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The only existing reference to the Joseph Hartshorne/Sarah Burt marriage is found in , "Marriages, 1653-1848, Town of Reading, Middlesex Co., Mass.," Vol. I
As a matter of background, I am originally from Springfield, Mass., the town where the BURT family settled. I have several lines that touch the Burt line but these were made before the family moved to Springfield and were from the Taunton, Mass. area. Since this is a significant distance (in the 1600's) from Reading, the original Hartshorn/e settlement, and the fact that I have not found any of the Burt family in that area, I am somewhat skeptical of any claim that Joseph Hartshorn married a Burt woman. Gary Boyd Roberts personally asked me if I could supply Joseph's wife's name some time back. Gary has written many books and articles for the NEHGS, including the genealogy of the US Presidents and other notables. He is probably the foremost genealogist on New England families since Donald Lines Jacobus. His inability to find Joseph's wife strikes me as being significant. Either the source was not recognized by him or he was deficient in his search. I have checked with the NEHGS to see if they have the book, "Marriages, 1653-1848, Town of Reading, Middlesex Co., Mass.," Vol. I and they don't list it. That Sarah ____ (with no surname) has been listed as Joseph's wife since folks first started compiling genealogies is striking.
I would really love to know where the author/compiler of 'Reading Marriages' got their information. In checking Torrey [New England Marriages Before 1700], all the listings for Burt males originate either in western Mass. or in Taunton, with only a few exceptions. Those exceptions that might provide a lead to this question are in Lynn, a place where some Hartshorns resided. Joseph, however, is never recorded as living anywhere near the North Shore. He was a Reading resident and was a surveyor in Walpole. Since he was in King Philip's War in and around Hadley and Northampton, it is entirely possible that he encountered a Burt family in that area. Whether he married a Burt girl at that time and in that area is wildly speculative, but again, the source gives Reading as the place of marriage(?).. That he would marry a Burt girl in Reading tests believability to the limit as no Burt family is listed as living south of Lynn and Salem. Torrey lists nine 'Sarah' Burts, all of whom have been tied to a husband other than Joseph. Some were widowed and remarried but all have been accounted for. Torrey also lists Joseph Hartshorne (1652-1727) as "& Sarah __?___ (-1727); b 1677; Reading/Dedham/Walpole.
Savage [A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692] has a pretty comprehensive listing of the Burt children and their marriages. They dovetail with the Torrey listings and leave little room for a stray Sarah. I am at a loss to explain how the compiler of 'Reading Marriages' found the marriage of Joseph and Sarah Burt. Any help is certainly more than appreciated.
Derick S. Hartshorn <derick@twave.net>
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