Monday Is for Mothers: Elizabeth Mott (1629 - 1694)

Elizabeth Mott was only six years old when she left her homeland with her father Adam, her new stepmother Sarah, three older brothers and younger stepsister in a ship named Defense that departed from London in July of 1635. After landing in New England the Mott family lived first in Roxbury, then moved to Hingham, and finally settled in Portsmouth, Rhode Island by 1638, probably in search of greater religious freedom.

While there are a number of references to Adam Mott and his sons in early Portsmouth records*, we know nothing about Elizabeth until her marriage to Edward Thurston in Newport in June of 1647.** They were members of the Society of Friends, better known as Quakers.

[Ancestry.com. U.S., New England Marriages Prior to 1700 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2012. Original data: Torry, Clarence A. New England Marriages Prior to 1700.* Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2004.]

As far as we know, Elizabeth and Edward lived in Newport for the rest of their lives. Elizabeth died at the age of 65 in 1694 and is buried in the Coddington Burial Ground where Edward joined her in 1707.

The Newport Historical Society has a video titled Colonial Newport: An American Experiment that provides a useful review of early Rhode Island history.

*As can be found by a search of the Mott name in The Early Records of the Town of Portsmouth.
**You can watch a short video here about Torrey's New England Marriages Prior to 1700.


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