Person talk:Ann Unknown (984)

No Culver-Winthrop Connection [7 January 2010]

[This note was posted when the first wife was named Mercy Winthrop (with no sources). This page has since been changed to Ann Unknown to agree with the TAG article cited below.]

There is a devastating rebuttal of three proposed Culver-Winthrop marriages in TAG 22:107 by Donald Jacobus himself, namely John (2) Culver and Mary Winthrop, John (3) Culver and Sarah Winthrop, and Joseph (2) Culver and Mercy Winthrop. All the Winthrops are claimed to be the daughters of Gov. John Winthrop of Connecticut (though since John Jr. and Fitz-John were both Governor of CT, one would guess Sarah was the d/o Fitz-John, else John (3) married his aunt). Unfortunately, these pairings have been published many times, and so sources exist to cite, if one does not care that there is no contemporary documented evidence.

Jacobus says "the Winthrops are the best documented family in New England" and "the fact that three Winthrop marriages have been claimed ... while not one Culver alliance is revealed in the Winthrop pedigree, is sufficient to throw suspicision on all these allegations." In particular, John Jr.'s will does not mention either daughter Mary or Mercy.

The claim for Sarah Winthrop is demonstrably false as deeds identify the wife of John (3) Culver as "Sarah Insign Alias Sarah Long which said Sarah was one of the Children and Heirs of John Wilcock of said Middletown [New Jersey] Deceased". The article goes onto further identify her as Sarah, daughter of Thomas Long and Sarah Wilcox, grandchild of John Wilcox and Sarah Wadsworth, named as sister Sarah Culver in the will of Jerusha Long. Her mother divorced Thomas Long and married David Ensign, resulting in the alias reference above.

The claim for Mary has no documented evidence and there is no reason to doubt contemporary documents that indicate Mary Winthrop died young, and couldn't have married.

The claim for Mercy is based entirely on an alleged family Bible that is only known through photographic copies (i.e., unable to analyze ink differences). The marriage record therein has no date (apparently, since no date is given) leading to the conclusion that the record was not made by the principals, or probably even their children. Hence not being contemporaneous, this must be considered not very reliable.

In TAG 31:129, an article by W. Herbert Wood (and Donald Jacobus) gives "Additions and Corrections to the Colver-Culver Genealogy", referring to the book by Frederic Lathrop Colver ([1]), which itself expressed some doubts about the above connections, but still re-printed them. This correcting article presents the following replacements to the three disputed marriages:

1. John (2) Culver m. 1665 Mercy [often recorded as Mary in colonial records] Clark, d/o James Clark.
2. Joseph (2) Culver m. (1) --- (possibly Ann?), m. (2) 20 Jun 1716 Margaret Gallup, who left him a year after their marriage.
3. John (3) Culver m. Sarah Long

I am removing Mercy Winthrop from this family. --Jrich 12:16, 7 January 2010 (EST)