Family talk:Joseph Wheeler and Elizabeth Holloway (1)

Probably the wrong Joseph Wheeler [29 April 2011]

Albert Gallatin Wheeler has a track record of making mistakes, unfortunately. In this case, surprisingly, it appears that the normally reliable Source:Wheeler Families of Old Concord, Massachusetts may have joined him in at least part of this mistake.

Both sources show that the Joseph who is son of John Wheeler and Elizabeth Wells, b. 1700, as the one who married Elizabeth Holloway in 1718/19. First, he is not of legal age by over two years. Neither shows children by her to confirm this pairing (the Wheeler book tacks on a marriage to Deborah Whitney in 1730, while the Tolman book doesn't show anybody marrying Deborah Whitney, the the will of Person:Joseph Wheeler (4) clearly mentions wife Deborah). And third, by record of their births, this Joseph is 13 years younger than his wife. Perhaps fourth, he is born in Marlborough, marries the second time in Marlborough, yet marries a woman while under age in Concord? No will of the daughter's father naming his son-in-law is cited. It is just asserted to be so and repeated almost everywhere.

For once, Internet websites to the rescue. Thanks to an defunct website, [1], for preserving a dissenting email by a thorough researcher, who cited sources and enabled me to find the following:

In Source:Kent, Josiah Coleman. Northborough History, p. 238, there is a discussion of the old Brigham Street Cemetery in Northborough. There are "four slate gravestones" all in good condition:

• Adam Holloway, d. 7 Jun 1733, in 80th year [born about 1653]
• Aaron Wheeler, s/o Joseph and Elizabeth Wheeler, d. 12 Apr 1747 age 19 [born about 1728]
• Elisabeth Wheeler, wife of Joseph, d. 12 Sep 1748, age 61 y, 5 m, 10 d [born about 2 Apr 1687]
• Joseph Wheeler, d. 20 May 1747, aged 56 y, 2 m, 6 d [born about 14 Mar 1691]

Note:

• this Elizabeth matches the birth date of Elizabeth Holloway recorded in Concord very well
• according to the age at death, this Joseph was of legal age in 1718/1719, and would be the son of Obadiah Wheeler and Elizabeth White of Concord
• Adam Holloway was of an appropriate age to be Elizabeth's father, namely, 24 when she was born in 1687

Joseph and Elizabeth (Holloway) Wheeler show up in Westborough almost immediately after their early 1718 marriage, as daughter Miriam is born there in 1718 (baptized in Marlborough 1719). The names of the children found in the Westborough records (Miriam, Sybil, Zipporah, and Aaron) offer no real clue to Joseph's parents.

If we assume Obadiah's son married Elizabeth Holloway, then some other Joseph Wheeler must have married Abigail Butterfield. One obvious possibility is just to switch the two Josephs, and assign the son of John and Elizabeth (Wells) Wheeler to Abigail Butterfield. But there is good reason for thinking he married Deborah Whitney. So it appears that the wife pairing of three separate Joseph Wheelers might be involved here.

It remains striking that the gravestone in Northborough (picture here) calculates to a birth date of 14 Mar 1691, and the son of Obadiah's record birth is 7 Mar 1690/91. Given this small 7-day discrepancy and a four year gap to the next closest date, one wonders how it is known that the son of Obadiah was the one that married Abigail Butterfield? One of the problems in this whole investigation is in discerning what led Wheeler and Tolman to come up with their pairings originally.

Source:Wheeler, Henry M. Genealogy of Some of the Descendants of Obadiah Wheeler of Concord, and Thomas Thaxter of Hingham, p. 6, says that "Obadiah dwelt on his father's farm in the southwesterly part of Concord until 1715, when he disposed of his land and no trace of him after that has been found. ... Two of [his children], however, Obadiah and Joseph, received from their father his farm lands in equal shares, and probably retained possession of them for a time. ... Joseph lived on the old homestead at Concord until he followed several of his brothers to Lancaster, and in 1742 purchased a farm of sixty acres on Chestnut Hill..." This assertion is repeated in various sources, and if backed up by a deed, could offer some proof since remaining in Concord may be incompatible with moving to Westborough. However, note the use of the word "probably" in the above passage regarding his retaining the property, that moving to Lancaster is evidenced by purchase of property there, not by the selling of land in Concord. One wonders if such a deed selling the Concord homestead has actually been found, or if the intermediate residence on the homestead is all predicated on assumption. How do we know the Joseph who bought land in Lancaster in 1742 wasn't a different Joseph Wheeler? Is this an assumption based on Obadiah's other sons being in Lancaster?

Joseph and Abigail Wheeler named their children Phebe, Reuben, Rachel, Abigail and Joseph, which offers no clue as to Joseph's parentage.

There is no shortage of Joseph Wheelers to consider. There are over a dozen Joseph Wheelers in all born from 1679 to 1706, a time period which was selected based on the distribution of births of Joseph Wheelers, and considering Elizabeth Holloway's birth in 1687, and Abigail Butterfield's marriage in 1727. The following table lists several candidate Josephs who could be pertinent collected from Wheeler, and then adding some information gleaned from Tolman who is more reliable but only covers Concord Wheelers. The Josephs who appear to be clearly ruled out in Wheeler are not listed (though given the existence of this problem, perhaps that is a bad assumption?)

I have found one other tidbit. The will of Person:John Wheeler (146), the son of Joseph Wheeler and Sarah Ball, calls Joseph of Harvard his kinsman. Joseph of Harvard is the son of Joseph Wheeler and Abigail Butterfield. Normally, kinsman means cousin. As both kinsmen had fathers named Joseph, those two fathers cannot be brothers, so we can rule out first cousins. Traditional genealogy, assuming the Joseph who married Abigail Butterfield is the son of Obadiah, makes them fifth cousins (Joseph of Harvard<-Joseph<-Obadiah<-Obadiah<-John<-John<-Obadiah versus John<-Joseph<-John<-Sgt. Thomas<-Thomas Sr.<-Thomas, Elder<-Obadiah), placing their common ancestor back in England, almost unknowably distant. The Joseph who would be the closest relation to this John is Wheeler's #17635, a second half-cousin once removed, sharing a common great grandfather in Sgt. Thomas Wheeler, but probably too old to marry Abigail Butterfield. So, ultimately, we can garner nothing concrete from this. --Jrich 01:16, 29 April 2011 (EDT)