PGM: TAG disputes the existence of Nathan Lord's wife Judith Conley [closed]

Question

In 2010 Joseph C Anderson II a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists (FASG) and Priscilla Easton CG published a genealogy of Nathan Lord in "The English Origins of Nathan1 Lord of Kittery, Maine: With an Account of the Conley Family of Cranbrook, Kent, England and the Ancestry of Abraham1 Conley of Kittery" in The American Genealogist. They dispute the existence of Judith Conely the supposed first wife of Nathan Lord. I've tried to summarize their arguments in the "Origins" and "Disputed First Wife" sections and have a link to the article on AmericanAncestors. The profile of Judith (Conley) Lord is project protected. So I want to bring this to the attention of the PGM leaders so they can decide if she should be disconnected or left connected with the "Disputed First Wife" section."

Thanks!

Comments

Biography

Nathan Lord was, bp at Rye, Sussex, England on 1 Sept. 1633, and died at Kittery, Maine, before 13 Feb. 1690/1^[1][2] [3] He was the son of Nathan Lord of Rye, Shoemaker (1599 - 1633) and Ann (Unknown) Conley.^[1] After the death of his father his mother married Abraham Conley of Wittersham, Clothier as his first wife.^[1] Abraham Conley, his wife Anne (Unknown) (Lord) Conley and young Nathan Lord, and possibly the infant Abraham Conley, immigrated to Maine together, probably by 1638.^[1][2] Nathan Lord received a land grand of 60 acres of salt marsh by the town of Kittery, York, Maine, on December 16, 1652 the same year he signed the Submission to Massachusetts.^[4] He purchased an estate called OLD FIELDS near Mount Misery.^[5] Nathan Lord married Martha Everett before 20 Jun 1656 in Kittery, York, Maine.^[6][1] It was claimed that he was aged 87 years when he died before Feb 1690/1 when Martha was granted administration of his estate in GDMNH. However, Anderson and Easton show in later research that he was actually only 57.^[4][1] In 1903 a second wife was proposed by Charles Chase Lord who was supposedly the daughter of Abraham Conley and Abraham Conley's first wife.^[5] However, in 2010 Joseph C Anderson a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists published an article in The American Genealogist proving that Abraham Conley didn't have a first wife and disputes that he ever had a daughter who married Nathan Lord (see discussion below).^[1]

Children· of Nathan' and Martha (Everett) Lord:^[1][7][7]

1. Nathan Lord, b. ca. 1656-^[1][7]
2. Abraham Lord, b. ca. 1658.^[1][7]
3. Samuel Lord^[1][7]
4. Martha Lord^[1] m 1st Moses Littlefield and 2nd Joseph Abbott (weaver)^[8][7]
5. Mary Lord^[1] m Thomas Downs^[8][7]
6. Sarah Lord^[1][7]
7. Margery Lord^[1][7]
8. Anne Lord^[1][7]
9. Benjamin Lord (Weaver)^[1][7]

To summarize Nathan Lord of Maine was the step-son of Abraham Conley who had married his mother. Joseph C Anderson II a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists (FASG) has found not evidence that Abraham Conley had a relationship to the wife (or wives) of Nathan Lord of Maine. He has disproved that Abraham Conley was the step-father of Nathan Lord's wife Martha Everett. He found no evidence of the existence of a daughter of Abraham Conley who married Nathan Lord of Maine. Charles Chase Lord had previously proposed such a daughter but cited no evidence that she ever existed. Certainly we must concede that we can't prove that she didn't exist either. However, the only evidence we have is the un-sourced work of Charles Chase Lord.

 

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Origins

In 2010 Joseph C Anderson II FASG and Priscilla Easton CG published new discoveries from England including the baptism record of Nathan Lord at Rye, Sussex, England, on 1 September 1633 in "The English Origins of Nathan1 Lord of Kittery, Maine: With an Account of the Conley Family of Cranbrook, Kent, England and the Ancestry of Abraham1 Conley of Kittery" in The American Genealogist.^[1] They also discovered the original marriage record of the widow of Nathan Lord of Rye, Ann, and Abraham Conley on 30 Dec 1634 in Canterbury.

