Thorp, Merriman, Tuttle. Correcting 100 year old errors.

Question

I found some duplicates of my ancestors, with data that I found to be suspect.  In fact, some of this same data had crept into the profiles I manage.  I know I can delete it from the profiles I manage, but it has spread to two other profiles that either need to be merged into mine or completely changed.

The profile in question that needs to be preserved but changed is Tuttle-1326.  The 100 year old error is a compilation called Reunion of descendants of Nathaniel Merriman.  On page 147, it alleges that Susanna Merriman b 1723 married Benjamin Thorp in Wallingford CT in 1739 (true), and then she apparently divorced him, and married an Ezra Tuttle in 1761, and a Blakeslee after his death.  The problem is, when you look at the 1761 marriage, the bride was named Susanna Tuttle, not Thorp, or Merriman.   This Susanna can be found on findagrave with a grave that clearly says wife of Blakeslee and Tuttle, and that she died in her 70s in 1820.   

I tend to believe the gravestone, not the suggestion that maybe she was really 97.  This same woman was having children in the 1770s.   

Meanwhile, despite what internet sources say, Benjamin Thorp did not die in Vermont in 1748, especially since it didn't exist at that time. His will is available in Pownal Vermont, probated in 1799, naming a lot of children, at least some of whom were born after the Tuttle marriage in 1761.  The will was made in 1784 in Pownal VT, and did not name a living wife.  I suspect Susanna died before the family moved to Pownal, but have found no records to that effect.  Susanna Tuttle Tuttle Blakeslee, some 20 years younger, remained in Connecticut with her Tuttle children.

I propose to correct the Tuttle profile by deleting the Merriman parents, deleting the birthdate in 1723, and adding the birthdate from the gravestone.  I will also delete all Thorp information from the Susanna Tuttle profile.  Similarly I will eliminate all the Tuttle and Blakeslee information from Susanna Merriman.

The data added from the 100 year old compilation and unsourced internet errors came from two individuals.  Is there a protocol for me to follow before I do so?

Comments

Others may have an established WikiTree protocol to follow, but I'd somewhere put a detailed explanation of the original error "Reunion of descendants of Nathaniel Merriman" and sources for why it was wrong. I'd probably put in the research notes, or a link in research notes to a free space page with the explanation. I'd also link to the other profile once you have sorted out the two Susanna profiles, so people can get to the other one if they're looking for that one. Then at the top, put a brief note/explanation that there's a common error and to see research notes for more details, or something along those lines. 

I have a similar situation with my ancestor John Melick, if you want to take a look at what I did. I'm not sure I really love the obnoxious warning "banner" I put at the top of his profile, but the error is one made by just about every casual researcher of this family, so I want to make sure that anyone looking at the profile sees it and doesn't try to "fix" it by adding back the incorrect relationships/information back in. I still might change it at some point though to something less obnoxious.

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Thank you Christy, that is very helpful.  You are ahead of me stylistically, as I don't know how to link to "this page" as neatly as you did.

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Glad it was helpful! If you want to try it, that's just a link to a free space page. You can click on the small green text by the title of the free space page that says "link", which will copy a link to that page, then paste it wherever you want to make the link. That's pretty much the same as adding a link to a person's profile, if you know how to do that. Then replace the part on the right of the vertical bar with "this page" or whatever else you want the text of the link to say.

If that's more than you want to deal with, you could also just write "See this page (website address/url)." So for mine, I would have "see this page (https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Space:Conflation_of_John_Melick_of_Ohio_and_John_Malick_of_West_Virginia)." It definitely doesn't look as neat, but it will get the job done, and get people to the information they need to see, which is the most important thing.

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Thanks again.  I may go with the quick and messy version.

Answer 1

Hi Carolyn - This is what I have on Ezra Tuttle which appears to correspond to what you have.

49025. Capt. Ezra Tuttle. Born ca 1720.52 Ezra died on 11 Jun 1793 in North Haven, CT.52 Buried in Old Graveyard, North Haven.

Ezra was commissioned Ensign of the 12th Co., 3rd Regt., Oct 1759; Lieut. of the 12th Co., 2nd Regt., Oct 1769; and Capt. of the same May, 1770.6

Ezra first married Hannah Todd (35608) , daughter of Gershom Todd (17916) (12 Oct 1695-Nov 1748) & Elizabeth Merriman (33604) (2 Jul 1703-bet 1732 and 1735). Born ca 1728 in New Haven, CT.52 Hannah died in Oct 1760 in North Haven, CT.52Buried in Old Graveyard, North Haven.

Children of Ezra and Hannah (Todd) Tuttle:
    i. Gershom, served as a Conductor in the Revolutionary War 1778-1781, removed to Wethersfield, VT;
    ii. Elizabeth, m. at North Haven 23 Nov 1769 Christopher Brockett (b. 2 Jun 1749 at Wallingford), settled in Manchester, VT;
    iii. Isaac;
    iv. Hannah, m. at North Haven 15 Jan 1777 Benjamin Bassett (b. 4 Aug 1753 at New Haven), settled in West Springfirld, MA;
    v. Jonathan, b. ca. 1756, d. 20 Aug 1772 æ. 66 at North Haven, m. there 24 Oct 1784 Sybil Cooper (b. 14 Sep 1764, d. 28 Sep 1828 at North Haven, dau. of John & Miriam (Todd) Cooper); and
    vi. Phebe, b. 2 Jun 1758, m. at North Haven 22 Apr 1789 Benjamin Ichabod Todd, resided at Russell, MA, in 1800.52

On 27 May 1761 Ezra second married Susanna Tuttle (49036) , daughter of Ezekiel Tuttle (ca 1704-18 Aug 1765) & Susanna Merriman (33607) (20 Jul 1709-), in Congregational Society, North Haven.52 Born on 17 Jun 1744 in New Haven, CT.53 Susanna died in North Haven, CT, on 30 May 1820; she was 75.52 Buried in Old Graveyard, North Haven.

