middleborough, Massachusetts Vital Records, 2 vols. (Boston: Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1990, 1987): vol. 1: 1–7.

2. "The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620–1633, Volumes I-III," digitized book, AmericanAncestors.org, originally published as: Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, 3 volumes (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), 478.

3. Alicia Crane Williams, "Henry Wood alias Atwood of Middleborough, Massachusetts," Mayflower Descendant 48 (1988): 135.

4. Thomas Weston, History of the Town of Middleborough, Massachusetts (New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1906), 52 (Samuel Pratt and family, letter from Mary), 639–86 (church members).

5. "Plymouth Colony Wills and Inventories," Mayflower Descendant 24 (1922): 135.

6. "Barker, Pratt, Coombs, Wood," in The Genealogical Advertiser, 4 vols. (Cambridge, MA: Lucy Hall Greenlaw, 1896–1901), vol. 4: 31–32. 

7. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Records of Plymouth Colony: Court Orders, vol. 1, 1633–1640, vol. 2, 1641–1651, vol. 3, 1651–1661, vol. 4, 1661–1668, vol. 5, 1668–1678, vol. 6, 1678–1691 (Boston: William White, 1855, 1856).

8: "Plymouth County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1686–1881," database with images, AmericanAncestors, case 23033.

9. "Abstracts From the First Book of Plymouth County Probate Records," Genealogical Advertiser 4 (1901?): 25–27.

10. "Plymouth Colony Deeds," Mayflower Descendant 10 (1908): 216 (1656 deed); 16 (1914): 80–81 (1661 deed).

11. "Massachusetts: Plymouth Colony Deeds, 1671–1673," database with images, AmericanAncestors (2019): vol. 3, part 2: 55–57.

12. Thomas Weston, History of Middleboro, Massachusetts (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co.,1906) 38–40.

13. Susan E. Roser, Mayflower Increasings, 2nd edition (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1995): 86.

14. "New England Marriages to 1700," digitized books, AmericanAncestors, originally published as: Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015): vol. 2: 869.

15. Vital Records of Barnstable (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2002): 41.

16. Donald G. Blauvelt, "Ralph Jones of Barnstable, Massachusetts and His Probable Two Wives," Mayflower Descendant 68 (2020): 148–56.

17. "John Barrows of Plymouth, Massachusetts," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 166 (2012): 119–31, specifically 128.

18. "Documentation Files," Mayflower Descendant 38 (1988): 143.

19. "Church Records, 1707–1821," images, "Middleboro, Mass. First Church," webpage, Congretional Library & Archives (https://www.congregationallibrary.org/nehh/series1/MiddleboroMAFirst4970), 6.

20. Archie Lee Talboy, "Shaw Family," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 51 (1895): 191–5, specifically 192.

21. Alfred Wood, "Record of Deaths, Middleborough, Massachusetts," Mayflower Descendant 47 (1997): 30–32. This is a transcript of Deacon Wood's transcript, which was in poor condition.

22. Findagrave:"Ruth Coombs Bennett" (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/137132010/ruth-bennett).

23. "Plymouth County, MA: Plymouth Court Records, 1686–1859," database with images, AmericanAncestors: vol. 5: 481–2.

---

Last revised: 26-Dec-2023