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Jacqueline Olkiewicz

2nd cousin on 23andMe

2nd-3rd cousin on ancestry.com

However we have no common ancestors.

Jackie Coone and Geoff Olkiewicz, married Sept. 4, 2010.

Daughter of Robert L. Coone m. Lois Fluegel 1952; m. Hannah Price 5 December 1980.

Granddaughter of Silas Coone and Bernice I. Barnhill; Howard Walter Price and Anabelle Mumford

It has been proposed that the Virginia immigrants John Awbrey, Thomas Awbrey and Henry Awbrey were sons of Sir William Awbrey of Abercynrig.^[1] This would give them an extensive medieval ancestry including lines to Edward III. This line is not generally accepted (by Richardson etc.). A G2G reviewing the circumstantial evidence came to the conclusion that the line is likely to be correct.

A long list of circumstantial evidence has been developed as to why this might be true.^[2] Ultimately, the primary evidence is William Awbrey named sons John, Thomas and Harry in his will in 1626; a John, Thomas and Henry Awbrey all appear in Virginia in the mid to late 1650s.

Hugh Thomas (1673-1720) in his 1698 Essay Towards the History of Brecknockshire states that William Awbrey's children all died without issue. Hugh Thomas was the Brecknockshire herald, and deputy to the Garter King-at-arms. His primary interest as genealogy, following in the footsteps of his grandfather who wrote the History Brecknock. This alone would seem to disprove theory regarding the parentage of the Virginia immigrants. However, it has also been suggested that Hugh Thomas was wrong when he said that sons of William Awbrey all died without issue.

But we actually have quite a bit more evidence which backs up Hugh Thomas. Edward Awbrey of Tredomen, the eldest son of William Awbrey, died in 1652 leaving a nuncupative will.^[3] This will makes his sole heir "William Herbert Esquire the Cozen German of the sayd deceased." The conclusion from this will has to be that Edward Awbrey had no living children, and no living brothers.

This is further supported by a suit brought by a cousin, John Aubrey of Easton Pierce.^[4][5] This John Aubrey was attempting to recover the land of his great-grandfather, Dr. William Awbrey of Abercynrig. This Dr. William Awbrey had entailed his land in his will to his heir-male. John Aubrey of Easton Pierce stated that his great-grandfather had seven sons, and that the eldest son William had seven sons who had all died without issue, so that he as 18th in line by the entail was the rightful heir to his great-grandfather. John Aubrey eventually lost this suit after many years and fortune spent to a son of Edward Awbrey (John Aubrey claimed this son was illegitimate and could not inherit). Despite losing the suit, it doesn't change the fact that in 1656 John Aubrey believed that William Awbrey's sons John, Thomas and Henry were all dead.

Aubrey, John; Andrew Clark ed. 'Brief Lives,' Chiefly of Contemporaries Set Down by John Aubrey between the Years 1669 and 1696. (1898): page 59.

Memorandum of Edward Awbrey of Tredomen in the County of Brecknock Esquire … “in a very dangerous sicknesse” Nuncupative will December 1650 Will proved 18 May 1652 letters of administration issued to William Herbert Esquire the Cozen German of the sayd deceased Left entire estate to Cozen Colonell William Herbert Witnesses: Elizabeth Lewes and Mary Jones

http://aias.us/documents/mwe/Genealogy/Aubrey_AwbreyDominionandDeclineRev.pdf https://wc.rootsweb.com/trees/193567/I15017/henry-aubrey/individual https://archive.org/details/brieflives01clargoog/page/n86/mode/2up?view=theater&q=suit

Biography

Thomas Merrick of Springfield is the immigrant ancestor and the earliest known person of this family. He is commonly said to have come from Wales, however, this is completely unfounded. That he is a brother of the New England immigrants William Merrick, James Merrick, and John Merrick is also unsupported by any contemporary record. He was likely born shortly before 1618, as he deposed himself to be about 70 years old in 1691, but other records indicate he was at least 21 by 1638. 705(693) 470(464)

He is said to have been in Hartford, Connecticut as early as 1636.^{[citation needed]} He was still in Hartford, but apparently preparing to leave for Agawam, in April 1638 when he was one of 6 men ordered to participate in a diplomatic mission to the Warranocke Indians "to know the reasons why they said they are afraid of us.^[6] Originally founded as Agawam Plantation in 1636, Thomas Merrick first appear as one of the very early founders of Springfield, Massachusetts in 1638. He was very active in town affairs, and would spend the rest of his life in Springfield. On 3 January 1638/9 he was one 6 men assigned to set the boundaries of the town.^[7] He frequently served as fence viewer and surveyor of the town.

