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52 Ancestors: Week 19, Peter and Susannah (Sole) Oliver

Orginal post: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Peter Oliver was born before 1678 and died in Rochester, Plymouth County, Massachusetts 5 April 1717.1 He married in Rochester 3 February 1704, Susannah Sole.2 She died in Rochester 24 October 1733. She married second between 30 April 1719 and 4 March 1729, Joseph Lisbe. He died in Rochester 9 April 1740. He married second (intention in Rochester 1736), Ruth Haskins.3,4

Ruth Wilder Sherman speculated in The American Genealogist that he may be Peter Oliver, son Peter and Sarah (Newgate) Oliver, born in Boston 3 March 1654[/5].3 However, more recently, the Early New England Families Study Project has suggested that this Peter died by 20 August 1685 when he was not listed amongst his father's heirs in the settlement of his estate.5

Susannah, meanwhile, was claimed to be the daughter of Nathaniel Soule in Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, but Sherman and renowned genealogist Robert Charles Anderson found nothing to substantiate this claim upon further inspection of the primary sources. Sherman previously suggested that Susannah may have been the widow of George Soule but could not confirm this.4

Peter Oliver "late of Dartmouth" first appears 3 September 1699 when he purchased land in Rochester although the deed was not recorded until 1714.3,6 On 26 September 1707, he purchased 6 acres of meadow in Rochester from Ichabod Burge.4,7

On 9 July 1718, his widow Susannah was granted letters of administration for his estate.8 She, as administratrix, sold 30 acres of Peter's land to John West on 4 March 1729.4 It is by this point that she was married to Joseph Lisbe. She had no children in this second marriage, but Joseph Lisbe gave land to his step-grandchildren (sons of Joseph Oliver) 4 days prior to his death on 4 April 1740.3

Child of Peter and Susannah (Soule) Oliver, born in Rochester:

  1. Joseph Oliver, born 12 December 1706.9

  1. "Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988," database and images, Ancestry, Rochester > Town Records, with Births, Marriages, and Deaths > image 736.↩

  2. Vital Records of Rochester, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850, 2 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1914), vol. 2, Marriages and Deaths, p. 229; digital images, American Ancestors. Also available at FamilySearch, DGS 7578875 > image 294.↩

  3. Ruth Wilder Sherman, "Susanna (Sole) (Oliver) Lisbe," The American Genealogist 56 (1980): 83-85; digital images, American Ancestors.↩

  4. Robert Charles Anderson and Ruth Wilder Sherman, "The Mythical Daughters of Nathaniel Soule," The American Genealogist 57 (1981): 200-201; digital images, American Ancestors.↩

  5. Alicia Crane Williams, lead genealogist, Early New England Families, 1641-1700 (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2013), vol. 1, Peter Oliver, p. 6; digital images, American Ancestors.↩

  6. Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Deed Record 10:636-638; digital images, FamilySearch, DGS 7450641 > images 340-341.↩

  7. Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Deed Record 9:251-252; digital images, FamilySearch, DGS 7450642 > images 144-145.↩

  8. Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Probate Records 4:106-107; digital images, FamilySearch, DGS 7051009 > image 74.↩

  9. Vital Records of Rochester, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850, 2 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1914), vol. 1, Births, p. 227; digital images, American Ancestors. Also available at FamilySearch, DGS 7578875 > image 120.↩