Person:Bethia Prince (1)

John Gedley apparently had two step daughters named Bethia who are sometimes said to be one and the same. A closer look, however, shows that cannot be the case.

One was a daughter of his 2nd wife Mary. This older Bethiah was supposedly born 1629 and was married to Andrew Mansfield until her death in 1672. No daughter by that name appears on the 1637 ship roster with John Gedney and his first wife Sarah. The identity of this Bethiah as d/o James Prince and Mary Bartholomew is tenuous at best. Although here may have been a widow Mary Prince in Norfolk Eng and a James Prince who died there in 1634, a connection between them and the family in Salem is lacking.

The other Bethia was a daughter of John Gedney's 3rd wife Catherine and her 1st husband William Clarke. This younger Bethiah was born in 1638 and married Joseph Hutchinson about 1656. She died sometime before 28 Feb 1678 when Joseph married again.

1. ↑ Ancestry.com. Public Member Trees: (Note: not considered a reliable primary source).

   http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/71201693/person/36328122433

2. ↑ Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts, United States. Vital Records of Lynn, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849. (Salem, Mass.: Essex Institute, 1905)
   vol II, p 531.

   giving "MANSFIELD, Bethiah, d. Andrew, 2 : 5 m : 1672." (This must be for Andrew's wife because his daughter Bethia d. 1720 in Beverly.)