Re: Van Siclen/Van Sicklen Controversy revisited”

Come on Eddy...you know exactly what record I am talking about.It has been at the center of the controversey since day 1.It is the 1771 marriage license record of Cornelius Van Siklen(exact spelling) and Catherine Johnson cited by Violet as the marriage record of the parents of Maria.That couple are buried in Rumbout New York, and Cornelius died in 1806, not 1850.It was the only marriage license issued to a Cornelius VS(of any spelling), so Violet ASSUMED that Catherine Johnson must be Maria's mother..by default.She tells Fanny and Ferdinand of her discovery, and they put the name in their affadavits, assuming the name to be true because it came from Violet's research.The error is simple and obvious.Beginning with the error, the name "Catherine Johnson" spreads quickly around the family.Violet was probably considered a family hero for discovering the name of Maria's mother...something previously unknown.Since the marriage record cited in Violet's DAR app was an error and that couple are definitely not Maria's parents, the logical thing to do is research and find records leading to Maria's real parents.And that is how we get to Hannah Lawson...Maria's real mother.

Now I realize that Eddy will have something to say about "exact spelling" in the marriage license citation, but bear in mind...Violet and Fanny were not locked in to "exact spelling".They used a number of spelling variations in the documents of the DAR application.Eddy is the ONLY one who believes in one exact spelling for this family name of the 1700s and 1800s.Everyone else realizes that spelling was not a critical factor back then, and people often had records spelled several different ways during their lifetimes.In reality, Cornelius and his sons are all buried together, but under 3 different spellings of the last name.Exact spelling is NOT and has never been an issue.Violet's obvious error in the marriage record is the issue, since that is where the name "Catherine Johnson" originated from, and Fanny and Ferdinand got that name from Violet.Perhaps one day Eddy too will be able to see the error that is obvious to everyone else, and then he will begin researching to learn the "real" truth, that we already know.