Person talk:Israel Shaw (1)

Spousal Discrepancy [17 December 2011]

Removed from page: "Which Mercy Tallman was he married to?

1. b 1666, dau of Peter Tallman and Ann Hill?
2. b 1674, dau of Peter Tallman and Joan Briggs?

Or was there one Mercy Tallman, whose parentage is in dispute?"

Commentary: It is a little hard to answer this without knowing upon what the two suppositions are based. Clearly, Peter Tallman divorced Ann Hill in 1665 (mentioned in several places, confirmed by pre-marital agreement with second wife) and so any birth in 1666 cannot be credited to her. That alone, makes the 1666 supposition suspect, though 1666 fits better with a 1689 marriage date, making the 1674 supposition suspect. Further since it is the same Peter Tallman in both marriages, we can probably say there was one "Mercy" Tallman. If Isaac Shaw married Peter Tallman's daughter "Mercy" (the sources I find leave her given name unspecified), he married the survivor of the two, or else there was only one. What is really the key here is to know what are known facts and how they are known, versus what are mistakes, surmises and working hypotheses, so we aren't piling assumptions on top of assumptions. Working with people who probably haven't seen the same sources you have, that would require documenting sources. --Jrich 12:35, 17 December 2011 (EST)