Name and Origins

Name: Thomas Merrick of Springfield

Orthoghraphic variations: Marick, Meyrick, Mirack, Mirick, Mirrick, Myrick

The name has many alternative spellings in the primary records.

Thomas Merrick is often said to have been born at St. David's in Pembrokeshire, Wales, the son of John Meyrick and Dorothy Bishop. This comes from George Byron Merrick's Genealogy of the Merrick-Mirick-Myrick Family written in 1902. He was also said to be the brother of William Merrick of Eastham, James Merrick of Newbury, and John Merrick of Charlestown. There is no evidence any of this is true.

John and James Merrick can be shown to be brothers, but there is no known connection to William or Thomas.^[8][9] They all settled in separate towns, and at different times. Their ages span twenty years so that is not even clear they belong in the same generation with each other.

The claimed parentage of John Meyrick and Dorothy Bishop is also strange as the author states he has no proof and admits that: "This is pure assumption, as no record of John's children has as yet been found... this writer bequeaths this, with many other unsolved riddles, to the successor whom he hopes and believes will some time revise, correct, and enlarge the present work".^[10] Merrick uses the Visitations of Pembrokeshire "as strongly pointing to the fact" that the four "brothers" were sons John and Dorothy Meyrick; however, this record does the opposite as it shows only two children, Thomas and Jan, who were both born before 1591.^[11] So, we are left with no evidence that any of the New England immigrants were sons of John Meyrick, no evidence that John Meyrick even had sons who could be the immigrants, and no evidence that any of the four immigrants were even from Wales. Given that the vast majority of New England immigrants were from England, this is their most likely origin.

William Merrick, James Merrick, John Merrick,

Sources

1. ↑ Awbrey, Jon Anthony. Aubrey/Awbrey: Dominion and Decline. (2007). [aias.us/documents/mwe/Genealogy/Aubrey_AwbreyDominionandDeclineRev.pdf Online PDF].
2. ↑ Genealogy.com Forum Post in the forum Awbrey. "Evidence" (first post by Jon Awbrey, 26 August 2003).
3. ↑ England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, (Ancestry.com online database). 1384-1858, PROB 11: Will Registers 1644-1654 Piece 222: Bowyer, Quire Numbers 107-153 (1652). Image 29 of 807.
4. ↑ Aubrey, John; Andrew Clark ed. 'Brief Lives,' Chiefly of Contemporaries Set Down by John Aubrey between the Years 1669 and 1696. (Oxford, 1898): page 59.
5. ↑ Jon Anthony. Aubrey/Awbrey: Dominion and Decline. (2007): pages 150-151.
6. ↑ "Trummbull Public Records of Connecticut, vol.1. (1850): page 17.
7. ↑ Burt. History of Springfield, vol. 1 (1898): page 163.
8. ↑ Holmang. Pillsbury Ancestry, vol. 2. (1938-) page 727.
9. ↑ The administration of the estate of John Myrick was granted to his brother James of Newbury.
10. ↑ #Merrick. Genealogy of the Merrick Family. (1902). pages 95-96; pages 143-145.
11. ↑ #Merrick. Genealogy of the Merrick Family. (1902). page 7].

• Merrick, George Byron. Genealogy of the Merrick-Mirick-Myrick Family of Massachusetts, 1636-1902. (Madison, WI, 1902). Google Books link

• Holman, Mary Lovering. Ancestry of Charles Stinson Pillsbury and John Sargent Pillsbury, volume 2. (1938-) page 727. Ancestry.com link

• Burt, Henry Martyn. The First Century of the History of Springfield: The Official Records from 1636 to 1736, Volume 1. (Springfield, 1898): pages Google Books link or Hathitrust.com link

• Burt, Henry Martyn. The First Century of the History of Springfield: The Official Records from 1636 to 1736, Volume 2. (Springfield, Massachusetts, 1899). pp. 30, 68-70, 166, 194, 246, 256, 273, link orsee at hathitrust.com

• Trummbull, J. Hammond ed. Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, volume 1. (Hartford, 1850): page 17.