Family talk:Thomas Norton and Rebecca Neale (1)

This marriage not proven? [2 June 2012]

I have seen no documentation confirming that the Rebecca Neale who married Thomas Norton of Saybrook was, in fact, the Rebecca born at Salem, Mass. in 1679. However, the following facts favor the identification.

• There appears to be no other Rebecca Neale/Neal/Neil in New England of an appropriate age to marry Thomas Norton in 1701

• Rebecca's father died in 1679, before she was born. Her mother then married, as his third of four wives, William Sterling of Haverhill.

• William Sterling with various members of his family removed in the late 1690's to Lyme, Connecticut, directly across the Connecticut River from Saybrook.

There is no record of the death of Ann (Nichols) (Neale) Sterling, but William Sterling executed a marriage contract with his fourth wife on 5 January 1705/06. There is no surviving probate for either William or Ann Sterling. It is unlikely that we will find additional evidence confirming the identification, so I think we can call it somewhere between "perhaps" and "probably."--jaques1724 19:57, 2 June 2012 (EDT)