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Writer's pictureMelissa Davenport Berry

A Mystery Kidnapping of Mary Lennon


Bessie Wilson Hart born 1869 in Cambridge, MA, daughter of Matthew Wilson and Mary (Lennon) Wilson. She married George Albert Hart February 6, 1895 in Ipswich, MA The family lived in Essex where the children were born. George inherited the Hart Homestead in approx 1917 in Lynnfield and went there on weekends. Bessie moved to the Hart Farm House at Lynnfield, MA when George died in 1938, Bessie was the last Hart to live in the house. In 1947, it was sold outside the family after 10 generations. Bessie died Feb. 22, 1951. Childen of Bessie Wilson & George A. Hart: Robert M. 1895-1896, Grace Manning 18897-1969, Dorothy Endicott 1900-1993, Mary Lois 1908-1978


Below is part of a letter written in 1960 by Mary Lois Hart Pletsch---

Excerpt from a letter written 1960-

In talking about her Grandmother Mary E Lennon Wilson (b. 1838-d 1884) Parents Timothy and Jane Lennon

Mary Lennon was kidnapped. Her father was a landowner, it sounded very feudal as mother (Bessie W. Hart) told it. She came from Wales. Her older sister had somehow met up and married a man who was a Professional Gambler and plied his trade on boats which crossed the Atlantic. Perhaps he thought he had a good thing when he married the daughter of a wealthy landowner, but the father (our great grandfather) disowned the daughter (I never heard her name or if I did I have forgotten it). At any rate they came to this country (USA). The gambler’s name, as I remember it was Jim Nolan. At any rate mother’s sister was sad and lonely-disowned etc. in a strange land – the wife of a man who apparently spent his life seeking his fortune and was never at home. So- on one of his many trips Jim Nolan made it a point to waylay her younger sister (Mary). She was on her pony either going to or coming home from school. He met her and thus asked her if she wanted to see her sister. Of course she did-so he told her to come on board a certain ship with him and she would see her sister.-Then the boat sailed-it took weeks. There was an old man on board who teased Mary Lennon and told her a big fish would leap out of the ocean sometime and snatch her out of the boat. This old man had a long white beard, and really frightened Mary. But she was determined to get even with him. So one day when he was asleep on the deck of the ship she quietly cut off his beard. Oh Mary Lannen! For some time she lived with her sister. What happened I don’t remember. Probably Jim Nolan tired of a homesick wife-or perhaps he was killed in a game of cards- or perhaps Mary had to get work to support herself, and that is how she came to work at the employment agency. I don’t think she ever owned it. For a while she tried working as a domestic-but it was a miserable life for her-and the lady who ran the agency took her in as an assistant. That is where Matthew Wilson found her.


Hart Family Line:

Elizabeth Hart Marlowe Wood and Henry Wood Jr.

Grace M Hart Marlowe 1897-1969 and William J Marlowe

George Albert Hart 1864-1938 and Bessie M Wilson

Henry Jackson Hart 1833-1891 and Lois Augusta Shute

Joseph Hart Jr.1799-1882 and Harriet Davis Clark

Joseph Hart 1774-1830 and Elizabeth Tapley

John Hart 1733-1811and Lydia Curtis

John Hart 1703-1777 and Mehitable Endicott

Samuel Hart 1656-1730 and Sarah Endicott

Isaac Hart 1614-1699 and Elizabeth Hutchinson 1622-1700

Thomas Hart 1592-1662 and Alice Waters

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