Ann Dunster, daughter of Roger Dunster, married John Berrington, Esq., who was of "Hauteyn's Manor" in Norfolk, in 1664. · Blomefield, ut supra. John Dunster, bachelor of arts, Magdalen College, 1600. Master in 1604, and proctor of the college in 1611.- Wood's Fasti Oxon., vol. i. pp. 285, 302, 341. Thomas Dunster, proctor in Wadham College, 1688; elected warden in 1689, on the promotion of Rev. Dr. Gilbert Ironside to the see of Bristol; doctor of divinity in 1690.- Wood's Fasti Oxon., vol. i. p. 410. Henry Dunster, Esq., married Mary, daughter and heir of Henry Samuel Dunster, in 1699, published "Anglia Rediviva; being a full Description of all the Shires in England."- Rev. Mr. Hunter's letter. Charles Dunster, a clergyman, Rector of Petworth; author of "Considerations on Milton's Early Reading," and many other works. Ibid. Dunster, a vicar of Rochdale, a place close to Bury and Middleton. He was not a Lancashire man. - Ibid. James Dunster, of Stone, Isle of Oxney, in the hundred of Oxney, and Richard Dunster, of Westerham, in the same hundred, electors. Poll Books, eastern division of Kent, 1832 and 1837. There is also Dunster, a market-town and parish in Somersetshire. To return to my more immediate subject. It may be considered as reasonably proved, that the second wife of Major Willard was Elizabeth Dunster, her father's "scribe," and the sister of the President; that she died childless, ac cording to the Rev. Dr. Willard; and that the third wife was Mary Dunster. This being so, the only difficulty remaining is to determine the precise relationship in which Mary Dunster stood to the President, whether sister or cousin (niece). It is beyond question, that she was the wife of Major Willard at the date of the President's will, Feb. 18, 1659. Except that the President calls her "sister Willard," there is nothing to controvert the statement made by Dr. Willard, that she was his cousin (niece). From the manner in which the sisters are spoken of in the "Balehoult" letter, it cannot be determined whether they were of adult age in 1641. If Mary was one of these sisters, she must have died at a very advanced age, in December, 1715; surviving her first husband nearly forty years, the birth of her youngest child forty-six years, the President nearly fiftyseven years, and the date of the "Balehoult" letter nearly seventy-five years. The President was bachelor of arts at Magdalen College in 1630, and master in 1634; and, had he lived until 1715, would have been more than a hundred years of age. If she were a collateral relation, though called "sister," might it be explained in this way?- viz., the Major's marriage with Elizabeth Dunster constituted him brother-in-law to the President; and the subsequent marriage with Mary might be construed as authorizing him to call her "sister Willard," she then being the wife of the man who was already the President's brother-in-law by virtue of the first alliance. It is true, he speaks in his will of "cousin Bowers;" but then Mrs. Bowers's husband had never stood to him in the relation of brother-in-law by a former marriage. The more intimate relation of brother and sister between Henry and Mary may have existed, if we suppose her to have been many years younger than Henry, as she was, in fact, many years younger than her husband. On the whole, the data are not sufficient to sanction a decided authoritative opinion upon the question. It is not well to dogmatize by bold induction from a few and slight particulars, especially as some unexpected piece of evidence may be discovered, as in this very "Balehoult" letter, for example, and overthrow the most carefully considered and nicely constructed theory.* Each reader is left to draw his own conclusions from the facts given. See sundry remarks on this subject, published by the author of this Memoir, in the New-England Genealogical and Historical Register, vol. iv. 353 CHAPTER XVI. THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SIMON WILLARD. (Continued.) I MAJOR WILLARD had a family of seventeen children. shall do but little more than name them, with their children and grandchildren in the male line; adding marriages and dates, so far as they are ascertained, with some few brief notices. Possibly, at a future day, should time allow, I may give the genealogy in full for five or six generations in the male line, with succinct biographical sketches of those whose worth and influence in their own day should be held in remembrance as examples to posterity.* This would fill an entire volume. Of the Major's large family, all the sons, nine in number, and five of his eight daughters, arrived at mature age; were married, and left issue. With such a start from this numerous stock, the descendants are a host, distributed broadcast over the land. The whole number living and dead, including the female branches, counts by hundreds of thousands, in eight generations; while the number in the ninth generation is becoming large. In this statement, I * Several of the family seem to have supposed that this volume was to contain the genealogy of the family in full. They are without warrant in this supposition. Nothing was promised in the "Circular" beyond "a list of" the Major's "children, with their marriages," and a list of "his grandchildren and great-grandchildren in the male line." A hope was expressed, in the concluding paragraph, that I might be able, at no distant day, to arrange and publish the materials I possess for a more extended genealogy. This would involve great labor and a wide correspondence, in addition to what has already been done; while but few intervals of leisure can be secured for the purpose, amid paramount and engrossing duties. have taken for a basis the calculation made by Mr. Shattuck in relation to his own family. His careful examination shows that two-thirds of the children live to be married. I have examined the names in the male branch of the Willard family of the third and fourth generations, and find that two-thirds is a moderate estimate for marriages; and that, by assuming the ratio of seven to three, there is no danger of exaggeration: Estimate of the number of Major Simon Willard's descendants, in the male and female lines, for eight generations. Dr. Willard gives the names of his ancestor's children, first the sons, and then the daughters, with their marriages; but the list is without dates, and is imperfect in the marriages. It reads thus: * "Josiah; Simon; Samuel married Tyng Sherman [it should be, first, Sherman; second, Tyng]. Henry married, first, Mary Lakin; second, Dorcas Cutler. John married Mary Howard [it should be Hayward]. Daniel; Joseph; Benjamin married Sarah Lakin; Jonathan married Brown; Mary married Edmunds; Elizabeth married Samuel [it should be Robert] Blood; Dorothy died unmarried; Sarah married Howard; Abovehope died unmarried; Mary married Cyprian Stevens; Elizabeth died unmarried; Hannah married Captain Thomas Brintnall." The true order of births is here reversed. It should be Samuel, then Simon. |