Anderson and Easton also published the records of Kennington:^[9]

Kennington Baptisms:

• 28 March 1596 Honowerthe Lorde, daughter [sic: son] of Abraham Lord.
• 14 May 1599 Nathan Lorde, son of Abraham Lord.
• 6 June 1601 Mary Lorde, daughter of Abraham Lorde.
• 11 March 1603/4 Elizabeth Lorde, daughter of Abraham Lorde.
• 2 Jan. 1619/20 Honourethe Lord of Ashford & Sara Frowd of this parish.

Kennington Marriage:

• 15 Sept. 1618 Susanna, daughter of Honourethe Lord.

Kennington Burials:

• 2 April 1606 "Daughter and infant" of Abraham Lord.
• 3 April 1621 Marie Lord, widow.
• 25 April [1622?) Grace Lord, wife of Nathan Lord.14

The Archdeacon's Transcripts for the neighboring town of Ashford record:

• 3 April 1608 Beniamine the sone of Abraham lord baptised

Hope All Saints, co. Kent Marriage:

• 24 November 1621 Nathan Lord and Grace Millanes^[10]

Rye Baptisms:

• 16 July 1626 John, "the so: of Nathan Lord."
• 9 Nov. 1628 Mary, "the dat'r of Nathan Lord."
• [one-sheet gap in the register for baptisms from June 1630 to March 1631.]
• 25 March 1632 John, "the sonne of Nathan Lord."
• 1 Sept. 1633 Nathan, "the sonne of Nathan Lord."

Rye Burials:

• 22Feb.1630/l Abraham, "the son of Nathan Lord."
• 15 April 1632 John, "the sonne of Nathan Lord."
• 1 Feb. 1633/4 Nathan Lord, "Shoomaker."

They also located the probate records for Nathan Lord, shoemaker who was buried on 1 Feb 1633. Administration of his estate was granted to the relict, Anne Lord, on 29 April 1634:^[1][11]

• 30 Dec. 1634. "W[hi]ch day appeered p[e]rsonally Abraham Conley of Wittresham in the Diosesse of Canterbury clothworker & a bachelor of the age of 31 years or thereaboute, & allegeth that he intendeth to marry with Anne Lorde of the same parish parish [sic] widow the relict of Nathanael [sic] Lord deceased And of the truth of the premisses that he knoweth of no lawfull let or ompediment by reason of any precontract, consanguinity, affinity or otherwise to hinder his intended marriage. He made faith & [signed] Abraham (X) Conley."^[12][13]
• I Jan. 1634/5 Abraham Condly & Ann Lord vid [widow] married by license.
• 5 Nov. 1636 Abraham, son of Abraham & Anne Condly, baptized.^[14]

Taken together Joseph C Anderson argues these data show that Nathan Lord of Maine was the son of Nathan Lord of Rye, shoemaker, and Ann (Unknown). Nathan Lord of Rye was in turn the son of Abraham Lord Kennington. Nathan Lord of Rye's widow, Ann, married second to Abraham Conley. Previous genealogies had supposed that Abraham Conley had a first wife before marrying to Ann. These records clearly show that Abraham Conley of Wittersham had never been married before he married to the widow Ann (Unknown) Lord. Joseph C Anderson also demonstrates that Abraham Conley had only the birth of one child was recorded, a son named Abraham Conley of which there is no further record. No record of a daughter was found.^[1]

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Disputed First Wife

In 2010 Joseph C Anderson II a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists (FASG) and Priscilla Easton CG published a genealogy of Nathan Lord in "The English Origins of Nathan1 Lord of Kittery, Maine: With an Account of the Conley Family of Cranbrook, Kent, England and the Ancestry of Abraham1 Conley of Kittery" in The American Genealogist.^[1] Abraham Conley referred to Nathan Lord as his "son-in-law" in his will. Joseph C Anderson argues that the meaning of the term "son-in-law" also meant "step-son" during this period. As proven above Nathan Lord of Maine was the step-son of Abraham Conley because Abraham Conley had married his mother Ann. Joseph C Anderson writes:

