Massachusetts Puritan-Pennsylvania Mennonite Marriage in 1700?

+6 votes
197 views
According to profile Hobart-544, Catherine Elizabeth Hobart was the daughter of the Puritan Reverend Gershom Hobart of Groton, Massachusetts. She is said to have been born on 16 Feb 1675/6. The only source for her that I can find is a column in the Boston Transcript in a question about the Hobart family, in which is called only Elizabeth. (15 June 1925). I cannot find a second source for her. Sterns in his Genealogical and Family History Vol. 2 does not include her in the list of Gershom Hobart's children.

This woman supposedly married a German Mennonite immigrant to Philadelphia/Germantown, Pennsylvania in 1700. His name was Peter Cassel. No source for this is given. This information is all over the internet including sites such as findagrave and ancestry as well as individual webpages.

Red flags are flying in this profile, at least for me.

1. The use of middle names was all but unknown in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. No other sibling of Catherine Elizabeth has a middle name.

2. How would a woman from Groton meet and marry a man from Germantown, Pennsylvania and how did they end up in Virginia?

Can anyone help me verify that Gershom Hobart had a daughter named Elizabeth born in Groton in 1676?

Can we find any source to verify a marriage of Catherine Elizabeth and Peter?
WikiTree profile: Catherine Castle
in Genealogy Help by Jeanie Roberts G2G6 Pilot (139k points)
I share your skepticism. ;-)

It seems that she died in Scott County, Virginia, before the earliest white settlers arrived there. Timeline of Scott County History. :-D

As I started reading your question I instantly thought I’d written it. You are right. This marriage makes no sense.
All these years later and she was never detached? I'm going in.

1 Answer

+4 votes

I spent some time looking for a record of this supposed daughter of Gershom Hobart. I didn't find a record of a daughter Elizabeth, but there are many more stones still unturned. I have no more time at the moment. Here are items I've found:

  • Gershom died intestate, and there's no list of children in his probate papers. His son Shebuel administered the estate.
  • Gershom had a daughter Dorothy born in Boston 6 November 1677; died in Groton 10 June 1686 (date was erroneously reported by Savage as her birth). NYGBR v. 50 (1919), page 214: [ link to AmericanAncestors.org]
  • Gershom had 5 sons: Shebuel, Gershom, Peter, Josiah, and Nehemiah. NEGHR v. 85 (1931), page 441 [ link]
by Ellen Smith G2G Astronaut (1.5m points)

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