Person:Unknown (27383)

Disputed and UnProven Name

The name of John Meador’s second wife is commonly listed as Mary Awbrey. So far, no documentation has been found to support this claim.

In 1983, Victor Meador and Bernal Meador published “Our Meador Families in Colonial America”,^[1] based on extensive (and apparently exhaustive) research in original records. They state (p. 54) “the name of this second wife [for John Meador] cannot be determined.”

On 20 June 2000, Shirley Seal Breeden (now shown as “genealogy.com user”) posted a message on GenForm in which she said: “John [Meador] remarried a Mary, some think she was the widow of Henry Awbry”.^[2]

On 28 June 2000, eight days later, a message on the Rootsweb Meadows email list stated in part: “Where did I get the first name of Mary for "Miss Awbrey/Aubrey?" [as the 2nd wife of John Meador]” . . . ¶ “The references given from FTM and other files I found were: Our Meador Families in Colonial America by Victor P Meador and Bernal M Meador (I have not personally seen this reference.)” . . . . ¶ “Shirley Seal Breeden has also recently listed Mary Awbrey as the 2nd wife of John Meadows (b 1858). This is documented in a post by her on the Meadows GenForum posted on June 20, 2000. She does not give her documentation but says she has a new book coming out soon which will give this and other updates from her earlier Meadows book.”^[3] Note that neither Meador and Meador nor Shirley Breeden said what was attributed to them.

So, somewhere between 1983 and 2000 John Meador’s 2nd wife went from being “unknown” to being either “Mary” or “Miss/Mrs. Awbrey” to “Mary Awbrey” and has since acquired additional names. The process of determining her name was probably similar to the slippage in accurate information see in the message board postings between 20 June and 28 June 2000. Citations to original records seem not to exisit, only a generally shifting acceptance of speculation as “fact”.

Until such time as actual sources are found, the name of John Meador’s second wife remains unknown.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Meador, Victor P. (Victor Paul), and Bernal M. Meador. Our Meador families in colonial America: as found in the records of Isle of Wight, Lancaster, (old) Rappahannock, Richmond, Essex and Caroline Counties, Virginia. (Independence, Missouri: V.P. Meador, 1983)
   p. 54, 57.

   The name of John Meador's second wife is not known
   in his will, John names his living children: Thomas, Rachell, Elizabeth, Dinah. Mary, Jonas, Job, Jason, Joshua. There is no mention of a wife.

2. ↑ Re: John Meador/Elizabeth White's Children, genealogy.com user [formerly Shirley Seal Breeden], 20 Jun 2000, in GenForum
   Meadows Forum, message 3551, accessed 28 Jan 2016.

   John Meador . . . . [first wife} Elizabeth deceased about 1694 and John remarried a Mary, some think she was the widow of Henry Awbry. Henry's first wife was John's mother Sarah and they had one son.
   Henry's second wife would not have been any kin to John and maybe he did marry.

3. ↑ John Meadows and Mary Awbrey, JEANMEAD, 28 Jun 2000, in RootsWeb Archiver MEADOWS > 2000-06 > 0962244825
   accessed 13 Oct 2014.

   "I searched Henry Awbrey, of which there are several. At least two of the documented references list Mary Awbrey (b 1678) as the 2nd wife of John
   Meadows (b 1658). "[NOTE: Does not give the names of the sources, but from the discussion they would appear to be derivative sources.]
   
   [She then speculates that Henry Awbrey had a daughter named Mary by his second wife, Mary (___) Awbrey.]
   
   "Shirley Seal Breeden has also recently listed Mary Awbrey as the 2nd wife of John Meadows (b 1858). This is documented in a post by her on the Meadows GenForum posted on June 20, 2000."