Shackleford-Roberts-Webster/Noble mess--makes no sense
I’ve been over this a few times and it just doesn’t make sense to me.
If anyone can give me a plausible explanation for all of this I will listen.
How can Hannah Shackleford be the wife of Andrew Roberts Jr.—and have a grandchild, Hannah Noble, b. 1701 and old enough to marry a man that is alleged to be her first cousin, John Roberts, the father of John Jr., born 1718?
Point 1.
Sources give Hannah Shackleford’s father as John Shackleford, b. 1670, the proven son of the immigrant Roger Shackleford, b. 1629 and Mary Palmer.
If John Roberts was old enough to marry (age 21 in those days) and father John Jr. by 1718, his birth had to be around 1696.
His wife Hannah Noble’s birthdate is given as about 1701.
But this would make John Roberts Sr.’s mother, the alleged wife of Andrew Roberts, Jr,bornabout 1680-81 at the very least.
So how can this woman be the daughter of John Shackleford, b. 1670? Hannah Shackleford’s birthdate, by most, is given as 1685…and still be the mother of John Roberts who married Hannah Noble. How can this be?
It is apparent that John Shackleford had a daughter, possibly Hannah, who married a Roberts and had sons named John and William. However, her child could not have been the John Roberts who married Hannah Noble, who for years was known as Hannah Webster.
Point 2. Andrew Roberts Jr.
Andrew Roberts Jr., son of the immigrant Andre/Andrew Roberts Sr., is said to have been born in 1785. His will, probated in 1723-4, says he is married to Ann. He says his eldest son is John, but that this John and his son Andrew are under age 16. He gives land to his son “Jamey” who, by default, also has to be less than 16 years of age if John is the eldest.If this is the case, this John Roberts was born in 1707 at the earliest. He, then, could not have been the one who married Hannah Noble and fathered John Jr. by 1718.
Point 3. Elizabeth Roberts Noble Webster
Sources list Elizabeth Roberts, b. 1679, as the daughter of Andrew Roberts Sr. and the sister of Andrew Roberts Jr. This may be. Sources have listed her as having two husbands, William Noble and William Webster. For years, her children have been attributed to William Webster. But a few researchers have found that William Noble’s will was proven in 1723. The researchers have re-read Elizabeth Webster’s will, proven 1754, and concluded that William Webster was her second husband and she had only one child by him—her son John Webster. This would make sense, as she would have married her first husband, William Noble, who died in 1723, when she was 18-20 and had Hannah Noble by 1701 (see above). She married William Webster after 1723, she would have been about age 44—way too old to have six more children, but possibly young enough to have one—John Webster. And, although some estates were not settled until all the sons had reached majority age, this would not have been the case here, as her sons were not of age in 1723.