Mary. D. Hudson is my toughest brick wall. She is my Great, Great Grandmother on my mother’s paternal side. Verbal history tells us that she was orphaned in the Great Boston Fire and then raised by family. All research has failed to prove this. Questions remain; if she didn’t know her parents as all her documents state, then where did she get her last name? If family raised her, wouldn’t they have known her parents’ names? All census, marriage, and death records state Mary’s parents as unknown yet Mary states that she was born in Boston. How does she know where she was born if she doesn’t know anything about her parents? And if family raised her, why did her children never meet them or hear stories about them? Why did Mary have so little information on herself? We are left to conclude and the only thing that makes sense is that the story she told of being orphaned in the fire was not the real or entire story or that she knew no story. At this point, I am left with little with which to work. But I still have a few pieces of information to research.
Verbal History also tells us that….
- the “D” as her middle initial stands for Delano.
- The Vinal Family of Scituate raised her as a young girl and then she went onto the White Family in Abington. Her marriage certificate does state she lived in Abington at the time. Each rumored to be relatives.
- No extended family were ever mentioned or visited.
Documentation shows us that….
- Mary’s marriage certificate is the first place she shows up in records.
- Every document lists her parents as “unknown”.
- She consistently lists her birth place as Boston.
Things to consider….
- Her children have middle names that are actually used as last names; Cushing, Osgood, and Vinal. Rumor states she was raised for a time by a Vinal family, do we conclude she also spent time with Osgoods and Cushings? And do the middle names; Ellen, May and Jeanette have specific meanings?
(Below is coming a list of documents that we have collected to share.)