Mary was born in Somers Point, New Jersey. Her parents were James and Lettice Somers. James was married three times, and in all there were 11 children. Two of her siblings (Constantine Somers and Harriet (Somers) Lake) wrote "A Short History of the Somers Family----who first settled on Somers Point". On page 3 it references their father James who resided on Hickory Point, one mile west of the brick mansion. He left four sons and seven daughters. He died October 12,1850, aged nearly ninety years. His children were Joseph; Mark; David; Constantine, Susanna Somers, Judith Garwood; Hannah S. Davis; Mary Spain, Deborah Somers, Arabella S. Doughty, and Harriet S. Lake. Mary married Richard Reynolds Spain (1798-1852), lived many years in Philadelphia and raised several children, including Edward Livingston Spain. After Mary's husband died, Mary returned to the Jersey Shore, Great Egg Harbor, Somers Point, and lived there for 30 years. She died of "induration of the pylorus" and was attended by a relative Dr. Job Somers. She was then taken back to Philadelphia where she was buried alongside her husband, her son Benjamin (and in 1898 a daughter Sarah H. Spain) at the now defunct Oddfellows Cemetery in northern Philadelphia. Their bodies were removed to Lawnview Cemetery when a low-income housing project was built over the graveyard in 1951. Mary certainly had an interesting life, being raised in the beautiful, rural area near the Jersey shore and then living for many years in the burgeoning, fast-paced metropolis of Philadelphia.


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The Somer's Family Lineage:
(Taken from The Daily Union History of Atlantic City and County New Jersey, By John F Hall, Copyrighted 1899, Published 1900.)


Mary's Great2Grandfather:
John Somers was born in Worcester, England in 1640 and died in 1723. His first wife died in 1681, while crossing the ocean to this country and was buried at sea. His second wife Hannah Hodgkins, Born 1667, Died 1738 came from Worcester England. He was a Quaker and settled at Upper Dublin PA., moving soon after to the Egg Harbor region. The records show that on November 30, 1695 he purchased of Thomas Budd 3,000 acres of land for 240 Pounds. He was appointed supervisor of roads at the first court held at Portsmouth in Cape May County, Mar. 20, 1693.
His grave may still be seen in the old Somers burying ground in the pines near the point where many of his descendants have been buried.

By his second wife he had nine children

* Richard, Born March 1693, Died November 27, 1760
Married, Judith Letart, Born 1712, Died 1763

James, Born July 15, 1695, Married Abigail, Born July 21, 1695

Samuel

Job

Isaac

Edmund, Married, Jan. 2, 1704, Mary Stelman

Bridget

Hannah

Millicent, Born Oct. 7, 1685, Married June 16, 1704, Richard Townsend of Cape May

Mary's Great-Grandfather:
*Richard, Married Judith daughter of Sir James Letart, of Arcadia N.S.. He burned the brick and built at Somers Point the old Somers Mansion which is still standing. They had ten children

Francis

James, Born July 2, 1739

* John, Born Oct. 14, 1727, Died Aug. 27, 1799

Col. Richard, Born Nov. 24, 1737

Edmund, Born May 20, 1745, Lost at sea

Joseph, Lost at sea

Judith S, Born April 5, 1743, Married ______ Risley

Sarah S, Born July 21, 1729, Married Fred Steelman

Elizabeth S, Born April 5, 1733, Married ______ Paul

Hannah, Born Dec. 23, 1735, Married Peter Andrews

Mary's Grandfather:
* John, Born Oct. 14, 1727, Died Aug. 27, 1799, married for his second wife Hannah Spicer Ludlam, Born Sept. 3, 1735, Died Nov. 11, 1800. John occupied the old brick mansion at Somers Point and owned with Col. Richard, the Point property and Pecks Beach where Ocean City now stands. He was the father of ten children.

John

*James, Married first Lettice Finley, second Aner Blackman, third Martha Wiley

Richard, Lost at sea

Jesse, Born Oct. 4, 1763, Died Jan. 29, 1858

Frank, Lost at sea

Judith, Married David Scull

Rachel, Married ______ Reed

Elizabeth, Married ________ Wescott

Joseph, Died of yellow fever

Abigail, Married _________ Freeland

Mary's Father:
* James, married first Lettice Finley, Born Feb. 27, 1760, second Aner Blackman, Born Mar. 3, 1799, Died April 13, 1822, third Martha Wiley, Born 1790, Died Feb. 22, 1874.
By the first wife he had six children, second four children and the third, one child.

Judith, Born Oct. 12, 1793, Died Dec, 1, 1876, married James Garwood

*Mary, Born July 10, 1802, Died July 19, 1882, married Richard Spain

Susan, Born Oct. 25, 1791, married James Somers JR.

Hannah, Born Oct 1, 1795, married Elijah Davis, Sept. 26, 1834, Died Aug. 22, 1899

Mark, Born Aug. 4, 1799, Died Feb. 23, 1872

Joseph, Born Mar. 20, 1798, Died July 6, 1859

Constantine, Born April 19, 1812, Died Jan. 8, 1891, married Marriet Ireland

David B, Born 1807, Died 1874, married Eliza Ann, daughter of Samuel Somers

Deborah, Born Sept. 6, 1814, Died April 24, 1888, married Washington Somers

Arabella, Born Aug. 10, 1817, Died Oct. 17, 1891, married Judge John Doughty of Absecon

Harriet, Born Sept. 15, 1825, married first Edward Cordery, her second husband was Simon Lake, lived in Ocean City