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Love at First Sight


Andrew Peters (1635-1713) and Mercy Beamsley (1637-1726)

Andrew and Mercy are our 9th great grandparents: RWA → Fred Pemberton Abbott → Arthur Merrill Abbott → Justin E. Abbott → Rebecca Boynton Abbott → Thomas Boynton → Hannah Ames Boynton → Hephzibah Chandler Ames → Timothy Chandler → Mary Peters Chandler → Andrew and Mary Beamsley Peters

The story goes that in 1658 a young widow, Mercy “Mary” Beamsley Wilborne, was standing at her window in Boston when she caught sight of a young man making his way along the muddy trails. He looked up and saw her watching, and in that moment he resolved to marry her – which he did not long after. The young man was Andrew Peters, an Englishman who had just arrived on a ship from Holland. Not much is known about Andrew’s background but he was able to read and write and so thought to have had at least some education. Mary Beamsley had married Michael Wilborne in 1656 and had a daughter in 1657, but Michael died sometime in the following year.

Andrew and Mary married in Ipswich in 1659 and had seven children there. They were later in Andover. For a time, Andrew was in the British army as a private and fought from December, 1675 to February, 1676 against the Wampanoag Indians in what became called King Philip’s War; the chief of the Wampanoag was known as King Philip. Andrew worked primarily as a distiller.

Sources:

Abbott, Charlotte Helen. (n.d.). Early records of the Peters family of Andover. Retrieved from Memorial Hall Library http://www.mhl.org/sites/default/files/files/Abbott/Peters%20Family.pdf

Peters, Edmund Frank, & Peters, Eleanor Bradley. (1903). Peters of New England: A genealogy and family history. New York, NY: Knickerbocker Press.

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