Ezra and Susanna Tuttle were first cousins, as their fathers were brothers. [NOT VERIFIED]

Children of Ezra and Susanna (Tuttle) Tuttle:
    i. a child, d. 1763 at North Haven;
    ii. Ezra, bp. 26 Aug 1765 at North Haven, d. there 20 Dec 1766;
    iii. Tabitha, bp. 22 Nov 1766 at North Haven, d. there 20 Dec 1766;
    iv. Ezra, b. 5 Nov 1769, d. 23 Jun 1839 at Strongsville, Ohio, m. 20 Apr 1792 Clarinda Johnson, resided at Salisbury, Herkimer Co., NY, in 1800;
    v. Lois, bp. 12 Aug 1772 at North Haven, d. there Sep 1772;
    vi. Benajah, bp. 16 Jun 1776 at North Haven, d. there 15 Feb 1841 æ. 65, Capt. m. 1st at North Haven 21 Aug 1800 Lovice Ray (b. 10 May 1782 at North Haven, d. there 27 Mar 1801, dau. of Levi & Mary (Cooper) Ray));
    vii. Azuba, m. Timothy Allen, resided at Fabius, NY, in 1822; and
    vii. Sinai, b. 29 Aug 1785, m. 1806 Nathan Wheeler.52

Comments

Thank you, that is very helpful, cousin.  So, the mistake in the Merriman materials is because there was a different Susanna Merriman a generation or two before.   That makes sense, and I am glad I didn't let that merge go through.

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Take a look at the improved profile.  I believe Ezra and Susanna were first cousins once removed.

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M. Dory's information comes from : Jacobus, Donald Lines (compiler). ''Families of Ancient New Haven, Vol I-VIII. and Index Vol IX'' New Haven: 1931. Reprint, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1974, 1981, 1997. Originally published as New Haven Genealogical Magazine, Volumes I-VIII. (Rome, NY and New Haven, CT 1922-1932).  p. 1898 (Ezra) and p. 1895 (Susanna)

Families of Ancient New Haven is the go to compilation for New Haven and contains very few errors. It's interesting that he also compiled the genealogy in the Merriman Reunion, but it was  published in 1914. He obviously fixed his error by the time he published Families of Ancient New Haven.

Thank you.

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Sadly, errors in print get perpetuated, even when the author has corrected them afterwards.  It is why we must be ever vigilant on wikitree.   We know how much effort has gone into being as accurate as possible on our profiles, only to have someone add something error ridden from some other source in print.  Or on the internet.

Answer 2

Here is what I know but I am not sure how it was spelled , My great Grandmother was named Flora Cecile Tharp , found in other records as Thorp and even others at Thorpe , she was married to Virgil Edward Burnett , Her parents were George Washington Tharp and Mary Jane McGown, she left my Grandfather and married a George Ross..

Hence as I go further up the chain, or should I say Back, I find Mary Tharp, (born Thorp) Married to a William Tharp .

However it goes that all the way up/down that the name has been used as Tharp /. Thorp and Thorpe and most have been buried  in  Ct, Ohio and Tenn, but most being born in Pa, CT and Ohio.

Do not know if this helps or I have wrong info, but just like on my Grandfathers side of Feeser the were in CT , Pa and Ohio as well, but came from Germany and spelled their name as Fuser then ended in Feeser, so I wonder if this could be the problem in most research, overlooking the spelling in names when people came to America and the cultures to fit in ? I wonder if I have the right people when I see questions like this and the sudden change of a 100 year old errors . none of us are 100 years old here that made those changes and I think for the most part , most back in that age were not well educated people and none could spell very well and wonder if it clearly was just spelling that threw everything off, which make us have to decipher the closest possibility of Whos-Who ?

Comments

The Thorps I descend from were from Connecticut.  It is sometimes spelled Tharp in old records, and you see -thropp sometimes too, like Nelthrop or Althorp.  Thorp means village etymologically.  This was not an error due to spelling changes though.  It was a careless error put in print that even though a better source exists, the error is perpetuated.

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That is where my family came to, via Germany as Tharp/Thorp /Thorpe, and when you look into the history of it , it shows that one of my Grandfathers Tharp married a Thorp, perhaps we are related cuzs from several generations away.

I agree it may not have been spelling errors by the actual people , but later on as entered. by census writers ect , or changes by those to more Americanize themselves .

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Thomas, with a name like Owens you probably have a quite a bit of Welsh heritage.  Here is something you may want https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorp#:~:text=Etymology%5Bedit%5D,or%20Old%20English.

Thorp means village.  It is an Old English form, the cognate in German is Dorf.  Spelling was not standardized 300 years ago.  Many names were spelled very differently -- you can expect that.