Mary Brown [3 March 2014]
It seems likely that William fathered a child named Mary, prior to his marriage to Edith. The marriage of Mary Porter to Samuel Brown is recorded in the Beverly and Salem vital records, 7 Jan 1728/29. William died without a will, yet the settlement of his estate mentions Mary Brown, and her share of the estate was collected by Samuel Brown.--Pauldanielhenning 13:04, 1 March 2014 (UTC)
- Possibly, but not necessarily. Legal age for women was 18, so a marriage then would only imply a birth by 1710/11, and with parental permission, it could be later, say between Israel and William. Possibly another arrangement would be that Edith was pregnant when she married and they didn't register the birth not wanting to attract attention to the fact that less than 7 months had past since the marriage (the colonial standard for proving pre-marital stuff). But even that is speculation. You are basically assuming this and thus identifying Mary's mother, based only on assumption and no evidence. In fact, Israel's birth is only specified as 1710. There is a great difference between early 1710 and late 1710 in regards to this argument (he was baptized 20 Aug 1710 meaning Mary could have easily been born any time in the first half of 1709 without impacting his birth.) Given that her name was Mary Porter, if she was illegitimate, it would mean her father acknowledged it, so there should be a court record of it. One might want to find that before ruling out other alternatives. Another important fact I would want to know to help make sense of this, but don't see, is when did Mary Brown die? If before 1745 and the mention in the probate was the heirs of Mary Brown, that would greatly change the interpretation of things. And, of course, was there an age at death? --Jrich 17:05, 1 March 2014 (UTC)
- Did you notice that Mary (Porter) Brown named her first daughter Edith (here)? --Jrich 17:50, 1 March 2014 (UTC)
Those are good points. I don't want to make un-warranted assumptions, and I have revised my comments about Mary on William's page.--Pauldanielhenning 11:05, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
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