Mollie Frances Holbrook Pfeiffer's typescript: a claim-by-claim review

Checked 1 October 2026 against records, printed record transcripts and the standard compiled genealogies. The companion tree is the Holbrook-Low Colonial Tree artifact. Its "Mollie's book checked" tab holds the short form of the claims below.

Evidence tiers

• [D] Documented: a primary record, or a published transcript or abstract of one.
• [C] Compiled: a secondary genealogy or online tree.
• [I] Inference: our own reasoning from records, with the reason given.
• [T] Tradition: family lore with no source found.

Verdicts

• Confirmed: a record or a sound compiled source agrees.
• Corrected: the person is right but a fact is wrong.
• Incorrect: the records contradict the claim, or it rests on a link that fails.
• Unproven: nothing found either way.
• Tradition: the claim is a family story with no record.

A note on reading this. Mollie worked in the 1930s from the printed genealogies then available, and most of what is corrected below was already in those books. Her typescript is the reason most of these lines could be traced at all: nearly every family checked here was first named to us by her.

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1. The typescript

• Author. Mollie Frances (Holbrook) Pfeiffer (1870-1954). She was the daughter of Capt. Richard Blackmer Holbrook (1821-1894) and Harriet Phillips Low (1834 or 1839 to 1918), and a sister of Horace G. and Richard B. Holbrook Jr.
• Date. Typed in the 1930s. Some pages carry later pencil and ink notes.
• Two halves.
  • "THE HOLBROOK FAMILY" (typescript pp. 1 to about 66) covers her father's ancestry, including his mother Nancy Ellis's lines.
  • "THE LOW FAMILY" (pp. 67-187) covers her mother's ancestry.
  • Two indexes follow: "Index of Family Charts" and "Index of Places".
• Layout. Each line opens with a numbered chart, for example "I. RICHARD WARREN (1)", "II. MARY WARREN (2) (Richard 1)". "ANCESTRAL NOTES" pages follow, with history and anecdotes.
• The copy we have. Nine scanned parts, Books 1-9, totalling 234 page images.
  • Books 3 and 4 were first uploaded as Holbrook_3 and Holbrook_4.
  • Some pages exist in more than one copy. Page 134 appears three times, one copy with handwritten notes.
  • Several pages carry pencil corrections in another hand or in Mollie's.
• How it was read.
  • Clean pages (Books 1-5 and Book 6 to p. 109): machine OCR.
  • Speckled photocopies (pp. 110-187 and the indexes): transcribed visually, page by page.
  • Where a word could not be read, the transcription says so. A few readings below are marked as uncertain for that reason.
• Her sources. Her text follows several printed books closely. Their errors pass straight into hers:
  • Davis, Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth (1899), for the Holbrook descent. She lists it among her authorities.
  • Banks (1929) for Richard Warren.
  • The Churchill Family in America (1904) for the Doty marriage.
  • Goldthwaite, Boardman Genealogy (1895).
  • Hosmer, Historical Sketch of Deer Isle (1886). Her Thompson children list matches it word for word.
  • Pierce, Foster Genealogy (1899).
  • S. F. Kneeland, Seven Centuries in the Kneeland Family (1897), and through it Burke's Landed Gentry (1847).
  • Brigham, The Tyler Genealogy (1912).
  • J. W. Reed, History of the Reed Family (1861).
  • Ira B. Peck (1868).

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2. What is in each book

Page numbers are the typescript's own. In Books 3 and 4 most page numbers did not survive the OCR, so their boundaries are approximate.

Book	Scans	Typescript pages	Contents
1	19	1-13	Holbrook. Main Holbrook chart, from Thomas Holbrooke (1) to Mollie Frances (8). Collateral Holbrook lines. "A Brief Account of the Ancestors of Horace G. Holbrook". Ancestral history of the Holbrooks: Thomas, Peter, Eliphalet, Elisha, Capt. Gideon and Capt. Richard B. "Holbrook Traits". "Holbrook Names in England". Additional notes. The Leland line. The start of the Godfrey line.
2	24	14-29	Godfrey line (from "John Godfrey, Bishop of Bath on or before 1200" to a Godfrey family on the Hercules from Sandwich in 1635). Rockwood line. Mayhew line, from Simon Mayhew of Dinton to Gov. Thomas Mayhew of Martha's Vineyard. Wetherell line (Rev. William Wetherell).
3	27	about 30-47	"The Ellis-Warren Branch (Paternal Grandmother)". Warren chart. Then the Skiff, Bayes and Newcomb lines, which belong with her Mayhew wife. Warren notes. Bartlett (Robert Bartlett). Harlow chart and notes. Rider chart and notes. Children of Edward Stephens and Phebe Harlow.
4	33	about 48-77	Stephens line, with a Norman "Fitz Stephens" pedigree. Doty line. Clarke (Faith Clarke). Churchill chart and notes. Pontus chart and notes. Then "THE LOW FAMILY" begins (p. 67): the Low chart, from Thomas (1) to Capt. Nathan (7) and Harriet, and Low notes (name lore, the Ambrose, Polstead and Boxford).
5	19	78-96	Low notes continued: Sgt. David, Caleb, Nathan (5), Major Nathan, Capt. Nathan, Harriet, and Mollie on herself (p. 85). Boreman line. Lamb line. Wise line.
6	32	97-122	Tompson line. Varney-Proctor line. Lord line. Waite and Ward line. Fuller and Emerson notes. Thompson-Foster lines (p. 110 onward). Bate. Payson.
7	42	123-160	Kneeland line with the Cleland, Wallace and Stewart pedigree. Hawkins. "The Hepburne Line". Tyler line (p. 135 onward). Capron and Callender. Read, with the Rede and Heneage pedigree. Peck. Ide. White. Humphrey.
8	14	161-173	Macomber. Dean, with Strong. Ginn (Genn). Riggs. Millett. Greenaway.
9	24	174-187 and indexes	Wheeler. Allen. Salisbury (Salusbury) notes. Stanwood. Closing pages, including p. 187: all her ancestors came from England, Scotland or Wales except one Dutch woman, Wybra Hanson. Index of Family Charts. Index of Places.

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3. The overall picture

3.1 Where she is reliable

• Most of the line charts from the immigrant generation downward are right, or nearly right. Many dates are copied from town vital records and agree with them to the day. Examples:
  • The Low marriages and deaths at Ipswich and Boxford.
  • The Stanwood dates at Gloucester.
  • The Tyler dates at Mendon and Attleborough.
  • The Stephens death dates on Burial Hill.
• The Low quarter, for the most part, matches the records. The direct Low line, Boreman, Lamb, Wise, Varney, Proctor, Lord, Fuller, Emerson, Foster, Bate, Payson and Kneeland in America are all real ancestors.
• The Tyler quarter, for the most part, matches the records. Tyler, Capron, Read, Peck, Ide, White, Humphrey, Macomber, Dean, Ginn, Riggs, Millett, Greenaway, Wheeler, Allen and Stanwood are all real ancestors. Several individual links are corrected below.
• The Ellis-Warren branch is right in outline. Warren > Bartlett > Harlow > Stephens > Ellis is documented at every step. She also had the second Warren line, through Sarah Bartlett and the Riders.
• She marks some claims as doubtful herself:
  • the first part of the Fitz Stephens pedigree ("authority unknown");
  • the Macomber and White marriage;
  • the "half French and Indian" story about Mary (Foster) Thompson, which she rejects;
  • the Foster link to Rev. Thomas Foster, which she says she could not make;
  • the "Lambe of Bury" story ("not a clue").
• Two pencil corrections on the pages point the right way:
  • Hannah Peck's birth, "Mar. 25 1653 ... verify".
  • Hannah Read Tyler's marriage date. The typed Feb 25, 1835 is her brother Frederick's wedding date. The pencilled Oct 4, 1832 agrees with Mollie's own Low chart, but no record of it has been seen.

3.2 Wrong links that change who the ancestors are

Three links are wrong in a way that brings in whole families who are not ancestors.

