Elizabeth Sherburne Bowers (1774-1850) married Dr. Thomas Danforth. She had been born in Swansea, Bristol County, MA around 1774. Her parents both died in 1799 apparently. She married in Taunton MA (a nearby town) in 1800.
The Danforths apparently moved to Boston, where most of their 5 children were born. One son was born in 1806 in Vermont. Their youngest son only lived 11 months. And her husband died in 1817.
In 1831, Elizabeth lists herself as widow of Thomas Danforth and her address in Boston MA. She lived until 3 Sept 1850, dying of cancer according to the death record of Boston. Whoever wrote the record got the wrong name for her father however, listing Jerathmel as Jonathan Bowers, who actually was Jerathmel's brother. But her mother's name was correct.
The Somerset Town Clerk in 1794 and Justice of the Peace in 1795 was Jonathan Bowers, who apparently joined his niece, Mary Ann and her husband, Thomas Hood in marriage on March 12, 1795.
"John Hood and Mary Ann Bowers both of Somerset were Joined in the Covenent of Marriage Marcy 12th, 1795 by John Bowers Justice of Peace," Massachusetts Town and Vital Records, Somerset.
Her listing on Ancestry gives her name as Mary Ann Forester Bowers (1777-1847) I had thought the Forester name was transposed when I saw it, that she'd married someone by that name, but no, it was part of her birth name apparently, though left off of the marriage record. I wonder who or what it referred to! The meaning continued into the next generation, for her youngest daughter was also named Mary Ann Forester Hood
Her husband is listed as Captain Thomas Hood (1774-1859). His father had been named Nobel Hood, and they named their first son after him. I don't think he was a sea captain, but probably got his rank from being in the military, possibly in the War of 1812, but I haven't got any records to say so.
We do find on a hand written death record from Swansea that he died of old age (at 85) and had been a cabinet maker for his occupation.
Though Mary Ann's birth date is not listed anywhere (that I can find) there is on her death record of March 28, 1847, a compilation her age...
"Death at age 69, 10 mos, 20 days"
...so we could maybe count back and get a birthday for her. That record also states she died of "heart complaint." Since I won't try to get the exact date (who knows when the calendar shifted from Julian to Gregorian after all?) I do come up with her birth around 1777, which is what Ancestry has as well.
OK, don't forget like I just did, the Gregorian calendar was adopted by Catholic countries in the 16th century, but...
Many Protestant countries initially objected to adopting a Catholic innovation; some Protestants feared the new calendar was part of a plot to return them to the Catholic fold. For example, the British could not bring themselves to adopt the Catholic system explicitly: the Annexe to their Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 established a computation for the date of Easter that achieved the same result as Gregory's rules, without actually referring to him.[24]
Britain and the British Empire (including the eastern part of what is now the United States) adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752.Good, that means that leap years were already in force when these people lived. But that's not important in the grand scheme of things.
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