Nancy Snow was born 19 December 1794 at Rochester, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. She and her twin brother James were the oldest of the 14 children of the Prince and Martha (Dexter) Snow. [Rochester Vital Records 1:278] Nancy, James and five additional siblings were baptized in July 1808, no day given, at the Second Church Rochester. [Rochester VR 1:278 citing Second Church Rochester Registers] She is named as daughter Nancy Boodry in her father Prince Snow’s 18 August 1856 will. [Plymouth County Probate Records, no 18715]
Nancy Snow married William Nye on 3 December 1818 at Rochester. [Rochester VR 2:228] Nancy was a Mayflower descendant as her ancestors Stephen Hopkins and his daughter Constance Hopkins were passengers; Constance married Nicholas Snow. She is also a direct descendant of Plymouth Colony Governor Thomas Prence and Thomas Dexter who built the mill in Sandwich, Massachusetts, on the land where the Dexter Grist Mill operates today as a living museum.
William Nye was born 19 December 1794 at Rochester, one of the 11 children of William and Ruth (Snow) Nye. [Rochester VR 1:226] He is often called “Jr” in records. William was a mariner, as were many men from Rochester, a town situated along the coast of Buzzards Bay and in William’s time was a thriving shipbuilding and whaling town. The Nye-Snow family lived in an area of Rochester that became Mattapoisett in 1857.
Nancy and William had four children, born Rochester:
- Malinda/Belinda born 6 May 1823 [RVR 1:225]; married 1) Franklin Barlow 21 Jan 1840 and had six children; married 2) Freeman Clark; she died 7 Sept 1906 at Mattapoisett.
- Lucretia born 9 June 1826 [RVR 1:225]; married Joshua Delano and had seven children; she died 11 July 1910 at Fairhaven, Bristol County, Mass.
- Aurilla West Nye born 12 April 1829 [RVR 1:223 as Aurelia]; married Josiah Benson 10 March 1853 at Middleborough, Plymouth County, Mass. and had nine children; she died Plymouth 24 March 1905.
- William Henry Nye, born 9 March 1831[RVR 1:226; married Lydia A. Brightman at Mattapoisett and had two children; died 3 April 1902 at New Bedford.
I love that Nancy gave her daughters such fanciful names! I descend from Aurilla who married a mariner as well. Her sister Lucretia’s husband Joshua Delano was a shipbuilder and her sister Malinda’s first husband was a fisherman.
On 11 April 1831 when Nancy’s newborn son William was just one month old, his father died at sea. [Rochester VR 2:416] William was just 36 years old. I have yet to find the details of his death but he was on a voyage, rather than drowning say in a canoe accident nearby, as his inventory included $23 cash received for “his last voyage.” Prince Snow was named administrator of his estate, his brother-in-law or father-in-law. The inventory of his personal estate totaled $143.41 and including one cow, a gun, a looking glass, a book, a quadrant, and a watch. The inventory was taken by Venus Cushman, Barnabas Hiller, John H. Randell. Venus is probably Silvanus Cushman who was William’s brother-in-law. [Plymouth County Probate Records, 1686-1881 No. 14812]
Nancy married, second, Nathan Boodry, on 10 March 1836, at Rochester. Perhaps William left Nancy financially secure or her parents offered her assistance as she didn’t rush to re-marry.
Nathan Boodry was born January 1785 at Raynham, Bristol County, Mass, the son of Joseph and Hannah (Leonard) Boodry. His father was born in French Canada, so possibly their surname changed from Boudreau. His birth calculated from age at death; his parents are named in his death record.
Nathan had married, first, Mercy Davis, who died 1 August 1833. They had at six children, first two born Middleborough; rest Rochester: William D. who married Lucy Purrington; Dennis Silvester who married Bethiah Ford; Maria who married Thomas Delano as his second wife; Sylvia who died as young child; Benjamin who married Mary Washburn; Alice who married Thomas Underwood. Most of Nathan’s sons and sons-in-law were mariners.
Nancy and Nathan Boodry are included in the Federal Census, living at Mattapoisett in 1850, 1860 and 1870 and then Nancy after his death in 1880. They are also in the 1855 Massachusetts state census.
1850: Nathan Boodry, 65, ship carpenter, born Midd[leborough?]; Nancy Boodry, 54, born Rochester; Benjamin Boodry, 21, sailor; Alice Boodry, 20.
1855 State Census: Nathan Boodry, 72, Nancy Boodry, 62, Benjamin L Boodry, 28, William H. Nye, 23. William is Nancy’s son from her first marriage.
1860: Nathan Boodry 75, owned $1,500 I real estate; ship carpenter; Nancy Boodry age 65; William H. Nye, 29, shoemaker, owned 600 in real estate; 300 personal estate. Interesting with all the mariners in the family that William Nye was a shoemaker, but understandable since his father was lost at sea so young.
1870: Nathan Boodry, 85, ship carpenter, born Raynham, $700 in real estate/$100 personal estate; Nancy Boodry, 75, born Rochester; Nancy Bannon, 21, keeps house; Hattie Bannon, 10/12, at home.