• "It seems that C. C. Lord and Stackpole were trying to explain why Abraham Conley referred to Nathan Lord as his "son-in-law" in his will (see Conley Family below). A modem-day assumption would be that Nathan had married a daughter of Abraham Conley. Nathan's oldest son named a daughter Judith, so this was a plausible name. Son-in-law in Abraham's time, however, also meant stepson a term that precisely describes Nathan's relationship to Abraham Conley when Abraham married the widow Anne Lord in 1634/5. There was no need to invent the fictitious Judith Conley. The name Judith was taken from one of Nathan's daughters and proposed as the name of his first wife. Hence the creation of a Judith Conley who never existed." "One crucial claim made by C. C. Lord (and repeated many times since) appears manifestly. incorrect. This is the claim that Abraham Conley had a first wife and that he and this first wife were the parents of a daughter, Judith Conley, who became Nathan1 Lord's first wife." "Stackpole also said that Nathan's first wife was a daughter of Abraham Conley, but he expressed some uncertainty about her given name. On his marriage license, Abraham Conley was described as a "bachelor," indicating he had not been married previously. No Judith Conley or Judith Lord has been found in any English or American records, and there is no indication that she existed. Nor is there a record showing or suggesting that Nathan had a wife prior to his proven wife, Martha Everett."^[1]

Joseph C Anderson reviewed the previous literature and source maternal and found no primary evidence for a first wife named Judith Conley.^[1] In 1903 a second wife of John Lord was proposed by Charles Chase Lord who was supposedly the daughter of Abraham Conley and Abraham Conley's first wife who he married before he married to John Lord's mother Ann (Unknown).^[5] However, Joseph C Anderson proved that Abraham Conley didn't have a first wife (see above) and finds no evidence he had a daughter who married Nathan Lord.^[1]

Stackpole in 1903 published the earliest account of Nathan Lord based on information provided to him by Charles Chase Lord who posited that Abraham Conley was Nathan Lord's father-in-law. However, Stackpole quested that her given name was Judith:

• "Nathan Lord is thought to have come from the county of Kent, Eng., with Abraham Conley, whose daughter (Judith?) was his [Nathan's] first wife. He married (2) Martha, daughter of William and Margery Everett, who was born about 1640, as a deposition shows. Nathan Lord died about 1690, aged about 87 years."^[15]

In 1912 Charles Chase Lord (Stackpole's informant) published his own book and states that Judith Conley, Nathan Lord's first wife were step-siblings via Abraham Conley. In other words Judith Conley was the daughter of Abraham Conley by his first wife before he married Ann:

• The Rev. John Heard Lord of Berwick, Me., writing from London, Eng., to the Biddeford, Me., Journal, under the date of August 15, 1901, says that there he has found the family register of Nathan Lord, father of Nathan1 Lord, of ancient Kittery, Me., and that Nathan Lord's mother, Anne, a widow, married Abraham Conley. The first wife of Nathan 1 Lord was a daughter of Abraham Conley by a wife antecedent to Anne Lord. Abraham Conley, said to have been from Kent, England, was the father of Judith, first wife of Nathan1 Lord, and is said to have been in Kittery, Me., as early as 1637. September 28, 1653, he had a town grant of seven acres adjoining the sixty granted to Nathan 1 Lord. This is said to have been about the time of the marriage of Nathan Lord and Judith Conley."^[5]

In 1928 Sybil Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby, and Walter Goodwin Davis in The Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire published that Abraham Conley was instead the stepfather of Nathan's wife Martha Everett and not related to Nathan himself otherwise.^[4] They pointed out that he was administrator of the estate of both his brother-in-law William Everett Jr in 1678 and Abraham Conley in 1678 who they believed was the step-father of his wife Martha Everett.^[4] They state that Abraham Conley married Matha's mother Margery. They disposed of the theory published previously back Stackpole and Lord that Nathan Lord has a second wife named Judith Conley.^[4] Joseph C Anderson also finds this conclusion incorrect. His new evidence (see above) clearly shows that Abraham Conley's first wife of Ann (Unknown) Lord, widow of Nathan Lord of Rye and mother of Nathan Lord of Maine. He shows that is second wife was Elizabeth (Unknown) who was a witness in 1674. But he finds no evidence for a wife Margery, the mother of Martha Everett. Joseph C Anderson points out that Martha Everett's mother Margery had married second to Isaac Nash and on a deed dated 1674 she was still known as Margery Nash just three months before the death of Abraham Conley and therefore not the wife of Abraham Conley.^[1]Joseph C Anderson writes, "such rationalization would have been unnecessary if the authors of the Genealogical Dictionary had known that Abraham Conley had raised Nathan from the time of Nathan's infancy; Abraham was effectively, if not genetically, Nathan's father."^[1]