1. Elisha Holbrook's parents (Books 1-2).
   • Her claim. Mollie follows Davis (1899): Thomas > Deacon Peter (m. Alice Godfrey) > Eliphalet (m. Hannah Rockwood) > Elisha.
   • The records. Elisha was the son of John Holbrook Jr. and Sarah Chittenden of Scituate. The descent runs back through John (1650) and Abigail Pierce, Capt. John (1618) and Elizabeth Stream, to Thomas and Jane (Powyes) Holbrook of Glastonbury.
   • Effect. The Leland, Godfrey and Rockwood lines are not ancestral.
2. Elisha's wife (Books 2-3).
   • Her claim. "Mary Mayhew".
   • The records. Gideon's mother was Sarah Mayo.
   • Effect. The Mayhew, Wetherell, Skiff, Bayes and Newcomb lines are not ancestral. In their place come Mayo, Howes, Prence, Mulford, Barnes and Bassett, and probably Collier (Sarah Prence's mother is usually given as Mary Collier, but Stratton leaves it open; see the Mayo file's October addendum).
3. Eleazer Churchill's wife (Book 4).
   • Her claim. "Mary Doty", a daughter of Edward Doty of the Mayflower.
   • The records. The 1687/8 marriage was Henry Churchill's, to the widow of Edward Doty's son Thomas.
   • Effect. The Doty and Clarke lines are not ancestral.

Smaller errors of the same kind, each correcting one generation or one parent:

Her reading	The records
Abigail Proctor was the wife of Thomas Varney Jr.	She was his mother. His wife was Abigail Cogswell. This adds the Cogswell line, and a second descent from Joseph Wise.
Mary Tompson was a daughter of Rev. William Tompson.	She was a daughter of John Tompson and Alice Freeman.
Damaris Dean was a daughter of Walter Dean.	She was a daughter of his son Benjamin.
Elizabeth Ide was a daughter of Nicholas Ide.	She was a daughter of his son Timothy.
John Wheeler's wife (Ann Wheeler's grandmother) was "Ann Salisbury".	She was Agnes Yeoman.
Sarah Bartlett married Samuel Rider Sr.	She married his son, Samuel Rider Jr.
Lucy Lord's father was the one James Lord.	There were two James Lords. Her father was the younger.

3.3 The gentry and royal descents

None of the gentry, noble or royal descents in the typescript is supported. Most fail at the point where they join the colonial family; a few (Peck of Belton, Millett of Marazion, Callendar) simply have no evidence either way:

• Sir Thomas Holbrooke of Broadway;
• de Warenne;
• Fitz Stephens;
• Wise of Sydenham;
• the Foresters and Charlemagne;
• the Clelands and Wallace;
• Stewart of Blantyre and James V;
• Hepburn of Bothwell;
• Callendar of that Ilk;
• Rede of Redesdale;
• Peck of Belton;
• Macomber and the Earls of Fife;
• Dean and Edward the Confessor;
• Salusbury of Lleweni;
• Millett of Marazion.

In most cases the printed book she copied had already warned against it. The details are in section 8.

The one genuine gentry connection is one she did not know she had. Mary Tompson's mother was Alice Freeman of a Northamptonshire gentry family. Alice is a documented distant ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales, through another daughter (section 8).

3.4 Lines the typescript does not have

Line	Where it comes in	Notes
Mayo, Howes, Prence, Collier (probable), Mulford, Barnes, Bassett	Through Sarah Mayo	William Bassett came on the Fortune (1621). Gov. Thomas Prence and William Collier were Plymouth Colony magistrates. No Mayflower line.
Chittenden, Pierce, Stream	The real Holbrook wives
The Ellis male line, with Freeman and Hodsoll	George Ellis's father Matthias Ellis (b. 1719/20) > Capt. Joel Ellis > Lt. Matthias Ellis > Lt. John Ellis and Elizabeth Freeman > Edmund Freeman, founder of Sandwich, and Bennett Hodsoll	Mollie names George Ellis but traces only his wife Phebe Stephens's ancestry.
Churchill-Delano-Pontus	Elizabeth Churchill, wife of Joel Ellis	A Fortune line through Philip Delano. Two more descents from William Pontus, three in all (Mollie had only the one through Eleazer Churchill).
Bennett, Howland, Tilley	Lucia (Bennett) Ellis, wife of Matthias	A Mayflower line Mollie did not know. It runs Lucia > Lt. Joseph Bennett Jr. > Capt. Peter Bennett and Priscilla Howland > Lt. Isaac Howland > John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley > John Tilley and Joan Hurst.
Nye, Tupper	Mercy, wife of Lt. Matthias Ellis	Her Nye parentage (Benjamin Nye and Katherine Tupper) is unproven. See Freeman_Ellis_Master_Family_Tree.md.
Cogswell	Abigail (Cogswell) Varney	John Cogswell of the Angel Gabriel (1635).
Alice Freeman's family	Mary Tompson
Messer	Lydia (Messer) Butler Stanwood
Sarah Williams	Damaris Dean's mother
Elizabeth Cooper	Elizabeth Ide's mother

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4. The Holbrook line (Books 1-2)

The Holbrook men are researched in a separate pair of project files: Holbrook-Master-Family-Tree.md and early-holbrook-family-england.md. This section reports only how the typescript compares with them.

#	Mollie's claim (page)	What the records show	Verdict
H1	Thomas Holbrook married (1) Experience Leland, daughter of Hopestill Leland, and (2) Jane Kingman. He was "son of Sir Thomas Holbrooke of Broadway" (pp. 1-6, 11-12).	He married Jane Powyes at Glastonbury in 1616. His father was William Holbrooke "the elder", a Glastonbury yeoman (will, 1625). William was born at Norton Malreward about 1551-2, by his own deposition of 1617. No source for a knight is known. [D]	Incorrect
H2	The line runs Thomas of Braintree > Deacon Peter (m. Alice Godfrey) > Eliphalet (m. Hannah Rockwood) > Elisha (pp. 1-17).	The chain is Davis's (1899, Part II p. 135), one of her authorities. The only Eliphalet son of Peter was born 27 Feb 1691/2 and died at Bellingham on 19 Oct 1775. His children were born at Mendon and Bellingham. [D] Elisha was "s. Jo[h]n Jr. and Sarah, May 25, 1716" (Scituate VR). His father, "John Holbrook of Scituate", gentleman, was "now of Eastham" by 1736-38 and died there by 1749 as "Capt John Holbrook late of Eastham ... Gent Deceased" (Barnstable probate). [D] The identity of the Scituate Elisha with the Eastham one is [I], about 95%.	Incorrect
H3	The Leland, Godfrey and Rockwood lines, including "John Godfrey, Bishop of Bath" and the Godfreys on the Hercules in 1635 (Books 1-2).	They hang on Peter and Eliphalet, so they are not ancestral. Not checked further.	Not ancestral
H4	Elisha married Mary Mayhew, born 22 Apr 1742, daughter of Thomas Mayhew and Mary Witherell. Her ancestry is given through Mayhew, Wetherell, Skiff, Bayes and Newcomb (pp. 18-33a).	Eastham: intention 1 Apr 1742, "Sarah May"; marriage 13 May 1742 (the MD 20:156 transcript reads "Annah Mayo"). Daniel Mayo's will, 8 Nov 1754, names "Sarah the wife of Elisha Holbrook" and "Martha the wife of Ezekiel Holbrook", so two Holbrook brothers married two Mayo sisters. [D] Mollie's Mary Mayhew was a real Plymouth girl, born in 1742 (MD 19:90), the year Elisha married. [D]	Incorrect
H5	(Newcomb)	Elisha did marry a Newcomb: his second wife, Priscilla Newcomb, in 1771. Gideon was born about 1765. Sarah Mayo was living at the 1760 estate division, and Elisha did not remarry until 1771, so Gideon does not descend from Priscilla. [I, from dates] Priscilla's own ancestry was not checked.	Not ancestral
H6	Gideon was born in 1766, came from Wellfleet to Manomet as a boy with his uncle Naaman, and inherited Naaman's house, built before 1714 (p. 7).	Gideon's gravestone at Manomet reads "Died Jan. 23, 1842, Æ. 76 Y'rs", so he was born about 1765. His birthplace, Wellfleet, comes from his daughter Mary's death record of 1899. [D] Naaman Holbrook of Plymouth is in the records, but his relationship to Gideon is unknown. Davis makes Naaman a son of "Eliphalet 1st".	Tradition
H7	Richard B. Holbrook gave up a captaincy for the gold rush and reached California in 1850 (pp. 7-8).	In the census taken at Plymouth on 27 Aug 1850 he is "Richard Holbrook, 27, Seaman", in his widowed mother's household. [D] The pioneers' necrology of 1894 says he "arrived in California March 4, 1851" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 18 Nov 1894). [D] The rest of the story (a command given up, Cape Horn, the produce trade, typhoid) is family tradition.	Corrected
H8	Elisha to Mollie.	Agrees with the records.	Confirmed

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5. The Ellis-Warren branch: Nancy Ellis's ancestry (Books 3-4)

Mollie traces Nancy Ellis's mother's side:

• Warren > Bartlett > Harlow > Stephens;
• Rider;
• Churchill and Pontus;
• Doty and Clarke.

