Dorothy Wheatley

Dorothy Wheatley, baptized 22 August 1591 at Maiden Newton, Dorsetshire, England, was the first wife of Thomas Bliss. They married at Daventry, Northamptonshire, on 22 November 1614. A Daventry parish record notes the burial of “Dorothy Blisse” on 10 May 1631; although it does not identify her as Thomas Bliss’s wife, this record is presented in the supplied material as the likely burial of Dorothy Wheatley Bliss. She is identified as Barbara’s 11th great-grandmother through her daughter Martha Bliss.

Dorothy Wheatley was baptized on 22 August 1591 at Maiden Newton, Dorsetshire, England. The supplied notes identify her parents as Frank Wheatley and Mary Fiennes, of Tingsboro, Somerset, England.

On 22 November 1614, Dorothy married Thomas Bliss at Daventry, Northamptonshire, England. Their children are reported in the supplied material to have included Elizabeth, Mary, Martha, Jonathan, and others. Parish baptism entries cited in the notes place several of the family’s early years at Daventry. Their daughter Martha Bliss, baptized 8 December 1622 according to the notes, later married Nicholas Ide at Rehoboth on 16 May 1647.

The register of Holy Cross Church at Daventry records the burial of a Dorothy Blisse on 10 May 1631. The entry does not identify her as the wife of Thomas Bliss, so the identification of this burial with Dorothy Wheatley Bliss should be treated as probable rather than certain. The supplied material also contains an alternative claim that Dorothy died in 1646 at Rehoboth, Massachusetts, but this conflicts with the 1631 Daventry burial record.

Dorothy is the ancestor in Barbara’s family line through her daughter Martha Bliss and Martha’s descendants, including the Ide, Braley, Tuthill, Fox, and Sherrell families.

Historical context

The supplied notes state that Thomas Bliss was churchwarden at Holy Cross, Daventry, in 1631. They also report that he later emigrated with children by Dorothy and became associated with Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Thomas Bliss’s later family circumstances, including a reported second marriage, are discussed in the notes but are not established as part of Dorothy’s own life.

Sources & research

Original Family Tree Maker notes, “About Dorothy Bliss.”
Miner Descent, as quoted in the supplied notes.
Holy Cross Church, Daventry, parish register: burial of Dorothy Blisse, 10 May 1631, as quoted in the supplied notes.
Torrey’s New England Marriages: Thomas Bliss (-1647), first wife Dorothy Wheatly, married 22 November 1614 at Daventry, England; cited in supplied notes.
Anderson’s The Great Migration Directory: entries for two men named Thomas Bliss; cited in supplied notes.
New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 151:31–37, cited in supplied notes.
The American Genealogist, 59:25–27; 52:193–97; and 60:202, cited in supplied notes.
Aaron Tyler Bliss, Genealogy of the Family in America, cited in supplied notes.
Pope’s Pioneers of Massachusetts, entry for Thomas Bliss of Rehoboth, cited in supplied notes.
Find A Grave Memorial, updated through daughter Martha Ide (born Bliss), SmartCopy, 11 March 2015, as cited in supplied notes.
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/t/h/o/Jr-Thompson/WEBSIT...
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~teking/sacket_spo...