Does this provide sufficient evidence of proper maiden name and parents?

Question

Thomas Mudd married Rebecca, "formerly Wright", widow of Maj. John Lowe, and by her had a daughter Sarah who married Thomas Hagan. The information presented here suggests that Rebecca's maiden name may have been Hatton, and that she was likely a daughter of William Hatton and Elizabeth Wilkinson; William Hatton, in his will written in December of 1711, leaves as a legacy to each of his grandchildren (not named) "a gold ring of the value of 10 shillings"; the estate accounts and inventory name legatees Elizabeth Mudd, Eleanor Miles, Barbara Frazier, and John Lowe (these would be the unnamed grandchildren); Elizabeth (Lowe) Mudd was daughter of John Lowe and married Henry Mudd; Eleanor (Lowe) Miles and John Lowe (Jr) were also children of Maj. John Lowe; Barbara (Marbury) Frazier was the wife of Daniel Frazier and the daughter of Lucy Hatton who married Francis Marbury. So based on this, the wife of Maj. John Lowe and mother of his children Elizabeth, Eleanor and John (all named in their father's will) was a daughter of William Hatton...and the widow of John Lowe was Rebecca who married second to Thomas Mudd. Does this seem like a reasonable basis for linking this Rebecca to William Hatton and Elizabeth Wilkinson as daughter?

Answer 1

I think this provides enough evidence to show that your ancestor is a grandchild of this couple. However, you will need to combine it with two pieces of evidence:

• Primary documentation regarding the fact that their mother was really named Rebecca
• An argument on the fact that these are not their paternal grandparents

Good find, and good luck!