1880: Nancy Boodry, 86, head, keeping house, Freeman Clark, 55, painter/house, [no relationship given but her son-in-law], Melinda Clark, 57, wife, keeping house [Nancy’s daughter]; Arthur Barlow, 18, step-son, sailor [Malinda’s son from first marriage]; Betsy B. Daniels, 39, keeping house; Edward Gifford, 36, boarder, laborer.
In 1880 nearby is Nancy’s step-son Dennis S. Boodry, 64, house carpenter with his wife Bethiah L, and sons James D., 28, house carpenter, son George R., 21, house carpenter.
Nathan Boodry served in the War of 1812, and his pension record mentions his wives Mercy Davis and Nancy Snow Nye. He served as a Sergeant in Capt. Joseph Cushman’s Company for a few weeks in the summer of 1814. [familysearch.org “United States, Miscellaneous Land Records, Military Records, Government Pensions,” image no. 762]
Nathan Boodry died on 29 September 1871 at Taunton, a resident of Mattapoisett. He was married, 86 years, 8 months, 19 days old and died of heart disease. He was a shipwright. [MA Vital Records 1841-1910, 239:347]
Nathan’s probate record [Plymouth County file no. 2291] mentions that he died intestate and left a widow Nancy Boodry, son [can’t read name] of his son Dennis S. Boodry, daughter Allice Underwood wife of Thomas Underwood of Taunton, Maria Delano widow of Mattapoisett, minor grandson Benjamin Boodry [son of deceased son Benjamin] who had a legal guardian. Nathan’s children William, Dennis, Benjamin and Silvia had all pre-deceased their father.
As Nathan died insolvent, his executor Noah Hammond petitioned the court to sell off some of Nathan’s land and all of his heirs agreed to this. Nancy signed the document.
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| Nancy Boodry's signature on left/third from bottom |
In looking for Nathan’s probate, I came across a record pertaining to his son William Davis Boodry, which caused me to go down a major rabbit hole. William, born 14 February 1812 at Middleborough, married Lucy Purrington in 1838 at Rochester. [Rochester marriage records p 47] About 1839 they had a son, also named William D. Boodry. Lucy sadly died on 1 December 1841 at Rochester. [Rochester Deaths p 352] William was a whaler and voyages could last two to three years, but that is how he made his living so he continued.
He departed New Bedford on 25 January 1844 as the master of the Brig Catherwood and did not return. He died at sea near Rio de Janeiro on 14 November 1844, at age 32. [Rochester Death Records p 352 citing GR 17]
William’s 2nd Mate Isaac Cook kept the log on board the Catherwood. I have read a summary of the log, in which Cook noted that the captain was not well in November 1844, losing his senses and eventually dying on 15 Nov 1844. Before he passed, surgeons from a British man-of-war came onboard to tend to him, but he was beyond cure. He was buried at Rio de Janeiro and first mate Lewis Leonard assumed command. The vessel returned to New Bedford 2 July 1845. [New Bedford Whaling Museum: Call No ODHS 703]
His son William was about 5 years old when he was orphaned. He was mentioned in court when his uncle Dennis S. Boodry became his guardian. [Plymouth County Probate Record, guardianship file No 2292] It included an inventory of what was now the child’s belongings. Some items of interest were two Bibles and another book, a miniature likeness (I hope of his mother), basket shells, silver spoons, engravings, a silver watch, a geographical chart, and 1/32 of the Brig Catherine [error for Catherwood] of Westport that was worth $446. William’s grandfather Nathan Boodry was one of the men who bound $2,000 to the judge for the guardianship case.
William was 15 and still living with Dennis’ family at Rochester in the 1855 state census. In 1858 William D. Boodry left New Bedford for a whaling voyage on the Joseph Meigs, so he was a whaler just like his dad. [New Bedford Whaling Museum online database]
On 22 March 1865, at age 25, William D. Boodry married Abby Weeks White, age 20, at Mattapoisett. [Massachusetts Vital Records 1840-1915, East Bridgewater] The couple, with William being called a mariner, is in the 1865 Massachusetts state census living in the Mattapoisett household of Sarah Bowles, which appears to be a rooming house.
On 21 December 1865, William Davis Boodry, mariner, age 26, drowned when the Schooner Sophronia was lost at Vineyard Sound. [Massachusetts Death Records 1840-1911, Mattapoisett] William was first mate on the Sophronia, which was taking a load of coal from Fall River to Bristol Rhode Island. [The Middleboro Gazette, Saturday, January 6, 1866, vol XIV, page 1] Perhaps William thought a short voyage than whaling would allow him to spend more time with his young wife.
Nancy (Snow) (Nye) Boodry died 13 August 1892 at Mattapoisett. She was 97 years, 7 months and 25 days old, a remarkable age at that time. [MA Vital Records 1841-1910, volume 428, page 578, Mattapoisett] I would guess she and Nathan are buried at Cushing Cemetery in Mattapoisett, but without a surviving or readable gravestone, as that is where many of his family are buried.
What an incredible long life Nancy lived. She experienced so much loss, but I hope she lived a good life with much to be thankful for.
Sources:
Lydia (Phinney) Brownson & Maclean McLean, NEHGS Register, “Thomas 1 Landers of Sandwich,” vol 124 p 42 (January 1970)
Benjamin Nye of Sandwich, His Ancestors and Descendants, A Genealogy of the Nye Family, George Hyatt and Frank Best, 1907
