Marriage, children in England?
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In reply to:
Re: Joseph COPELAND (? - 1726)
10/17/98
I know "verifying" is absolutely essential.However, there may be wisdom in thinking through this first. In 1693, Andrew Woodley, son of Thomas Woodley of County Devon, England and later Barbados, was granted 600 acres in Isle of Wight, for the transportation of himself four times and his two sons, Henry Woodley and Thomas Woodley. This Andrew Woodley as this record shows, had been back and forth between Virginia and England no less than four times by 1693. Joseph was to have married Mary Woodley in 1692 (reportedly in England) or 1709 (both could be correct--if Quakers, Virginia Church of England declared some marriages illegal for a time).There is "seemingly contradictory" evidence that suggests that Joseph was married twice--but no evidence has been uncovered for which I am aware that Joseph was married to anyone other than Mary Woodley (Mary married also John Mallory after Joseph's death).Further, no other descendants of another maternal line have re-converged at Joseph claiming descendancy. With the great interest and plentiful documentation to date, descendants would most likely have come forward by now. The question may be, then, are we looking in the right places for records?Should we be looking in Chucktatuck Quaker records, in records in County Devon, in port manifests of Bristol, or in Yorkshire/ Lancashire Counties, England where the main movement of Quakers was?Can we disprove a marriage in 1692 in England?There may be a danger in forcing verification at too early a stage in discovery.Forcing verification to 1709 could potentially steer us away from valuable record sources and the very answers for which we are seeking.