Thomas Marshall should be in PGM

Question

[[Marshall-2779|Thomas Marshall (abt.1613-1709)]] should be tagged with Puritan Great Migration. He appears in GM2 vol.5 p.46.

Answer 1

I have been reviewing the information on the 'Thomas Marshall's listed in this G2G made available in Anderson's The Great Migration Newsletter, Volumes 1-25. Boston: NEHGS, 2017. 'Marshall' is listed on pages 376, 511, 548, 551, 552, 558 and 788 (of the volumes). Briefly:

376 is an internal comparison of entries between the Register and the report

511-512 is on Problem Passengers and essentially discusses the difficulty of distinguishing between the two Thomas Marshalls and which is the accurate passenger. This was covered well above. Anderson reports that Savage and pope intermingled the records, while Lindberg and Patricia Law Hatcher have begun the disentangling process [TEG 16:158-69, 231-34; NEHGR 160:293-94]

548 Discusses freemanship for, probably, Capt. Thomas Marshalle of Lynn, who might be the Thomas Marshall who sailed for NE in 1635 on the James [Hotten 107; GM2:5:46-47]

551-552, 558...This is interesting: Discusses Thomas Marshall, who had settled in Boston by 1634 [GM2:5:41-46] was a supporter of Anne Hutchinson & John Wheelwright (what sinners!). Article states that Marshall didn't recant, but was not excommunicated. Bottom of 552 & top of 558 is a letter from Thomas Marshall dated 3 of the 9th 1643. It might be helpful to determine the accurate PGM based on which of the two were involved in the Hutchinson scandal.

788 top left starts out with Thomas Marshall being admitted to Boston church on 31 Aug 1634, eldest child born about 1727 indicating he was born say 1602 & would have been about 32 when he was included in this church list.

This information above might help determine which Thomas Marshall came over on the James. If there is still confusion, my own penny's worth would be to support S Willson's suggestion as to the adjunct box.

Comments

Thanks for the GM Newsletter references Thomas of Boston on p.551ff and p.788 is a slighty older third man of the same name, Marshall-2054.

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Hi Susan, thank you for your kind support.

I truly added this information to assist the PGM team in determining which Thomas Marshall is PGM and to provide additional information for their respective profiles if not already there.

Andrew Millard had already determine that there is a third Thomas to add to the already difficult to identify Thomas Marshall stew pot!

Answer 2

There are two men named Thomas Marshall who immigrated to Massachusetts Bay. 

One (Marshall-2779)--the focus of your G2G--includes in narrative that his estimate birth is 1616, based on a Middlesex County deposition of 1661 (then "aged about 45 years").  

The other (Marshall-177) has an estimated birth of 1613--aged 22 on 13 July 1635 (passenger list of the James) and is tagged PGM. WikiTree associates this Thomas Marshall as the man appearing in "GM2 vol.5 p.46."

Assuming it is indeed the other Thomas Marshall-177 who arrived aboard the James, then as to Marshall-2779, what is the source memorializing his earliest notice at New England? 

Comments

Anderson in GM2 vol.5 p.46 says that it is impossible to tell which Thomas Marshall was on the 1635 passenger list and treats them equally.

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To me, the disambiguation paragraph on each profile makes it clear that we can't say for sure which man was the 1635 immigrant.  So, as far as being eligible for PGM, we can only pick one, which happens to be Marshall-177.

Gene's suggestion of adding a sentence on (probably both profiles) very explicitly stating "There can be only one" probably makes the most sense.  If more information or analysis comes to light that shows we backed the wrong horse, easy enough to switch in the future.

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If the Lindberg article (Essex Genealogist 16 (1996), page 159, by Marcia Wiswall Lindberg) is given credence, the author places Mary (Marshall) Russell as the daughter of Thomas Marshall (carpenter) and Joan/ne, which would have them in New England by 1640.

Updated to add: However, the above article doesn't say where Mary was born in 1639, except that her birth wasn't listed in the Reading VRs

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Hi Andrew, 

I gather that you believe we should associate two different men, both Thomas Marshall, as the one passenger by that name aboard the James. 

Rather than further the record confusion about the two men, I will recommend we place the PGM Adjunct box on Marshall-2779 and include comments.   

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I can't find any records backing Mary's birth year. My guess is that the assumption is that Mary was at least 20 when she was married in 1659, hence the 1639 birth year. Probably a pretty safe bet, but unfortunately, there's no documentation of the birth.

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I believe that neither man can be associated with the passenger record with much higher certainty than the other.

The PGM project page says the tag is "For Individuals documented in the NEHGS Great Migration Study Project" which includes both Marshall-2779 and Marshall-177 equally. I can't see why they can't both be tagged, but I'm not a PGM member and maybe I'm misunderstanding the rules.

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A good solution is to add the PGM Adjunct project box to -2779. Both he and -177 were "profiled" in Anderson, but together in one profile; Anderson couldn't tell which man was actually on the James. The Essex Genealogist makes the statement that Captain Thomas Marshall was probably the one, but the article was written in 1996, before Anderson's ''The Great Migration...'', and apparently Anderson was not convinced that the author was correct, based on the Thomas Marshall(s) profile.