Martha (Unknown) Holt (1622 - 1703)

If her maiden name is unknown, how is it that we know she was born in Hadlow, Kent, England?

FWIW: Here is full Citation to the Preston and Holt articles in “The Great Migration” series:

ROGER PRESTON: Great Migration 1634-1635, M-P. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2010.) Originally published as: The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume V, M-P, by Robert Charles Anderson. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2007, pp.514-518. https://www.americanancestors.org/DB401/i/12155/514/235143317

NICHOLAS HOLT: Great Migration 1634-1635, G-H. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009.) Originally published as: The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume III, G-H, by Robert Charles Anderson. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2003, pp.. 397-401. https://www.americanancestors.org/DB116/i/7118/397/235154616

Hi GR I should add that I reviewed all the links presented. As a retired industrial Quality Assurance Auditor (Metalurgical Genealogist) Perusing those resources was invaluable and well worth reading. that is what Wikitree is all about, Collaboration.

Thank you, LNAB now reads Unknown, Hopefully we can climb through this Brick wall.

Here is another researcher who finds no Martha in the family of William and Joanna (Blessing) Towne. Although there are no source citations or footnotes (typical of the period when the author was writing) he claims in his introduction to have consulted town records. Bible records, wills and other decent primary sources, so it's worth taking a look at what he has to say.

The Descendants of William Towne: Who Came to America on Or about 1630 and Settled in Salem, Mass., by E. E. Towne, 1901 - 372 pages https://books.google.com/books?id=5_QUAAAAYAAJ&q=

Continued: Please note I'm not accusing anybody here of fraud. I'm sure everyone is acting out of the best motives in pursuit of the truth. It's just that we have to be aware that some unscrupulous people 100 years ago created some false connections in order to supply wealthy clients with much desired noble ancestries, and we want to be careful not to perpetuate the lies they told their customers. Don't we?

The men and women who tilled the soil to feed a nation, and the common soldiers who defended them are noble enough for me.

A royal or notable connection (such as to the Boleyn family) which runs through a child for whose existence there is little or no evidence (such as an unrecorded daughter named Martha in the Towne family) especially with dates that don't quite add up, as here, is a warning sign of possible genealogical fraud. That's why I believe it better to note Martha's suggested Towne lineage in her biography.

See: https://web.archive.org/web/20050521075636/http://www.familychronicle.com/Fraudulent.html https://web.archive.org/web/20050208092830/http://personal.linkline.com:80/xymox/fraud/fraud223.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20050218091655/http://personal.linkline.com:80/xymox/fraud/anjousbu.htm http://web.archive.org/web/20121116053134/http://personal.linkline.com/xymox/fraud/fraud.htm

Using LNAB Towne there are historic connections to the Boleyn family that could not be researched if LNAB was Unknown. Ref Towne-255

1. there are over 261000 profiles entered as Unknown for PFN or LNAB. 2. CLN edited to read. Holt

Wouldn't it be a good idea to make the following changes to the surnames on Martha's profile:

Surname at Birth = "UKNOWN" (instead of TOWNE) ; Current Surname = "HOLT" (instead of PRESTON) ; Other Surnames = "PRESTON"

The way it stands now Martha is showing up in the profiles of her 1st husband, Roger Preston, her 2d husband, Nicholas Holt, and all of her children, as "Martha (Towne) Preston," which only serves to perpetuate the unsubstantiated myth that Martha, the widow of Roger Preston, and 3d wife of Nicholas Holt of Andover was Martha Blessing Towne.

All the other surname variations could then be handled by a note in the biographical section of Martha's profile without polluting the Holt and Preston profiles with misleading information.

Her parents married in 1620 in England, six children were baptised in England 1621-1634, but no Martha. William Towne did not arrive in New England early enough for this supposed birth in Ipswich. There are no (non-Ancestry-tree) sources that support the link between this supposed child and William Towne. Do the PMs still suggest she is their child?

Hi guys,

Just went through Anderson's Great Migration, and in the articles about both of Martha's husbands she is given no maiden name, and no parents, but is a Martha Unknown. Based on Anderson, she should be disconnected from the parents shown, right? (sorry ;)