Person talk:Margaret Unknown (1738)

Red Herring [12 October 2012]

The use of the term red herring by Anderson is somewhat inflammatory, and not at all an accurate representation of the state of uncertainty of her identification. Red herring has a connotation of something thrown in an argument intentionally to mislead, and the problem here is that there are two separate marriage records for a man named Henry Jordan (one to Margret Martine, one to Marye Hudsone [1]), and neither one seems to fit the combination of known facts as recorded and assumed facts Anderson presents. So the confusion comes naturally, and Anderson himself adds more with the issue of baker versus cutler, the first being the occupation of Henry Jordan of All Hallows whose will he abstracts, the second being occupation of the man whose estate Thomas Lynde petitions to get his step-son's inheritance [2]. While Anderson has made a hand-waving case for one, as he says, further research is needed to "relieve the confusion in these records". --Jrich 11:14, 12 October 2012 (EDT)