Sherry wrote: > brother Joshua of Charlestown was Dorothy's guardian. ... > Legacy paid in 1716 in Admin. of Joshua Blanchard's Estate; Middlesex > County Records 1904 pg. 176. This may resolve a difficulty in Wyman's description of the probate file for Joshua -- he says there was a payment to "granddaughter Dorothy Stafford". This is diffficult to understand, since Joshua was only 55 when he died and doesn't seem to have had any granddaughters named Dorothy, much less any old enough to be married by 1716. If the reference is to his father's granddaughter Dorothy, then everything makes sense, aside from the stretch of "Stowers" into "Stafford". > (I have not yet determined the meaning of the (#) throughout this work, > does anyone know?) I think these are just references to the numbered list of people in the book with that same surname. I.e., > John,butcher, York, Saco, Boston, presumably illeg. son of (5) ... This John is presumably way down the list. His father would be #5 in the article on Stovers. > Pitts, [p.667] wid. (Mary -Stafford- m. Thomas P. in Boston 18 Dec. 1702). Hmmmm. Another instance of Stafford. It begins to make a consistent picture. John Joshua 1716 d Malden, MA 1998 03 18