Re: Nehemiah Edge and Sarah Stephens
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In reply to:
Nehemiah Edge and Sarah Stephens
DONNA WRIGHT 8/24/08
Hello Donna,
I have looked for proof of the Nehemiah Edge Jr. and Sarah Stephens marriage for probably 30 years (they were my 3g-grandparents), with no success. But, in response to your well thought out response, I will try to explain early assumptions by suggesting you may be looking at the wrong Sarah Stephens, daughter of Alexander Stephens. There is only one way the assumed relationship can work.
Several early studies suggest Alexander Stephens had married on the frontier as a younger man. We know he married Catherine Baskins when he was perhaps age forty, so an earlier marriage was certainly possible. Two children are thought to have come from this earlier marriage, one of whom was a Sarah, who would have been born circa 1756.
This is the Sarah Stephens thought to have married Nehemiah Edge Jr., circa 1775, so a 1756 birthdate for her certainly works. The Sarah Stephens from the Alexander Stephens-Catherine Baskins marriage, and mentioned in his will, was born circa 1768, much too late for a marriage to Nehemiah Edge Jr. in 1775.
So, early researchers suggest there were two Sarah Stephens, both daughters of the same Alexander Stephens. With no actual proof in hand, this is the basis for what a number of early researchers have suggested.
Robert Edge Johnston