She does not trace Nancy's father's side (George Ellis's own parents). Section 3.4 lists what that side adds.

5.1 Richard Warren (pp. 30-35)

#	Mollie's claim	What the records show	Verdict
W1	Richard Warren was "born probably in London" and was a "merchant of London".	Birthplace unknown. "Of London" is documented (Mourt's Relation, 1622), but as residence or association. "Merchant" is Banks's label, wrongly attributed to Mourt. Modern estimates: Hertfordshire, about 1585 (Johnson, GSMD); "by about 1578" (Anderson). [C]	Unproven
W2	He married the "widow Elizabeth (Jewett)".	He married Elizabeth Walker at Great Amwell, Hertfordshire, in 1610. Her father Augustine Walker's will names "her three Children Marey, Ann and Sarey" (Davies, TAG 78:81-86, 2003). [D] The Jewett or Ivatt wife comes from a Devon visitation pedigree of a different Richard Warren, of Greenwich. That man's wife was 15 in 1629. It was rejected in 1901, 1976 and 2003.	Incorrect
W3	A haberdasher's marriage licence of 1592/3, and the Honourable Artillery Company roll of 1612.	Both records exist. Banks only floated them as possibilities. Since Elizabeth Walker married in 1610 and was the mother of all five daughters, the 1592/3 groom cannot be him. The 1612 member is unidentified.	Unproven
W4	He may descend from the Norman de Warenne earls.	No modern authority supports it (Davies, Anderson, Johnson, GSMD). [T]	Incorrect
W5	His daughter Mary was born in 1606.	1606 is Banks's 1929 estimate. The record evidence (her age at death, the 1610 marriage, the order of the daughters in the will) gives about 1610/11. The other children and their marriages are right.	Corrected
W6	He died in 1628.	Confirmed (Morton, New-Englands Memoriall, 1669).	Confirmed
W7	His widow Elizabeth died 2 Oct 1673 "in her 91st year", leaving 75 grandchildren.	The date is right (PCR 8:35). The record's wording is "aged aboue 90 yeares". "75 grandchildren" is in no contemporary record; GSMD counts 56.	Corrected

5.2 Bartlett, Harlow and Rider (pp. 36-48)

#	Mollie's claim	What the records show	Verdict
B1	Mary Warren married Robert Bartlett (Mollie: 1628), and their daughters Rebecca and Sarah married William Harlow and Samuel Rider.	Confirmed. The marriage was after 22 May 1627, probably about 1629. Both daughters are in Nancy Ellis's line, so the family descends from Robert Bartlett and Mary Warren twice: through Rebecca, and through Sarah via John Rider and Mercy Rider. [D]	Confirmed
B2	Sarah Bartlett married Samuel Rider "(1)" of Yarmouth (pp. 46-48).	She married his son, Samuel Rider Jr. A Plymouth Colony certificate under seal, dated 3 Dec 1662, says "Samuell Ryder Junior the bearer heerof, is the Reputed sonne of Samuell Ryder senor; which said Samuell Ryder senior sometimes lived in the Towne of Northampton ... in the Parish of Alhallowes" (NEHGR 79:316, 1925). [D] Samuel Sr.'s will of 1679 names a wife Anne, who outlived him (d. 14 Dec 1695), so he could not have married Sarah in 1656. [D]	Corrected
B3	A Plymouth church record of William Harlow "murmuring" at the pastor's preaching, and that he "became a Quaker".	The quotation is genuine: Plymouth Church Records, CSM 22:254, 9 March 1683/4, "the first day of our meeting in the new Meeting-house". "Will'. Harlow did in such a manner expresse himselfe murmuring at the soe preaching". It does not say which of the two adult William Harlows. Nothing supports "became a Quaker". Sgt. William died a church member in August 1691 (CSM 22:271). [D]	Corrected
B4	Nathaniel Morton's will left a cow and calf to his kinsman Nathaniel Harlow and named "Seargent" William Harlow supervisor.	Confirmed in substance (Stratton, Plymouth Colony, 1986, citing the will, 22 Apr 1685). Mollie's spelling is unverified. [C]	Confirmed
B5	A drift-whale lawsuit of 1692, with Samuel Rider and William Harlow Jr. as defendants.	The whale dispute is real, but in March 1690/1. Plymouth town meeting, 10 March 1690: "seing serjant harlow & Joseph Bartlet did somwhat decline the Thing" (Town Records 1:200). John Rider deposed in it (MD 11:186). [D] No record names the defendants.	Corrected
B6	Samuel Harlow and his wife Hannah died on the same day.	The Plymouth VR has both deaths with the dates left blank (original p. 210). Mollie's date probably comes from the next line in the book. [I]	Unproven
B7	Capt. Edward Harlow, master of the ordnance at Sagadahoc in 1607, was of this family.	Nothing connects him. Sgt. William Harlow's English origin is unknown (MD 12:193-194).	Unproven

5.3 Stephens and Ellis (pp. 47-51)

#	Mollie's claim	What the records show	Verdict
S1	Death dates for Mary (Churchill) Stephens, Edward Stephens Sr. and Edward Stephens Jr.	All three match the Burial Hill stones (Kingman nos. 60, 275, 567). Mary's year should read 1723/4. [D]	Confirmed
S2	Phebe (Stephens) Ellis died 24 Dec 1789.	24 Nov 1789: "Nov ... 24th George Ellis's Wife" (Plymouth Church Records, CSM 22:417). The "24" under December belongs to the next entry. [D]	Corrected
S3	George Ellis was born 21 Jan 1749 (p. 33).	"George Ellis the Son of Mathias Ellis and by Lucia his Wife Was Born May the 10th 1747" (Middleborough VR, MD 16:135). [D]	Corrected
S4	Edward and Phebe Stephens lived at Carver.	That fits their son Edward, who was "of Carver" at his marriage in 1802. Edward Jr. was buried on Burial Hill in 1788, before Carver existed (1790).	Corrected
S5	A Norman "Fitz Stephens" pedigree, and kinship to Col. Thomas Stevens of London, armorer to the Massachusetts Bay Company (pp. 48-51).	Mollie marks the first part "authority unknown". Nothing connects Edward Stephens of Marshfield to either.	Incorrect
S6	Ellis Bartlett of Manomet, born about 1814, was father of William Lehman Ashmead Bartlett, who married the Baroness Burdett-Coutts.	The connection is right. Ellis Bartlett was born 15 June 1817 (Plymouth VR). His grandmother Mercy Ellis, who married John Bartlett in 1762, came from the same Sandwich Ellis family as George Ellis: both descend from John Ellis and Elizabeth Freeman. [D] + [C]	Corrected

5.4 Doty, Clarke and Churchill (pp. 52-66)

#	Mollie's claim	What the records show	Verdict
D1	Eleazer Churchill married "Mary Doty", daughter of Edward Doty of the Mayflower and Faith Clarke (pp. 52-60). The Doty and Clarke lines follow.	The record is "Henery CHURCHILL married Mary DOTY widow 8 Feb. 1687/88" (Plymouth VR, original p. 127; MD 13:204). The bride was the widow of Thomas Doty, Edward's son. She was still living in 1722 as "widow of Henry Churchill of Plimton". [D] Eleazer had one wife, Mary, the mother of all eleven children ("The children of Eleazer Churchell & Mary his wife", Plymouth VR p. 13). She died 11 Dec 1715 "aged 60" (Burial Hill). She was probably Mary Bryant, born 29 May 1654 (Torrey, with a question mark). Edward Doty's own daughter Mary married Samuel Hatch. The error is in The Churchill Family in America (1904); the Doty-Doten book had it right in 1897.	Incorrect
D2	"Maybe she reverted to her ancestor, Edward Doty, and to the persistency of her ancestor Thomas Mayhew" (p. 85, Mollie on herself).	Neither man is an ancestor: the Doty link fails at Eleazer Churchill, and the Mayhew link at Elisha's wife.	Incorrect
D3	John Churchill married Hannah Pontus, daughter of William Pontus and Wybra Hanson.	Confirmed. [C] The family descends from them twice: through Eleazer Churchill (Stephens side), and through John Churchill Jr. and Rebecca Delano, whose daughter Elizabeth married Joel Ellis. Mollie names John Jr. and Rebecca Delano on her Churchill chart, but not as ancestors.	Confirmed

What remains of the Doty connection. These are cousin-level contacts, not ancestry:

• Deborah Ellis married Joseph Doty.
• In 1674 Joseph Doty was bound over on Elizabeth Warren's accusation (PCR 5:156).
• James Warren married Sarah Doty.

