Wife of Nathaniel Atwood Sr.

Question

There appears to be conflicting info on the wife of Nathaniel Atwood.  It seems like there may have been a change in thought over the years as to whether she was from the Morey family or the Lucas family.  Does anyone know what the current belief is?  One wife should be removed, but I don't know which one.  I just added several children to the father, but I didn't attach them to either wife because I wasn't certain which one was correct.

Comments

According to her WikiTree profile, Mary Morey is the daughter of Jonathan Morey.  However, in the 2004 edition of the Warren Silver Book, Jonathan does not have a daughter named Mary.  He first married Mary Bartlett (Warren descendant) and had three children (Jonathan, John, and Hannah). He second married Hannah Pincen and had no children.  So where did this Mary come from?  And who did she marry?

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As I kept digging, I found this: "The Mayflower Society has accepted members through a dau. Mary Morey who m. Nathaniel Atwood. No evidence has been found to support this line and Mrs. Barclay's research in TAG 32:196 shows this line is highly unlikely. See MD 47:74-5 for further comments on this problem." (page 14 Warren Silver Book)

Answer 1

I think the Alicia Crane Williams article from 1994 that's referenced on the Nathaniel's profile spells it out.  But it sounds like Lucas is more likely but not proven:

"He married Mary [Lucas?], perhaps daughter of Thomas Lucas (see below) born circa 1659-1660....Benjamin Shurtleff claimed in his Descendants of William Shurtleff [1912] that she was Mary Morey, a descendant of Richard Warren. This claim was supposedly based upon family records written on "scraps of paper" available only to Shurtleff.  The most recent article discussing the very complicated problem of Mary's identity is Eugene A Stratton's "Mary, Wife of Nathaniel Atwood," in The Mayflower Quarterly... 48[1982]:127-30.

There's more on the Lucas theory which comes from the graves of Nathaniel & Mary and some of their children being close to the graves of Benoni Lucas and family, as well as naming patterns. See TAG 41:200-205.

Link to article at NEHGS: https://www.americanancestors.org/DB407/i/13645/139/0

Comments

So, we know his wife is not Morey, and his wife could be Lucas. Does that sound right? If so, all of his children should be attached to Lucas and he should be disconnected from Morey.

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Makes sense to me.

Did Johnathon Morey and Mary Bartlett have a daughter Mary?  If not, it might make sense to merge her into Mary Lucas.  Unless, she's likely to just be added again, in which case it might make sense to keep her profile and add either the Uncertain or Disproven Existence template.

Technically, Nathaniel's wife should be unknown, but there seems to be at least an argument for her being Mary Lucas, but I would set her relationship with her children as Uncertain, so that gets flagged when someone looks at the pedigree.

Answer 2

Are you talking of Deacon  Nathaniel Atwood born Feb. 25, 1655 in Plymouth Colony?  If so, his wife is listed as Mary  Morey or Lucas. She was a descendent of Mayflower passenger  Richard Warrent. Daughter of Johnathon Morey and Mary Bartlett, the widow of Richard Foster.

Mary Morey married Nathaniel In 1683.

I found the information at Family central family history services and find a grave.

Comments

His wife, Mary, being a descendant of Richard Warren is no longer accepted by the Mayflower Society. It was in the past, which is why you see this info in some places.