Hi all, I've been cleaning up my sizable genealogy database, too much of which I put together on Ancestry.com with an excess of trust; it contains a lot of PGM ancestors, as my father's mother was a Dickinson from South Hadley, and *her* grandmother was a Rehoboth Bullock. Among other things, I've been looking scrutinizing very-young marriages and births, often a sign of trouble.
So, the next in the queue was young Mary Church, born 2 Nov 1632 (effectively 1633), married c. 1645 (age about 12), to Isaac Graves (son of Thomas) in Hartford, CT; and with a child, Mary Graves, born July 5, 1647 (mother not yet 15).
Now, this is beyond suspicious; I've seen just one solidly-sourced early New England marriage at 17, with a child born soon after. 23 is a typical marriage age; 19 is young. Digging in, there is no suggestion that Isaac had a prior wife; Mary and Isaac's marriage is estimated as happening after 1645, when the Thomas Graves family first appears in the Hartford record, and before the 1647 birth. She is certainly Isaac's wife; six children appear in the Hartford and Hadley/Hatfield records, and she's listed as "my daughter Graves" in her father's will.
With everything following 1647 sourced, the 2 Nov 1632 birthdate is suspicious. Consulting Wikitree, I see her birthdate given as 2 Nov 1630, in Hadley; still too young, and Hadley wasn't settled -- at all -- until 1659. I bet I know how this date was constructed. (The family on Wikitree also needs some merges and cleanup...)
OK, where did this date come from? None of the pre-1900 genealogies and histories seem to have it; they all say the Richard Church family turned up in Hartford c. 1637, and may or may not have come with Hooker, or just after, and all his children are presumed to have been born pre-Hartford, as their births aren't in Hartford records. (Richard received rights to a small amount of "undivided lands" in the Hartford 1640 division of lands -- Jan 3 1639/40, Julian date -- which argues an arrival between 1635 and 1638, probably towards the latter, since it depended on prior development of property; see: https://archive.org/stream/colonialhistoryo00hart#page/124/mode/2up/search/Richard )
Until -- aha! It seems that all the Richard Church genealogy prior to Hartford, including birthdates, come from a 1914 genealogy published by Charles Washburn Church -- who, alas, depended on Gustave Anjou.
That is, they are evidently fraudulent. Here's a posting from Richard Lesses, with an account of the fraud, some sources concerning the fraud, and his conclusions:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/soc.genealogy.misc/qoKlbdgsSfE
Also note that the Richard Church family is not listed in Anderson's _Great Migration_ series.
And... Wikitree has the Anjou genealogy.
I'm inclined to:
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Detach Richard Church (Church-166) from the bogus Anjou tree, and Anjou siblings, noting the bogus ancestry in his profile.
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Detach Anne (Marsh-194) from the bogus Marsh Anjou tree (since this makes her an Unknown, does that mean copying her info into a new profile?)
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Disbelieve any Braintree, England-derived genealogy;
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Estimate Richard and his children's birthdates based on family events or other sources. (Also be aware that Norfolk, Hingham, and Plymouth records are from the *other* Richard Church, Church-21, as is his Shoreditch, London, England birthplace.)
(Put me on the trusted list for any of these and I'll go to it.)
Estimations:
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Wife Ann died 10 Mar 1683/84, Hatfield MA, aged 84, so was born c.1600. (See http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Richard_Church_%283%29) (Note that Hadley west of the Connecticut river became Hatfield in 1670, and this is where the Church/Graves families lived)
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Son Deacon Edward Church died Sep. 19, 1704, aged 76 (Hatfield) so was born c. 1628 (Tombstone inscription -- see: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=15358255)
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Daughter Mary (Church) Graves: Based on marriage c. 1645 or 46, and birth dates of her children (1647 to 1671) and ages of her, I'd guess b. c. 1625, making her ~21 at marriage, and 46 at birth of last child. Richard and Ann would be about 25 when she was born, and she'd be about 3 years younger than Edward.
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Note that Mary's husband Isaac Graves also has an unclear ancestry, but whether or not his father Thomas was also the engineer Thomas of Charlestown, from Kent England, Isaac's birthdate isn't known, but is usually estimated as 1620. See: http://www.gravesfa.org/gen131.htm and http://www.gravesfa.org/gen168.htm)
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Samuel: became freeman of Connecticut in 1657, making him at least 21 in 1657, thus b. 1636 or before; his children were born 1665-1682 (wife Mary Churchill? b. 1639, died 1684)
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John: was made freeman 1658, so b. 1637 or before (see Catalog of Puritan Names, below); while John is given the birthdate of May 9, 1636, this seems to start with the bogus Washburn genealogy, and is never sourced. He married 1657 (d. 1691 with 10 children named in will, including one 15 and one 12 yr. old child; so last child born c. 1679)
(Post with sources follows, as this is over 8000 chars.)
