[3] He is one of four men by the surname of Munroe recorded as being captured at the Battle of Worcester in 1651 and transported to America during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms as an indentured servant.
At the time of Martha's marriage, her father faced trouble with Puritan authorities for founding an illegal Baptist church in Charlestown.
Her parents were in and out of court on charges of beatings and neglect, amid hints that the mother was insane, and Mary herself had suffered judicial sanctions for an out-of-wedlock child.
[1] William began acquiring small pieces of land in Cambridge Farms, which is present-day Lexington, and he and his sons and a son-in-law purchased 100 acres (0.40 km2) in 1695.
With increased landholdings came greater status in the community, and he was made a freeman, chosen as one of the town Selectmen, and admitted as a member of the church.