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Misidentification as Grace Ives [21 December 2011]

The first wife of William Healy is often mis-identified as Grace Ives, a daughter of Miles Ives, of Watertown. This appears to be a vestige of early research, before the current knowledge of all of William's wives had been fully established. The connection to the Ives family appears to be entirely due to William's third wife Grace Buttry, who was Miles Ives' step-daughter, daughter of his wife Martha by her former husband. Thus, there no longer remains any evidence to suggest William Healy's first wife was the daughter of Miles Ives. Indeed, it is not even clear that the first wife was named Grace, since her name was not given in any of the baptisms of her children, nor her death record. Since this identification as the daughter of Miles required Miles' documented age at death to be off by 5-10 years and the invention of a first wife whose existence, marriage and death is completely absent from the records, the old identification is not only unproven, it is unlikely, perhaps impossible.

Bond appears to have been confused by the Cambridge VRs, which list 9 children belonging to "William and Grace", into thinking William only had one wife. Since Healy grandchildren were mentioned in Miles' will and given Bond's incomplete understanding of William's five wives, it would be natural that he assume she was Grace Ives. Upon analysis, however, it turns out that the only Healy grandchildren mentioned in the will belonged to William's third wife, Grace Buttry, who was Miles' step-daughter. Miles did not mention any of the children of, or indicate any connection to, the first wife.

It appears that Savage, in analyzing Miles Ives will, did not know that John Polly had married one of Miles' daughters, and so assumed son-in-law John was named in the will due to his wife Susannah being a daughter of Miles. Susannah's age would require an earlier marriage for Miles fitting right in with Bond's idea that he had an older daughter named Grace. It has been shown, however, that John's first wife was Susanna Bacon (Source:TAG, p. 41:206), and that he married secondly Mary Ives, and so again, the evidence for an earlier marriage of Miles vanishes.

Both Bond and Savage give a death date of 86 for Miles, suggesting a birth in 1598. It is not known where this age at death comes from, as both Source:Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. Watertown Records, p. 54, and the gravestone (Find A Grave) show the age at death as 76, so birth about 1608. This is significant because a birth in 1608 would make it impossible for Miles to be the father of a daughter born about 1624 or earlier. In order for Miles to be the father of William Healy's first daughter, two contemporary records would have to both be wrong.

Various other sources, such as Source:Hoyt, David W. Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, Massachusetts and a Healy genealogy published in Source:NEHGR, p. 27:139, simply used this identification as Miles' daughter as if it was proven, giving no evidence to justify their assertions.

Examples of the confusion that may be seen in the literature are numerous:

• (Source:Carrier, Carl W. Healy History, p. 7) "Nicholas Butterice died, Martha married Miles Ives about 1638, and her daughter, Grace Butterice, became known as Grace Ives."
• (Source:Haley, James Bayard. Haley and Healy Family, p. 38) "Her parents ... in later years took under their care the three little children of the third wife, Grace Buttress, and considered them as grandchildren, although there was no actual relationship of which we are aware..."
• (Source:Stewart, Paul V. Stewart-Healy and Related Lines, p. 33) "Bowen's History of Woodstock, however, concludes that Grace Ives and Grace Butterice (third wife) appear to be one and the same person." --Jrich 15:20, 31 October 2011 (EDT)

Just for completeness, Source:Bowen, Clarence Winthrop. History of Woodstock, Connecticut, Vol. 7, p. 18, identifies William Hele's first and second wives as unknown, and third as Grace Butterice, "probably the daughter of Martha, wife of Miles Ives of Watertown by a previous marriage to Nicholas Buttery", i.e., "a step-daughter of Miles Ives". The discussion seems unaware of a controversy about a possible separate wife Grace Ives and is only concerned with identifying who the third wife is. It presents the naming of her Healey children in Miles Ives' will combined with the age at death of Miles' wife Martha aligning with the age of Nicholas Buttry's wife in the passenger list that included their daughter Grace to make this case. --Jrich 22:00, 21 December 2011 (EST)