Should Joseph Wilcoxson's (b 1635) wife's name be changed?

Question

Joseph Wilcoxson has as his wife Margaret Ann (Sheather). There are no quality sources of this information on his profile. There is a link to an Ancestry page that discussed his marriage to Margaret, but also has no sources, and says that no records have been found.

There is an American Genealogist article showing that his wife was Anna ______ (TAG 59:36, link added to profile).  In the article, it discusses the "error" that caused people to utilize the last name Sheather for his wife, citing an additional source (also added to the profile).  These two sources suggest that her last name was very probably Mitchell, and has her as likely being the daughter of Thomas Mitchell.

''Families of Old Fairfield'' 1:690, has his wife's name as Ann _______.

Are there any quality sources that show his wife's last name at birth should be Sheather? If not, should her first name be changed to Ann or Anna, and her last name change to Mitchell, with "uncertain" status flag?

I've added a Disputed Wife section to the profile with the sources for this information.

Answer 1

I've added to the disputed wife section. My source said Sheather. But I examined the sources cited, only one of which supported Sheather and that had no sources.

So I agree that her name should be changed. I actually think it should be changed to Unknown, because the proof for Mitchell is just not there.

Comments

I found another source - ''A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City of Bridgeport, Connecticut'' - and added it to the bio.  It says her name was Anna _____.

Another source I found, from ''Fifty Puritan ancestors, 1628-1660 : genealogical notes, 1560-1900'' by Elizabeth Nash, also states his wife's name as Anna _______.

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We have added roughly 14-15 quality sources showing Joseph married Anna or Ann ________. Not that the count is important, but it is important that these sources are all providing the same information for his wife.

Answer 2

The wife identified on Joseph's profile, Margaret Ann Sheather was supposedly the daughter of John and Susanna _______ Sheather (according to Margaret's profile).  She is shown with a birth year of 1637, in Stratford. However, according to Torrey, John and Susanna ______ married in 1651 in Guilford, CT.

The NEHGR states that John Sheather came to Guilford, CT about 1650, and shows the first child of John and Susanna Sheather as being born in 1651; none of the girls are named Margaret. One is Hannah, but she was born probably after 1660, and married Thomas Hull (NEHGR 59:45). I have not found any other John Sheather's being in Connecticut any earlier, thus making it doubtful that "Margaret" is John and Susanna's daughter, and more doubtful that she is Joseph's wife.

No records have been found of any Sheather/Shether being born in Connecticut before 1651.

The only "sources" of information about Margaret Ann Sheather being the daughter of John Sheather, and wife of Joseph Wilcoxson are the Pedigree Research File, International Genealogical Institute, and the Ancestral file, none of which are considered good sources of information.

As such, it appears Margaret Ann Sheather was neither the daughter of John, nor the wife of Joseph Wilcoxson.

Comments

Don't I remember seeing in the tag article that a daughter of John shether, Hannah, was actually married to Joseph's son John.

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Yes, I saw that too, about Hannah. It is in the TAG 59:37 article. Since John was born ca 1675, Hannah likely was born around that timeframe as well. Per the TAG article, her parents were John and Elizabeth (Wellman) Shether.  

Wilcox/Wilcoxson Familes of New England showed Anna Sheather marrying Joseph in 1658/9.

Answer 3

My source has both Anna Mitchell (they had no children) and then he married Margaret Ann Sheather 1658 in Stratford. She was b. abt 1635 d. aft. 1706 in Killingsworth, CT. Her parents are John Sheather and Elizabeth Wellman.

The original papers in the settlement of his estate are on file in the Connecticut State Library, Hartford, CT. #5717.

I have no additional information about Anna Mitchell since she did not have any children with Joseph.

Comments

After some more research, I believe we might be looking for an Anna Shailer, daughter of Thomas Shailer. There happens to be a [[Willcockson-15 | Anna (Shailer) Willcockson]] profile that should be considered.

I started looking for some sources to confirm who Anna might be and ran across this in my own notes, "Anna, the wife of Joseph Wilcoxson was a Shailor (also spelled Shaler). There are several allusions to the Shaler family in the earliest Killingworth records. In one place William Wilcoxson is mentioned as heritor of 12 acres "which were formerly Goodman Shailers," the inference being that the latter was William's grandfather and Anna's father."

Sadly, this information was collected before I understood the importance of sourcing and I only took an excerpt out of a book and didn't catch the name or author. Much of the information looks to be from Descendants of William Wilcoxson “Father of Connecticut”  Compiled by Thomas Wilcox, Los Angeles, California, Published Feb 20, 1937. However, the report was abbreviated to focus on the lineage of Elmira Jane Wilcox which, by coincidence, it begins with Joseph Wilcox.

Answer 4

Joseph-2 Willcockon's wife, Anna -----,  is often incorrectly identified as Anna-3 Sheather, daughter of John-1 and Elizabeth (Wellman) Sheather. Anna-3 Sheather married Joseph-2 Willcockson's son, John-3 Willcockson. Below is a verbatim excerpt from George E. McCracken (1904-1986) FASG [Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists] and Editor of The American Genealogist (1966-1984), "The Connecticut Willcocksons," The American Genealogist (59[January 1983]: 36:

“Joseph, b. ca. 1635, d. by 1684; m. Anna -----… An anonymous note in The Hartford Times in answer to Query 5106 (1) B.M.S., 18 August 1939, wrongly states that Anna was daughter of John and Elizabeth (-----) Sheather, thereby confusing her with her daughter-in-law…”

Joseph-2 Willcock’s wife, Anna -----, has also been incorrectly identified as Anna-2 Shailor/Shaylor (Thomas-1) based on a weak assumption with respect to their son:

“William Wilcoxon [(Joseph-2, William-1])… is also mentioned, 12/23/1698 as owner of 12 acres ‘which were formerly Goodman Shailors[.]’ This stamps him as a grandson of Thomas Shailor, immigrant settler of that family. Hence our deduction that his mother, Anna was a Shailor.” (Thomas Wilcox, Descendants of William Wilcoxson of Derbyshire, England and Stratford, Connecticut [Salt Lake City, Utah: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1967]; FHL Film 483720 item 2; excerpts attached as a Memory to this profile).

Thomas Shayler (1639-1692) was close in age to Joseph-2 and Anna (-----) Willcockson; he could not have been Anna’s father.