Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Waite, Wait, don't tell me!


Coggeshall Chart
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel
With a nod of the head to the popular NPR radio show, "Wait, Wait, don't tell me!", I am feeling perplexed by my COGGESHALL ancestors that married into my GARDINER family.

I was SO hoping that finding the Coggeshall genealogy written in 1930 and called "The Coggeshalls in America" would be my salvation with the trouble I have getting my Gardiners connected correctly but, the problem seems to be wait, wait...don't tell me..., two women named Waite, one named Wait born in 1725 to Joseph and one named Waite born in 1730 to Daniel. So instead of finding peace I find more chaos. Argghhh!

One birth record of a Daniel, born to James Gardiner, Sr. and his wife Waite Coggeshall lists Waite as the daughter of Joseph. I don't think this is correct but what are you to do when a vital record states this clearly? Perhaps with both women being born only five years apart, the town clerk got confused as to which mother was the right Waite?

This Waite, named her first born son after her father whose name was Daniel. That would have been the right naming convention. See this chart I made to try to help me puzzle this out.

This prompted me to think about the number of women in this family named Waite or Wait. Working backwards, I find that the two brothers, Major John and Joshua had a sister named Waite/Wait but the next woman with that name was the daughter of Joshua's son Daniel.

North Kingstown is a lovely place (as is Newport) but unfortunately, North Kingstown had a fire and partially lost records. The majority of the trees I found at Ancestry that include Waite Coggeshall and James Gardiner, Sr. point to Daniel as her father not Joseph.

So, while I wait for the right answer, don't tell me I'm wrong.

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