Who was the wife of Thomas Harvey (Harvey-1870) b. abt 1643 in Taunton, Bristol. Mass ?

Question

Per the current profile in WikiTree Thomas Harvey b. 1643 in Taunton, Bristol, Mass does not have a spouse or children listed.

According to many researchers Thomas purportedly married an Experience _______?  in 1668 in Taunton.

However, The Harvey Book (by Oscar Jewell Harvey) says that "In 1668 he was married to his cousin Experience Harvey, daughter of William Harvey (Harvey-243) [Thomas' uncle] and the next year was the proprietor of an 'ordinary', or eating-house, in Taunton".

The Harvey Book further relates that this couple had 6 children and that "Thomas died at Taunton in 1726, having survived his wife Experience by about six or seven years."

Over the years, there has been a great deal of dispute and confusion whether this Experience was indeed his first cousin?   For instance, today WikiTree currently has Thomas' first cousin Experience Harvey (Harvey-3110) b. 6 March 1644 as being married to Jonathan Briggs (Briggs-1521) with whom she had ten children.

The Jonathan Briggs profile shows him as being married to Experience Harvey and also to Experience (Unknown) so the confusion is present in the Briggs line as well.  (Their children appear to be duplicated due to having the two "Experience" wives listed.)

Does anyone here have anything new/further to add in the way of solving the identity of the Experience who married this Thomas Harvey??

Answer 1

I haven't seen the Harvey genealogy book, so I don't know what sources were given.  However, I can't help but wonder if Harvey-1870 might be the same person as Harvey-2603 (who married Elizabeth Willis).  They are born about the same time, and they both died in Taunton (supposedly one in 1726 and one in 1728).  Sounds suspiciously similar.           

 In other words, could the Thomas Harvey (b. 1641), who moved to Taunton, actually be the father of all the children involved, and Thomas (supposedly born in 1643) be non-existent. We know William had a son Thomas born in 1641, but is there any proof the older Thomas (often said to be a brother of William) actually had a son Thomas at all?

Comments

 "We know William had a son Thomas born in 1641, but is there any proof the older Thomas [b. 1617] (often said to be a brother of William) actually had a son Thomas at all?"

Yes there is pretty strong proof.

Thomas b.1617 had three sons by wife Elizabeth Andrews.

..... Thomas b. 1643 (has one 67 marker Y-DNA test of his line)

..... William b. 1645 (has five Y-DNA tests [1@ 67] of his line)

..... John b. 1647 (has no Y-DNA tests at this point)

..... All of these descendant testees have widely divergent and well developed paper trails.

The Thomas b.1643 descendant matches the descendant of William b. 1645 at 66/67 markers.  So we are pretty sure we have the Y-DNA profile of immigrant ancestor Thomas Harvey b.1617 identified.

Without getting into the DNA weeds too deeply I think this is good support for there being a Thomas Harvey b. 1641 and a Thomas Harvey b 1643, both born in Taunton only two years apart.  One line descended from William Harvey b. 1614 and the other from Thomas Harvey b. 1617.

 

 

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So when you say "John b. 1647 (has no Y-DNA tests at this point)" does that mean no one from that line has tested? Just curious as my dad is a Harvey descendent from the John line...wondering if I should encourage him to test.

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That notice does not mean that noone has been tested.  It just means noone has recorded it on Wikitree.

Actually one descendant of John b. 1647 has been tested.  See Group 33 on the following webpage: https://www.familytreedna.com/public/HARVEY/default.aspx?section=ycolorized

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Actually, Group #34 contains the tested and matching male descendants of Thomas Harvey b. 1617.  The individual in Group 33 who indicates he descends via John Harvey b. 1647 has a weak and not well- proven pedigree.  In addition to which his haplotype varies substantially from the matching haplotypes exhibited by descendants of brothers Thomas b.1643 and William b. 1645 when carried out to 37 or 67 markers.  Thus he is awaiting a closer match to show up with hopefully an answer to the weak pedigree question.

Now, as to CClark's question : it would be most propitious to the Harvey Y-DNA effort for your father to be tested at FTDNA if he is a descendant of John Harvey b. 1647.  Having the three known sons of Thomas Harvey b. 1617 tested and matching would be the icing on the cake for helping to connect back in time/locale to your Harvey line in mother country England.

Hopefully you and your father would also be rewarded by knowing your paternal line was identified back to a MRCA nearly 400 years ago! 

If you do decide to test it would be great to do so through WikiTree - and be sure to indicate that you are joining through the Harvey project in order to get the Group Discount price.  Best to do at least 37 markers and preferably 67.  

If you have further questions please feel free to fire away!

 

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Thomas and William Harvey, - the two progenators of the New England Harvey's, both had sons named Thomas. They were cousins.

William Harvey also had a daughter named Experience. who married her first cousin.

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I concur.