BEEDLE

1. ROBERT-

m. MARY_____- (m.2. Rev. Stephen Batchelder (b.1561, m.1. ?, 2. 2 Mar. 1623/4 Abbots Ann, Christian Weare, widow; 3. 26 Mar. 1627 Abbots Ann Helena Mason, widow (d. before 3 May 1647), bur. 31 Oct. 1656 Allhallows, Hackney, London), m.3. 1657 Thomas Turner)
lost at sea 31 Jan. 1647 Kittery

May 20, 1641, Thomas Gorges authorized "Robert Beedle to seise on & make use of the lot between George Rogers & John Simons & I promise in time Convenient to Draw up his lease." In 1679 ten acres were granted to Christopher Beedle which has been granted to his father Christopher in 1669 "at the head of the lot that was his grandfathers." Joseph Hill relinquished all claim to this ten acre grant in favor of Peter Staples 20 Mar. 1703/4. As Mary married Rev. Batchelder the town laid out the lot to her which Gorges had given to Robert Beedle.Kp> "A Coppye of a grant from Thomas Gorges Esquir Deputy Governor of the Province of Mayne in behalfe of Sir fferdinand Gorges unto Robert Beedle
Knowe all men by theise presents that I Thomas Gorges Deputy Govnor of this Province doe authorise Robert Beedle to seise on & make use of the lot betweene Georg Rogers & John Simons & I pmise in time Convenient to Draw up his lease Witnes my hand this 20th May 1641.
Gorgeana
Tho: Gorges Deput Govnor." (1)

On Feb. 14, 1648 the farmstead of her late husband Robert Beedle was confirmed to Mary by the Town of Kittery.

Mary's marriage to the Rev. Batchelder was not a happy one. Rev. Batchelder, a widower, obtained Mary for a housekeeper, whom he called "an honest neighbor." He commented to John Winthrop that his neighbors seemed to think it unseemly -- so he married her, and the match was very unfortunate. It must have taken place when he was eighty-six or eighty-seven years old. She was sixty years younger than he was. He was ordered to live with her in 1650 and in the same year he was charged with marrying without publishing the required bans and was fined £5. Mary began an affair with their neighbor George Rogers. On 16 Oct. 1651 she and George Rogers were convicted of "incontinency for living in one house together and lieing in one room". She was subsequently sentenced by the Georgiana Court to be flogged and branded with the letter "A". George Rogers also was to be flogged with forty stripes save one. Mary was to receive hers at the first Kittery Town Meeting six weeks after the birth of her child by George Rogers. The court also ordered Stephen Bachiler and Mary to live together as man and wife. On 14 Oct. 1652 she was presented for entertaining idle people on the Sabbath (possibly Quakers). The following month Mary siged the Submission to Massachusetts, the only woman to do so. In June 1654, the court ordered Thomas Hanscom, age 31, "not to live with Mary Bachiler". Further investigation reveals Mary's plight. At the October 1651 adultery trial, both she and Mr. Bachiler sought divorce, but were denied it. By that time, Hanscom was living with Mary, her legal husband was in England, where he remained until his death. She asked for a divorce on 18 Oct. 1656 alleging that the good reverend had gone to England many years before and had married again leaving her and two invalid children destitute. When Rev. Batchelder returned to England is unknown, however, his Power of Attorney to Christopher Hussey was approved the Hampton Court in Nov. 1654. He died at Hackney near London in 1656.(2)

The humble petition of Mary Bachelor sheweth--Whereas your petitioner, having formerly lived with Mr. Stephen Bachelor, a minister of this Collany, as his lawfull wife, and not unknown to divers of you, as I conceive, and the said Mr. Bachelor, upon some pretended ends of his owne, hath transported himself unto ould England, for many yeares since, and betaken himself to another wife, as your petitioner hath often been credibly informed, and there continueth, whereby your petitioner is left destitute, not only of a guide to her and her children, but also made uncapable thereby of disposing herselfe in the way of marriage to any other, without a lawful permission; and having now two children upon her hands, that are chargeable unto her, in regard to a disease God hath been pleased to lay upon them both, which is not easily curable, and so weakening her estate in prosecuting the means of cure, that she is not able longer to subsist, without utter ruining her estate, or exposing herself to the common charity of others; which your petitioner is loth to put herself upon, if it may be lawfully avoided, as is well known to all, or most part of her neighbors. And were she free from her engagement to Mr. Bachelor, might probably soe dispose of herselfe, as that she might obtain a meet helpe to assist her to procure such means for her livelyhood, and the recovery of her children's health, as might keep them from perishing; which your petitioner, to her great grief, is much afraid of, if not timely prevented. Your petitioner's humble request therefore is, that this Honored Court would be pleased seriously to consider her condition, for matter of her relief in her freedom from the said Mr. Bachelor, and that she may be at liberty to dispose of herselfe in respect of any engagement to him, as in your wisdomes shall seem most expedient; and your petitioner shall humbly pray.

MARY BACHELER."

A book written in 1910 states that Mary Magdalene Bailey Beedle Bachiler Turner was the woman upon whom Nathaniel Hawthorne patterned Hester Prynne in "The Scarlet Letter". The evidence is strong that Hester Prynne was a character derived from Hawthorne's extensive knowledge of the history of Kittery in colonial times. His journal does not mention the name of Batchelder, but does note a young woman doomed to wear the letter "A" on the breast of her gown under an old colony law as punishment for adultery. The description of Hester Prynnes's cottage closely parallels that of Mary's on what was to become the Staple property. The other possibility is that Hester was patterned after another one of our ancestors, Ruth Gooch.

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