AMERICA THE GREAT MELTING POT
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Direct descendant is highlighted in red
Mary Unknown |
see FAMILY TREE | |
Born: 1617 | ||
HUSBAND
CHILDREN
1. Mary Bearse
b. bef. 16 Aug 1640
d. 6 May 1643
2. Martha Bearse
b. bef. 06 May 1642
d. 6 May 1643
3. Priscilla Bearse
b. 10 March 1643
m. 1660 John Hall
d. 30 Mar 1712
4. Sarah Bearse
b. 28 March 1646
m. Aug 1667 John Hamblen
d. 30 Mar 1712
5. Abigail Bearse
b. 18 Dec 1647
m. 12 Apr 1670 Allen Nichols
d. Aft. 1 Apr 1689
6. Hannah Bearse
b. 16 Nov 1649
d. Abt. 1719
7. Joseph Bearse
b. 25 Jan 1650?/1
m. 3 Dec 1676
Martha Taylor
8. Hester Bearse
b. 02 Oct 1653
9. Lydia Bearse
b. Sep 1655
10. Rebecca Bearse
b. Sep 1657
m. Feb 1670/1 William Hunter
11. James Bearse
b. Jul 1660
d.
7 Oct 1728
Mary Hyanno, known as "Litttle Dove", is said to have married early Plymouth
settler Augustine Bearse. Mary was the daughter of John Hyanno, who was born in
1595 at the Mattachee Village at what is now Barnstable, Massachusetts, and Mary
No-Pee, who was born at Gays Head on Martha's Vineyard and was the daughter of
No-Took-Seet. John was the son of Iyannough, the sachem of the Mattachee village
of Wampanoags of Cape Cod, and Princess Canonicus. He died after 1680 on Cape
Cod. Princess Canonicus was the daughter of Canochet (Chief) Canonicus and Posh-Pw.
Canochet Canonicus was the son of Wessonsuoum and Keshechoo. Wessonsuoum was the
son of Chief Tashtassuck, who was born before 1520.
Mary Hyanno is said to have been of fair complexion and red hair. The Wampanoags
were often referred to as "white Indians" due to their light skin and are
thought by some to have descended from Viking explorers. This assertion is very
controversial. There indeed was an Iyannough, and Hyannis, Massachusetts is
named for him.
The Bearse/Hyanno marriage entered the written record via a document filed in
the 1930's by Franklin Ele-watum Bearse, a Scaticoke and Eastern Indian, in an
attempt to obtain benefits as an Indian from the State of Connecticut. Mr.
Bearse's claims are analyzed in a article by Jacobus entitled "Austin Bearse and
His Alleged Indian Connectionis" in THE AMERICAN GENEALOGIST published about
1936. Mr. Jacobus does not accept the Franklin Bearse story and endeavored to
disprove it. Among other things he points out that all we really know about
Augustine Bearse is that he was listed as age "20 in the shipping list of the
Confidence of London, which sailed from Southampton the last of April 1638.
Most of the passengers on this ship came in family groups, and a large number of
these families settled in Essex County, Mass. The name Augustine is, be it
noted, a Christian name, in good usage in England. There is no evidence
whatever that any of the passengers on this ship were deported criminals.
There is no evidence whatever that Austin was sent to Barnstable as a prinsoner.
On the contrary, he came to Barnstable with the first company in 1639; he became
a member of Mr. Lothrop's church, 29 Apr. 1643, and he is the first person named
on the present record of those who joined the church after its removal to
Barnstable. He was proposed to be admitted a freeman, 3 June 1652, and was
admitted 3 May following. He was called Goodman in the records, bespeaking
his good standing. He was a grand juror in 1653 and 1662, and a surveyor
of highways in 1674. --- To suppose that a Gypsy, a deported criminal, and
the husband of an Indian, would have enjoyed such standing in a Puritan
community is absurd. In explanation of his marriage to an Indian, the
story is told that he was a Gypsy and hence the Puritan girls would not consider
him in marriage; yet his children married into the best families of Barnstable
and Yarmouth."
However, family traditions of the Hyanno marriage exist to this day in other branches of the Bearse family. These traditions do not appear to have been derived from Franklin Bearse.
In our family lore, Earle White was told by his
parents that he was 1/64th Indian. If in fact they were referring to Mary
Hyanno they were off by two generations.