They are set out in Warren_Line_Research.md.

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6. The Low family (Books 4-6)

6.1 Low, Boreman, Lamb and Wise (pp. 67-96)

#	Mollie's claim	What the records show	Verdict
L1	Thomas Low's father was Capt. John Lowe of the Ambrose (Winthrop Fleet, 1630) (pp. 70-72).	The source is a statement by Capt. Winthrop Low to Rev. Robert Crowell. William G. Low, who looked hardest, concluded "probably not" (A Genealogical Quest, 1908). [T]	Incorrect
L2	Thomas Low came from Polstead or Boxford, Suffolk, married Margaret Tod in 1630, and came in Rev. Nathaniel Rogers's company in 1636 (pp. 70-72).	The parish records exist: "Thos. Lowe & Margaret Tod married 22 June 1630" (Polstead); a son Thomas bp. 8 May 1631 (Groton); a son John bp. 2 Mar 1633 (Boxford). Their identity with the Ipswich man is "a probability" (Wm. G. Low; V. B. Redstone). The Rogers link is supported by a 1641 Ipswich grant: "ten acres due to him by grant unto Mr. Rogers company". [D] + [C]	Confirmed, as a probability
L3	Low name lore: Domesday, a Lord Mayor, Capt. Barnaby Low of the Armada, and the wolf arms.	No connection to Thomas Low is shown. [T]	Unproven
L4	Thomas Low's second wife Susannah died at Charlestown in 1684.	His 1677 will names wife Susannah. Merriam gives "Susanna Low 19th of August, 1684. Aged about 86" at Watertown.	Corrected
L5	Sgt. David Low died 2 June 1746.	Confirmed (Ipswich VR 2:624). Wm. G. Low's "d. before 1736" is wrong.	Confirmed
L6	Nathan Low (b. 1742) went against Quebec with his grandfather as a young lad (p. 78).	His grandfather Sgt. David Low died in 1746, when Nathan was three. [D] Nathan marched on the Lexington alarm in 1775.	Incorrect
L7	Major Caleb Low was one of Washington's aides and was present at André's execution. Capt. David Low was Nathan's brother (p. 78).	Caleb was a militia major in Col. Nathaniel Wade's regiment, "engaged July 6, 1780; discharged Oct. 10, 1780" (MSS&R 9:1020). Wade's regiment was in the Hudson Highlands when André was hanged (2 Oct 1780), but nothing makes Caleb an aide. Capt. David Low's service at the Lexington alarm and with Gates's army in 1777 is confirmed (MSS&R 9:1021), but he was a first cousin, not a brother. [D]	Corrected
L8	Major Nathan Low was born at Chebacco 3 Nov 1765.	That is his baptism (Ipswich VR 1:254). Boxford: "Nathan, s. Nathan and Lucy, at Ipswich, Oct. 18, 1765". [D]	Corrected
L9	Major Nathan married Rebecca Thompson on 23 Oct 1792.	Boxford VR p. 171, "of Dear Isle". [D]	Confirmed
L10	Major Nathan's second wife drowned herself in a spring on the farm (p. 79).	Hosmer says only that Hannah Hardy, "some forty years younger", "died in a few years after her marriage".	Tradition
L11	Capt. Nathan Low and his crew were left in the water for hours after the collision (p. 80).	About 10 p.m. on Thursday 10 Sept 1874 the steamer Lewiston ran down his schooner Paragon off Seguin. The papers say: "The steamer lowered her boats and rescued the captain and his father and brother - the entire crew" (Portland Daily Press, 12 Sept 1874). He died on 17 Sept. [D]	Corrected
L12	Harriet married Crowell H. Sylvester at 16. He was a widower and a brother of Edmund Sylvester, founder of Olympia. The marriage was "annulled" by the legislature (p. 82).	The brother link is confirmed (Blankenship, 1914). [C] The marriage record and "widower" were not found. It was a divorce, "dissolve the bonds of matrimony", by private act passed 17 Jan 1860 (Washington Territory session laws). [D]	Corrected
L13	Thomas Boreman was baptized at Claydon 18 Oct 1601 and died in 1653(?).	Baptism confirmed. He died in May 1673, aged 72 years 7 months (will 17 Dec 1670, codicil 3 May 1673; Goldthwaite). His will names "my daughter Martha wife of Thomas Loe". [C from originals]	Corrected
L14	The Boreman line in England: William, Thomas, William, Thomas, with Elizabeth Carter, daughter of Felix and Margaret Carter.	Matches Goldthwaite's pedigree, built from the Claydon registers and Cropredy and Banbury wills. [C] They were yeomen. The "Mr." and "Mistress" titles at Ipswich show local standing, not gentry.	Confirmed
L15	Mary Lamb was a daughter of Caleb Lamb and Mary Wise. Thomas Lamb came in the Winthrop Fleet and outlived his son Caleb (pp. 92-94).	The parentage is supported. Thomas Lamb was buried 28 Mar 1646 (Roxbury VR 2:571), when Caleb was not quite five (b. 9 Apr 1641), so he cannot have outlived him. A first Mary Lamb, b. 13 Apr 1678, died 4 July 1679; our Mary is a later daughter whose birth is not recorded. [D]	Corrected
L16	"Lambe of Bury" and King James (Camden Papers).	Mollie herself says "not a clue". No evidence. [T]	Unproven
L17	Joseph Wise came on the Bonaventure in 1636 and descends from the Wises of Sydenham, Devon (pp. 95-96).	He is first found in Dr. George Alcock's will (Dec 1640) as Alcock's servant. West (NEHGR 177, 2023) places him at Bulkington, Warwickshire, bp. 17 June 1617, son of Henry Wise and Katherine Willmore. [C]	Incorrect
L18	Rev. John Wise of Chebacco was Mary Lamb's uncle.	Confirmed: Mary Wise bp. 27 Feb 1649/50 and John bp. 15 Aug 1652, both children of Joseph (Roxbury VR 1:389). [D] Joseph Wise is an ancestor twice over, because his daughter Abigail married Adam Cogswell (section 6.2).	Confirmed

