An American Family History

Martha Bradstreet Beale was born in 1632 in Ipswich, England.  Her parents were Humphrey and Bridget Bradstreet.  When she was two years old she came to America with her family.

Martha apparently married for the first time in 1648 when she was 16. Else L. Hambleton describes the marriage and consequences in detail in Daughters of Eve: Pregnant Brides and Unwed Mothers in Seventeenth-century Massachusetts.

Secret marriages were prohibed; banns had to be posted for three weeks prior to the marriage ceremony. Thomas Rowlandson was fined 10 shilings in 1648 for "marrying without being published three times" and his marriage to sixteen-year old Martha Bradstreet was annulled. There was however, resistance to the Puritan assertion of control over marriage formation. Seven years after Bradstreet's marriage to Rowlandson was annulled, Bradstreet married William Beale. Twenty-two years later a neighbor, the wife of Mr. William Hollingsworth, was forced ot pay a £ fine for defeaming Beale by calling her an adulterer.That the wive of a gentleman was prosecuted in the first place emphasizes the seriousness with which the court regarded her accusation because as they said in their judgement, her claim reflected on "civil justice and the church.". . . Later that year, William Beale was threated by men engaged in a traditional charivari who stood before his house and shoulted: come out, you cuckoldly cut: we are come to beat thee. Thou livest in adultery.

While these actions occurred within the context of an extended neighborhood dispute, more than two decades had elapsed since the annulment. When neighborhood tempers were aroused the circumstances surrounding the Beale marriage could be resurrected and used against them. Fortunately for the Beals, questioning their marriage also meant questioning the right tof the civil authorities to make or break marriages, so the court was willing to intervene on their behalf."

She married William Beale (Beal) of Marblehead in 1655. William was born in 1628 and was the son of John and Margaret Beale.

In 1655 she inherited from her father

one pound and more. I doe leeve fiftene pounds in the hand of her mother, to be given to her or to her child at her discretion . . [and] to Sammuell Beale five pound.

The estate documents show William Beale's order on July 26, 1655 to "Mother Bradstrete . . . to pay my wife that twenty shillings left mee by my father in his last will.

Martha and William's children included:
Samuel Beale (1654, married Patience Lovewell),
Martha Beale (1657),
James Beale (1659),
William Beale (1662),
John Beale (1666),
Moses Beale (1667),
Moses Beale (1670),
Bridget Beale (1672), and
Aaron Beale (1675, married Elizabeth Nicholson).

On March 27, 1672 "Robert Bartlett v. William Beale. For a mare of plaintiff being killed and found dead in the ground of defendant. Verdict for defendant."

Martha died on April 6, 1675 in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

After her death, he married Elizabeth Jackson the widow of Edmund Jackson on December 16, 1676. Their children included:
George Beale (1677),
Ebenezer Beale (1679) and
Anna Beale (1682).

Elizabeth died on November 5, 1683.

On March 4, 1683/84, William married Mary Hart the widow of Samuel Hart. Their children included:
Elizabeth Beale (1684) and
Thomas Beale (1687).

William died in 1694 in Marblehead.

1677 Map of New England click to enlarge