Re: Joseph Peaslee & Mary Johnson in MA 1640

The most widely distributed version of this story is from Frederick J. Lamphere's "A Passel O' Peasley's" which states it as fact that a Mary Johnson married Joseph Peaslee. I believe Fred based his assertion on some older printed records that exist in the New England Genealogical Society library, that are again compilations from earlier family historians like Hazel Avery Poor that state that Joseph married a Mary Johnson, and that this Mary Johnson is a blood relative (presumably sister) of Edmund Johnson who sailed from Southampton in 1635.There was certainly a close tie between this Edmund Johnson and the Peaslee settlers, for there is a record of Joseph's daughter Mary going to stay with the widow of Edmund Johnson when he died (<1660).Since Edmund was such an unusual given name for the Johnson surname, it is likely that this Edmund is a grandson of the original Edmund Johnson who drowned in Ponty Pool, etc.

Lamphere followed up once more in his Peasley Family newsletter many years later, and this time he gives a reference which seems to suggest there was a sister of Edmund Johnson that was christianed Maria:

Vol. 7, No. 1: "In the hope of learning a bit more concenring the family of Mary Johnson, wife of Joseph Peaslee, we decided to pursue further data regarding her illustrious brother, John Ap John, the associate of John Fox in establishing the Society of Friends in Wales. Swarthmore College Library, Swarthmore, PA, depository of Quaker records in America, furnished copies of writings alluding to John Ap John. An account by Dr. James J. Levick, probably around 1900, contains the following information:" ....it goes on for seven paragraphs about John Ap John, and why he stayed in Wales instead
of coming to America. "From another account, these additional facts appear: John Ap John's residence was at Trevor, in the parish of Llangollen, in Denbighshire, Wales, much nearer to Ruabon than to Wrexham. The house.... Persmission to examine the records of the registers of the parish of Llangollen, was obtained by Alfred N. Palmer, the most careful of local historians. The entries are brief, and the name is common. Recorded are:
The baptism of John Ap John de trevor Issa, and of MARIA, veh John Ap John (sic). Another reads: Anne, veh John Ap John de Trevor,baptizata est secundo die ---, 1632.It may be assumed that these entries are related to our friend and to his two sisters; the abbreviated term veh implying verch, or daughter, the name of the father being the same as that of the son. It appears probable thatJohn Ap John was born between 1625
and 1630 at Trevor Issa. ... The absense of information which surrounds the particulars of his birth, also extends to the marriage of John Ap John. It has been conjectured...COMMENT: From the foregoing, it would seem
that the "maria" mentioned in the parish records is the Mary Johnson who married Jospeh Peaslee.

All in all, not a lot of "proof" but some seemingly reasonable assumptions that the Johnson family that intermingled with the Joseph Peaslee family was probably related to the original Edmund Johnson.