Is William Higgins of VA the same person as William H. b in Eastham, MA (descendant of Stephen Hopkins of Mayflower)?

Question

Currently, WikiTree has William Higgins of Caroline, VA as the son of Samuel Higgins and Thankful Mayo of Eastham, Massachusetts.  This would make him a descendant of Mayflower passenger Stephen Hopkins through Thankful Mayo.

I don't believe this is an accepted Mayflower descent line, and I can't find any evidence connecting William born in Eastham with the man who was in Virginia.

Unless there is some evidence I'm missing, I think that William b in Eastham should be a separate profile from William m Anne Yarborough and lived in Caroline County, Viriginia.

Comments

Doesn't seem very likely that they would be the same.

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I agree.  I'm going to separate them.  Just doing my due diligence.

Answer 1

I took the tack of assuming he didn't leave Massachusetts, since I know little about Virginia records. 

I've added to his profile the little that's in the Mayflower Families 5 Generations on Hopkins. It suggests the possibility that William removed to Medfield, Mass., and with wife Deborah had 3 children. I found evidence of a fourth, and Deborah's burial is out in western Massachusetts. So, if William of Eastham is the same as William of Medfield, he probably died by, say, the 1760s. Deborah's daughters married in Mass., and appear to have remained there. It does not appear that Deborah married a second time.

I found no evidence of a death record, will or probate file for William Higgins. The one probate file I did find, in Suffolk Co. 1758, was not his, but for an (apparent) unmarried mariner in Boston. 

Comments

Thanks, Bobbie.  And apparently early deed for Barnstable were destroyed by fire?  Which makes it even harder to know if William even lived to adulthood.

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Correct. 1827 fire burned all but one volume of the early land records. Some were re-recorded but they are mainly lost.

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And checking the index for [which still survives, although the records themselves don't], there is no grantee named William Higgins in the index that starts in 1703.