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| Prescott Farm, Middletown, Rhode Island. From susteph at Flickr. |
The facts surrounding the
birth and death of William Tanner of Rhode Island, the Great-grandfather or
Great-great-grandfather of John Tanner (b. 1778, d. 1850) are only very
scantily documented in the printed genealogies and undocumented entirely by the
thousands of his descendants who have copied the records from the printed
genealogies. I have begun the task of adequately documenting his life, to
extent possible, from the original records in Rhode Island or wherever they may
be found.
The absence of a death record
for William Tanner has some recently compiled family group records showing a
death date as late as the 1770s making him over 110 years old at death. This
assumption is not impossible but is only a very remote possibility. The last
record of William Tanner may date from 1735 although it is not clear, from the
existing records, and certainly more likely, that references to “William
Tanner” after 1712 refer to his son, William Tanner who was born in 1687. The
lack of any further records makes it possible that the immigrant died in, or
shortly after 1735.
If the record is correct
concerning the identity of “William Tanner” as a witness on a the disclaimer
deed signed 12 May 1682,[1] and
later that same year, a second deed also signed and witnessed by William Tanner
and if in both cases, William Tanner acted as a witness for the signature of
Francis Houlding, the wife of Randall Houlding in making a disclaimer deed to
her husband’s transfer of property, then at the time of the attestation, he
must have been “of age.”[2] In England and the Colonies at that time he
could have been as young as 14. If that is the case, he was born no later than
1868 but quite possibly earlier. Examination of the original record verifies
the entry for both deeds.[3]
However, as I note below, he was likely married and having children by, at
least, 1686 or 7 so an older age for the witnessing of the deed would be
indicated.
I give the Ancestral File
numbers for the individuals mentioned in this post for the reason that the
information in the Ancestral File is widely copied without further examination
or question and has been incorporated, in part, in the FamilySearch.org
program, Family Tree. Should you find this family among your ancestors, you are
certainly encouraged to do more research or provide more information. However,
the current status of FamilySearch.org’s Family Tree does not permit a further
investigation into the subject due to unresolved duplicate entries. Any
adjustment in the generations reported will contradict the extensive copies of
this family in a variety of published surname books and thousands of online
family trees.
Some of the unsubstantiated family group records show that William
married (1) Hannah Tibbetts[4], daughter of Henry Tibbetts and Sarah Stanton, about 1686 in North Kingstown (or Kings
Towne), Rhode Island. Hannah was born in 1664 in Kings Towne, Rhode Island,
died in 1713 in Kings Towne, Providence Plantation, Rhode Island at age 49, and
was buried in Rhode Island. Although many family group records show up to seven
children for this marriage, it is very unlikely that this information is
correct. Given the dates of his subsequent marriages, there are only two
children possible; an unidentified child and William.
i Tanner was born on 19 Jan.[5]
ii William
Tanner[6]
was born in 1687 in North Kingston, Rhode Island, died on 13 Jun 1757 in Rhode
Island at age 70, and was buried in Rhode Island.
William next married (2) Mary Babcock, daughter of Job Babcock and Jane Crandall. They
had four children: Benjamin, John, Avis,
and Mary.[7]
iii Benjamin Tanner was born on 24 Dec 1692 of Rhode Island.
iv John Tanner.
v Avis
Tanner was born in South Kingston, Kings, Rhode
Island.
Avis married Thomas Barber on 18 Apr 1723 in South Kingston, Kings, Rhode Island.[8]
vi Mary Tanner was
born in South Kingston, Kings, Rhode Island.
William next married (3) Elizabeth
Cottrill[11]
in South Kingston, Rhode Island. They
had six children: Francis, Nathan, Anna, Rebecca, Elizabeth, and Abigail.
2 vii Francis2
Tanner[12] was born
on 3 Jul 1708 in South Kingston, Washington, Rhode Island, died on
3 Jan 1777 in Hopkinton, Washington, Rhode Island, at age 68, and was buried in
Jan 1777 in South Kingston, Washington, Rhode Island.
viii Nathan Tanner was born on 20 Feb 1709 in South Kingston,
Washington, Rhode Island and died on 12 Sep 1807 at age 98.[13]
Nathan2
married Mary Cottrell on 28 May 1734.[14]
ix Anna Tanner[15] was
born on 15 Mar 1712 in South Kingston, Washington, Rhode Island,18 died in Rhode Island, and was buried in Rhode
Island.
x Rebecca Tanner[16] was
born on 2 Jul 1714 in South Kingston, Washington, Rhode Island and died about
1739 in Westerly, Washington, Rhode Island, USA about age 25.
Rebecca married Benjamin Brand.[17]
Elizabeth2
married Benjamin Burdick.[19]
xii Abigail Tanner[20] was born on 17 Oct 1719 in South Kingston,
Washington, Rhode Island, died in Rhode Island, and was buried in Rhode
Island.
