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After all, we don’t know when Thomas married Prudence. The only record that names Prudence is Thomas’s will dated 1758. If Thomas’s family was following the patronymic naming tradition, then we would expect to see the name Prudence recur in subsequent generations. Thomas had a daughter named Marcy, who married James Jackson, but aside from that, we don’t see the name Marcy recurring, either. And no Prudence, either.
Mercy Thims in New Jersey
The first mention of Marcy/Mercy found so far is in the New Jersey minutes of the Little Egg Harbor Monthly Meeting Women’s minutes ($ – p 23) (Hunterdon, now Ocean County), in the second month 1733 (which would be April in the Quaker calendar), “their was request made for a cirtificate for Marcy Thims this meeting apoints Abigal Cramer and Margary Recange to inquier into her conversation and mak Report to the next meeting.” But at the next meeting and subsequent meetings, there is no report. Is it possible she was requesting a certificate so she could transfer to a new monthly meeting? Possibly to the burgeoning meeting in Prince William County, Virginia?
Mercy Thems in Virginia
We find Mercy Thems, wife of Thomas Thems, in Prince William County, Virginia in this deed between Thomas Thems and his wife Mercy to John Mead:
28 Jan 1734 – Prince William County, VA Deed Book Liber D p 117-119 – Recorded 21 Sep 1732, Lease: Thomas Thems of Prince William, planter, to John Mead, Carpenter, of said County and Henry Ballinger of Monoqasie [Monocacy] in Prince Georges County in the province of Maryland, planter, consideration of 5 shillings silver, plus one grain of Indian corn each year for 3 years on the 10th of December, the same 100 acres as the lease above from Wood to Thems. Witnesses: Amos Janney, John Gordon, Richard Abrill.
Important information about the recording of this lease, immediately beneath the witnesses and Thomas’s signature, is written:
At a Court continued & held for Prince William County the eighteenth day of July 1734 – This Lease from Thomas Thems planter & Mercy his wife to John Mead, Carpenter, was proved by the Oaths of Richard Abrill & John Gordon two of the witnesses thereto which on the motion of the said John Mead is Ordered to be Certified. Test. Catesby Cooke Clk
At a Court held for Prince William County May 28, 1739. This Lease was further proved by the Solemn Affirmation of Amos Janney a Quaker one of the Witnesses hereto to be the Act & deed of ”’Thomas Thems”’ & was thereupon admitted to Record. Test. Catesby Cooke Clk
29 Jan 1734 – Prince William County, VA Deed Book Liber D p 119-122: 29 Jan “in the year of our Lord God one thousand seven hundred & thirty three four,” recorded 18 Jul 1734, Release, Bargain and Sale: Thomas Thems planter & Mercy his wife to John Mead of the said County Carpenter and Henry Ballinger of Monoqusie in Prince George’s County in the province of Maryland Planter, in consideration of the sum of forty pounds, the same land described above but with additional clarification as such, “all that tract or parcel of land lying & being on the branches of Kittockton run amongst the broken hills about ten miles from Goose Creek…” Witnesses: Amos Janney, John Gordon, Richd Abrill. Signed by both Thomas Thems and Mercy Thems. Note: In the margin at the beginning of this deed, the deed is noted as “Thems To Mead & Ballinger Release. Augt 9th 1740 [illeg.] dd Jno Mead
At a Court continued & held for Prince William County the eighteenth day of July 1734 – This Release from Thomas Thems planter and Mercy his wife to John Mead Carpenter was proved by the Oaths of Richard Abrill & John Gordon two of the witnesses thereto which on the motion of the said Mead is Ordered to be Certified. – Test. Catesby Cooke Clk
At a Court held for Prince William County May 28, 1739 – This Release was further proved by the Solemn Affirmation of Amos Janney a Quaker one of the witnesses hereto to be the Act & deed of Thomas Thems and Mercy his wife and was thereupon admitted to Record. – Test. Catesby Cooke Clk
A note of interest: Amos Janney, the Quaker, does not affirm the signatures of Thomas and Mercy until five years after the date of the deeds.
Marcy Thems in North Carolina
Core Sound Monthly Meeting was in the vicinity of New Bern, about six miles north of the town of Beaufort. The location is Carteret County. The Monthly Meeting at Core Sound included the regular meetings of Clubs Foot (Craven County), Mattamuskeet Meeting (Hyde County) and the Upper- and Lower-Trent Meetings (Jones County). In the Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, vol. 1, the earliest dates for records for individuals at the Core Sound MM, which included Quaker Meeting Houses in both Carteret and Craven Counties, are for the following individuals (these are the earliest records in Hinshaw’s entries for Core Sound, even though Core Sound was established by 1733, per Hinshaw). In the extract by Hinshaw, Marcy appears on page 276; Hinshaw transcribed his entries in alphabetical order, rather than chronological order. All other entries for Core Sound for earlier dates and subsequent dates were checked for any familiar family names, but none were found.
1738 – 10th month [this would be December, since Quakers began their calendar years with March] – Marcy Thems, cert read in mtg. [This means that she received a certificate from the monthly meeting she left and it was read at her new monthly meeting, Core Sound. Members would request a certificate from the meeting they were leaving to show they were a member in good standing.] Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, Vol. 1, p. 276
Common sense says this cannot be the Marcy Thames who was the daughter of Thomas Thames – Thomas’s daughter Marcy would have been far too young, and possibly not even born yet. So, is this the same Mercy Thems of New Jersey and Virginia?