To summarize Nathan Lord of Maine was the step-son of Abraham Conley who married his mother. Joseph C Anderson II a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists has found no evidence that Abraham Conley had any relationship to the wife or wives of Nathan Lord of Maine. He disproved that Abraham Conley was the step-father of Nathan Lord's wife Martha Everett. He finds no primary evidence to support the existence of a daughter of Abraham Conley who married Nathan Lord. Such a daughter was proposed by Charles Chase Lord but he offered no evidence. We must concede that we can't prove that Judith Conley didn't exist. However, the only evidence we have of her comes from the un-sourced work of Charles Chase Lord.

 

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Burial

In Lord Cemetery in South Berwick, Maine a cenotaph erected by the family association in August of 1922 read: "In memory of Nathan Lord Pioneer Settler of ancient Kittery, Maine, 1652, A native of Kent County, England."^[16]

 

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Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.111.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.231.24 1.25} Joseph C Anderson II FASG and Priscilla Easton CG, "The English Origins of Nathan1 Lord of Kittery, Maine: With an Account of the Conley Family of Cranbrook, Kent, England and the Ancestry of Abraham1 Conley of Kittery" in The American Genealogist (New Haven, Conn.: D.L. Jacobus, Apr 2010) Vol 84 p 81 – 94 link
2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Directory: Immigrants to New England, 1620–1640 (Boston, Massachusetts. New England Historic and Genealogical Society. 2015) p 211
3. ↑ MG 33:3-6
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4} Sybil Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby, and Walter Goodwin Davis, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire (Portland, Maine, 1928-39), 159, 701-2
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3} Charles Chase Lord, A History of the Descendants of Nathan Lord of Ancient Kittery, Me. (Concord, N.H., 1912), 9, 189.
6. ↑ Clarance Almon Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, April 2011) Vol 2 p 965 link Torrey Vol 2 p 965 ("LORD, Nathan (?1603-1690) & 2/wf Martha [EVERETT] (1640-1723+); by 20 Jun 1656; Kittery, ME/Cold Harbor {Kittery 587; GDMNH 226, 443; Wentworth 1:122; Coltman Anc. 71, 131}") and ("LORD, Nathan (?1603-1690) & 1/wf ____ [CONLY]; ca 1653-4; Kittery, ME/Berwick, ME {Kittery 587; GDMNH 443; Lord 11, 113}")
7.  

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7 ↑ ^{7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10}Priscilla Eaton, CG, "The Descendants of Nathan Lord of Kittery and Berwick, Maine" 4 Part series in The Maine Genealogist. Farmington, ME: The Maine Genealogical Society, 1977-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014.) Volume 33, Number 1,2,3, 4 [Feb, May Aug, Nov 2011]

8 ↑ ^8.0 8.1 Kenneth Freeman Moseman and Beverly Ruth Fredrichs, "Sisters Matha (-) Stevens Stackpole and Judith (-) Downes of Somersworth, New Hampshire" in The Maine Genealogist. Farmington, ME: The Maine Genealogical Society, 1977-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014.) 2005 Vol 7 p 179-181 link

9 ↑ Kennington, co. Kent, Archdeacon's Transcripts [FHL film #1,751,916, item 4). There are gaps in the A Ts, J 604/5 and 1606/7, years which may include the bps. of additional children of Abraham. And Ashford, co. Kent, Archdeacon's Transcripts [FHL filim #1,751,481, item 2].