William next married (4) Elizabeth
Colgrove, daughter of Francis Colgrove and Anna Colgrove. Elizabeth was born about 1686 in Kings Towne,
Rhode Island and died on 10 Nov 1745 about age 59. The John Tanner Family book
by Maurice Tanner[21]
has Elizabeth Colgrove as the third wife of William Tanner. However, the book
also says that Elizabeth Cottrill is the "third wife." The
information given is confusing and incomplete. I am listing Elizabeth Colgrove
as the fourth wife with no children. Elizabeth Cottrill[22]
becomes the third wife and the mother of Francis2 Tanner. The children of William Tanner are listed in
an additional source, an article found in the Utah Genealogical and Historical
Magazine for January, 1939.[23] Although
this article, a transcription of an early journal, seems to support the order
and names of William Tanner’s children, it may simply reflect the listing of
the published genealogies cited above.
If I were going to speculate, I would guess that the marriages of
“William Tanner” to both Elizabeth Cottrill and Elizabeth Colgrove were the
son, William Tanner and not the immigrant.
Present Conclusion
There is still a considerable amount of research left to be done on
the progenitors of John Tanner. There is little or no support for the
identification of the wives of his great-grandfather, William Tanner or the
order or identity of William Tanner’s wives. Although there have been extremely
scanty citations to source material in the published histories, subsequent
research has confirmed the basic outline of John Tanner’s pedigree. Local town
records recorded his birth, his parents’ names and other documents, including
his grandfather, Francis Tanner’s will, confirm the members of these families.
Despite the additional research, it is still possible that there is
a generation skipped. William Tanner (abt 1660 – abt 1735) may not have been
the father of Francis Tanner (1708 – 1777). William Tanner’s son, also named
William Tanner, may have been the father. This issue remains entirely
conjectural. Although I have examined extensive source material there still
remains a significant amount of research of the history to be done.
[1] Arnold, James N., Editor of the Narrangansett
Historical Register, Compiler, The Records of the Proprietors of
Narrangansett. Otherwise Called the Fones Record, Rhode Island Colonial
Gleanings, n.d., Pages 79 and 108. As a matter of note, Tanner, George C., Reverend, William
Tanner of South Kingston and his Descendants, Faribault, Minnesota (Self
Published, 1910). cites page 70, the
incorrect page for the reference to William Tanner. He also fails to note the
reference to the second deed on Page 108.
[2] Blackstone,
William, and William Carey Jones. Commentaries
on the Laws of England. San Francisco: Bancroft-Whitney Co, 1915, Book 1, Chapter
17.
[3]
Ibid Arnold, James N.
[4] Austin, John Osborne , 1849-1918, and
Moriarty, G. Andrews (George Andrews), 1883-1968, Rhode Island Genealogical
Dictionary The genealogical dictionary of Rhode Island : comprising three
generations of settlers who came before 1690 (with many families carried to the
fourth generation), originally published in Albany, N.Y. : Joel Munsell's
Sons, 1887, revised edition, Baltimore, Maryland Genealogical Publishing
Inc., The Rhode Island Historical
Society, 1969 cites will of Henry Tibbets leaving land to his grandson, William
Tanner.
[5] Ibid. Austin, John Osborne , 1849-1918, and
Moriarty, G. Andrews (George Andrews), 1883-1968. Month and day of birth is given but no year.
[6]
Ancestral File (R), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ancestral
File (R) (Copyright (c) 1987, June 1998, data as of 5 January 1998). Ancestral
File Number: GXLP-FD.
[7] Tanner, George C., Reverend, William
Tanner of South Kingston and his Descendants, Faribault, Minnesota (Self
Published, 1910).
[8]
Tanner, Maurice, Descendants of John
Tanner, Born August 15, 1778, at Hopkintown, R. I. Died April 15, 1850 at South
Cottonwood, Salt Lake County, Utah, The Tanner Family Association, 1942.
[9]
Ibid Tanner, George C., Reverend. His name was also spelled Violett, Vilate,
and Vilet.
[10]
Ibid Tanner, Maurice.
[11]
Ibid Tanner, Maurice. Also deed from William Tanner to Benjamin Tanner, 1723
shows wife of William Tanner as Elizabeth.
[12]
Ancestral File Number: 3BK0-DL.
[13]
Ancestral File Number: 3BK1-FW.
[14]
Ibid Tanner, Maurice.
[15]
Ancestral File Number: 3BK1-G3.
[16]
Ancestral File Number: 3BK1-H8.
[17]
Ibid Tanner, Maurice.
[18]
Ancestral File Number: 3BK1-JF.
[19]
Ibid Tanner, Maurice.
[20]
Ancestral File Number: 3BK1-KL.
[21]
Ibid Tanner, Maurice.
[22]
Ibid Tanner, Maurice. Author has name listed as Elizabeth Cottrell (probably
name of former husband) also
listed as Elizabeth Gardiner (but former husband is also
named Gardiner)
[23] The Utah Genealogical and Historical
Magazine, Salt Lake City,
Utah, The Genealogical Society of Utah, Vol. XXX, January, 1939. Page 215,
“Finding the Ancestors of Susanna West.”
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