Robert Whitcomb (c1629-1704) and Mary Cudworth (c1637-1699) (52 Ancestors 2020 Week 23) Theme: "Wedding"

It isn't often that a wedding results in legal charges, yet that is exactly what happened to my 7X great grandparents Mary (Cudworth) and Robert Whitcomb!

Born to General James Cudworth and his wife Mary (Parker) in Scituate, Plymouth Colony in 1637, Mary Cudworth probably grew up in relatively comfortable circumstances. Her father was a well-respected citizen in early Plymouth Colony. Though not himself a Quaker, he was known for defending the unpopular Quakers in the area, a position that had resulted in some serious repercussions for him from time to time.

General James Cudworth Memorial
Scituate, MA photo 1999

Robert Whitcomb was born in Taunton, Somerset, England in about 1629. His parents John Whitcomb and Frances (Coggens) had been married in St. Mary Magdalene Church at Taunton 26 November 1623.

Interior of Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Taunton, Somerset, England photo 1998

As a young child, Robert immigrated to America with his family.  Like the Cudworths, the Whitcombs settled at Scituate in Plymouth Colony. When his parents moved the family to Lancaster in 1654, Robert was a young man ready to make his own life. He received lands from his father and remained behind at Scituate. It is possible that Robert remained as part of the Quaker congregation that included his older sister Catherine (Whitcomb) Ellmes. Perhaps Robert was already taking an interest in Mary Cudworth and wished to remain near her.

However it transpired, early in 1660, Robert and Mary were married by Henry Hobson, a Quaker preacher in Rhode Island. Hobson not being licenced under the laws of the colony, the marriage was pronounced unlawful. Robert and Mary were charged with "disorderly conduct coming together without consent of parents and lawful marriage" and were sentenced to pay 10 pounds fine and be imprisoned during the pleasure of the court.

The couple responded with an approved and fully-accredited wedding on 9 March 1660. Half the fine was thereby remitted; there is no record of the other half of the fine having ever been paid. Nor is there any record of actual imprisonment of the guilty parties.

Having now been married twice, Robert and Mary spent their lives in Scituate where they raised their family, the youngest of whom was my 6X great grandfather James Whitcomb. Their first wedding is the only record of any trouble-making on their part!

Resources:

• Records of the Cudworth Family: A History of the Ancestors and Descendants of James Cudworth of Scituate, Mass. collected and compiled by W. John Calder, Oakland California 1941, ed. and revised by Arthur G. Cudworth, Sr. in 1974. 
• Deane, Samuel, History of Scituate, Massachusetts from its First Settlement to 1831; Boston: James Loring, 1831, 381.
• Earle, Alice Morse, "Old-Time Marriage Customs in New England", The Journal of Amercan Folklore, Vol, 6, No. 21; 1893, pp.97-102 accessed online 13 May 2020 at https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/533294.pdf