John Stacey - Agnes Pedrick Family Group

What We Know About This Family

An Overview of Their Lives

John Stacey and Agnes Pedrick were both of early Marblehead families. John's sister, Grace Stacey Cowes, and Agnes's siblings, John Pedrick (and wife Mary Browne) and Sarah Pedrick Oliver were all our direct ancestors. John and his son. Samuel, both carried the title "Deacon" and thus were active in the church in Marblehead. John's probate information includes a will, which gives us the names of his children surviving at the time of his death in 1704 or 1705. A later division of property names the three sons surviving in 1723. Excerpts of those documents are included in the documents section.

About the Children

• Captain John Stacey received a lot from his grandmother, Eleanor Pitman Stacey, in 1680 on which he built a house which belonged to his heirs until it was torn down before the land was sold in 1825. In 1757, it was the Bunch of Grapes Tavern.


• Samuel Stacey started life as a mystery in that I could discover no birth or baptism record, but a genealogical record gives his date of birth as about 1676.


• William Stacey also started out his life as a mystery in that I could find no birth or baptism record. He was named in his father's will when John Stacey died in 1704/5. Tabitha King, the daughter of Captain Ralph King, a large landowner in Lynn, married a "Benjamin Stacey of Marblehead" in 1702. I have no proof that our Benjamin Stacey is the one who married Miss King, and in fact, most Ancestry users place him as another William Stacey (not of Marblehead). I attribute the marriage to him because: 1) he was "of Marblehead;" 2) the couple settled in Marblehead where she died; and 3) they named their fourth child Agnes (his mother's name). He served one term as a Selectman in 1720-1721. After Tabitha's death he married a widow, Mary Linsey Houlton, in Salem. She died not long after, and he married a second widow, Abigail Bridgham Dixwell. He removed to Boston in 1728, the year after that marriage, and he died there.


• Benjamin Stacey and his wife, Martha Trevitt, had two children before he died at the age of 41. His widow became the second wife of Joseph Swett, Jr., and their daughter Martha married the Marblehead legend, Colonel Jeremiah Lee. Colonel Lee lost his life when he contracted pneumonia in a cold, wet corn field where he spent the night hiding from British soldiers on the night Paul Revere made his famous ride. Martha Swett's half sister, Ruth Swett, daughter of Swett's first wife, Ruth Parker, was the wife of another Marblehead legend Robert "King" Hooper. Both men lost their fortunes in the Revolution, but their mansions stand as historic landmarks in today's Marblehead. (Robert Swett Jr, and Ruth Parker were "cousins" of this family tree, one the son of Hannah Devereux Swett and the other the daughter of Susannah Hartshorne Parker whose first husband was our direct ancestor, John Devereux, the brother of Hannah.


• Miriam Stacey was our direct ancestor in this family, and married first our ancestor, John Gale, who came from a family of mariners and ship builders. John and Miriam Gale have their own family group page. His probate listed his profession as "cordwainer." They had eight children before he died, leaving her a widow who then married Ephraim Sandin and had ten more children. Miriam Gale's eldest son, John, was the father of Hannah Gale, who married Colonel (later General) General John Glover, who fought with General Washington in the Revolution. Hannah herself was the namesake of the Hannah, the first schooner outfitted for military duty. The Hannah's career was short and not particularly successful, but it earned her the reputation as the first vessel of the new country's military service.


• Grace Stacey and her husband Thomas Owen(s) had a daughter, Grace, but no other definitive records can be found for Thomas, Grace Stacey Owen or their daughter. There is a marriage record for Thomas Owens to Mary, the widow of James Dennis, but his probate offers no proof that this Thomas Owen, deceased husband of Mary, was the father of Grace. He was the father of an only son, John, at the time of his probate (mother unspecified).


• Sarah Stacey (misspelled in one oft-quoted record as "Glasey") married Eleazor Ingolls/Ingalls, whose great grandfather, Edmund, was one of the founders of Lynn. One of Edmund's descendants was Charles Ingalls, father of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Eleazor was described in his probate in one place as an "inn holder" and in another as a fisherman. It's quite possible he did both. His estate was deemed insolvent, and Sarah's brother, Ebenezer, joined her in the administration. Sarah married very soon after Robert Shaw, with whom she had two more children.


• Ebenezer Stacey had a long life, and outlived his wife, all but one of his siblings, and all but one of his several children. The one child who survived him was Mehitable, who married Major John Pedrick, another Marblehead legend. John Pedrick at the start of the Revolution owned some 25 vessels, but his fleet was mostly gone at the end of the war. John and Mehitable Pedrick were grandparents of Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story. Ebenezer wrote a will leaving legacies to: granddaughter, Elizabeth Proctor, daughter of Joseph Proctor Jr. and his deceased daughter Annis; his sister Sarah Shaw; to the use of the poor of the town of Marblehead; the pastorage of the church in Marblehead; his daughter, Mehitable Pedrick; his grandson Stephen, son of his deceased son, Stephen; his grandson, Edward Stacey, son of his deceased son Edward; his granddaughter, Lydia Stacey, daughter of his deceased son, Edward; his grandson, Ebenezer Stacey, son of his deceased son, Ambrose; grandson, John Stacey, son of his deceased son, William; grandson, Samuel Twisden, son of his deceased daughter, Lydia; Sarah Pedrick, daughter of his deceased son, Ambrose, and widow of Samuel Pedrick. John Pedrick was named as executor of his will, but died before the administration could be completed. Ebenezer was a merchant.

Articles about the "Marblehead legends" can be found on the Pedrick/Martin page. The John Pedrick page has a chart that shows the several Pedricks who were direct ancestors to Martha Harris Henderson. Our tangled Devereux roots can be found on the John Devereux page.

Proof of Relationship

The vital records, genealogical records, and wills are our best proof of relationship for our direct ancestors in this family.

What Else We Need to Learn

The goal of this project is to trace every line of ancestry to the arrival of its first immigrant to America. The basic information of each couple is considered complete when we know the dates of birth, marriage, and death for both spouses. their parents' names (or whether they were the immigrant), and the child or children in our ancestry line.

The research on this family is complete.