Mary Pontus was born about 1622 in Leiden,
Holland, the daughter of William and Wybra
(Hanson) Pontus.
William and Wybra were members of the Separatists who left England for Holland
and eventually came to settle Plymouth
and became known as the Pilgrims. I wrote about them here. Mary is assumed to
be the child mentioned in an October 1622
Leiden tax
record. Mary is my 9th great-grandmother on my grandfather Arthur
Washburn Davis’ side of the family.
Mary married James Glass on 31 October 1645 at Plymouth. James was born
about 1620, probably at Taunton, Somerset, England.
His baptism is not recorded there but it is believed he was the son of James
and Mary (Cogan) Glass.
It appears that James came to New
England as a servant to his Uncle Henry Cogan in 1637. On 13 February
1639/40 Henry Cogan transferred the five year contract of his servant and
nephew James Glass to Manasseh Kempton. (PCR 1:139) James Glass was on the 1643
Plymouth list
of men able to bear arms.
James and Mary had four daughters:
1. Hannah born 2 June 1647, died 1648
2. Wybra born 9 Aug 1649, m. Joseph Bumpus
3. Hannah born 24 Dec 1651, Plymouth, m. Isaac Billington before1675 and
died between 1704-09. Isaac's grandfather, John Billington was a Mayflower passenger.
4. Mary born after 3 Sept 1652 (after the death of her
father), married Samuel Hunt.
I descend from their daughter Hannah.
James died at sea in a storm near Plymouth Harbor
on 3 September 1652. His father-in-law William Pontus named him executor of his
estate in his 1650 will, but it is unlikely her served as the inventory was
filed 20 February 1652/3 after James died at sea. Mary was the eldest daughter
of William Pontus and received his homestead and land at Plymouth.
The inventory of the estate of James Glasse was taken 20
February 1652 (I think this should this be 1652/53) and exhibited to the court
on 4 March 1652(/3?) on the oath of Mary Glasse widow. In includes two cows, a
steer, a sow, various furniture and household items, a fowling piece, a beer
barrel, tools, linens, clothing, and books. He was owed over five pounds from
John Barnes and owned a parcel of land he bought from Samuel Dunham worth five
pounds. The inventory totaled over 32 pounds. The inventory was taken by John
Donham Senior and Ephraim Morton.
What a trying year Mary had. Her father passed away and then
her young husband died unexpectedly at sea, leaving her with two young
daughters and expecting a third. Her mother had already died, so I wonder who
it was she leaned on. Her sister Hannah lived nearby but she had her own very
large brood to keep her occupied.
About five years later Mary married, second, Philip Delano
in 1657, a man her senior by about 19 years. His last name is also seen as De
La Noye. He was born about 1603, possibly at Leiden to French Walloon parents, and came on
the Fortune in 1621, and was a
prominent citizen. He married, first, Hester Dewsbury in 1634. He died in 1681 at
age 79.
"Phillp Delano Senr aged 74 years or there about
Testifieth & Sayth . Before he marryed mary Glass ye Relict of James Glass
Deceased That she ye sd mary gave all her Lands unto her three children mary
wybery & Hannah equally alike
Phillip delano
Senr & mary his wife Came this: 3: 1: 76/77 & took oath to this above
written Before me John Alden Assist" [From Plymouth Colony Deeds, VI: 93.]
Mary may have had children with Philip, but it is
unclear which children he had by each wife.
Mary died at Plymouth
on 3 February 1689/90.
Sources Not Listed
Above:
Eugene Stratton, Plymouth
Colony, Its People and History, 1986
GE McCracken, Early Cogans
English and American, NEHGR, volume 111, 1957
