Who is Joanna Ford's father and where is the proof?

Question

I am a descendant of Joanna Ford, Ffoorde, and John Rockwood.

 Could you help find proof her father? 

Her profile on Wikitree states that her father is William Ford.

The children of William Ford Sr. are shown in the New England Town and Vital Records 1620-1988 for his death, but Joanna is not listed among them.

Her only sources are her marriage to John Rockwood 1662 in Braintree, Massachusetts, the American Genealogical and Biographical Index for her birth in Mass in 1640, and in a birth record for her son, John, 1663, also in Braintree, Massachusetts.

She is also an ancestor of William Howard Taft and is mentioned in a book:Roberts, Gary Boyd; Ancestors of American Presidents. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009.

How could a person live in a place that is known for it's scrupulous record keeping have so little information for her?

Please help fill in her parents and death information with sources,

Thank you.

 

Comments

Hi Nancy, there is a default merge for Joanna pending, the other manager never approved it, it just 30 day defaulted. Perhaps you would like to complete the merge. I couldn't decide which last name should be used, but would lean toward Ford myself. I tried to find the birth listed. It, of course, does not exist (or we would probably know her parents) I would suggest changing her birth to about 1643.

https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:MergePerson&user1_name=Foord-644&user2_name=Ford-465&action=compare

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The profiles are merged, but you may be right about changing the last name of Foord to Ford. It's easier to find than the alternate sourced variations of Foorde, Foard, etc. Joanna's first name has been spelled differently in the various sources, too; as Johanna, Jeanna, Jeane, Joane, and Joanna, however, unless someone finds a gravestone for her, it will remain Joanna for now.

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The profiles are merged, but you may be right about changing the last name of Foord to Ford. It's easier to find than the alternate sourced variations of Foorde, Foard, etc. Joanna's first name has been spelled differently in the various sources, too; as Johanna, Jeanna, Jeane, Joane, and Joanna, but unless someone finds a gravestone for her, it will remain Joanna.

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All those alternate spellings, you can put into the other last names or the other nicknames fields. The advantage to doing this is that searches use all the name fields.

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Thanks for completing the merge

Answer 1

I have looked in the usual places (rootsweb, family search, etc.) and it is interesting the number of circular references that are out there - Family Search points to their documented LDS endowment information, which has no source information attached. Rootsweb shows circular references to Ancestry, and I don't have an Ancestry account to see what their source information might be, nor exactly which tree they necessarily referenced.

I did find one that called out a book (that I don't have) - 

Title: American Marriages Before 1699
Publication: Name: Ancestry.com. American Marriages Before 1699 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1997.;

It would probably be worthwhile to see if you can find a copy of this (presumably on line) to see what information they have - likely it might just be her marriage date and place.

This link was more promising - at least they provide some references:

http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=michaelfalktree&id=P3764

Family Search had a profile - some sources - not sure if this helps

https://familysearch.org/tree/#view=ancestor&section=details&person=KLGG-Z59

And I looked through several Pedigree Resource files with Family Search and came up with nothing, although there are about 150 of them - there might be a nugget hidden in there somewhere.

Hope some of this helps you narrow down your search

Comments

Thanks, Scott, for these possibilities.

I do have an Ancestry International account and have access to the documents you cite. As you say, the evidence is circular, when the sources are closely examined, the proof is not there.

In 1640 England, Joanna Ford was a very popular name. There are over 10 pages of listings for it. Perhaps, she was one of these ladies and was born in England and immigrated to the Colonies between 1643 and her marriage to John Rockwood.

I'll keep searching and post if anything promising turns up.

Thanks again!

Nan