G2G: Sarah Curtis d/o William vs. Sarah w/o John Woodcock.

+6 votes
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On 26 Jan 2020 T B wrote on Curtis-630:

Is there any source for Sarah being the daughter of William Curtis? I see it claimed everywhere when searching by google, but there are never any sources attached. The linked sources only give her name as Sarah, the wife of John Woodcock. There is no mention in Anderson's William Curtis biography of a daughter Sarah (apart from the Sarah baptism record possibly mistaken for Mary). From what I can see there is no marriage record and her name is only mentioned in her death record?

As TB mentioned there is a baptism in 1627 for a Sarah d/o William. She was probably the same person as Mary Curtis later mentioned by Eliot.

But is she the wife of John Woodcock as her Wikitree profile now implies?

Was John Woodcock's wife, Sarah, a Curtis at all? Can we prove this?

WikiTree profile: Sarah Woodcock
in Genealogy Help by Golden Owl (1.4m points)

3 Answers

+7 votes

There is info in Southold town records, volume one,  page 239  [https://books.google.com/books?id=X5Q-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA238&lpg=PA238&dq=thomas+curtis+OR+Curtice+southold+Town+Records&source=bl&ots=d-clkRLCu1&sig=ACfU3U2fkTzCgozKGCcbwtVo1ISsO8L2NA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjSj8-mgqTnAhWRU80KHQHIB6QQ6AEwAXoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=thomas%20curtis%20OR%20Curtice%20southold%20Town%20Records&f=false ]which may  shed some light. Mention of a Thomas Curtis of Wethersfield brother-in-law of William salmon.  Some children including Salmons and a Richard Curtis were seeking the guardianship of John Conckline, Jr. in 1663. This Richard Curtis born after 1642 may be the son of the Aforementioned Thomas Curtis.

by Owl (42.9k points)

That seems to have to do with a different Curtis family (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Curtis-617) - I don't see how that connects to the Woodcocks at all?

Thank you, TB is correct, that's a different family.

+5 votes

I took a look at the brief entry for 'John Woodcock' in Anderson's GMB2 (6:510-511). For John Woodcock of Rehoboth specifically, he uses the Dedham Historical Register (1893), and a Farr genealogy (1959).

The Dedham Historical Register includes a genealogy of John Woodcock, and leaves Sarah's last name as blank.[4:173]. The Farr Genealogy however gives her name as "Sarah (Curtis?)" [322]. The sources included at the end of the Woodcock section in the Farr genealogy include the above Dedham reference, as well as:

• some vital and parish registers (the only applicable one for Sarah was her recorded death in Rehoboth [900]) "Sarah, the wife of John Woodcocke, the 10th of may, 1676")

•Ligget's Hist. of Attleboro (I can't find this source - perhaps it's a mistype of the next source - Daggett's Sketch Hist. of Attleboro?)

•'A Sketch of the History of Attleborough', which on p. 90 mentions wife "Sarah"

•'Genealogical and Family History of the State of Maine' [3:1335], which mentions wife "Sarah"

• 'Early Rehoboth', [1:56], [3:62]. The vol. 1 source is a 1689 list of inhabitants (John Woodcok senr), and the vol. 3 source is a mention of the garrison house - no mention of Sarah.

The above source on other pages mentions Sarah Woodcock in relation to deeds, a 1650 (sic-should be 1660) deed [3:153] (original deed book - right, bottom), and a 1673 deed [3:162], (original  deed book - right). There is no mention of a Curtis in these deeds, though I have not looked exhaustively.

It seems like Sumner's Farr Genealogy is the likely source of the name "Curtis", though the fact that she writes it as "Curtis?" makes me think she was researching the possibility, or perhaps she received some letter from some correspondent giving her name as such? There is no source (unless it is in Ligget's book, if it exists) that she cites which gives the name "Sarah Curtis".

Why she was linked to William Curtis I don't know - possibly because of the baptism of a Sarah Curtis?

by G2G-10 (10.1k points)

+4 votes

Torrey's New England Marriages has the wife of John Woodcock as Sarah ?Curtis.  No mention of her parents.

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/3824/images/gpc_newenglandmarriages-0853?pId=74400

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB1568/i/21176/1714/0

by G2G-8 (8.4k points)

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