Elizabeth Blossom was one of six children born to the marital union of English-born Thomas Blossom and the former Anne Elsdon (or Heilson). The three oldest children died while young and were buried in Leiden, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands before Elizabeth and her two younger brothers were born. The Blossom family emigrated to the Massachusetts Colony from Leiden via England in 1629, arriving on a newer ship bearing the venerable name of “Mayflower”.

Elizabeth made her first marriage on the tenth day in May of 1637 in Scituate, Plymouth County, Colonial Massachusetts when she became the bride of Edward FitzRandolph II. Edward was a son of Edward FitzRandolph I and Frances Howes (or Howis), his wife, of Hucknall, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottingham, England. He was a direct descendant of the Lords of Middleham and Spennithorne, the Earls of Norfolk and Suffolk, and Sir Roger Bigod II, a Magna Carta Surety, 1215.

Elizabeth and Edward were the parents of a very large family. Nine of their children lived to adulthood. Those children were:

(1) Nathaniel, 1642-1713: wed Mary Holloway
(2) Hannah, 1648: wed Jasper Joseph Taylor
(3) Marye, 1650-1738: wed Samuel Hinckley
(4) John, born 1652: wed Sarah Bonham
(5) Thomas, 1654-1745: wed Elizabeth Manning
(6) Joseph, 1656-1726: wed Joanna Conger
(7) Elizabeth, born 1656: wed 1st John Langstaff and 2nd Andrew Wooden
(8) Hope, 1661-1703: wed Ezekial Bloomfield
(9) Benjamin 1663-1746: wed Sarah Dennis.

Another daughter, Mary, 1644-1649, has been cited. This birth is unverified and, therefore, is not included as one of the verifiable children shown above who survived childhood.

Edward and Elizabeth enjoyed some 48 years of marriage before Edward’s death in his eighth decade.

On June 30, 1685, Elizabeth FitzRandolph, née Blossom, married a second time when she exchanged vows with Judge John Pike. Judge Pike, who served in the militia with the rank of captain, was a widower with six grown children. He was a prominent man in the town of Woodbridge, New Jersey, having been one of its founding citizens. He also served on the Governor’s Council. No children were born to this union. Judge Pike died three years into the marriage and was laid to rest next to his first wife.

A possible third marriage has been cited on some family histories posted to Ancestry.com. This purported marriage was between Elizabeth Pike and William Willford and has been said to have taken in 1711 in Boston, Massachusetts. That the bride was Elizabeth FitzRandolph Pike, née Blossom, has not been satisfactorily proven to merit inclusion in the bio.

Elizabeth died in 1713 at the age of 93. She was laid to rest at the side of her first husband, Edward FitzRandolph, the father of all her children, in the west corner of the Church’s burial ground.

Sixty-three years later, during the War of the Revolution, British troops used the church as a barracks and hospital due to its strategic location on King George’s Highway (present-day Woodbridge Avenue). The British threw a defensive breastwork across the burial ground which sustained major damage. After the war ended, the ground was leveled but no trace of the FitzRandolphs' markers could be found. Sadly, the exact location of their graves is forever lost to mankind.

Much appreciation goes to Juliann Fitz Randolph Wood for providing insightful and historical facts on the burial ground, and to Sue McDuffe who originated, not only this memorial to a remarkable woman but many others from the past whose lives merit remembering. Sue has worked tirelessly to post historically-correct memorials and she deserves our thanks.

Finally, a personal thank you to Sue who graciously offered to pass the maintenance of this memorial to one of Edward's and Elizabeth's many living direct descendants, a seventh great-granddaughter and former research editor, whose self-appointed mission is to provide verifiable facts that can serve to assist the research efforts of family historians.∼John Pike 2nd m. Elizabeth Blossom Fitts Randles see Torrey - New England Marriages prior to 1700 -- this was also her 2nd marriage