Family talk:John Humphrey and Mary Tilestone (1)

What's important, what's not [7 May 2018]

An Ancestral File (32KZ-BRG) says Mary Tilestone m. 1785 John Humphrey. The birth is estimated at 1765 and no other marriages are given. No other marriages are given for John Humphrey and only one child, Clarissa b. 1789.

When John Humphrey married his second wife Hannah Mayo in 1794, they named their first child Mary Tilestone Humphrey. There is no hint this was known by the AFN, though it was probably known to the researcher the AFN copied from. Was this the only reason for thinking the wife was named Mary Tilestone? It appears so since the estimated dates are all off.

If they really knew who John Humphrey married, they might know of the marriage record in 1786 to Mary Robinson. Or they might know that she died in 1792, age 36, so born about 1756, not 1765.

But why name a child Mary Tilestone Humphrey? Because Mary Tilestone m. John Robinson in 1777 and John Robinson died by 1782. So the first wife's maiden name was Mary Tilestone. She was born in Dorchester 9 Sep 1756 to Elisha Tilestone and Elizabeth Bowman. All this detail appears to have been unknown to the AFN.

This AFN is a classic illustration of what happens when too much emphasis is placed on the answer, when the focus properly should be on how the answer is known. --Jrich 17:10, 7 May 2018 (UTC)