Re: No Mary Towsey After All
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In reply to:
Re: No Mary Towsey After All
al butchino 11/15/10
Al, I agree with the postings of Malcolm Churchill on both the Churchill and Burnham family forums.
Further, long research indicates Mary Olcott married John Case of the Windsor family - not John Burnham.
Also, Thomas French married Mary Catlin of Wethersfield.If I recall she died with other members of her Catlin family during the famous Deerfield Massacre.This Catlin family has, many times over - in varying ways, been confused with the Hartford Catlin's - of which there is no known relationship.
For the record, some internet contributors have stated that the Wethersfield Mary Catlin married Joseph Churchill.
Of course no documentation was ever presented for above contention - simply because it is false.
Also a repeated undocumented contention is that Benjamin Churchill (Joseph Churchill's brother) married a Mary Catlin.That also has no basis of fact.
As with Malcolm, recorded fact reveals only that John Burnham married Hartford's Mary Catlin, dau. of John (the son of Thomas Catlin). My research never revealed records for another marriage by John Burnham.
If my information is correct, neither Hartford or Wethersfield can produce genuine, original Church records until a long time after 1675 (Churchill/Catlin marriage was 1674). Records, pre-1675 were added because of public clamor, but, these were well after the fact and thus, suspect - not all being authenticated.
William Boardman, it appears, is the historian who originated the contention that Mary Catlin, of 1649 (dau. of settler Thomas Catlin) actually married Joseph Churchill.Problem remains that records have never turned up to prove the marriage.Boardman and Churchill histories are closely knit.Both families were interlocked with other original Wethersfield families from the first days of Connecticut.And, other circumstances credit the chances the Churchill/Catlin marriage took place.Certainly, there is no record, no evidence, no reason to believe that either the Mary Catlin of 1649, or Joseph Churchill married anyone else.
Mary Towsey (by any spelling), of course, is an imaginary figure.Nobody has ever produced a record or clue that she ever existed. Her name (surname only) first appeared (and then copied by others many times over) after a first edition error by historian RR HINMAN - corrected in ensuing editions.Many failed to take note of Hinman's retraction and to this day, repeat his original error on the internet.
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Re: No Mary Towsey After All
al butchino 11/18/10