6.2 Tompson, Varney, Proctor, Lord, Waite, Fuller and Emerson (pp. 96-109)

#	Mollie's claim	What the records show	Verdict
T1	Mary Tompson, wife of Joseph Wise, was a daughter of Rev. William Tompson of Braintree (pp. 96-100).	Mollie's own date, Mary "born before or shortly after 1636", is impossible for a bride of 1641. Rev. William had "a company of small children" in 1643. She was a daughter of John Tompson, gent., of Little Preston, Northamptonshire, and Alice Freeman (TAG 13, 56, 87). Anderson calls the identification "probable". [C]	Corrected
T2	Thomas Varney (b. 1682) married Abigail Proctor. Their daughter Abigail (b. "Oct. 4, 1733") married Caleb Low (p. 101).	Corporal Thomas Varney (d. 4 Dec 1692) married Abigail Proctor. Their son Thomas (b. 3 Dec 1682) married Abigail Cogswell (b. 21 Mar 1688/9, daughter of Adam Cogswell and Abigail Wise). Abigail Varney was born "at Chebacco, Oct. 14, 1713" (Ipswich VR 1:374) and married Caleb Low on 8 Jan 1732/3. [D]	Corrected
T3	Abigail Proctor was a daughter of John Proctor Sr. and a sister of John Proctor, hanged at Salem in 1692 (p. 102).	Proved by her own depositions of 1673 and 1679 (Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County 5:195, 7:218). [D]	Confirmed
T4	Mrs. Varney (Abigail Proctor) led the women who disrupted the 1679 Chebacco meeting-house raising.	Court record, 25 June 1679: "Thomas Varny, for his wife" acknowledged the offence (EQC 7:245). [D]	Confirmed
T5	One James Lord, son of Robert the marshal, born 1676, married Mary Fuller in 1731/2 and was Lucy's father (pp. 103-106).	There were two: James Sr. (b. 27 Jan 1676/7, d. 24 May 1734), and his son James Jr. (b. 12 Apr 1707), who married Mary Fuller on 5 Jan 1731/2 and was Lucy's father. [D]	Corrected
T6	Lucy Lord, after Nathan Low's death, married "a Choate" and had a daughter who married a Tappan.	Lucy married (2) Capt. Ebenezer Lord on 25 Apr 1808, and (3) Josiah Choate on 28 Nov 1817. The Tappan bride, Nancy, was Josiah's daughter by his first wife. [D] + [C]	Corrected
T7	Robert Lord, the Indian fighter who could never sleep on a feather bed again.	Not the Ipswich clerk; apparently a Maine Lord. [I]	Misattributed
T8	Mary Waite, wife of Robert Lord, was a daughter of Samuel Waite and Mary Ward, and so a niece of Rev. Nathaniel Ward, author of The Simple Cobler of Aggawam (pp. 107-108).	Found only in online trees and Mollie's own reasoning from "Candler's Pedigree of Ward in the Bodleian". No primary record seen.	Unproven
T9	Nathaniel Hawthorne descends from Robert Lord through Miriam Lord (p. 106).	Miriam Lord married Richard Manning on 30 May 1776 (Ipswich VR 2:301); they were Hawthorne's maternal grandparents. Her descent from Robert Lord is likely, since nearly all early Ipswich Lords descend from him, but it is not traced.	Unproven
T10	Ralph Waldo Emerson is a kinsman through Thomas Emerson (p. 109a).	Confirmed. Emerson descends from Thomas Emerson through Rev. Joseph of Mendon, a brother of Elizabeth (Emerson) Fuller. He and Harriet were about fifth cousins once removed. [C]	Confirmed
T11	James Freeman Clarke descends from John Fuller (p. 109).	Clarke's line ("John 1, Joseph 2&3, Abraham 4, Sarah 5, who married Wm. Hull") is from John Fuller of Newton, a different man. [C]	Incorrect
T12	Seth Low and Rufus Choate descend from Thomas Low; George W. Cable from the Boremans (pp. 86, 91).	All confirmed. [C]	Confirmed

The details behind T12:

• Seth Low (mayor of New York) descends through Sgt. David Low and Mary Lamb. He and Harriet were fourth cousins once removed.
• Rufus Choate descends through Thomas Varney and Abigail Proctor, and probably also through Ruth Low.
• George W. Cable descends through the Claydon Boremans. He and Harriet were about seventh cousins.

6.3 Thompson, Foster, Bate, Payson, Kneeland and Hawkins (pp. 110-134)

#	Mollie's claim	What the records show	Verdict
F1	Thomas Thompson was born at Boston in 1744 and married "in Boston or Dorchester".	No Boston birth found. Hosmer says only "removed here from Massachusetts". He married Mary Foster at Roxbury, 28 Oct 1765. [D] His parents are unknown.	Corrected
F2	Mary (Foster) Thompson was a daughter of John Foster and Jane of Roxbury (p. 114).	John Foster married Jane Lindsey at Boston on 20 Apr 1750, about five years after Mary was born (c. 1745). The recorded children of John and Jane, 1751-1760, include no Mary. She may be John's daughter by an earlier wife. The 1760 probate (Suffolk no. 12403) has not been read.	Unproven
F3	Mary was said to be "half French and Indian" (p. 119; Mollie rejects it).	Nothing in the records supports it.	Tradition
F4	Samuel Foster married Rachel Kneeland in 1721 (p. 113) or on 1 Apr 1722 (p. 124).	5 Apr 1722, at Boston, by Mr. Joseph Sewall. [D]	Corrected
F5	Elizabeth Payson was born 9 Feb 1645. Her second husband was "Edmund Brown, soapboiler".	Born 4 Feb 1644/5, Roxbury. Edmond Brown was a shopkeeper; the soap boiler was her first husband, Hopestill Foster himself. [D]	Corrected
F6	Patience Bigg died 30 Jan 1702/3, aged 84 (p. 113).	The year and the age belong to Mary (Bate) Foster, who died 4 or 5 Jan 1702/3, aged 84. Patience's death date is unknown. Richard Foster's own death in England by 1630 is confirmed by a PCC administration of 3 May 1630. [D abstract]	Corrected
F7	Richard Foster was a son of Rev. Thomas Foster of Ipswich, whose will was made 21 Sept 1628. Through him the Fosters descend from the Foresters of Northumberland, Baldwin of Flanders, Charlemagne and Alfred the Great (pp. 115-117).	Rev. Thomas's will is dated 22 Sept 1638. His son Richard was an Ipswich shipmaster alive in 1639, while ours died by 1630. The family was Foster of Biddenden, Kent. Mollie says herself she could not connect them.	Incorrect
F8	Ensign Hopestill Foster was fined as a Baptist in 1672-78 (p. 120).	Those presentments concern Thomas Foster of Billerica and his son Hopestill (b. 1648). Ensign Hopestill was dead by January 1677/8.	Incorrect
F9	Boston's city arms came from the Foster arms.	Garbled. What is documented: John Foster (1648-1681), Capt. Hopestill's son, "made the Seals or Arms of the Colony, viz an Indian with a bow and arrow" (Blake's Annals). That was the colony seal, not Boston's.	Corrected
F10	John Kneeland (13) was born 2 Aug 1632 "in New England" and died at Roxbury on 11 Aug 1691 (p. 128).	His death and age are confirmed by his gravestone. But he was a founder of the Scots' Charitable Society of Boston in 1657. Its members gave "for the relief of ourselves, being Scottish men, or for any of the Scottish nation", so he was almost certainly Scottish-born. [D]	Corrected
F11	John (b. c. 1575) and Edward Kneeland came about 1630 with their mother Mary Dunbar.	No record found. [T]	Unproven
F12	John Kneeland (14) built the Old South Meeting House (p. 129).	The 1729-30 building was built by the mason Joshua Blanchard (cornerstone "JB 1729"), to a design by Robert Twelves.	Incorrect
F13	Mary Green, his wife, was a daughter of Samuel Green Jr. Samuel Green "published in England the famous Cambridge Bible".	Her parentage is unproven, with a chronology problem. Samuel Green printed at Cambridge, Massachusetts; his greatest work was the Indian Bible, with Marmaduke Johnson. Mollie calls Timothy Green "Mary's brother", but the Timothy Green who was Samuel Kneeland's printing partner would be her nephew.	Corrected
F14	Mary Hawkins was a daughter of "Col." James Hawkins and Mary Mills.	Her father James is supported. He was a bricklayer; nothing shows he was a colonel. [C]	Corrected
F15	Jane Hawkins was banished "for supposed tendency to Quakerism" (p. 129).	She was banished in 1638 and 1641 as Anne Hutchinson's associate, called "a rank familist", and suspected of witchcraft (Winthrop's Journal; Mass. Bay Records 1). The Quakers came later. [D]	Corrected

6.4 The Kneeland-Cleland-Wallace pedigree (pp. 123-134)

The pedigree comes through a chain of books, each of which garbled its predecessor:

• Burke, Landed Gentry (1847), "Cleland of Rath-Gael";
• Anderson, Scottish Nation;
• S. F. Kneeland, Seven Centuries in the Kneeland Family (1897);
• Mollie.

Kneeland himself wrote (p. 19): "Personally, I do not stand sponsor for the truth of all this ancestry ... I simply give it from Burke."

