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Archiver > PA-OLD-CHESTER > 2007-04 > 1176231091


From: "Sandra Ferguson" <>
Subject: [PaOldC] DUTTONs
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2007 14:51:31 -0400


Hi:

I have responded to this message via the list admin, as I am not a
subscriber and I can't find the related message board. Permission is hereby
granted to copy, forward, or whatever else might be useful.
The antecedents of the John DUTTON of Massachusetts who arrived with
Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts in 1630, or thereabouts, are the source
of about as much confusion as one might never hope to encounter:
1. This shadowy John DUTTON of Massachusetts (unlike his namesake of early
Pennsylvania fame) has *NO* documented connections to *EITHER* ancestors
*OR* descendants, anywhere, any time.
2. Several speculations about Mass. John by early New England genealogists
such as Savage and Cutter have been put through the rumor mill, and have
emerged as "established" on the Internet in the face of a complete lack of
proof of even the most flimsy kind.
3. Some earlier versions of the LDS Personal Ancestral File had a
particularly egregious set of errors, combining "Pennsylvania John DUTTON"
and "Massachusetts John DUTTON" into one person -- among other things. Much
of this revolves around a wholly botched (and clearly erroneous) attempt to
identify Pennsylvania John's widow as the wife of Massachusetts John. Things
were such a mess that at one point the PAF had Mass. John as his own
grandfather, with a family of almost two dozen children born over a period
of more than 100 years. This was especially embarrassing in that one of
Mass. John's *SUPPOSED* sons is a direct, and well-documented, ancestor of
the Mormon Prophet Joseph SMITH.... This mess has, I believe, long since
been cleaned up. But you will find much of the related confusion still
confidently reported on Web site after Web site as though "everybody knows
this".
4. Until and unless some credible information is discovered about Mass.
John that gives us an honest hope of finding his connections, any attempt to
identify him with Penn. John is doomed to the dustbin of doubt and
despair -- unless, of course, you don't give two snaps of your fingers about
accuracy, in which case have at it.
Sally's question is, of course, just that -- a question. But it might lead
some people who are less familiar with the issue than I believer Sally is,
to presuppose some things that we really don't know. Some day all of us Old
Yankee DUTTONs may see the light dawn on the darkness, with the discovery of
... what? ANYTHING that will put a crack in the old brick wall. But after at
least two centuries of trying, still no joy.
Darrell

Darrell A. Martin

unofficial historian of the DUTTONs of Springfield, Vermont
former resident of the "Dutton District" of that Town

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