I trace my lineage, in theory*, to James Peebles, who was born on October 19 1765 (according to some sources) or 1766 (according to others) in New Salem, MA, and died in 1860 in Orford, Grafton, NH. He married Martha Haskell/Hascall and had various kids. THAT much, pretty much everyone agrees upon. His parentage, though, is a bit muddled.
I (and perhaps my eldest cousin, whose paper genealogy I transcribed) had been in agreement with sources that identified his parents as Robert Peebles (1737-1788) and Martha Forbush Peebles (c.1741-1834), such as:
Robert and Martha are well-enough documented, appearing in DAR Lineage Book 43 - I actually just updated their profiles a bit, thinking that I had managed to find my closest ancestors in the big tree!
However, other mentions of Robert and Martha don't list James among their children. And the
Haskell Family Association on Rootsweb lists James's parents as Robert and
Mary (with no birthdates for either), and still
other sources, notably the 1910
Genealogical and Family History of Northern New York, Volume 2 (p. 568) and possibly also the 1985
Robert Peebles from Ulster, 1718, insist that there was a Robert b.1725, but he was not the father but rather the second cousin of James, and that in fact James's father and grandfather had also been named James.
Anybody have any idea which is right?
*In theory because there's also uncertainty over whether my third great grandmother, Emily (Peebles) Green, was the same person as James's daughter Mahala (whom everyone has a birth for, but nothing else), or her twin (born the same year), or... not James's kid after all. What a mess! ;)
