| Notes |
- From FindaGrave:
Deborah, the wife of George Soule, Jr., has no known ancestry. She died testate in Dartmouth between Jan. 24, 1708/9, the date of her will, and Mar. 1, 1709/10, the date her will was probated by her daughter Sarah as executrix. No record, deposition or other form of statement exists prior to or at the time of her death regarding Deborah's age at death. Thus, any claim that she was born in any particular year is purely conjectural.
Since 1897 when a query first appeared in the genealogical literature asking for information regarding her parental identity (NYGBR 28:245), through the 1992 revision of the poorly researched and highly criticized 1980 first edition of the George Soule Through Five Generations Silver Book, by the General Association of Mayflower Descendants (the GSMD), no one had ever offered a potential family name for Deborah. This includes no ancestral family name given for Deborah in multiple volumes of the Mayflower Descendant, in Torrey's New England Marriages to 1700 (1985), in Susan Roser's Mayflower Births and Marriages (1992), or in George Soule senior's scholarly sketch in the Great Migration Begins series by the NEHGS (1995).
But, for inexplicable reasons the 2015 edition of the George Soule Silver Book now claims Deborah, the wife of George Jr., was Deborah Thomas, with a trailing ?, with the illusion she was the daughter of David Thomas and his wife Joanna last of Middleboro, Mass. Cited as support is "Soule Kindred Newsletter 4(4):177 (Deborah Thomas)", which appeared in October 1970, with the following underlying writing in its entirety:
• viii. GEORGE, b. in 1639-40 as he testified 10 April 1673 in the Superior Court of Newport County, Rhode Island, that he was aged 34; d. in Dartmouth prob. a short time before his inventory was taken 17 May 1704. THE REGISTER, vol. 20, p. 340, October 1866, gives 12 May without fixing the year; mar. prob. in Duxbury in the mid-1660s, DEBORAH (surname unknown) who d. in Dartmouth between 24 Jan. 1708/9 & 1 March 1709/10. Issue: George,3 ·William, John, Nathan, Deborah, Mary, Lydia and Sarah.
The surname Thomas is not included anywhere in the cited article, which ironically was republished in its entirety one month latter in THE REGISTER under the title "The Soule Family" [124 (Nov. 1970): 121]. The 2015 George Soule Silver Book also cites as apparent collateral proof the 1689 probate record of David Thomas in the Plymouth County, Mass. Probate records. However, the only record that exists regarding the estate of David Thomas of Middleboro is the administrative bond of his widow Joanna, with sons David and Jeremiah as sureties.
Where is the proof that Deborah, wife of George Soule, Jr. was nee Thomas?
The basis of the David Thomas family was published in 1964 by John Marshall Raymond (Genealogies of the Teel Family of New England and of the Family of David Thomas of Middleboro, Massachusetts), which includes no daughter named Deborah, or any illusion thereof.
What is going to happen, if it hasn't already, is that every web-based genealogy site will disregard the trailing "?" and cite the 2015 George Soule Silver Book as proof that Deborah was nee Thomas without taking the time to understand no such proof is provided.
More to follow...
2/23/2018
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Abt 1644 - 1709 (~ 65 years)
