There is some confusion on date of birth of Mary (FLAGG) BIGELOW. Pauline Landers mailto:< paulcoltey@earthlink.net > wrote me in Dec 1997 and offered a very reasonable explanation. If Mary was born 14 Jun 1653, she would be 67 yrs and 3 mos on her death on 7 Sept 1720, which is clearly marked on headstone. Therefore we can conclude that Jun was confused with Jan, and 1653 with 1658, both common mistakes.
[Dear Pauline. The problem with the above explanation is that the Watertown Records, as published, are in their original order, and the record is on the page labeled 1657, and is the next to last entry. So for this to be true, it would mean, not that it was misread, but that it was recorded on the wrong page after several other 1657 entries were already written. This is essentially impossible for a date purported to be 1653, as the 1657 page would not exist in 1653. More likely the age at death was wrong or misread. Clearly the Waltham VR compilers thought the gravestone said 67 y 8 m., but I just note that if the age was 62 y. 8m., also an easy error, it would suggest a birth in Jan 1657/58, which is indeed, exactly when the records say she was born.]
