Friday, March 31, 2023

52 Ancestors - Week 474: #751 Margaret (Pearce) (Smith) Clarke (1689-1733?) of Portsmouth and North Kingstown, Rhode Island

Margaret Pearce (c1689-1733?) is #751 on my Ahnentafel List, my 7th great-grandmother, who married (1) #750 Ephraim Smith (a1675-1722) in about 1710 in Portsmouth, Rhode Island.

I am descended through:

*  their daughter #375 Renewed Smith (1717-after 1763), married #374 Daniel Carpenter (1712-1763), in 1733.
*  their daughter #187 Elizabeth Carpenter (1741-????), married #186 Stephen Hazard (1730-1804), in 1760.
*  their daughter #93 Mary Hazard (1765-1857), married # 92 Joseph Oatley (1756-1815) in 1781.
*  their son #46 Jonathan Oatley (1790-1872), married #47 Amy Champlin (1798-1865) in 1813.
*  their daughter #23 Amy Frances Oatley (1826-1864), married #22 Henry Arnold White (1824-1885) who married in 1844.
*  their daughter #11 Julia E. White (1848-1913), married #10 Thomas Richmond (1848-1917) in 1868.
*  their daughter #5 Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962), married #4 Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942) in 1900.
*  their son #2 Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983), married #3 Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002) in 1942.
*  their son #1 Randall Jeffrey Seaver (1943-living)

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1)  PERSON (with source citations as indicated in brackets):

*  Name:                    Margaret Pearce[1]
*  Alternate Name:    Margaret Smith[2,4]

*  Sex:                        Female

*  Father:                    Daniel Pearce 1658-1744
*  Mother:                  Mary Weaver 1662-1693

2)  INDIVIDUAL EVENTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):

*  Birth:                       about 1689, Portsmouth, Newport, Rhode Island, United States[1]

*  Deed:                       8 January 1721/2 (about age 32), Daniel Pearce to Ephraim and Margaret (Pearce) Smith; South Kingstown, Washington, Rhode Island, United States[2]

*  Death:                      before probably 14 May 1733 (before probably age 44), South Kingstown, Washington, Rhode Island, United States[3]

3)  SHARED EVENTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):

*  Spouse 1:               Ephraim Smith (c1675-c1722)
*  Marriage 1:            about 1710 (about age 21), probably Portsmouth, Newport, Rhode Island, United States[1]

*  Child 1:                  Freelove Smith 1711-1775
*  Child 2:                  Sarah Smith 1714-    
*  Child 3:                  Renewed Smith 1717-1763
*  Child 4:                  Margaret Smith 1719-    
*  Child 5:                  Ephraim Smith 1722-    

*  Spouse 2:               Emmanuel Clarke 1697-    
*  Marriage 2:            4 January 1725 (about age 36), North Kingstown, Washington, Rhode Island, United States[1,4]

*  Child 6:                  Benjamin Clark 1728-   

4)  NOTES (with source citations as indicated in brackets):    

Margaret Pearce was born in about 1689 in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, the daughter of Daniel and Mary (Weaver) Pearce[1].  The evidence that Margaret Pearce was the daughter of Daniel Pearce is based on two South Kingstown land evidence records, discussed below.

She married Ephraim Smith (1675-1722), son of Jeremiah and Mary (Gereardy) Smith, in about 1710, probably in Portsmouth, Rhode Island[1].  They had five children, all probably born in North Kingstown, Rhode Island:

*  Freelove Smith (1711-1775), married before 1735 John Allen (1710-????).
*  Sarah Smith (1714-????), married before 1735 James Langworthy (1711-1762).
*  Renewed Smith (1717-1763), married 29 April 1733 Daniel Carpenter (1712-1763).
*  Margaret Smith (1719-????).
*  Ephraim Smith (1722-????).

Her husband, Ephraim Smith (1675-1722) died before 12 January 1722/3 in North Kingstown, leaving a wife and five children, when a deed record indicates he was deceased.  He has no death, burial or probate records.  However, a deed record in the South Kingstown Land Evidence records identifies his wife's given name[2]:

"Ebenezer Smith of Prudence Is. in Township of Portsmouth, yeoman, for love unto the children of my deceased brother Ephriam Smith of Kingstown my right, title & interest in a certain Negro boy named Primus which is one Third part which now is in the hands of Margarett Smith widow of my said brother and mother to said children." Dated January 12, 1722/3; recorded. January 16, 1722/3. Witnesses: William Remington and Daniel Pierce Jr.

Margaret (Pearce) Smith married, second, to Emmanuel Clarke (1697-????) on 4 January 1725 in North Kingstown, Washington, Rhode Island[1,4].  They had one child:

*  Benjamin Clark (1728-????).

The evidence that Margaret, wife of Ephraim Smith, was the daughter of Daniel Pearce, rests on two records:

1)  In 1721/2, Daniel Pearce deeded a Negro woman named Hannah to his "son and daughter Ephraim and Margaret Smith" for love[2].  The deed was dated and acknowledged on 8 January 1721/2, and recorded on 9 January 1721/2.

Margaret (Pearce) (Smith) Clark probably died before 14 May 1733 when her daughter, Margaret Smith chose her uncle, Daniel Pearce as her guardian.  The South Kingstown Land Evidence record says[3]:

2)  On 14 May 1733, Margaret Smith, daughter of Ephraim Smith, deceased, appeared before the South Kingstown town council and chose 'her uncle Daniel Pearce of Prudence Island' to be her guardian, and Daniel Pearce agreed to be a guardian to Ephraim Smith, Margaret's brother."

Daniel Pearce, the named guardian of the two children, was Margaret's brother, and a son of Daniel and Mary (Weaver) Pearce.  Ephraim and Margaret's daughter Margaret Smith, born in about 1719, was aged 13-14 in 1733, and their son Ephraim Smith, born in about 1722, was aged 10-11 in 1733.  Why did they need a guardian?  Probably because their mother, Margaret (Pearce) Smith, recently had died.  

5.  SOURCES

1. Frank J. Doherty, Settlers of the Beekman Patent, Dutchess County, New York, An Historical and Genealogical Study of all the 18th Century Settlers in the Patent (Orlando, Fla. : the author, 2010), Volume 10, pages 232-242, "The Pearce Families," pages 232-233, Daniel Pearce family sketch.

2. South Kingston (Rhode Island). Town Clerk, "Land evidence 1696-1885," FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org, on 16 microfilm reels), "Land evidence, v. 1-3 1696-1723," on FHL Microfilm 0,931,299, Items 2-4; unknown page number, Daniel Pearce to Ephraim and Margaret Smith deed, 8 January 1721/2.

3. South Kingston (Rhode Island). Town Clerk, "Land evidence 1696-1885," FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org, on 16 microfilm reels), "Land evidence, v. 3 1723-1735," on FHL Microfilm 0,931,300; unknown page number, Margaret Smith guardianship record, 14 May 1733.

4. James N. Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, 1636-1850, First Series, Births, Marriages and Deaths : a Family Register for the People (Providence, R.I.: Narragansett Historical Publishing Co., 1891-1912), "Volume 5, Washington County Marriages," North Kingstown Marriages, page 11, Emmanuel Clarke and Margaret Smith marriage entry, 4 January 1725.

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NOTE:  Amy Johnson Crow suggested a weekly blog theme of "52 Ancestors" in her blog post 
 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks on the No Story Too Small blog in 2014.  I have extended this theme in 2023 to 520 Ancestors in 520 Weeks.


Copyright (c) 2023, Randall J. Seaver

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