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- H. Rufus Smith (add)
- W. Mary Taft1742 -
m. Aft 9 Jul 1763
Facts and Events
References
- ↑ Baldwin, Thomas W. Vital Records of Uxbridge, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850. (Boston, 1916)
p. 157.
TAFT, Mary, d. of Stephen and Mary, [born] July 42, 1742.
- ↑ "Providence Friends Record - Deaths", in Arnold, James N. Vital Record of Rhode Island, 1636–1850: First series, births, marriages and deaths. A family register for the people. (Narragansett Hist. Publ. Co., 1891)
Vol. 7 (Friends and Ministers), p. 274.
SMITH Mary, wife of Rufus [died] 27d 8m 1770.
- Arnold's VR of Rhode Island, in Vol. 7 (Friends and Ministers), has two separate entries for the death of Mary, wife of Rufus Smith. On p. 197, Mary is given a birth date of 18 Dec 1742 and death of 27 Jan 1770. On p. 274, a death date of 27 Aug 1770, which is strikingly similar to the first death date. Are there two Rufus Smith's who had wives named Mary, thus justifying two death dates? Or is one a misrecording? Or something else? This has apparently caused considerable confusion among researchers of this family (e.g., see here) and the suggestion that Rufus Smith married a Mary Sayles because Mary Taft cannot have died 27 Jan 1770 as found on p. 197.
The will of Stephen Taft of Uxbridge, dated 20 Jun 1770, names "daughter Mary Smith wife of Rufus Smith". The will of Mary's brother Benjamin Taft, dated 10 Aug 1770, names sister Mary Smith. Rufus Smith assented to proving of both of these wills, both on 30 Aug 1770, though if his role was in right of his wife, or as representative of his children, is not specified. But clearly Mary Smith did not died 27 Jan 1770. Whether 27 Aug 1770 is a misrecording, or her actual death date, is open to further investigation, but it seems unlikely.
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