Rev. Samuel Mann (1647-1719) and Esther Ware (1655-1734)

{Hills Ancestors}

Rev. Samuel Man, B.A., of Wrentham, Massachusetts, born 6 July 1647, was the only son of William and Mary Jarrad Mann of Cambridge, Massachusetts.1 William would have been about 40 years old when his son was born. William and Mary named him Samuel, the name of the long-awaited son of Hannah in the Old Testament.

Mary Mann died sometime before 1657 when her son was ten-years-old or younger. After her death, his father married Alice Tidd, the widow of John Tidd. William died on 7 March 1661/62 in Cambridge when Samuel was fifteen. In his will, after providing for his wife, William bequeathed " the residue and remainder of my estate … to my son and only son, Samuel Man"; "my trusty and well beloved friends Thomas Chesholm and Jno. Fessington" to be sole executors." On 13 January 1662/3, "Thomas Chesholme and John Fessender, administrators as abovesaid," sold to part of William’s land. The sale was probably made to provide funds to pay Samuel Mann’s expenses at Harvard College.

Charles Messinger, who wrote about the Manns, says Samuel’s parents "were esteemed truly religions," and that they early designed their son for the ministry; he was accordingly furnished with a liberal education and graduated from Harvard College in 1665 when he was 17 or 18 years old."7

Harvard has published brief biographies of all it’s early graduates. The information in italics below is from the Harvard biography of Samuel Mann.

"May 13, 1667, the [now 20-year-old] graduate agreed to "teach the male children" of Dedham, Massachusetts, "thatt shall be sent to him in English, writing, Grammarm and Arithmeticke for...one whole yeare from 27th this instant moneth for ...£120 in such pay and at such prices as the Countrey Rate shall accept for that yeare one halfe to be payed at the end of each halfe yeare at his assigmn in Dedham."1

When the decision was made to encourage a settlement at Wollomonopoag, and a few Dedham residents began making preparations to move there, they needed a minister for their congregation. Jordan D. Fiore says, 

"The minister whom they invited to serve the new community was Samuel Mann, a native of Cambridge who was then 23 years of age and had graduated from Harvard in 1665. Samuel Man had been hired on May 13th, 1667 to "teach the male children" of Dedham. … The post of teacher was good preparation for the ministry, at least in salary matters, for poor Mr. Mann’s salary fluctuated radically. In April of 1669 he received his salary of "£120 in corn at prices current." But in May of 1670, the local authorities pegged the price of corn at three shillings a bushel and paid him accordingly. The Proprietors of Wollomonopoag indicated that they were aware of Mann’s ability and invited him to assume the spiritual leadership of their flock. Samuel Mann undoubtedly accepted the invitation at this time, but he continued to teach at Dedham until was succeeded, 17 June, 1672, by Jer. (?) Burroughs.1, 2

"At the Dedham Town meeting in February 1673, the town voted to pay him "£8 10s in full satisfaction for all dues to him for keeping schoole in Dedham this to be payed in Indian corne at 3d per bushel. They also voted to "lay out a house lot for Mann at Wollomonopoag and to take care about the church lot there." He not only received a house lot, but 10 cow-commons, first choice of ½ of his meadow land (the balance to be chosen probably by lot) and fifty pounds toward the construction of his house, in addition to the salary promised. This was very generous by the standards of the time, and Mann responded, "I do accept of these propositions in case they be performed in the space of a year and a half." This allowed him to marry Esther Ware, daughter of Robert and Margaret Hunting Ware, who had settled in Wollomonopoag in the summer of 1671."2

Esther Ware was born 28 September 1655, in Dedham.3 She was the fifth of the Ware’s ten children. She was 17-years-old at the time of her marriage to Samuel Mann in Dedham on 13 May 1673.3

"Samuel preached to the small society in the part of Dedham, now Wrentham, till 30 March 1676, when the inhabitants were drawn off by reason of "an Indian Was," after which the Indians burnt all the dwellings but two. Samuel appears again in Dedham as a teacher in the years 1676, 1677, and 1678.1

"Early in the spring of 1678 he was engaged to preach at Milton. Here, it is said, he was about to receive a call to be settled, when several of the inhabitants who had gone from Wrentham affixed their names to an engagement to return, and a committee was sent to treat with him about resuming his ministry there. "So great was his affection for the people of Wrentham, and so desirous was he of that plantation's going on," that "he and divers of the inhabitants" returned 21 August 1680. There he continued his ministerial labors till a church of ten persons was gathered 13 April 1692, and he was ordained, preaching his own ordination sermon. "Mr. Brinsmead gave ye Charge, and Mr. Gookin ye Right Hand of Fellowship."1

Samuel and Esther had six sons and five daughters:

  1. Mary, 7 April 1674 in Wrentham.4

  2. Samuel, 8 August 1675 in Wrentham.4

  3. Nathaniel, 9 April 1677 in Dedham MA3

  4. William, 1 May 1679 in Milton.5

  5. Theodore, 8 February 1680 in Wrentham.4

  6. Thomas, 24 October 1682 in Wrentham.4

  7. Hannah, 12 January 1685 in Wrentham.4

  8. Beriah, 30 March 1687 in Wrentham.4

  9. Pelatiah, 2 April 1689 in Wrentham.4

  10. Margaret, 21 December 1691 in Wrentham.4

  11. A son (twin) born and died 26 June 1696 in Wrentham.4

  12. Our ancestor, Esther, (twin) 26 June 1696, married Ensign Isaac Fisher of Wrentham, died 20 January 1770 in Dover, Massachusetts.4

"October 26, 1699, 'in the dead of night,' the Mann’s dwelling-house with the church records was burnt.

"It is said that Samuel was much afflicted with bodily weakness and infirmities, and that for twenty-five years before his death did not go out of his own town."

"One of the first men, if not the first, in this Province, and who was esteemed a good judge of the powers and abilities of men, said...that '[Samuel Mann] was not only a very good, but a very great and learned man.' " He was beloved by his people.6 "His ordinary sermons were fit for the press," and yet such was his humility that he thought nothing of his worth publishing.

Samuel Mann died at Wrentham 22 May 1719,4 at 71 years old.4

Esther Ware Mann lived another fifteen years but did not remarry. She died 3 September 1734 in Wrentham.4 Samuel and Esther are buried in the Wrentham Center Cemetery.

C:\Users\carol\Pictures\BFJ\BFJ Ancestors\Wrentham Cemetery Pam.jpgC:\Users\carol\Pictures\BFJ\BFJ Ancestors\Wrentham Mann Gravestones.jpg

 

Sources:

  1. Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University, in Cambridge Massachusetts, by John Langdon Sibley, M.A. Vol 2 1659-1677 p 190-193

  2. Wrentham, 1673-1973: a History by Jordan D. Fiore

  3. Early records of the Towne of Dedham Vol. 1

  4. Wrentham Massachusetts Vital Records.

  5. Milton Massachusetts Vital Records

  6. Genealogical and Family History of the State of Connecticut, Vol. I-IV by

  7. https://minerdescent.com/2010/08/09/capt-robert-ware/

  8. Rogers 2: 73-74, transcribed MPR 2:49-51, Case #14572

  9. NEHGS Register Vol 6, p 39