Re: Dr. John Waller & Mary Pomfrett
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In reply to:
Re: Dr. John Waller & Mary Pomfrett
Cynthia Forde 11/20/05
Hello Cynthia -
Thanks for posting your chronology, which is interesting.I do have a few comments.This will be long, I'm afraid.
1. According to JG Herndon's account, the suggestion or claim that Edward Herndon married Mary Waller originated (along with the claim that William Herndon married "Catherine Digges") with Moncure Conway.
JG Herndon says: "If [Moncure Conway gathered the material] ... as early as 1860 (and that is not unreasonable, for he was born in 1832 and had graduated from Harvard Divinity School in 1854), then many records in Virginia were available to him that were destroyed by 1888."
This is misleading.Since JG Herndon had looked up the facts of Moncure Conway's life, he must have known that by 1854 Mr Conway was engaged in campaigning vigorously for the abolition of slavery -- an occupation unlikely to be compatible with genealogical research in Virginia.By 1862 he had moved to London.He moved back, for eight years, in 1884, and then moved back to Europe again.Presumably it was at some time during those eight years that he considered writing about Fredericksburg.Mr Conway himself, when asked in 1898 where he got his information about the Herndon marriages, mentioned letters received from members of the Herndon family in 1886 or 1887.That answer suggests that the notes he made were based on those letters rather than on primary source documents.
In addition, at least one of the four statements attributed to Mr Conway has definitely been shown to be incorrect, and indeed can only have been invented out of whole cloth:William Herndon did not marry a daughter of Gov. Edward Digges, for the 1692 settlement of the Governor's wife's personal estate shows that all the Digges daughters were dead by that date, and only one of the dead daughters (Mary) left a living child.
My own interpretation is that the notes Mr Conway innocently transcribed probably reflected someone's efforts to construct a line of descent from English aristocracy, i.e. the Digges and Waller families.All the other subsequent published sources which state so positively that "William Herndon married Catherine Digges" and "Edward Herndon married Mary Waller", seem always to be based on the notes made by Mr Conway, repeated by JW Herndon, and then embellished by JG Herndon.It's just a case of misinformation being repeated and repeated over the years.
2. You say that William Herndon was born in Morden, Kent, England, in 1649.That's interesting.Is it based on a birth record for a William Herndon in Morden?If so, is there anything to identify that William Herndon as the same person as the VA William Herndon?According to Dudley Herndon, JG Herndon was unable to find any trace of William Herndon's birth in England.It would be interesting if his origin has now been found.
3.The letter written 8 April 1787 from Joseph Herndon to the Rector of St. Mark's Church: Joseph Herndon was married to Mary Ann Minor, Jack Waller's niece by marriage.That is why Joseph Herndon calls him "my Cousin Jack Waller".He is writing the letter to a parson to try to get his son a job.So he takes care to mention all the influential people he is connected to, especially "Swearin'" Jack Waller, who was himself a parson.JG Herndon could easily have worked this out for himself, but again he preferred to interpret it as "proof" of the claim that Edward Herndon had married Mary Waller.
4.As I mentioned before, "Pomfret" as a given name in the Herndon family can be presumed to be due to the marriage of John Herndon to Sarah Pomfrett.Their son's name was a reference to his mother's maiden name.
5. Walter Herndon, b. abt 1772, father Pomfret Herndon, mother Martha Bryant.His name was Walter, not "Waller".
6. I am descended from William Watkins.We know that his wife's name was Martha, but her surname is unknown.JG Herndon was contacted by members of the Herndon family who claimed Martha's surname was Herndon.JG Herndon, always easy to convince, decided that therefore Edward Herndon "must have" had a daughter named Martha.This is circular argument, without a leg to stand on.There's not a scrap of evidence that such a person as "Martha Herndon" ever existed.In typical fashion, JG Herndon has "disappeared" the true identity of my 5th ggmother Martha Unknown Watkins, in order to claim her as a Herndon.
I agree with you that in the kind of genealogy practiced in these forums, most people do assume that they are free to choose to believe whatever they like about the past.It seems shockingly disrespectful to the past and to one's real ancestors, but it does happen, very commonly.The risk in proceeding on that basis, when writing your book, is that the book will be lovingly quoted forever more by all the Catherine fans, and dismissed by genuine historians and genealogists as "creative genealogy".Such are the perils of publication.
Thanks for an interesting exchange.
James.
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Re: Dr. John Waller & Mary Pomfrett
Debbie Olsen 2/22/06
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Re: Dr. John Waller & Mary Pomfrett
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Re: Dr. John Waller & Mary Pomfrett
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Re: Dr. John Waller & Mary Pomfrett
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Re: Dr. John Waller & Mary Pomfrett
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Re: Dr. John Waller & Mary Pomfrett
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Re: Dr. John Waller & Mary Pomfrett
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Re: Dr. John Waller & Mary Pomfrett
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Re: Dr. John Waller & Mary Pomfrett
Siouxsie Waller 12/19/11
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Re: Dr. John Waller & Mary Pomfrett
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Re: Dr. John Waller & Mary Pomfrett
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Re: Dr. John Waller & Mary Pomfrett
Debbie Olsen 3/09/06
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Re: Dr. John Waller & Mary Pomfrett
James Blair 3/09/06
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Re: Dr. John Waller & Mary Pomfrett
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Re: Dr. John Waller & Mary Pomfrett
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Re: Dr. John Waller & Mary Pomfrett
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Re: Dr. John Waller & Mary Pomfrett
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Re: Dr. John Waller & Mary Pomfrett
Cynthia Forde 11/28/11