Dear Cousins, I received the message below from Hal Bradley, who was not a member of this group when he sent it, but now is. I hope that some of you "gurus" out there will be able to shed some light on Hal's observations and conclusion. I hope that all replies are made "on the list", so that I (and every other interested party) can read them too. If you *must* reply privately (due to email program settings and not exchange of personal information), I would appreciate you adding me to your cc list. I am as interested in resolving this "Elizabeth" problem as anyone else and would like to make my database as accurate as possible. Nevada Jack ----- Original Message ----- From: Hal Bradley <hwbradley@bigfoot.com> To: <nvjack@intercomm.com> Sent: Thursday, March 02, 2000 11:16 AM Subject: PHILBRICK, Elizabeth wife of Nathaniel Berry > I was hoping you could help me out with something. I descend from > Nathaniel Berry and Elizabeth Philbrick. There seems to be some > confusion on her identity. Noyes' "Genealogical Dictionary of Maine & > New Hampshire" on p. 545 states that either Elizabeth, daughter of James > and Ann (Roberts) Philbrick, b. 24 Jul 1666 or Elizabeth, daughter of > Thomas and Ann (Knapp) Philbrick, b. 3 May 1667 is the wife of Nathaniel > Berry. > > As you have noted on your website, there is a problem with the dates of > Thomas' daughters. Elizabeth is born 1 Nov 1663. The next child is also > named Elizabeth, b. 3 May 1667. A death date for Elizabeth, daughter of > Thomas is recorded for 21 May 1667. It is unlikely that Thomas would > name another daughter Elizabeth, unless the first Elizabeth is already > dead. I think that the first Elizabeth died unrecorded. The recorded > death date of 21 May 1667 is for the second daughter Elizabeth. Thus, > Thomas had no daughter named Elizabeth that reached maturity. this > conclusion is partially substantiated in Jacob Chapman's "A Genealogy of > the Philbrick and Philbrook Families," p. 11, where he identifies > Elizabeth, b. 1667, " died as infant." However, he does not show the > daughter Elizabeth, born in 1663. > > The conclusion would then be that James' daughter Elizabeth, must be the > wife of Nathaniel Berry, since Thomas did not have a daughter Elizabeth > that lived to adulthood. > > The one thing that would refute this conclusion is if Thomas had a will > which named his daughter Elizabeth. Did Thomas have a will identifying > his daughter Elizabeth? > > Thank you for taking the time to help me resolve this issue. > > Hal Bradley > >