Link	Finding	Verdict
Alexander Kneland, "Parson O' Gowie", married Margaret Wallace, daughter of Adam Wallace, so aunt (or, in Anderson's garbling, sister) of Sir William Wallace.	Blind Harry (Book I, ll. 147-154) sends Wallace's mother to "Gowry ... Till his wncle ... Ane agyt man". The uncle is unnamed and not called a priest. "Hir fedyr" there is the mother's father. Kneeland admits the identification is his own deduction ("it follows that Alexander Kneland must have been the uncle"). In Harry, Adam Wallace is "ayr off Ricardtoun", Wallace's cousin. Wallace's own seal (1297) names his father as Alan.	Incorrect
James Kneland, Wallace's "cusying".	Harry has an unnamed "Kneland ... ner cusyng to Wallace". One manuscript reads "Cleland". The forename James comes from Burke and Anderson. Harry's poem dates from the 1470s and is not a record.	Literary only
William Kneland married Jean Somerville in 1462.	Garbled from a real marriage: Janet, daughter of William, Lord Somerville, married James, son and heir of William Cleland of that Ilk (Scots Peerage 8:9-11). The date is unsupported.	Corrected
James married a daughter of Hepburn of Bonnytoun, so the family descends from the Hepburns of Bothwell.	No Hepburn of Bonnytoun among the 1st Earl of Bothwell's children (Scots Peerage 2). The 4th Earl, Mary Queen of Scots' husband, "had no legitimate issue". Mollie cites only "lost notes".	Incorrect
Capt. John married Mary Dunbar of Dunbar Castle.	In no Cleland genealogy and no record.	Incorrect
John (b. c. 1575) married Mary Stewart, daughter of Walter, 1st Lord Blantyre, a descendant of James V.	Lord Blantyre's children were James, William, Walter, Mr. John, Anna and Jean. There was no Mary (Scots Peerage 2:83-85). The real link: his sister "Marion, married to William Cleland of that Ilk" (2:81). The Blantyre Stewarts descend from Stewart of Dalswinton, not from James V.	Incorrect
The Boston Kneelands are the Clelands of that Ilk.	No documentary link exists. John Kneeland of Boston was a Scot (section 6.3, F10). Nothing places him in any Cleland family.	Unproven

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7. The Tyler and Ginn lines (Books 7-9)

7.1 Tyler, Capron and Callender (pp. 135-146)

#	Mollie's claim	What the records show	Verdict
Y1	Job Tyler was a son of "Capt. Thomas Tyler" of Budleigh, Devon, a merchant captain, and of the widow Joan (pp. 135-136).	The Budleigh captain was Thomas Tyler of Boston, who married Miriam Simpkins, had children 1685-1698, and was taken by a Barbary corsair in 1703 (Savage 4:355): two generations after Job. "Widow Tiler" was at Providence in 1638 and 1640, but her link to Job is unknown. Mollie's "aged fifty-four" misreads Brigham's "one of the 54" lot-holders. Job's origin is unknown.	Incorrect
Y2	Job and Mary Tyler charged John Godfrey with witchcraft and "the case was dismissed" (p. 136).	On 6 March 1665/6 the Court of Assistants tried Godfrey "on the Complaint & accusation of Job Tyler & John Rimington". The jury found him "suspitiously Guilty of witchcraft, but not legally guilty" (Records of the Court of Assistants 3). Acquitted, not dismissed. [D]	Corrected
Y3	"Job Tyler is as cantankerous as ever" (a Mendon minute, p. 137).	Not in the Mendon records as printed by Metcalf (1880) or Brigham (1912). The real entries are his refusal of July 1669 and a later note that he "has given satisfaction".	Incorrect
Y4	Mary Tyler was dismissed from Roxbury church to Mendon on 28 May 1645. Job helped settle "Rev. John Emerson".	The year is 1665. The minister was Rev. Joseph Emerson; Job signed the settlement agreement on 1 Dec 1669. [C]	Corrected
Y5	Samuel Tyler was impressed at Rowley in 1675 and was in the Narragansett fight. His son Ebenezer claimed the Narragansett grant.	The impressment, his pay credit of 24 Mar 1675/6, and Ebenezer's claim (Narragansett No. 3) are documented (Bodge). [D] Placing him at the fight rests on Brigham's reading of Bodge, and "left for dead" is inference.	Confirmed in part
Y6	Capt. Samuel Tyler married Mary Capron on 19 Dec 1719.	19 Dec 1717, by the justice's return; their first children were born Jan 1718/19 and May 1720. [D]	Corrected
Y7	Ebenezer Tyler was a 2nd lieutenant among the first to march toward Lexington (p. 140).	A private in Capt. Jabez Ellis's Attleborough company on the 19 April 1775 alarm (MSS&R 16:230). Sergeant 1776, 1st lieutenant 1777. No record puts him at Lexington. [D]	Corrected
Y8	"Brig.-Gen." on Ebenezer's gravestone.	Brigham: colonel 1799, then "major-general six years" in the militia. The Attleborough VR calls him "Col." The stone was not seen.	Unproven
Y9	Rowland Tyler was taken prisoner at Hampden in 1814.	A "Rowland Taylor" of Dixmont is on a roll at Hampden, 31 Aug-3 Sept 1814. The Bangor jail and the broken gun are tradition.	Partly confirmed
Y10	Charles A. Dana and Edith Roosevelt descend from Job Tyler through Hopestill (p. 142).	Edith Kermit (Carow) Roosevelt: supported (Brigham). Her line is Job > Hopestill > Daniel > Daniel > Capt. Daniel (m. Mehitable Putnam, daughter of Gen. Israel Putnam) > Gen. Daniel > Gertrude (m. Charles Carow) > Edith. Dana: not found.	Confirmed for Roosevelt
Y11	Mary Capron was born at Rehoboth in 1684 (p. 143).	22 Oct 1684 is her sister Elizabeth's birth. Mary was born about 1696: she died 26 Jan 1780 "in her 84th y." [D]	Corrected
Y12	Banfield Capron married Elizabeth Callender, of the Callendars of that Ilk (pp. 143-146). The stowaway story.	The 1817 family account says only "one of Callender's daughters", with no first name. Holden's Capron Genealogy has an Elizabeth Blackington. No Scottish link; Mollie's own source says the Callendar estate passed to the Livingstons in 1347. The stowaway story is 1817 family tradition.	Tradition

7.2 Read, Peck and Ide (pp. 147-156)

#	Mollie's claim	What the records show	Verdict
R1	John Read married Sarah, daughter of William Lessie of Blyborough, Suffolk.	Confirmed: Aspinwall Notarial Records p. 11, Nov. 1644. [D]	Confirmed
R2	John Read came with Winthrop in 1630 and was sheriff in 1654.	Unsupported. J. W. Reed himself says his first record is Weymouth, 1637, and calls him constable, not sheriff.	Incorrect
R3	John Read was a son of William Read and Lucy Heneage, of the Redes of Redesdale, back to Brianus de Rede (1139) and kin to the Bishop of Chichester (pp. 147-153).	Even J. W. Reed (1861) only "supposed" it. The Reade Society (1907) dates Lucy Heneage's birth to 24 Feb 1586, and says her son John "did not emigrate to America, but remained in England and died there unmarried". John of Rehoboth's in-laws were of Blyborough, Suffolk.	Incorrect
R4	Capt. Daniel Read was born 30 Jan 1680.	"Daniell, Jan. 20, 1680" (Rehoboth VR p. 723, checked against the page image). [D]	Corrected
R5	Hannah Peck was born 19 July 1646 at Hingham (p. 154).	"Hannah, March 25, 1653", of Joseph and Hannah (Rehoboth VR p. 703). Mollie's pencil note is right. [D]	Corrected
R6	Robert Peck, Joseph's father, married "---- Norton".	Ira Peck says Robert married Hellen Babbs, daughter of Nicholas Babbs. [C]	Corrected
R7	Joseph Peck was "a lineal descendant for twenty-one generations of John Peck of Belton" (p. 155), with Harleian citations.	The printed visitations she cites (Harleian Soc. 2 and 16) begin with Richard Peck of Wakefield and have no Belton and no Beccles branch. Ira Peck says the last two generations "are added to it". Unproven above Robert of Beccles.	Unproven
R8	Elizabeth Ide, Daniel Read's second wife, was Nicholas Ide's daughter, born 6 Apr 1658. Nicholas married Mary Bliss, through whom Ralph Waldo Emerson is a cousin (p. 156).	Daniel's wife was Elizabeth, b. 16 Mar 1689/90, daughter of Timothy Ide and Elizabeth Cooper, a granddaughter of Nicholas. She died 31 Dec 1759 "in her 70th y." Thomas Bliss's daughter Mary married Nathaniel Harmon; Nicholas's wife was Martha (buried 3 Nov 1676). Emerson descends from a different Thomas Bliss, of Hartford and Springfield. [D]	Corrected

