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MYSTERY PARTIALLY SOLVED BY ACCESSING THE VITAL RECORDS & STATISTICS OF MENDON, WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS:
1. Erin Pritchett [ErinP@AOL.COM] wrote on 4 March 2002:
"Page 99 of The Vital Records of Mendon lists Rhoda Hilyard, daughter of Stephen & Joanna born 15 Jan 1770."
"Page 284 lists the marriage of Stephen Hilyard and Joanna Darling 13 Apr 1769."
"Rhoda and Royal named their oldest daughter Joanna, and one of their sons Stephen, and following the naming traditions of the day, this would point to Stephen and Joanna Darling Hilyard as being the parents of Rhoda Hilyard. I don't have the pages from the Mendon VR showing the marriage of Rhoda and Royal and we should check those for clues..."
"Also, on FamilySearch.com I found a marriage date of 15 Sep 1787 for Royal Marsh and Rhoda HILLIARD. I believe the difference in spelling is just a variant of the name, not a different person. Several of these families moved from Mendon to Vermont at about the same time, so it would make sense that Rhoda Hilyard (Hilliard), daughter of Stephen & Joanna of Mendon is our girl..."
Many thanks to Erin Pritchett for this thorough, prompt response. And I should add that Noreen Jenkins Blair wrote on 12 May 2001 that Rhoda and Royal's son was actually named "Stephen H. Marsh."
2. In the same spirit Lisa [DarlingFamilyTree@Yahoo.Com] also consulted these official records at Mendon VRS and further reports that:
". . . in the Mendon, MA vrs it states Joanna DARLING m. Stephen HILYARD 4/13/1769. She was born in Mendon, MA on 2/1/1752 the daughter of Thomas DARLING and Rachel WHITE."
"I don't have any information regarding the descendants of Stephen HILYARD and Joanna DARLING. I can tell you that Thomas DARLING was b.5/7/1730 Mendon, MA d.10/22/1778 Mendon, MA married Rachel WHITE 12/14/1749 Mendon, MA she b. 11/14/1732 Uxbridge, MA. They had 10 children."
"Thomas DARLING was the s/o Benjamin DARLING b. 2/1/1687 Mendon, MA d.5/8/1772 Mendon, MA m. Mehitable WHITE 6/1/1708 Mendon, MA. She b. 1/22/1689 Mendon, MA. They had 11 children."
"Benjamin DARLING was the s/o Denice DARLING b. abt. 1640 most likely in Yorkshire England but other researchers say he was born in Braintree, MA. He d. 1/25/1717 Mendon, MA. He married Hannah FRANCIS 113/1162 Braintree, MA. They had 10 children."
Our thanks to Lisa for this additional prompt and helpful response.
3. Vic HILLARD (VicHillard@AOL.COM) also wrote to say that:
"I am compiling a genealogy on the descendants of William Hillard who came to this country in 1635 and settled in Duxbury of the Plymouth Colony. I have accumulated information on other lines in the process."
Vic's records did not include the Rhoda HILYARD whom we were seeking, but he does have the "other" Rhoda [HILLIARD]:
"I have a Rhoda Hilliard, born New Hampshire, 1768, daughter of Simeon Hilliard and Phoebe Purington. I have no record of any marriage but that doesn't mean that there was none. This Rhoda was a descendant of Emanuel Hilliard, who was of Hampton, NH in the middle 1600's and seriously doubt if she made it to Mendon, MA, but all things are possible. I do not have a Rhoda Hilliard who married Royal Marsh in the line I am researching."
Vic concludes, as we have, that the Rhoda HILYARD who married Royal MARSH probably comes from a different line:
"I have seen the marriage of Royal Marsh to Rhoda Hilyard you refer to but could not tie in to a particular Hillard/Hilliard/Hilyard/Hillier/Hiller line."
Vic goes on to suggest other possibilities for the origins of Rhoda HILYARD (and her father Stephen HILYARD):
"Other possible Hilliard lines are Hugh Hillier of Salem (most likely); Hugh Tilley, aka Hugh Hilliard of Cape Cod; John Hillier of Hartford, CT/Hadley, MA."
"Don't get hung up on the spelling of Hilliard as it is usually of no consequence. In the line I am researching I have Hillar, Hiller, Hillard, Hilliard, Hilyer, Hilyard and Hillyard, depending on the year and the location."
Our thanks to Vic HILLARD for his prompt response and cogent suggestions.
4. In conclusion, I believe that we now can fairly state that Gilbert Warren CHAPIN got it at least partially right in his "The Chapin Book," (Chapin Family Association, Hartford, CT, 1924) when he reports (on p 1262) that Royal MARSH married "Rhoda HILYARD, daughter of Stephen & Joanna (Darling) HILYARD." We can now eliminate the other Rhoda HILLIARD (daughter of Simeon HILLIARD Sr. and Phoebe PURLINGTON) as a candidate.
5. However, the marriage date which G.W. Chapin gives for our Royal MARSH & Rhoda HILYARD is "Oct. 23, 1787." Erin Pritchett found a slightly variant date for this marriage posted on FsamilySearch.Com as being "15 Sep 1787." Erin notes that she did not have at hand the pages from the Mendon MA Vital Records Office which might clarify this issue. However, our correspondent Noreen Jenkins Blair (jnblair@rnetworx.com) has access to the Family Bible of Rosetta MARSH (sister of our Royal MARSH) in which bible are recorded the names and birth dates and death dates of the children of Royal Marsh (Bible gves his dates as 28 Nov 1765 - 26 Oct 1818) and Rhoda HILYARD (Bible gives her dates as 15 January 1770 - 17 June 1834), and perhaps the wedding date of Royal & Rhoda is similarly recorded in this primary source.
6. Lisa's E-Mail clearly states that our Joanna DARLING (who m. Royal MARSH) was the son of Thomas DARLING and Rachel WHITE. If this linkage also derives from the official Mendon VRS records (as did her initial paragraph), we can eliminate consideration of the "other" Joanna Darling (the daughter of Peter DARLING & Amy WILKINSON, who married first Jonathan WILKINSON and second Charles WEBSTER. G.W. Chapin lists this "other" Joanna DARLING on p. 586 of his "The Chapin Book," lists her two husbands, identifies her parents as Peter and Amy Darling, and appears not to link her (or to confuse her, as I have done) with "our" Joanna Darling. So perhaps G.W. Chapin got it right on both counts.
7. A sincere thanks to all who contributed to helping clear these hurdles and solve these mysteries. Access to an ounce of family bibles and official records will always trump a pound of unsubstantiated theory. With Best Regards, George H. Stevens GHStevens3@AOL.Com
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