Staggs Family History

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    Elizabeth Ring (1652-1691)

    BIRTH: 19 APR 1652 • Plymouth County, Massachusetts, USA
    DEATH: 14 DEC 1691 • Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA
    FATHER: Andrew Ring (1616-1693)
    MOTHER: Deborah Hopkins (1626-1669)
    SPOUSE: William Mayo (1654-1691)

    When Elizabeth Ring was born on April 19, 1652, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, her father, Andrew, was 36, and her mother, Deborah, was 26. She had one son and four daughters with William Mayo between 1678 and 1691. She died on December 14, 1691, in Eastham, Massachusetts, at the age of 39.

    Her story

    Born on April 19, 1652, in Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Elizabeth Ring was the daughter of Andrew Ring and Deborah Hopkins. Through her mother, she was the granddaughter of Stephen Hopkins, one of the original passengers of the Mayflower and a signer of the Mayflower Compact. This lineage placed Elizabeth among the earliest native-born descendants of the Pilgrims—a generation tasked with transforming survival into settlement.

    Elizabeth grew up in a household shaped by civic duty and religious conviction. Her father, Andrew Ring, served in various public roles in Plymouth, and her grandfather Hopkins had been a vocal and sometimes controversial figure in the colony. The Ring and Hopkins families were well established, and Elizabeth’s upbringing would have reflected both privilege and responsibility within the tightly knit colonial community.

    Around 1672, Elizabeth married William Mayo, in Eastham. They settled in Eastham, a coastal town on Cape Cod, where they raised a large family. Their children included Thankful Mayo (1678–1739), who married Samuel Higgins and became the mother of William Higgins (b. 1719), Hannah Mayo, Mercy Mayo, Deborah Mayo, and John Mayo.

    Elizabeth’s role as a mother and matriarch would have been central to the household. She lived through the aftermath of King Philip’s War, a devastating conflict that reshaped colonial relations with Indigenous peoples, and through the early stirrings of dissent that would later lead to revolution. Her children married into other colonial families, extending the Ring and Mayo legacies across southeastern Massachusetts.

    She died before December 14, 1691, in Eastham, at the age of 39. Her death came shortly after the birth of her youngest child, suggesting possible complications from childbirth—a common fate for colonial women. Though her burial site is not definitively known, her life is preserved in town records and genealogical memory.

    Elizabeth Ring Mayo’s story is one of generational continuity—bridging the Pilgrim experience with the expanding communities of colonial Massachusetts. Her descendants carried forward the Hopkins legacy, quietly shaping the fabric of New England life.

    Legacy of Elizabeth Ring

    Parents

    Father: Andrew Ring (1616-1693)

    Mother: Deborah Hopkins (1626-1669)

    Married

    Married William Mayo (1654-1691) in 1677 in Eastham, Massachusetts

    Children

    • Thankful Mayo (1678-1739)
    • Mercy Mayo (1682-?)
    • Hannah Mayo (1682-?)
    • Deborah Mayo (1690-1718)
    • John Mayo (1691-1718)

    Documents

    • Birth Records
    • Marriage records
      • New England Marriages Prior to 1700 Name: Elizabeth Mayo; Maiden Name: Ring; Gender: Female; Birth Year: 1652; Marriage Place: New England, USA; Death Year: About 1691; Spouse: William Mayo
      • U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900; Name: Elizabeth Ring; Gender: Female; Birth Place: MA; Birth Year: 1652; Spouse Name: William Mayo; Spouse Birth Year: 1654; Marriage Year: 1677; Number Pages: 1
    • Death records
    • Other Records
      • Mayflower Births and Deaths, Vol. 1 and 2 > Volume 2 > Children of William Mayo and Elizabeth Ring
      • American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI) > Name: Elizabeth Mayo; Birth Date: 1652; Birth Place: Massachusetts, USA; Volume: 112; Page number: 454; Reference: Gen. Column of the “Boston Transcript”. 1906-1941. ( the Greatest Single Source of Material For Gen. Data For the N.E. Area and For the Period 1600-1800.

    Relation of Elizabeth Ring to Steven Barry Staggs: 9th great-grandmother

    Page last updated November 7, 2025

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