Should Alston-247 and Allston-8 be merged?
On 21 Jun 2022 Mary Morgan wrote on Allston-8:
In regard to merging John Alston-247 and John Allston-8, it seems clear to me that the John Alston who died in South Carolina in 1718 or 1719 (as shown on both profiles) was the John Alston who was an apprentice in Charles Town in 1682, the son of William Alston of Hammersmith, Middlesex, as is stated in the apprenticeship document cited by A. S. Salley in “John Alston.” The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine 6, no. 3 (1905): 114–16. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27575103 Alexander Salley was an expert on South Carolina history, the head of both the SC Historical Society and the SC Historical Commission (the forerunner of the State Archives.). He clearly identifies this John Alston as the merchant who called himself “of Berkeley County” in 1690/1, who married Elizabeth Harris (born Turgis) before 1695, and who wrote a Will 2 Jan 1718 [1719 ns], proved 19 November 1719. His Will identifies him as of St. John Berkeley and names children John, William, Elizabeth, Mary, Peter, and Thomasin. Salley also notes that Groves’ book The Alstons and Allstons of North and South Carolina contains inaccurate guesswork regarding the arrival of Alston in SC. Allston-8 does not name parents for John, while Alston-247 calls him son of William Alston-84 and Thomasine Brooke-2244. Douglas Richardson’s books (cited in Alston-247) support the identification of John of SC as their son. There is also a discussion of that issue at https://groups.google.com/g/soc.genealogy.medieval/c/Jp3SZ7XtWNY/m/aHvkxvSTBgAJ The Bedfordshire Archives has a copy of the Will of William Alston dated 1707 pr 1709, which might prove useful. My inclination would be to edit Allston-8 to move the info under Biography into Research Notes and write a properly sourced Biography. Unless a source for the exact death date and place can be found, I would change that to match the Will, either about 1719 or before 19 November 1719. Once that was done, the issue of whether to merge the two profiles could be raised again under Alston-247, which is Project Protected.
SEE ALSO: ALSTON-247
