Person talk:David Hall (5)

Research notes [12 October 2017]

Death of David Hall [12 October 2017]

There is a Natick death entry "Hall, David, Jan. 6, 1802." on p 219 which seems like it should be a match, but the entry on the next page - "HALL, Dorithy, w. of David, Mar. 28, 1799." - indicates that David Hall died before his wife.--cos1776 23:03, 12 October 2017 (UTC)

According to the abbreviations in the legend at the beginning of the Natick records here, and common usage in such works, w. = wife and wid. = widow. So to the extent the record meant to distinguish the two cases, the record indicates exactly the opposite: that Dorothy died as his wife, i.e., while he was still alive. However, in a careful transcription, widow would probably only be put into the published record if actually specified in the original record, so as to avoid presenting assumptions as recorded facts. Therefore, a record saying wife may be ambiguous unless combined with additional information. --Jrich 06:50, 13 October 2017 (UTC)