Our Harlow Family: Descendants of Sgt William Harlow of Plymouth (1624-1691)

It wasn't until we had been looking into our Bumpus family history for some time that we discovered that our father's grandmother--Hannah Pierce Harlow--was a direct descendant of Sgt William Harlow of Plymouth. This info coming to us thanks to Richard Griffith of Wareham (See Richard's "Ancestors of Hannah Pierce Harlow" at link below). In fact, the Harlow--Bumpus connection was evidently very close in the branches of those families which moved on from Plymouth to Wareham. The Charles and Martha Bumpus family and the David Harlow--Mary Ann Pierce families of Wareham were inextricably linked through a several of the children's marriages. Besides our Reuben's marriage to Hannah Harlow, his brother Linus Drake Bumpus married a daughter of Lysander Noble Bumpus and Harriet Harlow, Ann Marie Bumpus (1849-1914). After Harriet Harlow's death in 1865, Lysander married another daughter of Charles and Martha's, Clarissa Ann. Linus and Lysander seem to have fought in the Civil War together and are buried in Centre Cemetary, Wareham, together 'in perpetuity' dressed in Military Array (Picture Below). Another Harlow daughter--Mary Elizabeth--married Charles and Martha's son Charles Bumpus Jr.

Hannah Harlow's grandmother, Desire Nye, was the daughter of Jabez Nye and, a particularly stubborn to prove, Mary Fuller. This line remains to this day unproven, particularly because of the lack of documentation as to the Mary Fuller who married Jabez Nye's birth. The records, or lack thereof, at Wareham have caused us to be unable to fully prove many of the Bumpus et al. family lineages that came through there unfortunately. And while the Mayflower Society had an already accepted lineage paper for Mary Fuller of Plympton on file, in the time since I began working there part-time, I have been able to show the Historian General, Bette Innes Bradway, that this paper had been accepted with as little evidence as we have for our Mary. The fact that this paper simply shows a Mary Fuller marrying a Joseph Stoddard at Wethersfield Connecticut, with only a marriage record such as we have for Mary and Jabez at Wareham with no parents named, this line has now been rejected by the Mayflower Society until more proof can be brought forth on Mary Fuller of Plympton. Furthermore, correspondence I have carried on for several years wioth Stoddard family reserachers has led to the uncovering of the Mary Fuller of Wetherfield's likely true identity. A descendant of Edward Fuller of the Mayflower who was born at Wethersfield and clearly not Mary Fuller of PLympton.

If it could be proven that, as we believe, our Mary was the daughter of Samuel Fuller and Anne Tinkham of Plympton, then as Mayflower Families volumes on Fuller, Eaton, Billington & Browne show, this Mary Fuller would bring Mayflower lineages to our great-grandmother Hannah Pierce Harlow through at least four more passengers from the "Mayflower." Hannah's direct line to Sgt William Harlow through his son William already brings Richard Warren and Isaac Allerton lineages to our Bumpus Family Pilgrim heritage. As Samuel Fuller, who married Anne Tinkham in 1747, is a direct descendant of Samuel Fuller of the "Mayflower" and linked along the way to these others such as Peter Browne, Francis Billington and Francis Eaton these additional lines appear clear, but again, unprovable due to the lack of records at Wareham showing definitively that the Mary Fuller who married Jabez Nye at Wareham on 18 February 1768 was this daughter of Samuel of Plympton. The marriage record for this couple exists, just no parentages for either Jabez or Mary can be proven. Found in the Plympton "Olde Burying Grounds" cemetary is Samuel Fuller's grandfather--Samuel³ Fuller, the grandson of Dr. Samuel Fuller of the Mayflower (See picture below).

The recent two part article in NEHGR 158 (No 632) and 159 (No 633) on "The Origins of Benjamin Nye" is the most complete study of Benjamin Nye done to date and corrects many previous errors and suppositions found in the older Nye genealogies. The Descendants of Lave Nye link below has the proposed line from Lave Nye (c.1280) beginning in Copenhagen, Denmark through to Benjamin Nye of Barnstable seen to be the beginning of the Nye line here in Massachusetts. Our Jabez Nye would appear to be descendant from Benjamin Nye, possibly through son Jonathan.

Some Harlow Links