CLARK, Ruth, d. James and Ruth, [born] Feb. 25, 1717-18.
[Note: sic! The record explicitly says 1717/18, but this is clearly impossible if James was the father, since he died in early 1716, just shy of two years earlier. Assuming the probate date of Aug 1716 is reliable and not amenable to manipulation, to make this birth belong to James, we would still have to assume Ruth's birthdate really was supposed to be 1716-17 (since all 4 children were recorded in a group in 1718, 1717-18 could have been a mistaken assumption by the town clerk when actually told 1717), and the death record of the father was supposed to be May, not Mar (the death record is somewhat suspect to start with, since it says 20 or 21 Mar, i.e., doesn't show good knowledge of the event). No convenient explanation presents itself.]
