Transcript talk:Savage, James. Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England/v1p76

Defect 1

Savage is at his worst here, spewing out theories without regard to the records. John had a wife Mehitable in 1687 and his probate shows his widow Mehitable survived him. He did not marry Mary Cotton (it is probable his brother Joshua did) and his widow was the Mehitable who married Benjamin Rolfe, not the Mary who married Samuel Partridge. It must be assumed that Savage is assuming the granddaughter mentioned by John's mother in her will is John's when that Rebecca belongs to his brother Joshua. The death by drowning in 1691/92 is clearly described in Sewall's Diary and belongs to Joshua. Basically Savage has confused the two brothers even though the records show it could not be so. --Jrich 04:20, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

Defect 2

To advance a theory based on "it is somewhere written" is hardly an authoritative basis. Unfortunately Torrey has propagated this theory even though Savage himself says he cannot verify it. Joshua's wife Mary is apparently the Mary Atwater who married Samuel Partridge (since it has been shown that John had no wife Mary) and her age at death shows she is not Mary (Maverick) Smith, but Mary Cotton. It is unclear what Savage saw that made him present this theory, as he clearly gives no hint, but no basis of any kind has been found. --Jrich 04:20, 14 June 2016 (UTC)