Mary Polly Sudbury

Notes:

_______________________________________________________________________
From the Valdo James Smith Research document, The Sudburys of Virginia and Tennessee.

MARY POLLY SUDBURY is known to us today through the record of her marriage,
set forth in Marriages of Williamson County, Tennessee 1804-1850, by Edythe Rucker
Whitley. Whitley indicates that Mary and RUFFIN BROWN were married on August
17, 1837, by Gilbert Marshall, Justice of the Peace. No bondsman is listed.

Mary's presence in Williamson County at the time when the families of Shadrack
(entry 161), Ezekiel (entry 162) and the late William D. Sudbury (entry 163) were
entrenched in that area strongly suggests a family connection. However, she is not the
daughter of either Shadrack or Ezekiel, and is probably too old to be the daughter of
William D. (although that remains an outside possibility, if he had an earlier marriage).
Nor does she seem to be the daughter of William W. Sudbury (entry 144), who was
living in nearby Rutherford County in 1840. William W. had a daughter by the name
of Mary E. Sudbury (entry 1443), who married William T. Sudbury (entry 1623) in
1840.

A key link to the three brothers, Shadrack, Ezekiel and William D., is supplied by the
record of William D. 's estate sale, discussed in greater detail under entry 163 above.
Scrutiny of that document reveals that one of the purchasers at the sale, held on
February 27, 1836, was Ruffin Brown, who became Mary's husband the following
year. He bought a plow and another unidentified item. Williamson County census
records from 1830 also show Ruffin Brown living on a parcel of land in very close
proximity to both Shadrack and William D. Sudbury.

Two other census records are worth considering in this context. We know that Frances
Dunnavant Sudbury, mother of Shadrack, Ezekiel and William D., had three daughters
listed in her entry under the 1810 Virginia census. We also know in the Virginia
census of 1820, two "free white females" between the ages of 16 and 26 were living
with Frances. Was Mary one of Frances's three daughters? Given the other connecting information, it seems very likely to the author of this history that Mary was
indeed a daughter of Frances, and that she migrated with one or more of her three older
brothers to Tennessee sometime around 1830.

There is a lot of uncertainty about Mary's life following her marriage to Ruffin Brown.
We know from 1820 and 1830 census records for Williamson County that Ruffin was
considerably older than Mary, and had a prior marriage. The fact that he does not
appear in the Tennessee census records for 1840, and that Mary seemingly appears in
the 1840 census for Williamson County under the name Mary Brown, as head of
household, strongly suggests that Ruffin was by that time deceased.

The 1840 census entry for Mary Brown lists two women aged 40-50 and one girl aged
10-15. What appears to be the same Mary Brown is also listed in the 1850 Tennessee
census. The 1850 entry gives her age as 49 (the census survey was probably taken a
little early) and her place of birth as Virginia. Listed with her are a young woman,
Rebecca Brown, age 19 (probably the girl from the 1840 census), and a boy, Isaac
Brown, age 7.

The identity of these two young people is problematic. If this Mary Brown is the one
that married Ruffin Brown, then Rebecca predates that marriage, and Isaac postdates
Ruffin's apparent decease before 1840. Rebecca could be Ruffin's daughter from his
first marriage, but what about Isaac? One or both may have been Ruffin's grand-
children, since he had a son born 1804-1810 who would have been old enough to sire
them. Further research is warranted in this regard.

A final note on Mary's middle name. Glenn Boyd writes that the "P" stands for
"Polly", although the original source of this information remains unknown to the
author of this history.
_______________________________________________________________________

Mary married Ruffin Brown on 17 Aug 1837. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]