Family talk:William Taylor and Mary Merriam (1)

What Do We Really Know About Them? [9 December 2017]

William Taylor and Mary Merriam have propagated abundantly around the Internet, but it seems clear that none of the information is well sourced, and many people just copy unsourced info as if it were established truth. For instance, many family trees list one or both of them as coming from "Hadboro, Kent, England". This is amusing, as no such place exists, and if you Google "Hadboro, Kent", you will find dozens of web pages, all of them on Mary Merriam, propagations of the same error.

There is a place called Hadlow in Kent, and glancing at familysearch.org, some of the Mary Merriam attributes are to Hadlow. One IGI contribution has a specific birthdate, as well as parents for Mary, and a specific marriage date for Mary and William, all said to be in Hadlow. Per the FHLC, the Hadlow church registers do go back to 1558, so I need to go take a look at those registers and see what is going on. If William and Mary did indeed marry in Hadlow, and not in Concord, it would place their emigration slightly later than some accounts believed, but that would be a solid link to the English roots. --TomChatt 03:59, 20 February 2009 (EST)

Pope, in Pioneers of Massachusetts (p311) includes "William Mirriam, of Hadloe, Kent, clothier, in will dated 8 Sept., prob. 27 Nov 1635, beq. to sons Joseph, George and Robert; which seems to apply to these Concord pioneers. [Reg. L, 506]" This seems to be at least one source for the town of origin. Jillaine 16:35, 2 August 2012 (EDT)

In the well-respected Torrey compendium of New England Marriages, he indicates doubt about whether William Taylor's wife's maiden name was Merriam. In other ancestries of the Merriam family (here is an example, I do not find a Mary among the children of Joseph Merriam and Sarah Goldstone.--TomChatt 01:40, 21 February 2009 (EST)

On the other hand, note that it was a John Merriam who approved the inventory when William Taylor's will was proven, which tends to confirm a Merriam link. --TomChatt 02:02, 30 October 2009 (EDT)

Additional discussion on Mary's page. --Jrich 09:48, 13 September 2012 (EDT)

My name is Robert Huffman. After extensive research I have traced my family tree to William taylor and Mary Merriam.They are great grand parents times (id have to count again)of mine. My family decends down threw the years to Virginia and west Virginia.My grand father was henry winship taylor. Son of Charles taylor and ula baker.charles was son of George L taylor and so on.My mother is Shirley Taylor and married a Huffman my father.If any one has more information on this family line and would be willing to share I would love to see it. My email is twomountaineers@outlook.com

                  Thanks so much

                              Robert Huffman--Robert Taylor Huffman 01:10, 9 December 2017 (UTC)