7.3 White, Humphrey, Macomber and Dean (pp. 157-165)

#	Mollie's claim	What the records show	Verdict
M1	Mary White, b. 5 Dec 1720, was a daughter of Matthew White and Damaris Dean. Nicholas White Jr. married Ursula Macomber. Nicholas Sr. married Susanna Humphrey.	All confirmed (Norton VR; Taunton VR; Jonas Humphrey's 1662 will names "d. Susanna, w. of Nicholas White"). [D]	Confirmed
M2	Damaris Dean was a daughter of Walter Dean (p. 164).	She was a daughter of Benjamin Dean (Walter's son) and Sarah Williams, born 4 Sept 1689 (Taunton VR). [D]	Corrected
M3	Walter Dean's wife was Eleanor Strong, sister of Elder John Strong, daughter of Richard Strong of Taunton (a Caernarvon family).	The earliest statement is Gov. Caleb Strong's 1777 account: "A sister of his came with him from England, who afterwards m. a person by the name of Dean". It gives no first name. "Eleanor" and "Richard Strong" are an 1871 elaboration.	Tradition
M4	The Deans descend from Robert de Den, butler to Edward the Confessor, and named the Forest of Dean.	No evidence.	Incorrect
M5	William Macomber came on the Anne (1623) and married a sister of Peregrine White (p. 161). Mollie reports this and doubts it.	He first appears in 1638, "of Dorchester". Peregrine White's only recorded sibling was Resolved. The White marriage belongs to a later William Macomber (1746-1815), who married Ruth White, "fifth in descent from Peregrine White", in 1764.	Incorrect
M6	The Macombers descend from the Earls of Fife.	No evidence; Mollie herself doubted it.	Incorrect

7.4 Ginn, Riggs, Millett, Wheeler and Stanwood (pp. 165a-187)

#	Mollie's claim	What the records show	Verdict
G1	Capt. James Ginn's father was William Genn (b. 1718) and Cecilia (p. 165a).	The father was Thomas Genn of the Choptank River, Maryland (NEHGR 1880; the Genn family study). The study gives b. 14 Mar 1718 and wife Sicely. Mollie's own notes on p. 166 say "son of Thomas". [C]	Corrected
G2	James Genn, the surveyor, taught George Washington surveying and was of our family (p. 166).	Washington's diary, 12 March 1748: "This Morning Mr. James Genn the surveyor came to us". Genn led that survey. The Washington Papers editors think it "probable that he received some instruction in surveying, possibly from James Genn". [D] Kinship is unproven, and the surveyor was not a direct ancestor.	Unproven
G3	Thomas Mathew, author of the account of Bacon's Rebellion, "must have been a kin".	His will calls the Genns his servants.	Incorrect
G4	Capt. James Ginn married Ann Riggs at Gloucester on 3 June 1768.	"GENN, James [Geen. int.], and Anne Riggs, June 3, 1768" (Gloucester VR 2:226). [D]	Confirmed
G5	He served in the Revolution. He was plantation clerk and treasurer, and built a brig and two schooners. In 1800 he moved to Bucksport and built the Ginn Mansion in 1803.	Commissioned 2nd lieutenant, 20 July 1776, in Col. Josiah Brewer's Penobscot regiment (MSS&R 6:472). The rest is in the Bangor Historical Magazine and Rufus Buck's Bucksport history. [D] + [C]	Confirmed
G6	He brought two slaves to Bucksport and freed them on 12 May 1803 (p. 167).	No record of enslaved people or a manumission found. 12 May 1803 is the date the Bucksport church was gathered, in his unfinished house (Buck).	Unproven
G7	Sally Ginn, wife of Rowland Tyler, was his daughter.	Mollie's Ginn chart says so. Brigham's Tyler Genealogy calls Sally the daughter of "William H. Ginn, a shipbuilder of Ellsworth". Both give her birth as 20 Feb 1784. Unresolved conflict.	Unproven
G8	Joshua Riggs was born 16 Feb 1706/7.	26 Feb 1706/7 (Gloucester VR 1:581). [D]	Corrected
G9	Thomas Riggs Sr. was representative in 1760 and selectman 29 times.	Babson: representative in 1700, selectman "upwards of twenty years". He was town clerk about 50 years and died 26 Feb 1721/2. [C]	Corrected
G10	Mary (Millett) Riggs died in 1682 (p. 171).	"Mary, w. Thomas, sr., Jan. 23, 1694-5" (Gloucester VR 3:257). The 1682 date belongs to her mother. [D]	Corrected
G11	Thomas Millett came on the Elizabeth in 1635, aged 30, and was "a certified minister of St. Saviour's".	The ship list is right ("THO: MILLET 30", wife Marie 29, son Tho. 2). The passengers "brought Certi. from the Minister of St Saviors Southwark", which is a certificate of conformity, not a title. [D]	Corrected
G12	Millett of Marazion; a Staples Inn attorney; Henry Myllet of Chertsey and Joice Chapman.	Myllet of Chertsey and Joice Chapman are found only in unsourced online trees. For Marazion and Staples Inn no evidence was found, and Mollie's two pages contradict each other.	Unproven
G13	Mary Greenaway was a daughter of John and Mary Greenaway of Dorchester, who came on the Mary and John in 1630 and were "of Stains".	The parentage is documented: a 1650 deed of gift names "Thomas & mary Millett my sonne in Lawe & daughter" (NEHGR 32:56). [D] The ship is "supposed" only. "Stains" is not found.	Partly confirmed
G14	John Wheeler's wife, Ann Wheeler's grandmother, was Ann Salisbury, of the Salusburys of Lleweni, kin to Mrs. Piozzi (pp. 174-181). John Wheeler was born at Salisbury, England, in 1618.	His wife was Agnes Yeoman, married at Salisbury, Wiltshire, on 11 Dec 1611; she died 15 Aug 1662 (Davis, Annis Spear III:604-606). John was baptized by 4 Nov 1591; a 1618 birth is impossible, since his son David was born about 1625. NEHGR 33:101, which Mollie cites, is a general query that does not mention Wheeler. [C]	Incorrect
G15	Henry Wheeler's widow was "Widow Ann Wheeler of Boston", 1696.	Hoyt names her Abigail. [C]	Corrected
G16	Philip Stanwood's will named Thomas Riggs executor.	His widow Jane was administratrix, and no will is mentioned (Bolton).	Corrected
G17	The Stanwoods came from Stanswood, Hampshire.	Bolton offers only etymology. The origin is unknown.	Unproven
G18	Every ancestor came from England, Scotland or Wales except one Dutch woman, Wybra Hanson (p. 187).	Broadly so. The one Scot is John Kneeland. Philip Delano, an ancestor she did not have, was born at Leiden of a Walloon family. The Genns came by way of Virginia and Maryland. No Welsh ancestor is established.	Corrected

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8. Gentry, noble, royal and famous-kin claims: summary

Descents through a noble or gentry family

Claim	Pages	Verdict	Why
Sir Thomas Holbrooke of Broadway	1-6	Incorrect	The father was William, a Glastonbury yeoman.
De Warenne earls (Warren)	30-35	Incorrect	No authority supports it.
Fitz Stephens of Normandy; Col. Thomas Stevens	48-51	Incorrect	Mollie: "authority unknown".
Wise of Sydenham, Devon	95-96	Incorrect	Joseph Wise was baptized at Bulkington, Warwickshire.
Foresters, Baldwin of Flanders, Charlemagne, Alfred	115-117	Incorrect	The wrong Richard Foster.
Clelands of that Ilk, Wallace, Somerville, Hepburn, Dunbar, Stewart of Blantyre, James V	123-134	Incorrect	Section 6.4.
Callendars of that Ilk	143-146	Unsupported	Not even the first name is known.
Rede of Redesdale, Heneage, Bishop of Chichester	147-153	Incorrect	Lucy Heneage was born in 1586; her son John died in England.
Peck of Belton, 21 generations	155	Unproven	Not in the visitations she cites.
Macomber and the Earls of Fife	161	Incorrect
Dean and Edward the Confessor	164	Incorrect
Strong of Caernarvon	164	Tradition
Salusbury of Lleweni	174-181	Incorrect	The wife was Agnes Yeoman.
Millett of Marazion; Wheeler of Martin Hussingtree	171-181	Unproven	John Wheeler was a barber.

