Staggs Family History

My ancestors in the United States

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      Martha (1588-1638)

      BIRTH: 15881, England
      DEATH: 1638, At Sea
      FATHER: Unknown
      MOTHER: Unknown
      SPOUSE: John Keen (1578–1649)

      Martha was born in 1588 in England. She had three sons and three daughters with John Keen. She died at sea enroute to America in 1638.

      The life of Martha

      A Life Carried Across the Sea

      In the last decades of the sixteenth century, when England’s towns were crowded with merchants, craftsmen, and families seeking stability in a changing world, Martha was born—likely around 1588, based on her age recorded on the Confidence passenger list. Her maiden name is lost to time, but her presence in the historical record is unmistakable: she was the wife of John Keen, a mariner and innholder of London Bridge, and the mother of the children who would carry the Keen name into New England.

      Little is known of Martha’s early life, but the world she inhabited can be imagined. London Bridge was a place of constant motion—shops built directly atop the bridge, narrow living quarters above them, the Thames flowing beneath with its ceaseless traffic of barges and ferries. It was here, amid the noise of trade and the rhythms of river life, that Martha built her household with John. Their children were born in the years when England’s population was growing, its religious tensions rising, and its colonial ambitions expanding across the Atlantic.

      By the 1620s and 1630s, Martha was raising a family of at least six children. Four of them—Elizabeth, Martha, Josias, and Sarah—were still young enough to travel with their parents when John made the momentous decision to leave England. Two older sons remained behind, their names preserved only in family tradition. The Keens were not wealthy, but they were part of the working world of London, and the promise of land, stability, and opportunity in New England must have seemed worth the risk.

      In April 1638, Martha boarded the ship Confidence at Southampton with her husband and four children. The passenger list recorded her simply: “Martha Keene, age 50.”

      It is the only surviving document that gives her age. The voyage was long and difficult, typical of Atlantic crossings in the seventeenth century—crowded quarters, unpredictable weather, and the constant threat of illness. For Martha, the journey proved fatal. Sometime during the crossing, she died at sea, leaving her husband and children to complete the voyage without her.

      Her death was one of many tragedies that marked the early years of English migration to New England. Ships carried hope, but they also carried loss. For John, arriving in Boston as a widower with four young children must have been a heavy burden. For the children, the loss of their mother during the crossing would shape the rest of their lives.

      Martha never saw the shores of New England. She never walked the streets of Boston, nor the fields of Hingham or Marshfield where her family would later settle. Her life ended between worlds—leaving England behind, but never reaching the new one ahead.

      Yet her presence endured. Her children grew, married, and established families that became part of the fabric of Plymouth Colony. Her son Josiah Keen (1620–1710) became the patriarch of the Duxbury and Pembroke Keen families, marrying into the Little, Warren, and Dingley families. Through him, Martha’s descendants would number in the thousands.

      The following is an excerpt from Staggs Genealogy – Harold Wareham Staggs – His Book

      Grandfather Josia Keen was born (1620) in London on London Bridge which, at that time, was lined on both sides with shops with living quarters above them. He, his father John (1578), mother Martha, one brother and three sisters came to America on the “Confidence” in 1638, eighteen years after the Mayflower. His mother died during the voyage. They finally settled in Boston.

      The following is an excerpt from The John Keen(e) (1578-1649) and Associated Families, by Mr. and Mrs. Archie Timothy Keene, 1971

      John Keen, immigrant, Mariner and inn Holder, settled in Hingham, earliest name recorded in America, was born in England in 1578, died 1649, wife Martha 1578-1638. They came to America with five children in 1638, aboard the “Confidence” on which Martha died in 1638. Were the parents of Josiah, Elizabeth, Martha, John and Sarah.

      Legacy of Martha

      Martha Keen’s legacy is carried not through records of her own life—few survive—but through the lives of her children and the generations that followed. Her son Josiah became a central figure in the early history of Duxbury and Marshfield, linking the Keen family to the Mayflower through his marriage to Abigail Little, granddaughter of Richard Warren. Her daughters Elizabeth, Martha, and Sarah appear in the early records of Plymouth Colony, their names preserved in passenger lists, marriage records, and town histories.

      Though Martha died before reaching New England, her decision to leave England with her family shaped the course of the Keen line. Her descendants became farmers, soldiers, town officers, and community leaders across Massachusetts and beyond. The Keen name appears in church records, land deeds, probate files, and family Bibles—each one a quiet testament to the woman who began the journey but did not live to see its end.

      Martha’s story is a reminder that many of the women who helped build early New England are known only through the traces they left in the lives of others. Her legacy endures in the families she helped create, the courage she carried across the Atlantic, and the generations who followed in the world she never reached but helped make possible.

      Parents

      FATHER: Unknown
      MOTHER: Unknown

      Married

      John Keen (1578–1649)

      Children

      • John Keen (?–?)
      • Son, unknown name (?–?)
      • Josiah Keen (1620–1710) married Abigail Little (1634–1657)
      • Elizabeth Keen (1625–?)
      • Martha Keen (1627–?)
      • Sarah Keen (1631–1669) married Joseph Woodworth

      Documents

      Footnote

      1. The Confidence passenger list of 1638 records Martha Keen as age 50, placing her birth about 1588. No English parish record has been found for her, and the commonly repeated birth year of 1578 is an editorial assumption based on her husband’s birth year rather than a documented fact.

      Relation of Martha —- to Steven Barry Staggs: 10th great-grandmother

      Page last updated June 30, 2026

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