Zachariah Sylvester m. Lucy Bradford 2/24/1788 Removed to Raymond Maine
Hello.
I'm looking for helpful information to solve a Bradford/Sylvester mystery.
NEHGS has a marriage record of Lucy Bradford and Zachariah Sylvester on 2/24/1788 in Duxbury, MA. Her gravestone in Casco, Maine (Cook-Pinkham Cemetery) indicates that she died 2/21/1842 at the age of 82y 3mo. and indicates she is wife of Zachariah Sylvester.
All genealogy references regarding this couple including my own family ancestry handed down from generations state that this Zachariah had previously married a Mehitable Cary on 11/14/1771 and that they had four children including a Zachariah Sylvester Jr, who was born 4/20/1778 in Duxbury.
Claims are made that Zachariah Sr is the one who married Lucy Bradford and that they together had seven children while he was already 44 when he married Lucy Bradford.
I have found the Raymond Maine town vital records of all the children on LDS, (supposedly these are not submitted by individuals, they are VR records) and the parents of all the children (supposedly mothered by Lucy Bradford) are said to be Susanna and Zachariah Sylvester.
Two of their children are named Lucy Sylvester and Bradford Sylvester, so it would not be difficult for someone to assume that hey... they must be the children of Lucy Bradford and Zachariah Sylvester. But, I cannot assume anything in these regards.
The town of Raymond experienced a fire which destroyed almost all vital records in the early 1900s.
I was wondering if anyone has heard anything about this conflict regarding children of this Lucy Bradford and why it might be that on LDS, all the children are said to be of Susanna and Zachariah Sylvester and all were born in Raymond, Maine.
There is no question that Lucy Bradford married Zachariah Sylvester AND, there is no question that they removed to Raymond, Maine and that Lucy Bradford is buried there.
I have strong reason to believe, based on the actual records of VR, that Lucy Bradford and Zachariah Sylvester never had any children and that Zachariah Sylvester the Junior may have married a Susannah and had these children.
The only problem with this idea, is that Lucy Bradford would be a stepmother to Zachariah JR. and it seems very UNLIKELY that he would name his children after his stepmother.
I'm hoping that someone may have come across this same dilemma and has a reasonable explanation as to why all the children supposedly of Lucy Bradford were said to be not of Lucy but of Susannah in the town of Raymond Maine VR records.
The children include the following:
Hannah Sylvester b. 5/12/1789
Eliphalet Sylvester b. 12/18/1790
Zadoc Sylvester b. 9/5/1792
George Sylvester b. 6/14/1794
Abigail Sylvester b. 6/9/1796 (twin)
Bradford Sylvester b. 6/9/1796 (twin)
Lucy Sylvester b. 1/7/1799
Is it possible that someones attempt at restoring records at Raymond, Maine got things messed up? Or, is it possible that transcription from Raymond VR records to LDS got messed up? Or, is it just that the record stands as it is and all of these children were not the children of Lucy Bradford.
If this is the case, then Lucy, born in 1758 and married at the age of 30, lived to be 82 years old and never had any children at all. This also does not seem likely.
Anyones help on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Miles Ranger.