Kinship with famous people

Person	Pages	Verdict	Details
Ralph Waldo Emerson	109a	Confirmed	Through Thomas Emerson. Not through Bliss.
Seth Low	86	Confirmed
Rufus Choate	86	Confirmed
George W. Cable	91	Confirmed
Edith Kermit Roosevelt	142	Supported	Brigham.
Nathaniel Hawthorne	106	Plausible, not traced
James Freeman Clarke	109	Incorrect	A different John Fuller.
Charles A. Dana	142	Not found
George Washington (via James Genn)	166	An association, not kinship
Burdett-Coutts marriage (Ellis Bartlett)	Book 3	Confirmed	A cousin line, not direct.
Benjamin Ide Wheeler	156	Plausible, not traced

One real connection Mollie did not know: Alice Freeman.

• Who she was. Mary Tompson's mother, Alice Freeman, was a sister of Thomas Freeman of Cranford, gent. Her husband John Tompson of Little Preston held a moiety of the manor of Saxby, Leicestershire, in 1616.
• The Diana link. Gary Boyd Roberts documents Alice as a 10th-great-grandmother of Diana, Princess of Wales, through Mary's sister Dorothy (Tompson) Parke.
• The royal link. Alice's often-claimed descent from King John has been disproved. A line from Æthelred II reported on WikiTree has not been checked.
• How firm the link is. Mary's identity as Alice's daughter is "probable" (Anderson), not proved. [C]

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9. What only the typescript preserves

These items rest on Mollie alone, or on her and one compiled book. They cannot be confirmed from records, but nothing contradicts them. They are worth keeping as family testimony, labelled as such.

• Nancy (Ellis) Holbrook: "a woman of medium height, fair and bright, very calm and neat. She would protest very quietly to the children's playing noisily on the Sabbath day."
• Holbrook traits (Book 1) and the Manomet house story (H6).
• The Low family at Deer Isle: Major Nathan's late second marriage, and Capt. Nathan's last voyage as the family told it.
• Harriet's first marriage, at 16, to Crowell Sylvester.
• Capt. James Ginn's household at Bucksport.
• The Capron stowaway story (from the 1817 account, which Mollie copies).

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10. Open questions the typescript raises

1. Mary (Foster) Thompson's parents.
   • Read Suffolk Probate no. 12403 (John Foster, 1760) and the 1773 guardianships (nos. 15400, 15401, 15599) for a "Mary Thompson" among the heirs.
   • Look for a first marriage of John Foster, about 1743-45.
2. Sally Ginn's father. James Ginn (Mollie) or "William H. Ginn of Ellsworth" (Brigham). Check:
   • Hancock County deeds and probate;
   • the Orrington and Bucksport records;
   • the Ginn family study's child lists.
3. Gideon Holbrook and Naaman. Plymouth deeds for the Manomet house, to test the "uncle Naaman" story.
4. Mary Waite's parents. The Ward pedigree Mollie cites ("Candler's Pedigree of Ward in the Bodleian"), and Wethersfield, Essex, parish records.
5. The Cogswell generations between John Cogswell of the Angel Gabriel and Adam Cogswell (Jameson, The Cogswells in America, 1884).
6. Eleazer Churchill's wife. Whether Mary was Stephen Bryant's daughter (b. 1654). No will or deed names her.
7. Hawthorne. Miriam Lord's descent from Robert Lord of Ipswich.
8. Harriet's first marriage and her birth year. The marriage to Crowell H. Sylvester was probably in Maine, perhaps about 1854-56, when Edmund Sylvester's family made its trip east. Her birth is given as 12 June 1834 (Mollie) and as 12 June 1839 (Farrar, 1916). The 1850 Deer Isle census and her 1918 death record should settle it.

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11. Sources

The typescript

• Mollie Frances Holbrook Pfeiffer, Holbrook-Low family typescript, parts 1-9 (1930s), family copy. Scans in this project: Mollie-Francis-Holbrook-Family-Geneology-Book1.pdf to Book9.pdf.

Project files this review draws on

• Holbrook-Master-Family-Tree.md and early-holbrook-family-england.md (Holbrook line; read only).
• Freeman_Ellis_Line_Research.md and Freeman_Ellis_Master_Family_Tree.md.
• Warren_Line_Research.md.
• Mayo_Line_Research.md, Low_Line_Research.md and Tyler_Ginn_Line_Research.md (written with this review), which carry the full citations.

Principal printed sources (all read on archive.org unless noted)

• Davis, Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth (1899): https://archive.org/details/ancientlandmarks1899davi
• Plymouth Colony Records, vols. 5-8: https://archive.org/details/recordsofcolonyo0708newp
• The Mayflower Descendant, vols. 6-20: https://archive.org/details/mayflowerdescendv1516mass
• Plymouth Church Records (CSM 22): https://archive.org/details/plymouthchurchre22firs
• Kingman, Epitaphs from Burial Hill (1892): https://archive.org/details/epitaphsfromburi00king_0
• Davies, "The Marriage of Richard Warren of the Mayflower", TAG 78 (2003): http://www.craigrich.net/TAG_Warren.pdf
• NEHGR 79 (1925): 316 (Rider certificate): https://archive.org/details/newenglandhistor7919unse
• The Doty-Doten Family in America (1897): https://archive.org/details/dotydotenfamilyi00doty
• The Churchill Family in America (1904): https://archive.org/details/churchillfamilyi01chur
• Vital Records of Ipswich (1910): https://archive.org/details/vitalrecordsofip02ipsw
• Vital Records of Boxford (1905): https://archive.org/details/vitalrecordsofbo00boxfo
• Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County: https://archive.org/details/recordsfilesofqu05esse
• Wm. G. Low, A Genealogical Quest (1908): https://archive.org/details/genealogicalques00loww
• Goldthwaite, Boardman Genealogy (1895): https://archive.org/details/boardmangenealog00gold
• Hosmer, Historical Sketch of Deer Isle (1886): https://archive.org/details/historicalsketch00hosm
• Portland Daily Press, 12 Sept 1874: https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83016025/1874-09-12/ed-1/?sp=3
• Washington Territory session laws, 1859-60: https://archive.org/details/walaw-session-laws-1859
• Pierce, Foster Genealogy (1899): https://archive.org/details/fostergenealogy01pier
• S. F. Kneeland, Seven Centuries in the Kneeland Family (1897): https://archive.org/details/sevencenturiesin00knee
• The Scots Peerage, vol. 2: https://archive.org/details/scotspeeragefoun02paul
• Winthrop's Journal: https://archive.org/details/winthropsjournal01wint
• Brigham, The Tyler Genealogy (1912): https://archive.org/details/cu31924092510894
• Records of the Court of Assistants, vol. 3: https://archive.org/details/recordsofcourtof03mass
• Holden, Capron Genealogy (1859): https://archive.org/details/genealogyofdesce00hold
• Rehoboth Vital Records (Arnold): https://archive.org/details/cu31924028816714
• Ira B. Peck, Descendants of Joseph Peck (1868): https://archive.org/details/genealogicalhist00peck
• Lothrop, The Nicholas White Family (1902): https://archive.org/details/nicholaswhitefam00loth
• Bangor Historical Magazine, vol. 1: https://archive.org/details/bangorhistoricalv1bang
• Vital Records of Gloucester: https://archive.org/details/vitalrecordsofgl01glouc
• Babson, History of the Town of Gloucester (1860): https://archive.org/details/historytownglou00changoog
• Bolton, The Stanwood Family (1899): https://archive.org/details/historyofstanwoo00bolt
• Hotten, Original Lists of Persons of Quality (1874): https://archive.org/details/originallistsofp00hottuoft
• Savage, Genealogical Dictionary: https://archive.org/details/genealogicaldic01savarich