10 ↑ Hope All Saints Archdeacon's Transcripts [FHL film # 1, 7 51,916].

11 ↑ Rye, co. Sussex, England, parish register [Family History Library (FHL), Salt Lake City, film #1,067,288].

12 ↑ John Meadows Cowper, ed., Canterbury Marriage Licenses, 2nd ser. (Canterbury, Eng., 1894), 228.

13 ↑ Marriage License Registers of the Diocese of Canterbury, v. 13, 1623-35, f. 151 [FHL film #1,836,332].

14 ↑ Wittersham, co. Kent, parish register [FHL film #2,355,255].

15 ↑ Everett S. Stackpole's Old Kittery and Her Families (1903) p 587

16 ↑ Maine Cemetery Inscriptions: York County, Maine Old Cemetery Association, 4 vols. (Camden, Maine, 1995), 3:2082

 

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Good job Roland, I think it's time for her to go.

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Thank you for all thsi new information, which clraifies nicely a number of confusions in the information out there on Nathan Lord.  (My interest is his first son Nathan Lord, b. ca. 1656-  [his son Nathan m Martha Tozier; their dau Sarah m Samuel Roberts, whose son Benjamin Daniel ROBERTS  1719–1763 - died in Glenwood, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia, Canada; married Deborah Weymouth- and their daughters Joanna (Spinney) and Anna Ricker) are both 4th great-grandmothers  of my wife,  Leslie Jane Simms]

Abraham Conleys will, (ref Source: Maine Wills, 1640-1760 (Portland, Me., 1887), p. 96, citing Registry of Deeds, 5, 74. ) acknowledges the relaltion between Abraham Conley and his, what we would refer today as 'stepsons',  Nathan and Abraham Lord, acknolwedging their father as Nathan Lord Senr. (who died in early 1634 when his son Nathan was only 7 months old, Conley marrying his mother at the end of 1634 (see Anderson II FASG and Priscilla Easton CG, "The English Origins of Nathan1 Lord of Kittery, Maine: With an Account of the Conley Family of Cranbrook, Kent, England and the Ancestry of Abraham1 Conley of Kittery" in The American Genealogist (New Haven, Conn.: D.L. Jacobus, Apr 2010) Vol 84 p 81 – 94)

extract from will:

And first I Doe giue & bequeath vnto Nathan Lord and Abraham Lord the two sones of Nathan Lord the Elder my sone in law all that lot or tract of land with the appurtenances called or Commonly known by the name of Coole harbour which I lately purchased of James Emery of Kitry and all that parte of my land that lieth at Sturgeon Creeke which is now lett & Disposed of to one Francis Small with this proviso that If the sd Small Doe hold his bargaine made with me for the said land then the sd Nathan Lord & Abraham to receiue & haue all such pay either Money or other Engadgments as he oweth to and hath bound himselfe to pay for it but If hee the said Small Doe relinquish or otherwise make void his bargaine that he made with me for the said land then my will is that they shall haue the land as aforesaid to the only vse benefit and behoofe of them the said Nathan and Abraham Even all that land that was barganed granted or Intended to be granted vnto the said ffrancis Small/ And my Will is that this shall be the devission betwixt them the said Nathan and Abraham the one to haue the aforesd land at Sturgeon Creeke or the rents and profits therof and the other the land Called Coole harbour lately purchased of James Emery as aforesd with this proviso & provisoes that Nathan Lord the Eldest brother to take his Choice which of they two he will haue And to haue it as they shall Come to the age of twenty one yeares each of them, the Eldest first as he Comes to the age aforesd and the other sucsessiuely and in the mean time to be in their fathers Disposall after my Decease "

 

My thanks to Roland Baker for alerting me to this.

Answer 1

Good job Roland.  Disconnect.  One of the frustrating aspects of WikiTree is the hoops you have to jump through sometimes to correct bad information when you have a well-researched peer-reviewed modern article which proves the point.

Comments

Very nice sources. Thank you.

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And place {{questionable}} on her profile so she doesn't get recreated.

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Done - can a leader please remove her parents?

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Conley-137

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Done.

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Thank you!

Please consider this thread complete. On to the next project :)