The Marriage of Two Orphans
Posted 23 Jan 2010 by octoberchild43
chamberlin146 originally shared this on 24 May 2008

1676-1688
Hadley, MA, USA
Joseph Chamberlin and Mercy Dickinson both are orphaned as teenagers while they are residing in Hadley, MA.

chamberlin146 originally shared this on 24 May 2008 

Mercy Dickinson’s father Sergeant John Dickinson and her uncle Samuel Gillett are killed in the Indian attack on 19 May, 1676. Please note, one month before his death John Dickinson serves with Joseph Chamberlin under Captain Turner.   
 

Mercy Dickinson’s uncles, Joseph Dickinson and Azariah Dickinson are also killed by Indians and are immortalized on a tablet on display in the Hadley Historic Society in Hadley, Massachusetts.  “Joseph Dickinson is killed in an Indian attack on Northfield on 5 September 1675 and Azariah is killed in a skirmish with the Indians near Deerfield prior to the Captain Beers massacre. “ Another source states that Azariah was killed in the Swamp Fight of August 25, 1675.
 

Mercy Dickinson’s mother, Frances Foote Dickinson dies two years after her husband, in 1678/79, leaving Mercy an orphan at age 13. Joseph Chamberlin is also an orphan by the same age, both of his parents having died by this time in Hull, MA. William Chamberlin, (Joseph’s father), dies of smallpox in 1678/79 and his wife, name unknown, predeceases him, cause of death unknown, based on the assumption that she is not named in her husband’s Last Will and Testament. 
 

According to the Vital Records of Hadley, On June 8, 1688, orphan Joseph Chamberlin (age 23) marries orphan Mercy Dickinson (age 22). At the time of their marriage no parent or grandparent remains in life and therefore none attend their marriage ceremony.