PATIENCE, PRUDENCE & PRETTYMAN MARVEL

It has been commonly accepted that the mother of Prettyman Marvel was Sara Prettyman dau of Thomas Prettyman.This in spite of the fact that Prettyman Marvel was born 29 Jan 1763 and his father, David Marvel did not marry Sara Prettyman until 5 Jan 1789. (F. Ed Wright, Vital Records of Kent and Sussex Co., DE p 132 and abstracted from records of Lewes & Coolspring Presbyterian Church).David Marvel in his will probated 9 Jan 1796 names children, Prudence, Patience and Prettyman Marvel; his three youngest children, Elizabeth, David and Burton Marvel and daughter- in-law ) step daughter) Polla Prettyman.David by making a difference in his three youngest children indicates that he had been previously married.Him mentioning a step daughter Polla Prettyman indicates this also.The children of David Marvel were:
1.Prudence Marvel m Richard Knowles Jr.
2.Patience Marvel b 31 Jan 1758 m James Knowles.
3.Prettyman Marvel b 29 Jan 1763 m Levina Rogers dau of John Rogers and Comfort Prettyman.
Children by David Marvel and Sara Prettyman
4.Elizabeth Marvel born 25 oct 1789 )Wright p 108)
5.David Marvel
6. Burton Marvel
Sara Prettyman Marvel by 12 Sep 1797 Moses Dazey as she appeared in court as Sara Dazey and widow of David Marvel.Sara Prettyman Marvel Dazey and Moses Dazey had son Prettyman Marvel Dazey b 5 Dec 1797 (Wright p 158).

The question now is who was the mother of Patience, Prudence andPrettyman Marvel?Pauline Manning Batchelder, Editor, "Somerset Sampler", p 178, states."There is some confusion regarding wife of David Marvel:most Marvel accounts state she was Sarah Prettyman, but Levin Wilson of Gibson Co., IN, a great-grandson of David Marvel, stated in 1896 that she was Comfort Prettyman and that his mother, Comfort Marvel (Knowles) Wilson, was named for her; he also stated that david and Comfort’s family was composed of daus and only one son, Prettyman-as if he had been unaware of the the three youngest ch."
Some Marvel researcher have tried to correct the problem of mother of Prettyman Marvel and reconcile this withLevin Wilson’s statement by stating that Prettyman Mavel’s mother was Sara Comfort Prettyman.It was common in 1700’s for parents to give two children same names when one had died young.This was not the case with Thomas Prettyman as his first born daughter, Comfort Prettyman, was still living in 1790’s when she made her will as Comfort Rogers widow of John Rogers.David Marvel in his will gives us an important indication of Prettyman Marvel’s mother when he named step daughter, Polla Prettyman.It is obvious that David Marvel had married a widow of a Prettyman man.Therefore Prettyman Marvel’s mother was a Comfort who had previously been married to a Prettyman man, and she and David Marvel named their son after her deceased husband.That this was a practiced is that Sara Prettyman Marvel Dazey named her son Prettyman Marvel Dazey.