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Archiver > WHITNEY > 1998-08 > 0902461944


From: <>
Subject: Some Errors in Lancaster VR's
Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 23:52:24 EDT


Dear WRG:

I found that an error was made in the transcriptions of the Lancaster VR's
that I put together with others and sent to those who requested them from me.
This was some time ago, just about the time Robert Ward was setting up his web
pages and providing the same information in an easier format to get to and
use. I had been using my own printouts for everything except the ones that
came along later, for which I printed the ones from Robert's site.

I have discovered last night that I (or whoever copied the Lancaster records -
it really doesn't matter who) mixed up two lines of type and gave a female
child named Lucy the wrong set of parents. So, for those of you who are using
the ones you got from me in the text files I sent, you need to correct the
entry for the Lucy Whitney, b. 25 Sep 1770. Her parents were not Jonas and
Mary Whitney, but they were Caleb and Anes. Her baptism and death confirm
this parentage.

I also find another difference that I am not certain which set of VR's is
wrong. On my text pages, page two, in the Marriage Intentions from Town
Records, the second entry is

p. 30 Danael Whitney, of Stow, and Abigail Ames, Nov. 16, 1744

In the records on Robert's webpage (which I just printed to replace my flawed
version) the entry for Danael reads:

Danael, of Stow, and Dorothy Goss of Lancaster, int. Nov 9, 1744. TR1, p30

I suppose it is possible that this Lothario had intents published a week apart
with two different ladies, but somehow I doubt it. I think we have another
error of some kind in the transcriptions, and I can't find any basis for
deciding which is correct (other than Robert's impeccable reputation). I did
notice that in the transcriptions that I had distributed, the page numbers for
the marriages in the Town Records skipped from 25 to 100, and from the year
1733 to the year 1765, leaving a 32 year gap. OTOH, Robert has intermingled
the Intentions with the Marriages, and for Danael has only the intent as well,
so there must not have been a town record - or, perhaps the town records for
that period were later lost or destroyed. Perhaps someone who has the Xerox's
or actual copies of the Lancaster VR Book could check this and let us all know
what's "in the book"!

Continuing, I have also found another small error in my text file with respect
to the Jon(a.) Whitney who married Mary Wyman. I had just Jon and Robert's
listing shows Jona. At this point, I think I want to suggest that those of
you still using the file on Lancaster you got from me trash it and print out
the ones from the Ward Webpage. I don't want to feel responsible for errors
creeping into our collective work.

I hope everyone is healthy, happy, staying cool, and finding ancestors right
and left.

Happy Hunting!

Allan

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