Bethiah (Holmes) Miner (1715 - bef. 1744)

Born 29 Jul 1715 in Stonington, New London, Connecticut

Ancestors

Wife of Benajah Billings — married 24 Nov 1739 in Westerly, Kings, Rhode Island

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Elizabeth Hyatt [send private message]

Biography

Bethiah Holmes was born 29 Jul 1715, the eighth child of Joshua Holmes and Fear Sturgis of Stonington, Connecticut.

Research Notes Three reference sources state that she married twice:

1st. Benajah Billings, 24 Nov 1739

2nd. David Miner

Note: These details of her marriages were missing in the first printing of The History of Stonington (Wheeler, 1900), but were corrected in the second printing with the special 4 page corrections & additions section [[1]] succeeding the preface, but which remains incorrect in the Google online version. They are listed also in the Brown Genealogy and in the Genealogy of the Chesebrough Family.

Whereas the first marriage, to Benajah Billings, is plausible in view of their age congruity, an ostensible second marriage to this David Miner, who was born in 1726, is less plausible (but nevertheless possible) because David would have been 11 years younger than Bethiah. If these two people did indeed marry, then Benajah must have died before Bethiah had the chance to marry David Miner. Keeping in mind that David didn't reach the age of majority until 1744, if in fact he did marry Bethiah it must have occurred after that; subsequently Bethiah herself must have died before 1753 when David married (for the second time?) in November of that year. His "second" wife as currently attached, Bertha Miner, was born in 1731 (thus on the basis of their disparate birth dates apparently not to be conflated with Bethiah). As a sidebar for consideration, it is also possible that the 'David Miner' who ostensibly married Bethiah Holmes could have been a different man than currently profiled. For these reasons, the marriage of Bethiah (Holmes) with David Miner, as currently profiled, should be considered 'uncertain'.

Bethiah is a Mayflower descendant (John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley).

Sources

• Genealogy of the Descendants of William Chesebrough, Founder of Stonington, Ct. Author: Anna Chesebrough Wildey Publication: New York: Press of T. A. Wright 1903; p. 513: https://archive.org/stream/genealogydescen00wildgoog#page/n537/mode/1up

• History of the Town of Stonington 1649-1900, By Richard Wheeler 1900; p. 436 no. 26: https://archive.org/stream/historyoftownofs00whee_1#page/n458/mode/1up ; p. 238, no. 55: https://archive.org/stream/historyoftownofs00whee_1#page/n260/mode/1up

• BROWN Genealogy, Vol. II; The Everett Press, Boston (1915); Cyrus H. Brown; p. 213, no. 22: https://archive.org/details/browngenealogyof02brow/page/213

• White, Elizabeth Pearson. John Howland of the Mayflower (Picton Press, Camden, ME, 1990) Vol. 1, Page 254.