The RAINSFORD Family of Boston, Suffolk, MA

• EDWARD RAINSFORD of Boston is the father of
• MARY RAINSFORD (b. 1632), wife of William Bassett 2

EDWARD RAINSFORD of Boston

Parents:

Edward's first wife died in (4) 1632 in Boston [Ref], apparently in childbirth. He married second Elizabeth Unknown.

Edward's ancestry is known from a letter written by John Hull, a member of the Third Church in Boston, in England dated Mar 1676. In this letter John Hull mentions "Judge Rainsford, brother to him of Boston". The parish registers of Staverton, Northamptonshire show that Judge Richard Rainsford has a brother of the appropriate age baptised there. [Ref]

Mahler [Ref] reports that a Jan 1637/8 note in the Winthrop papers mentions Edward's "loving master Mr. Owen Roe and the sign of the Three Golden Keys in Cheape Syde" in London. Mahler reviewed the records of the Haberdashers Company of London and came across a record of Edward Rainsford's apprenticship to Owen Roe in Jun 1626. Mahler goes to to explain that this provides a reason for Edward's emigration. Owen Rowe was a Puritan who was interested in the colonisation of Massachusetts, although he never emigrated himself. He served in the Parliamentary forces in the English Civil War and signed the death warrant for King Charles I, and act for which he was later imprisoned.

An Edward Rainsford is on a 17 Jun 1635 list of passengers to be transported to New England on the Abigail, he gave his age as 26. [Ref] He is on the 17 Apr 1637 list of freemen. [Ref]

Children of Edward Rainsford and Unknown:

1. Mary Rainsford was born 1 (4) 1632 in Boston. She married William Bassett 2.
2. Joshua Rainsford was born 1 (4) 1632 in Boston. [Ref] He died in (7) 1632 in Boston.

Children of Edward Rainsford and Elizabeth Unknown:

1. John Rainsford was born on 30 (4) 1634 in Boston. [Ref]
2. Jonathan Rainsford was born in (8) 1634 in Boston. [Ref] He married Mary, the daughter of John Sunderland of Boston, on 29 (9) 1656 in Boston. [Ref]
3. Ranis Rainsford was born on 4 (4) 1638 in Boston. [Ref]
4. Nathan Rainsford was born in (6) 1641 in Boston. [Ref] On 21 Nov 1665, Nathan, aged about 26, deposed that he was in Barbadoes visiting Peter Hubbard, when he heard Peter, who was ill, write his will. [Ref]
5. David Rainsford was born in (7) 1644 in Boston. [Ref]
6. Anna Rainsford was born on 1 (12) 1651 in Boston. [Ref]

MARY RAINSFORD (b. 1632)

Parents: Edward Rainsford

Mary Rainsford was born 1 (4) 1632 in Boston. [Ref] She died after 9 Aug 1670 when she (Mis. Mary Bassett) took on oath on the inventory of her husband's estate. [Ref] She married William Bassett 2 by about 1652. [Ref]

Maher, Leslie, "The London Apprenticeship of Edward Rainsford of Boston, Massachusetts," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 161, 2007, 260.