Person talk:Anna Wheeler (3)

Blind squirrel finds a nut? [27 August 2011]

As I write this, this page says Anna died 15 Mar 1804 in Bedford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. No sources are given, no marriages are shown, and this information doesn't come from Source:Wheeler, Albert Gallatin. Genealogical and Encyclopedic History of the Wheeler Family in America.

It appears this is right, and perhaps I shouldn't complain, but either somebody got really lucky, or they were very discourteous in not providing the additional information. Either way, it is frustrating.

The death record in Bedford says: "Wheeler, Anna, wid., ... Mar. 14, 1804, a. 91. CR". But this identifies Anna as a widow, while this page shows no marriages. So surely that can't apply. But wait! The age at death matches. While this has all the appearances of somebody just matching names without noticing the "wid." part, let's see if we can figure out whose widow this is.

To start with, Anna Wheeler did marry. Source:Wheeler Families of Old Concord, Massachusetts says Anna m. John Bateman. And this marriage is found in Source:Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1635-1850, p. 130, on a date (1732) when Anna would have been between 18 and 19 years of age. They have 10 kids in Concord through 1752. There doesn't seem to be a death date for John Bateman, but it is reported as 1758 on various websites.

But to match this death date, she would have had to have married again, this time to a Wheeler. Source:Bedford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. Vital Records to the Year 1850 shows the marriage of Richard Wheeler and Anne Bateman on 10 Dec 1760. Returning to The Wheeler Family, way towards the back of volume 2, is #17948, Richard Wheeler who married three times to Jemima French, Eunice Davis and Ann Bateman.

So, it appears the death date is correct, but it was sure a lot of work to track down the chain of proof. Would have been kind of nice to have had the marriages detailed. That is, unless it was blind luck that it turned out to be right? --Jrich 23:17, 27 August 2011 (EDT)