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Family tree▼ Facts and Events
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References
- ↑ Mendon, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. Vital Records of Mendon, Massachusetts to the Year 1850. (Boston, MA: Wright & Potter, 1920)
p. 427.
WHITE, Benjamin and Mary Thayer, May 23, 1720.
- Thayer, Elisha. Family memorial: genealogy of fourteen families of the early settlers of New England, of the names of Alden, Adams, Arnold, Bass, Billings, Capen, Copeland, French, Hobart, Jackson, Paine, Thayer, Wales and White, from their first settlement in this country, to about the middle of the last century ; with occasional notes and references, biographical sketches, memoirs of some distinguished individuals, epitaphs, etc. collected from ancient records, manuscripts, and printed works. (Salem, Massachusetts: Higginson, 199-?).
- A TAG article (Ullman, Helen Schatvet. "Eunice3 Taft of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Her Three Husbands, and Some of Her Descendants", p. 77:66) cites Source:White, Evelyn Gramse. Thomas White (1599-1679), Immigrant Ancestor of Weymouth, Mass while listing several children to this family that do not appear in the records, with the comment, "The rather surprising closeness of the births suggests that most of the children d. almost immediately. Or perhaps a couple of birth dates are wrong and should have been, say 1725 and 1727. E.G. White may have had some family record for the other birth dates."
E.G. White's book has not been seen, but it seems unlikely that a self-published book is likely to have information unavailable to respected authors like Ms. Ullman. Since the focus of Ms. Ullman's article is Benjamin's second wife, she doesn't seem to have investigated the children of the first wife much, except to know only three were living during Benjamin's probate, the contents of which show those three to be Benjamin, Joseph and Abner, Abner dying before the real estate was settled. A daughter Mary, by his second wife, was also mentioned. None of the others are.
It appears that the dates come from Source:Thayer, Elisha. Family Memorial : Genealogy of Fourteen Families of the Early Settlers of New England, of the Names of Alden, Adams, Arnold, Bass,, p. 165, which except for three exceptions give the dates reported by Ms. Ullman exactly. Those exceptions are:
1) Joseph's birth is changed from 8 Mar in Thayer to 8 Sep in Ms. Ullman's article, . However, the published record does say 8 Mar. Consequently, this is thought to be some rationalization by E.G. White to adjust Thayer's dates so they are not self-contradictory. Otherwise, Mercy's birth Oct 1728 (one of the few recorded births) forces Joseph (another of the recorded births) to be 8 Mar 1729/30 which conflicts with Patience b. 1730, and changing Patience to 1730/31 would conflict with Huldah b. Nov 1730.
2) Huldah b. changed from 5 Nov 1730 in Thayer to 5 Nov 1731 in Ms. Ullman's article. This is thought another rationalization of E.G. White, trying to make sense of Elisha Thayer's impossible dates. A side-effect of problem #1, since changing Joseph from Mar to Sep is not enough by itself to fix the dates.
3) Elisha Thayer does not show any son Abner. While his birth is unknown, his death is recorded and he is mentioned in the probate. So the one unrecorded child that is known to exist, isn't included, casting great doubt on Thayer's credibility.
Since Elisha Thayer's dates are impossible, appear to have no support in the records and are of little credibility, they have been disregarded. While undoubtedly there are more children in this family than found in the records, things simply cannot be the way Thayer says, and rather than introducing new errors by guessing arrangements that seem convenient, it is better to simply disregard anything that cannot be confirmed by the records.
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