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From:
Subject: Re: [APG] Name Registry?
Date: Thu, 1 Jan 2004 12:41:51 EST


Maybe I am dim on how this will work but let me present a few actual cases
here and perhaps you can tell me how you would resolve the problem within the
frame work of what you propose.

1. Margaret French, the daughter of Daniel2 French and his first wife? Peyton
married James Strother. I have seen the date of this marriage recorded as
1738 in data bases. I have also seen her mother named as Margaret Pratt who was
her father's second wife.
Neither the date of Margaret's marriage nor her mother is determined by a
simple answer that will fit into a form field.

Her marriage date is approximated as is the dates for the birth of her
children. Margaret petitioned the court in June 1736 for her share of her father's
estate. In November of the same year James her husband did the same thing.
These petitions are recorded in the court order books. Therefore an accurate
marriage date for the couple is between June 1736 and November of 1736, while the
specific year of 1738 is not at all accurate.

Margaret's father was married to the widow of John Pratt at the time of his
death but she was still married to John Pratt when her younger brother Daniel
was born therefore Margaret could not have been her child.

The fact that her mother was a Peyton is from a deed of gift of slaves,
Daniel, her brother made to the daughter's of Henry Peyton whom he called his
cousins. By deduction it is determined this term meant niece and had to be on the
maternal side.

So how would you enter this very precise information where there are no
specific dates and lots of proof arguments?

About six years ago I pointed out to a correspondent her information [that
was in print] was not correct. Her reply was 30 people had given her this
information and I was the only one who thought it was wrong. How do you deal with
this when you decide whose information to use?

One of the biggest problems in genealogy is that people do not critically
analysis their information. Reasonably accurate timelines will settle many
problems. Yet most dates are simply guesses. And these guesses become part of data
and circulate very quickly. Take this example:

MARGARET WHO?
There are several messages on the Gaines, Prosser, Miller or French Genfourm
Bulletin Boards that have a subject lines with Margaret Gaines the wife of
either Hugh French or Simon Miller in them. Anthony Prosser the son of Margaret
(?) and John Prosser was born by 1673, the year his father John signed his will
and named him among his legatees. The eldest child of Daniel Gaines and wife,
Margaret would be no older than ten years in 1673; an age not acceptable for
marriage in that society. [This was determined in an earlier segment of this
manuscript]
There is no evidence any investigation into the information proving or
disproving these facts was ever conducted before passing it on to other unsuspecting
arm chair genealogists. So how does one check this type of information? They
look for records created by or on behalf of the person and check to see if
the statement is true. Does that mean they look for a marriage record with the
exact date, when hope of finding one is nil? Of course not, but they can build
a biography based on dates when Daniel appeared in court that will help to
build a framework for further analysis.
After reading Daniel's will [ 1684] it is apparent his children Bernard and
Mary were too young to be married. By implication his daughter Margaret’s
marriage, is fairly recent because he wants her to have property associated with
setting up a household. Was Margaret, the daughter of Daniel Gaines, the
same Margaret who married John Prosser as so many have stated over the years?
Women seldom created records on their own behalf, therefore records for the
men in their lives are important in establishing the milestones. A comparison
of the age of the two Margarets answers the above question. In this part of
the case study three of the four men who married Margaret (maiden name as yet
unknown) died testate so the wills of these men are important to read and the
various provisions, dates and names noted and assembled in chronological order.
MARGARET (?) PROSSER, MILLER, FRENCH AND LATER SOMMERVILLE:
28 August 1673 John Prosser signed his will and named four sons including a
son Anthony.[1]
30 June 1677 Prosser’s will presented for probate.[2]
16 February 1679 Simon Miller signed his will and named six Miller children
as well as his wife’s son Anthony Prosser.[3]
30 November 1683 Margaret as widow of Simon enters into a lease agreement
with Andrew Harrison.
7 May 1684 Simon Miller’s will accepted for probate.[4]
5 March 1684/5 Margaret’s last appearance in the records as relict of Simon
Miller.[5]
6 May 1685 Hugh French in court on behalf of the widow of Simon Miller whom
he married.
MARGARET GAINES:
January 1662 Daniel Gaines in court regarding the property of Ralph and Sarah
Rowzee. The property transferred hands from John Catlett the half brother of
Ralph Rowzee deceased, to Daniel Gaines the children’s new step-father. This
record establishes a time frame for the marriage of Daniel Gaines and the widow
Rouzee and determines the range wherein a first child could have been born.
1682 Daniel Gaines signed his last will and testament. He named his wife
Margaret, and two daughters Margaret, Mary and a son Bernard, sons-in-law Ralph
Rowzee and John Smith and a grandson-in-law John Smith.
When records on the two Margarets are compared it is apparent Margaret the
daughter of Daniel Gaines, was too young to be the same Margaret who married
John Prosser and gave birth to a son Anthony by 1673, therefore they are not the
same person.




[1] William Montgomery Sweeny, comp., Wills of Rappahannock County,
Virginia1656-1692, (Lynchburg, VA, Greenville, S. C.: Southern Historical Press, Inc.,
1947/1998. p. 55.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid., 92-93.
[4] Sparacio, comps., Order Book Abstracts of [Old] Rappahannock County,
Virginia 1683-1685 (McLean, VA: The Antient Press, 1990), pp. 51,71.
[5] Ibid, pp. 81, 84, 85.


Margaret R. Amundson, CGsm is a service mark of the Board for Certification
of Genealogists, used under license by Board-certified associates after
periodic proficiency evaluations.

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