Nonesuch, Mercy Ann , 1822 - 1915

Mercy Ann Nonesuch (February 12, 1822-1915) was the daughter of Joshua Nonesuch and Mercy Sobuck of the Western Niantic community in East Lyme, Connecticut.  She was bound out at age seven to Mrs. Ethelinda Caulkins Griswold, the widow of Thomas Griswold of in the Giant's Neck neighborhood.  Mercy Ann went to Lyme to work for several white families when she was 18.  She became a member of the East Lyme Baptist church in 1841.  Five years later, she married Henry Matthews on March 30, 1846.  They had three daughters, Adeline Champlin, Delana E., and Ella Louise, Matthews, and a son, Charles Henry Matthews and resided on the Mohegan reservation in Montville, Connecticut.  There Mercy, along with Lydia Fielding and Mohegan medicine woman Emma Baker served as cultural mentors for the community.  She was known for her skillful beadwork and doll making.  Brown and Rose, Black Roots, 270.  Mrs. Charles Smith, "The Last of the Niantics,"The Connecticut Magazine 8 (1903-1904 ): 455-456.  A Mohegan Genealogy by Niyayodqj. Mandell, Tribe, Race, History, 143.  Fawcett, Medicine Trail, 37, 92.