Joseph Rice and Mercy King

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Husband Joseph Rice

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           Born: 
     Christened: 13 Mar 1637-13 Mar 1638 - Berkhamstead, Hertford, England
           Died: 23 Dec 1711 - Stow, Massachusetts
         Buried: 

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         Father: Edmund Rice Deacon (Abt 1594-1663)
         Mother: Thomazine Frost (1600-1654)

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       Marriage: 4 May 1658 - Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts

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   Other Spouse: Martha (      -1668)

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   Other Spouse: Mary BEers (      -      ) - 1670

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   Other Spouse: Sarah (      -      )

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Wife Mercy King

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           Born: Abt 1638 - prob England
     Christened: 
           Died: 4 Jan 1668-4 Jan 1669 - Marlborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts
         Buried: 

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         Father: Thomas King (Abt 1605-1676)
         Mother: Anne Tyce (Abt 1608-1642)

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Children

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General Notes (Husband)

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Berkhamstead parish register (TAG)

Massive confusion about who he married. The Edmund Rice Association web site reports

"Joseph Rice married Mercy King, daughter of Deacon Thomas King and Anne Collins [incorrect], on 4 May 1658 at Sudbury, MA. There is some uncertainty about whether Mercy King died soon after her marriage to Joseph or whether she is the Martha Rice, wife of Joseph, who appears in the Marrlborough vital records as having died on 4 Jan 1668. Ward lists both Mercy King and Martha (?) as wives of Joseph. The Rice Genealogical Register lists only wife Mercy King and takes the death record on 4 Jan 1668 to be that of Mercy King. There is no mention of a marraige between Joseph Rice and Martha (Eames) in the Sudbury vital records. On the other hand, the birth records of Joseph's first four children all list the mother as Martha. Joseph Rice married 3rd, Mary Beers, daughter of Capt. Richard Beers, and Elizabeth Firman, in 1670. Joseph Rice married Sarah Prescott, daughter of John Prescott and Mary Platts, on 22 Feb 1677/8 at Dedham, MA, under the name Wheeler." The Rice association divides Joseph's children among the first three wives.

He lived in Marlborough in 1675. His house was one of the garrisons set up in Marlborough during King Philip's War. Between 1677 and 1681 he lived at Watertown, Massachusetts. He was chosen one of the tithingmen in Watertown in 1680.

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General Notes (Wife)

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They had three children.

Rice family association lists four children. Actually her children are controversial. It is not clear if she ever had any children, or if the children often listed as hers are those of an unknown woman named Martha, and Mercy King died soon after her marriage. Evidently in their next town, the four children are liste din the town records as Martha's, and then Martha's death is listed. If Mercy was the same woman than she must have been known as Martha. The Rice Association mentions there being no record of a marriage to Martha Eames without telling us how Martha Eames comes into it.

If these children were not the children of Mercy King, then any maternal line descendants of the daughters will not share the mitochondrial DNA of Thomas King's wife (who may or may not have been Anne when these daughters were born). That haplogroup is H1*; 16519C, 263G, 309.1C, 315.1C, with two unique coding region mutations. Note that a third of haplogroup H has one of several versions of that haplotype, and half of western Europe is haplogroup H. Half of those are H1.

Joseph Rice married Mercy King, daughter of Deacon Thomas King and Anne Collins, on 4 May 1658 at Sudbury. There is some uncertainty about whether Mercy King died soon after her marriage to Joseph or whether she is the Martha Rice, wife of Joseph, who appears in the Marlborougyh vital records as having died on 4 January 1668. Ward lists both Mercy King and Martha (?) as wives of Joseph. TheRice Geneealogical Register lists only wife Mercy King and takes the death record on 4 January 1668 to be that of Mercy King. There is no mention of a marriage between Joseph Rice and Martha (Eames) in the Sudbury vital records. On the other hand, the birth records of Joseph's first four children all list the mother as Martha. Joseph Rice married 3rd Mary Beers, daugther of Capt. Richard Beers and Elizabeth Firman, in 1670. Joseph Rice married Sarah Prescott, daughter of John Prescott and Mary Platts, on 22 Feb 1677/78 at Dedham, MA (literally 12th month 1677) under the name Wheeler.

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Notes (Marriage)

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She didn't live long after marriage

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