- The will of Elizabeth Mansfield was written on April 20, 1667. She mentions her sons Joseph & Andrew, but not John. She calls her daughter Elizabeth Tomsone. She also mentions all four of son Joseph's children. The will was proved on November 26, 1673. The inventory says that Elizabeth died about September 6, 1673, and was "aged about eighty-seven years". The Old Western Burying Ground was the only cemetery in use by the whole town from its founding in 1635 until about 1720. No other place of burial, public or private, is know to have been used until the church in Lynnfield was established in 1720. Her marker would be unreadable by now.
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| Notes |
- According to Essex County vital records, Elizabeth Mansfield died in 1673 at 87 years, hence she was born in 1586. In NEHGR 29:97, an article on the Townshend family, it is stated that the parents of Elizabeth Townshend were married around 1589 or 90, so Elizabeth Townshend couldn't fit into their family. On the other hand, if she was really born in 1586, she would have been 8 years older than her husband, not impossible, but unlikely. It is possible there was an overstatement of her age at death, which was fairly common in those days, especially for older people. Then she could have been around age 77 at her death, two years younger than her husband, and she would fit perfectly in the Townshend family. One more thing, if she was actually born in 1586, she would have been 42 at the birth of her youngest child, again not impossible, but very unlikely. The article in NEHGR only says that there was a Townshend daughter named Elizabeth, probably born in 1596, it gives no biographical information about her. If she was of the Townsend family of Bracon Ash, Norfolk, there is a good explanation of how she came to Lynn. Her older brother, Thomas came from London to Lynn in 1635. That Thomas Townsend, when he died in Lynn in 1677, was 83 years old, matching the birth record of Thomas Townsend in Bracon Ash.
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further notes on her parentage:
Robert married in England, about 1620, Elizabeth, possibly Elizabeth Townsend, the daughter of Henry Townsend and Margaret Forthe. Because the marriage record of Robert and Elizabeth has never been found, her maiden name is not known for certain, but it is thought to have been Townsend. The Townsend family came to Lynn in the same period as the Mansfields. Thomas Townsend (1595-1677) owned land next to the Mansfields, and it is known that he had a sister named Elizabeth.
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1586 - Bef 1673 (87 years)
