Margaret, anew

From the beginning, we have used Thomas and Margaret, following Dr. Frank. An example is looking at the 'great house' that John Endicott had brought over to Salem from Cape Ann: Thomas' house. About the same time, Gardner's Beacon, Vol I, No. 3, looked at Margaret, in particular, and I used "Margaret's house" in terms of that structure.

We were newbies, back then, but I had noticed that some later genealogist actually agreed with Dr. Frank, too. However, the Great Migration Begins of R.C. Anderson suggested another wife who was the mother of the children. I got several emails pointing that out to me. So, I dug in and pulled out those things being referenced. Someone has to do this now and then, as many citations follow someone else (many times, without doing their own verification).

Gardner Research will go back to first principles, if you would.

• My first response (Sep 2012) - About Margaret - as the next bullet shows, the argument mentioned a 1639 entry in the church record. But, to me, it was Margaret; Thomas didn't align himself until 1637. Their kids were growing up, so they had to smooth the way.
• My second response (Nov 2012) - How many wives? This post puts TAG side-by-side with the Great Migration material. The conclusion was that the NEHGS was looking at 1000s of people. The Gardners would dig into one or two, with regard to this issue. And, in the meantime, we would honor good old Dr. Frank. 

Now, in 2014, John Cook came across the marriage record of Thomas and Margaret at which point we put out the blog post. Too, I went to WikiTree as there was a profile for these two (Thomas Gardner) or should I say three? As, 'unknown' was there. At that time, I did a few things and went on as I was writing several articles (The Essex Genealogist) which have given us ahnentafels for Dr. Frank (his father's side, I now have his hand-written lineage on his mother's side which I'll key in) which includes Benjamin Brown Gardner and Lucy Foster Wilson. We're first cousins, in that sense. 

Too, I got involved in getting further informed about England and that whole environment. Of late, I got back to looking at Sherborne, for several reasons (son, John; Folger; Dr. Frank, and others). Or, I ought to say Dorset. King John loved his Corfe Castle. Queen Elizabeth is shown in a painting being carried by noblemen at Sherborne Castle (the painting is there). 

I also stopped by WikiTree to see what was happening. Well, a query had been made in 2016 as to whether the kids ought to be taken from Margaret's profile and moved to that of the unknown. So, I weighed in and mentioned the marriage record from 2014. And, I mentioned the arguments for this: Sherborne, Dorset. I mentioned the Peirce family (for more than Charles Sanders Peirce) as many families have been poking around. We are trying to gather all of this stuff. Like that of the Paine sisters. This will all be documented, and we'll put a link to the material (shortly).

As well, we need to look at references to Thomas and Margaret. One known first reference is 1827 by Felt, working in Salem, who talked to a lot of people. We may find more. Too, records are being scanned in all of the time, transcribed, and indexed. So, that will help.

Margaret Friar, baptism

After seeing the discussions, I went back to look at my records and found that John Cook had sent to me a baptism record for Margaret (see image), the marriage record of her parents (close enough in time to be her parents), and the will of Margaret's father which mentions her plus a few other things. However, her father died in 1610 so the will mentions Margaret Friar not Gardner. But, we also have birth/baptism records for the first three kids with the names matching. As an aside, we will be looking further at (introducing here) Walter Friar and Grace Mullins of Sherborne. 

About WikiTree. I found out that the genealogists hang out there. Too, they are trying to stay true to the NEHGS work plus newer stuff, as the entry on Thomas dates from the 1980s. So, the Gardner Research work is considered to be after that. 

Essentially, there was an agreement that this is the Margaret and Thomas. But, there are lots of other questions to look at. I set a time frame of five years or sooner as that would match up with the 400th of the 1623 entry. A major researcher noted that first year over 100 years ago. That is, a boat arrived in 1623 with a crew that overwintered; another came in 1624. Margaret was on the later one, according to Dr. Frank. 

Still things to settle. 

But, the purpose for this post? Well, it has been decided to merge unknown and Margaret together. So, the profile for Thomas will have Margaret and Damaris as his wives.

Again, everyone. Use, please, Thomas and Margaret without worrying about being dumped on. 

That is a first step. One of many to come. So, please stay tuned. 

Remarks: Modified: 09/23/2018

09/23/2018 --  Recently, the profile changed to having only two wives. The profile is managed by the Puritan Great Migration Project which is sponsored by NEGHS.