Mr. and Mrs. John Mushaway, Portsmouth, New Hampshire - Tombstone Tuesday

 This tombstone was photographed at the Old North Cemetery, Portsmouth, New Hampshire

In memory of

MR. JOHN MUSHAWAY

who departed this life

April 4th, 1826

aged 72. 

In memory of

Mrs. Mary Mushawy,

Consort of

Mr. John Mushaway,

who departed this life

July 13th, 1819

aged 67

Refrain my friends and cease to weep,

For I in Christ have fell a sleep

We photographed this tombstone because of the unusual surname MUSHAWAY.  While doing some research on the family I found that the name was spelled many ways in the Portsmouth records - Masseure, Massuerre, Masoury, Masury, Massua, etc.  Perhaps it was a Huguenot family? 

John Mushaway (Jean Francois Masoury Giron?) was born about 1754.  He married Mary Libbey on 30 March 1774 in Greenland, New Hampshire.  Mary Libbey was the daughter of Theodore Libby and Deborah Shackford.  She was first married to Samuel Lamson, Jr. 

John Mushaway is listed as a mariner, boatswain, and as a pilot in several records. He was recorded on a list of Naval pensions on January 1st, 1820 with a monthly pension of $10.  There is a Peter Mushaway in the records, who married Sarah Loud before 1754 in Portsmouth (brother? cousin?) 

John and Mary Mushaway had one son and one daughter:  

1. John Francis Mushaway, born about 1776 in Portsmouth, died 8 May 1859 in Boston, and married to Susan Draper. They had three children: George, Lucy Ann and Caroline. 

2. Rebecca, born 23 March 1785 in Portsmouth, married first to William Leighton and second to Samuel P. Hutchings.  

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Mr. and Mrs. John Mushaway, Portsmouth, New Hampshire - Tombstone Tuesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 6, 2022, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2022/09/mr-and-mrs-john-mushaway-portsmouth-new.html: accessed [access date]).