Dear Roy, Many thanks for your message to the Sackett List. This is of great help. The evidence of Margery's four marriages is compelling and your interpretation of Richard Sackett's will is also persuasive. BTW, we had not intended to indicate that the will referred to Josiah Crego Sackett; we were just using this name to distinguish this individual from Josiah Crego. This distinction becomes meaningless of course if we accept that Josiah Crego Sackett did not exist. Accepting that Josiah Crego Sackett did not exist does however raise further questions, most obviously with the family which Weygant attaches to this man. You mention Weygant in your post so I assume you have a copy of his book but, briefly, he has Josiah Crego Sackett marrying a Miss Douglass in about 1650 (we have taken this as a typo for 1750) and having five children: Nelly who m. Simeon Kelsey; Prime; Prince; [unnamed]; and Skene Douglas Sackett 1765-1832 who m. Hannah Sexton. The only one of these children for whom there is subsequent data, (incl. much Rev. War data), is Skene Douglas. The attachment of this man to "Miss Douglass" has the further attraction that, according to Weygant, her mother was a "Skeene", having as a brother Col. Philip Skeene. Weygant describes Josiah Crego Sackett as youngest son of Capt Richard and Margery L Sleade Sackett, b. at Dover, Dutchess County, and having lived at New Milford, Conn., for several years before his death. There is a plausible suggestion, based on researches detailed in Andrew P Sackett's book on Frederick Plummer Sackett, that the unnamed child in this family was Aaron Sackett (Weygant # 714 on p491). We can guess why Weygant reached his conclusion about Josiah Crego Sackett being the son of Richard Sackett (i.e. he assumed this from Richard's will) but there do not appear to be any clues why he then attached a wife and children to this man. The 'elimination' of Josiah Crego Sackett raises the obvious question about who was/were the father(s) of these children. However we should check first the remote possibility that Josiah Crego could have taken his stepfather Richard Sackett's name and been the father of these children. Blanche McKay found a website ref. to Josiah Crego's date of birth being 1683. This would fit with his being born bef. c1690 when his father Stephen Crego died and also with his being of age in 1703-1704 when he was a co-purchaser with Richard Sackett of lands at Wassaic. But it would make it nearly impossible that he was the father (aged 82) of Skene Douglas Sackett b. 1765. I note also from Blanche McKay's report of your book that Josiah Crego was last mentioned in Dutchess County in June 1747 and is believed to have died at about that time. All of this seems to rule out any notion that Josiah Crego "became" Josiah Crego Sackett. We are then left with the questions of the parentage of Nelly, Prime, Prince, [Aaron], and Skene Douglas, and who married Miss Douglas, the possible mother of these children. (Roy: This is really a question for the Sackett List but, as you have obviously already had to work on this material, any suggestions would be gratefully received.) Blanche found unsourced website data giving birth dates of: Eleanor (Nelly) c1734/35; Prime c1736; Prince c1738; and Skeene Douglas c1740. We have evidence that Skene was b. 1765 and Aaron who may also be attached to this family would have been b. in the early 1760s. It seems to me that what we are looking for here are the parents of two families - the first three b. in the 1730s and the last two b. in the 1760s. Turning to the much married Margery, the birth span of her children is long - from Josiah Crego in 1683 to four children by Richard Sackett from 1701 onwards. A 20+ year span is perfectly possible of course but I wonder whether the daughters were children of Richard or of one (or two) of Margery's previous husbands. If the latter, this would reduce the overall birth span. We have concluded that Richard junior and John were Richard's natural sons, being referred to in his will by their surname Sackett, and we have concluded that Richard used the word "son" loosely for "stepson" when referring to Josiah Crego. I wonder by the same token whether, when he refers to "my daughter Mary Dean deceased" and "my daughter Catherine during her widowhood", he means daughter or stepdaughter. Do you have any other information on this? I wonder why he did not use Catherine's married name. Kind regards, and thanks again, Chris Sackett Sackett One-Name Study www.sackett.org.uk > -----Original Message----- > From: Roy Crego [mailto:rcrego@nac.net] > Sent: 07 November 2003 00:43 > To: SACKETT-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [SACKETT-L] Josias Crego > > > Hello, > > I stumbled across the flurry of emails concerning Josias Crego and > thought I should let you know what I found when writing my book A > Selective History of the Crego Family (1993). I believe Weygant and > subsequent researchers created four people when there were two, all in > an effort to explain Richard Sackett's will. Margery Crego and Margery > L. Sleade are the same person, and she was married 4 times. Josias > Crego was a son of Margery and I have found no evidence earlier than > Weygant for Josiah Crego Sackett. > > Margery (surname unknown) of New York City was married to Stephen Crego, > who died in 1690 aboard the frigate Archangel (Admon Book, 1692; Log of > the Archangel) . They are presumed to be parents of Josias Crego. > > Margery "Crege" married Edward Wislake by license dated 28 April 1692 > (NY County Will Book 3-4:333) > > Margery Wislake married Peter Slade by license dated 26 December 1694 > (NY County Will Book 5:92) > > Margery L. "Sleade" married Richard Sackett by license dated 11 May 1699 > (NY County Will Book 5:340). This is how a Margery Crego became Margery > Sackett. > > In the will of Richard Sackett (NY County Will Book 15:580), I found no > mention of a Josiah Crego Sackett, just the reference within the will to > "my wellbeloved son Josiah Crego". Sackett's other sons are identified > as Richard Sackett and John Sackett (with the surname). I do not see > any reason to assume the Sackett surname was dropped when the will > referred to "Josiah Crego." Josiah is likely a spelling variant for > Josias. Josias Crego was also a witness to the deed and the witness > signature is recorded as "Josias Crego." I've seen Josias' actual > signature on another document and he spelled his name Josias Crego. > > I hope this helps clear things up and I invite the other list members to > look up the original documents and verify my findings. > > More details can be found in my book. > > Sincerely, > > Roy Crego