Person talk:James Jackson (139)

Analysis of Hinshaw's record of James Jackson, Jr. [29 October 2013]

Analysis from James L. Poole, Richardson, Texas: In William Wade Hinshaw's Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, Vol. III, p. 182, are a few of the dates relevant to James & Rebecca (Hallett) Jackson & their children. The one that caught my eye was: “[Jackson] James, s James & Rebecca, Flushing, d 9 Mo (Oct) 1735; m Flushing 12 Mo (Feb) 10, 1725 Sarah Thorne, dt Joseph & Mary, Flushing.”

I might point out that there is something “fishy” about that record in the first place. A straight abstract of a Quaker records would not include two events ten years apart (the marriage and death dates) – thus, someone somewhere in the process added a bit of information intended for clarification. We know from James Sr.’s will that he died between 27 Sep and 21 Oct 1735. Then I’d assert that a search through all the Quaker records reveals no Quaker record of death for either James Sr. or James Jr. in 1735; there’s no record for James Sr. because he was disowned for marrying too hastily, and there’s no record for James Jr. because he didn’t die in 1735 (if he remained a Quaker). The only record of death for a James Jackson in 1735 in the Flushing, L.I., NY area is the will and probate of James Sr.

I have checked the microfilm of the original Flushing/New York Monthly Meeting records, as well as two other abstracts, here. No death in 1735, or any other year, for a James Jackson is recorded.

Here's my theory on the death date in Hinshaw. The introduction to volume III notes how John Cox, Jr., had supplemented the monthly meeting records with information from other sources. I note that a James Jackson of Flushing died and left a will that was probated in October 1735. Since the will names a large family of adult children, I assume that this is James, Sr. I think that Cox, or the Hinshaw editors, used the will of James Sr. as proof of the death of James. Jr.--janiejac 02:09, 30 October 2013 (UTC)