There seem to be two problems with the documentation for Mary Awbrey
1) Was she really the second wife of John Meador?
2) How was she related to Henry Awbrey?
It seems to me that the second question cannot be dealt with until the first is answered, so I’d really like to focus on that question.
Mary Awbrey is generally accepted as the 2nd wife of John Meador, but where is the documentation?
Sources presently listed on Mary’s profile inc.
1) A Find A Grave Memorial that lacks a photo or any other sources (a typical problem with Find A Grave information), in which the information is challenged by one of the people leaving a note
2) A Geni.com page that lists Mary Ann Awbrey as Henry’s daughter without documentation; cites a blog that seems to be about social issues and New Age religion; and provides a transcription of Henry Awbrey’s will, which names his wife Mary, and his granddaughter Mary. (i.e. – nothing to support “Mary Ann” as his daughter, nothing to indicate a marriage between John Meador and anyone named Awbrey.)
Following through, the Geni.com page leads (from “daughter Mary Ann” to a WorldConnect cited source which leads to a page for John Meador which cites Meador and Meador, “Meadors Family in Colonial America” to the effect that the name of John Meador’s second wife’s name is unknown.
The same Gene.com page for “Mary Ann Awbrey” also cites another WorldConnect page, which leads to Janet Ariciu’s page for Mary Aubrey. Ariciu states that Mary Aubrey married John Meador, with the note “Victor Paul Meador in his book states that John Meador married as his 2nd wife Awbrey”. She doesn’t say which of Victor Meador’s books she’s referencing, however.
3) A link to Janet Ariciu’s main page. Following through to her information on John Meador she gives his second wife as “Mrs. Aubrey” b. about 1694, then adds in the same paragraph “Mary Awrey b: 1678” Her source is unclear, but later she states: “The Meadors family has book "The Meador family" ¶ John Meadors will can found in the book. I copy from the book” Presumably, this is Meador and Meador, “Meadors Family in Colonial America”, which includes transcriptions of the documents she copes?
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In other words, none of the sources cited for Mary Awbrey provide documentation for her marriage to John Meador. So where does that information come from?
In 1983, Victor Meador and Bernal Meador published “Our Meador Families in Colonial America”, based in extensive (and apparently exhaustive) research in original records. They state (p. 54) “the name of this second wife [for John Meador] cannot be determined.”
On 20 June 2000, Shirley Seal Breeden (after Ancestry.com’s take-over she is now listed as “genealogy.com user”) posted a message on GenForm in which she said: “John [Meador] remarried a Mary, some think she was the widow of Henry Awbry”
On 8 June 2000, eight days later, a on the Rootsweb Meadows email list stated in part: “Where did I get the first name of Mary for "Miss Awbrey/Aubrey?" [as the 2nd wife of John Meador]” . . . ¶ “The references given from FTM and other files I found were: Our Meador Families in Colonial America by Victor P Meador and Bernal M Meador (I have not personally seen this reference.)” . . . . ¶ “Shirley Seal Breeden has also recently listed Mary Awbrey as the 2nd wife of John Meadows (b 1858). This is documented in a post by her on the Meadows GenForum posted on June 20, 2000. She does not give her documentation but says she has a new book coming out soon which will give this and other updates from her earlier Meadows book.”
(Note – need I say, neither Meador and Meador nor Shirley Breeden said what was attributed to them?)
So, somewhere between 1983 and 2000 John Meador’s 2nd wife went from being “unknown” to being either “Mary” or “Miss/Mrs. Awbrey” to “Mary Awbrey” and has since acquired additional names.
Does anyone have any references that would suggest where this information came from? Is it possible that somewhere someone actually has a reference to a real source?
With apologies for the long post,
Gayel
