Ring

This simple gold band is an early Massachusetts Bay Colony ring made by Boston goldsmith John Edwards. Engraved on the interior, "M Berry Ob. 25. Augt. 1727 AE t. 33," it commemorates the death of a young Ipswich woman, Martha Rogers Berry, whose forebearers were devout Congregationalist ministers, one of whom (her grandfather) also served as President of Harvard College from 1682 to 1684. Martha was mother to one son, Thomas, and wife of Col. Thomas Berry, a physician, judge, and prosperous landowner. A leading silversmith of his day, Edwards made a diverse range of silver and gold wares for privileged patrons, including numerous rings for funerals—surviving records indicate he made forty-eight gold rings for the funeral of Wait Winthrop in 1717, twenty-three gold rings for the funeral of Bridget Usher in 1723, eighteen gold rings for the funeral of Hannah Sewall in 1724, and he also made rings for the funerals of Thomas Clarke in 1732 and William Dudley in 1743.