The profile for Mary Strout, reflecting the info found in Jean L. Franks, Descendants of Christopher Strout, Sr. gives her as marrying a Reuben Dyer in 1737, and then marrying a John Dyer in 1758. I am not confident in the Franks work as a whole as I have already found a number of blatant errors, typos, and logical gaps.
In a list of marriage intentions the 1737 marriage is transcribed with bride Mary Stout (but I am willing to accept the association of this record with Mary Strout); the 1758 marriage is however transcribed with a bride named Mary Weeks. (Source: William Willis, comp., "Records of Falmouth (now Portland) Me." NEHGR 14:225-6) Assuming this transcription is correct, if the bride of both men is the same person she must have had an intervening marriage to a man of the last name "Weeks" which I have found no evidence of. Further, the Reuben Dyer who married Mary Strout is associated as the Reuben Dyer found in a 1758 muster roll (Source: Lora A. W. Underhill, Descendants of Edward Small of New England and the allied families with tracing of English ancestry 3:1236) If this muster roll is correctly associated Reuben must have died after 1 Jan 1758, leaving a very small window before the marriage intentions were recorded (15 Feb of the same year), and adding an intervening marriage in this month and half gap seems even less plausible. I note Underhill makes no claim as to the parents of Reuben's wife Mary Strout.
Underhill does however suggest that the second wife of John Dyer (giving marriage only as before 1760) was a daughter of Christopher and Mary Strout (Source: Underhill, Edward Small…, 3:1206) citing Hugh D. McLellan, History of Gorham, ME., 473 which indicates John Dyer received land from the estate of his father-in-law Christopher Strout about 1760 (Christopher Strout Jr. died 1758)
1. Does my conclusion from this information, that the wives of Reuben and John Dyer were two different Mary Strout, contain any glaring errors?
2. Can anyone find the will/probate for Christopher Strout Jr. who died at Falmouth, Maine at the end of 1758 to confirm that John Dyer is identified as a son-in-law in that document, as recorded by McLellan?
3. Can anyone find something that independently confirms the Willis transcription of the Falmouth records?
4. Can anyone find a candidate marriage for a Mary Strout to a ____Weeks, where the husband died before 1758? (in Maine or Massachusetts.)
Any help is appreciated.
