PGM: Proposal to detach Elizabeth Jeffreys as the wife of John Sweet, Warwick, RI

+8 votes
115 views

The Great Migration Series lists the wife of John Sweet as simply Elizabeth _______.  Currently, we have Elizabeth Jefferies, daughter of Robert Jeffreys of Warwick, connected as his wife, but without supporting evidence. This relationship was questioned back in 2021 and again today, so it's time to address it.  

While the relationship is possible, to maintain this connection we would need additional evidence that make her more than a possibility.  Does anyone have additional evidence to offer?

Research and proposed replacement profile with Research Notes is here: Elizabeth (Unknown) (Sweet) Wilson (abt.1629-abt.1684)

Thanks in advance!

WikiTree profile: Elizabeth Sweet
in The Tree House by M Cole G2G6 Mach 9 (90.7k points)

1 Answer

+3 votes

One thing not noted on the profiles of either John Sweet, Elizabeth Jeffreys or Elizabeth Unknown is that Torrey gives the surname of John Sweet's wife as "[Scott?]". The 2003 The New England ancestry of Alice Everett Johnson, also states this but is weakly sourced. Even if this possibility can be eliminated or is unproven, I suspect it needs to be discussed so that it doesn't reappear.

The argument for Elizabeth's surname being Jeffreys seems to rely solely on her age and forename. The entry for Robert Jeffreys in GM4 notes that the entire family are not mentioned in any New England documents after 1646, and probably left New England. His Wikitree profile notes some evidence that he was in London, citing Moore's Abandoning America, but she makes it sound less certain than her source, Aylmer's The state’s servants: the civil service of the English Republic, 1649–1660 (page 63), which may be quoting a source calling the man in London 'a new England gent.' I have access to digitised images of the relevant documents (UK National Archives SP28/258) but Aylmer doesn't specify which of the 654 folios in the piece is the relevant one, so it would be quite a bit of work to find it. If Robert Jeffreys returned to England with Edward Winslow in December 1646, as Moore hypothesises, then Elizabeth would have been 17 and unlikely to have stayed behind in New England.

by Andrew Millard G2G6 Pilot (118k points)
Thanks, Andrew.  Excellent additions.

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