Elizabeth Dunster

Not the wife of Maj. Simon Willard

She was the sister of the president of Harvard College, President Henry Dunster.

Elizabeth, bapt. Apr. 26, 1619; She proved her father's will on 14 Dec 1646 at Chester in England together with her sister Alice. Although she could have emigrated to New England after 1646, presently there is no source to support her acutual emmigration or immigration. It could just be a mix up with her cousin Elizabeth Dunster who certainly emigrated to New England.
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No Elizabeth Dunster marriage; no third marriage. Anderson (2011) argues against the several secondary sources claiming Simon had three wives. He further argues against a wife Elizabeth Dunster, saying there is absolutely no documentation to support such a wife.[32]

References

• http://pharmacy.isu.edu/~cady/genealogy/PS07/PS07_235.HTM
• Waters, H. F. (Henry Fitz-Gilbert)., New England Historic Genealogical Society. The New England historical and genealogical register. [Boston, etc.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, etc.]. Page 187. Hathitrust
• Elizabeth, according to several Willard family historians, was a daughter of President Henry Dunster of Harvard College.
• Elizabeth was Simon's second wife. His first wife was supposedly a woman named Mary Sharpe (daughter of Henry Sharpe and Jane Feylde). They got married while they were in England. Mary was the mother of at least one child with Henry before they came to America, and several children with Henry after they arrived. (See page 4 of the History of Charlestown, NH - Fort No. 4).
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Willard-10
  • Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume VII, T-Y (2011), 413-427 in particular, 426; database and digital images by subscription, < AmericanAncestors >
• Disproved:

“ ix. Elizabeth, bapt. Apr. 26, 1619; came to New England between 1647 and 1651; m. in 1651, as his second wife, Maj. Simon Willard of Concord, Mass., and died, without issue, about sis mouths after her marriage. Maj. Simon Willard by his first wife, Mary Sliarpe (whom he married in England about 1631), had nine chil dren, the last, Simon, b. Nov. 23, 1649, soon after which time she died.”