Martha Marston Granger - 6gg

  

Early colonial life for a wive and mother. This week I'm focusing on my Ada Swasey Rogers family tree. Martha Marston Granger was born on 23 JAN 1694 • Andover, Essex, Massachusetts Colony, She died in MAR 1753 in Andover, Essex, Mass. She was my great times six grandmother. Martha came from an early New England family, the Marstons having settled in the Massachusetts Colony when it was first developed. Her great grandfather, William Marston arrived in 1636 from England with several sons. The Marstons lived in Newbury MA, and New Hampshire, but then stayed longest in Andover MA. Martha grew up with 6 siblings, out of 10 births. Her mother, Elizabeth Poor Marston (1662-1700) had parents who had immigrated to America. Her mother died when Martha was 6, and her father died when she was 33. Martha Marston didn't marry Samuel Granger until she was 34 years old. Her mother's sister, Martha Poor Granger (1654-1723) married Capt. John Granger (1654-1725) (post about him Jan 15). Their son Samuel Granger (1701-1739) was her husband, and also her first cousin. It's interesting that the Ancestry family tree just lists them both twice, rather than tangling them up with their parents and siblings and cousins. They had 6 children, with Jacob being the fifth...who became my great x5 grandfather. Two years after their last child was born, her husband, Samuel Granger died on 27 Sept. 1739. Martha was 45 with six children. Martha lived until March 1753 and died age 59. I would imagine that Martha's children (and herself probably) moved in with some sister's family or another. Since we don't have census data this far back, we don't know who lived where. Many families were merged to care for each other. There were no homes for widows and children provided either by the church or the state. This post is part of my father's mother,  Ada Swasey Rogers Family Tree.  The photo shows her mother,  my great grandmother, Zulieka Granger Swasey as a young woman.