Question

Should Eleanor, wife of Edward Howell, be connected as 2nd wife of Thomas Sayre?

The cast of characters.

• Eleanor wife of Edward Howell. I'm not seeing anything firm that calls her maiden name Maire, but maybe that's the topic of a separate discussion.
• Edward Howell and his son Edmund Howell
• Thomas Sayre.

The record: "Edmond Howell sells to his father in law Thomas Sayre, all that belongs to said Edmund by right of his father deceased, from ye towne, in exchange for Thomas Sayre's share ... March ye 4th 1663. [Src: Records of the town of Southhampton, 2:228

The progression:

• 1887. George Howell. "Early History of Southampton" (p. 319) "Edmund Howell must have married a d. of Thomas Sayre."
• 1901. Thomas Banta author of the "Sayre Family" (p. 24) attributes an unknown daughter of Thomas Sayre, who married Edmond Howell.
• 1939. Herbert Seversmith. "Colonial Families of Long Island." (footnote p. 1425) "Thomas Sayre was the "father" of Edmund Howell. Probably a step father, it may be that Eleanor, widow of Edware Howell, had married to Thomas Sayre. ... Further investigation is needed. (note I don't see any further investigation.
• 1985. entered as fact in "Descendants of Edward Howell." The Genealogist vol 5. p. 3 and footnote #17 p. 37 which cites Seversmith.
• 2011: Entered as fact in Douglas Richardson's Magna Carta Ancestry. p. 426. Also found as a post here.

Comments

no objection based on Richardson's information - the same in both 2011's Magna Carta Ancestry and 2013's Royal Ancestry:

Edward married (2) Eleanor ____ before 1632. They had three sons (Henry, Arthur, and Edmund). Eleanor married (2) Thomas Sayre before 14 March 1663. "Her subsequent history is unknown."