Mary Hight came from a well-to-do family in Berwick. She lost her husband John after only a few years of marriage, leaving her with an infant son. She soon married Dr. Ivory Hovey, a prospering, well thought of the man in the community, indicating that she must have been a desirable wife. According to the Hoyt Family Genealogy, she and Dr. Hovey had a son on October 7, 1770, whom they named Ivory, after his father. When she died a month later, at the young age of twenty-five, her sister Frances married Dr. Hovey. Frances was just twenty-three. Dr. Hovey was a surgeon during the Revolutionary War and prospered afterward (New England Ancestors, Summer, 2004).
At Frances’ death in 1816, the doctor has married again, to a woman from Newburyport, Massachusetts. Folklore claims that the ghosts of Ivory’s first two wives, Mary and Frances, ruthlessly haunted his third wife. Maine author Sarah Orne Jewett wrote about Ivory in the fictional short story “River Driftwood” from Country Byways. She told of the handsome, generous physician who lived in grand style and hinted at the rumors that his first wife was murdered and his last wife haunted by both poverty and ghosts. (New England Ancestors, Summer, 2004).
Birth: Jul. 18, 1745 Berwick York County Maine, USA Death: Nov. 7, 1770, South Berwick York County Maine, USA
Mary Elizabeth Hight married first John Lord, III on June 26, 1766, in York County, Maine, the minister receiving ten guineas and two pairs of silk gloves.
John Lord was born September 20, 1744, and died December 10, 1768. The location of his grave site had not been determined as of the date of this writing.
She had one son by John Lord – George Lord born April 11, 1767, in Berwick, York, Maine. The location of his grave site had not been determined as of the date of this writing.
She married second Ivory Hovey in 1769. She had a son by Ivory Hovey, also named Ivory, who was born October 7, 1770.
She died October 30, 1770, and was the younger sister of Frances “Fanny” Hight Hovey.
Her death one month after the birth of her son Ivory, presumably from complications of childbirth, but who knows?
The location of Ivory’s gravesite had not been determined as of the date of this writing.
Family links:
Parents: William Hight (1707 – 1782) Elizabeth Walton Hight (1713 – 1776) Spouse: Ivory Hovey (1748 – 1818)* Siblings: Jane Hight Lord (1735 – 1822)* Mary Hight Hovey (1745 – 1770) Frances Hight Hovey (1747 – 1816)*
*Calculated relationship Inscription:
In memory of Mrs. Mary Hovey consort of Doc’tr Ivory Hovey Daur of Mr. William & Mrs. Elizabeth Hight Who died Novr 7, 1770 AE 25.
Blessed are the dead who die in ye Lord For they rest from their labor & their works follow them. Note Slatestone; epitaph difficult to read from the photo posted to the memorial. Burial: Old Fields Cemetery South Berwick York County Maine, USA Maintained by Charlie Morgan Originally Created by Michael Harrington Record added: Mar 22, 2010, Find A Grave Memorial# 50045797
She is my 8th Great Aunt, her sister my 8th great grandmother,
Jane Hight, Lord
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