There has been confusion around Edward Stebbins-42, a PGM ancestor, and whether he married an Unknown woman before he married Frances (Tough) (Chester) (Smith) Stebbins, and whether he had a daughter named Lydia.
The puzzle was solved by John Coddington, F.S.A.G. in 1954 and published in American Ancestors (aka "TAG") by New England Historic Genealogical Society. In 1976, George McCracken, TAG Vol 52 page 80, repeated and endorsed Coddington's identification of the person named in error 'Lydia Stebbins'.
As is often the case, the errors continue to be reproduced - I helped add to the confusion in 2013. So I am working to share their answers.
Why do we often see trees with "Lydia Stebbins" married to John Chester, or John Wilson, Jr.? Did either of them marry a daughter of Edward Stebbins? The short answer is: no they did not. Did Edward Stebbins OR his wife Frances have a daughter named Lydia? Again - no, definitely not.
The longer answer is in a misinterpreted codicil to the will of Frances Tough who married Sampson Chester, Thomas Smith and Edward Stebbins aka Stebbing. She left some clothing to her grandson's wife but, in combination with other wills, this was misunderstood until Coddington brought together enough evidence to sort it out.
Deacon John Wilson of Hartford, 1650-1698, eldest son of Robert Wilson and Elizabeth Stebbing, married Lydia Cole, who received a bequest of clothing in the 1673 codicil to the will of Mrs Frances Stebbing. page 204, in TAG Vol 30 (1954) by Coddington
QUOTE: By some curious error, James Savage in Geneal. Dict. Of New England, under “Stebbins,” says that Lydia was a dau. of Edward and Frances Stebbing, whereas of course she was in fact their granddaughter-in-law. [Quoted from page 204, in TAG Vol 30 (1954) by Coddington]
In Wilson’s will, he called Edward and Thomas Cadwell (his half-brothers) “my Cousins.” [Clearly this innocent mistake on Wilson's will compounded the confusion over the identity of Lydia Cole.]
To further confuse the issue, the identity of John the son of John Wilson and Elizabeth Stebbins, has been conflated and mixed with the identity of John Chester the son of Sampson Chester and Frances (Tough) (Chester) (Smith) Stebbins. John Wilson is a nephew of John Chester, who is a half brother to Elizabeth Stebbins.
No descendants are connected to Lydia Stebbins so the impact of these errors is limited, but in the interest of cleaning up the database, can agree on merging away http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Stebbins-80 (Lydia Stebbins) ?
