Agnes Washbourne

From information compiled by MPG Grundy, associated with Paxson descendants of Robert Jackson of Hempstead, indicating that Agnes Washburne was never married to him:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~paxson/jackson/Jackson.ind...

The second myth is that Robert Jackson married in 1644 in Hempstead Agnes WASHBURNE, assumed to be the daughter of William and Jane (WHITEHEAD) Washburne. [24] The fun thing about having Agnes Washburne as an ancestor, is that she is said to be descended from Lady Anne Plantagenet, daughter of the sixth son of Edward III of England, and therefore a gateway into a whole world of early medieval European royalty.[25] However, Harry Macy, Jr. has done some careful research that throws this whole Agnes hypothesis pretty much out the window, although it is still possible that perhaps some of Robert's children were the grandchildren of William and Jane (WHITEHEAD) Washburne. Anyway, I am very grateful to Janie Jackson Kimble and her excellent web page for bringing this to my attention. Here is Macy's argument, as published in The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record and posted on the Jackson web page.

The idea that Robert Jackson's wife was Agnes Washburn derives from two documents. Court testimony in 1659 regarding William Washburn's will establishes that Jackson was married to Washburn's daughter (without giving her name), and Jackson's own 1683 will names a wife Agnes.

What the creators of "Agnes Washburn" failed to notice was that the court testimony clearly states that Jackson's wife was deceased. On 5 June 1659 "only Robert Jackson... protested against the said will on behalf of his deceased wife and two female children that are now living, had by the daughter of the aforesaid testator." In the will, made in September 1657, William Washburn gave "to Sara the daughter of Robert Jackson one yearling heifer," but did not mention Sara's mother, his daughter, and no record has been found that gives her first name. All we can safely say is that Robert Jackson married a Washburn.

Based on the likely birth dates of his children, Robert Jackson's marriage to Miss Washburn probably took place about 1650-53.

In 1661 John Winthrop, Jr., made an entry in his medical journal for "Pudington of Hempstead, 13 years old, daughter of Robert Jackson's wife of Hempstead." Robert Puddington (or Purington) was a resident of Newtown (then Middelburg), Long Island, in January 1657. Agnes' maiden name has not been found. Her marriage to Robert Jackson probably took place around 10 April 1660, when he purchased a house in Maspeth Kills, Newtown. He is last mentioned in the Newtown records 29 October 1670, when he and Agnes sold a farm at Maspeth Kills, "this same farme that was Robert Pudingtons formerly," and "Agnesse my wife" signed with her mark. Finally, in his 1683 will Robert Jackson mentioned a great deal of movable property that was to go to Agnes, some of which he described as that "which she brought with her," wording that usually means the wife had a prior marriage.[26]

This does not end the controversy, because it appears that Robert Jackson may have had three wives, and that our line descends from the first, unknown wife. Again, the evidence for this is from Harry Macy, Jr.:

In the 1659 Washburn will testimony... Robert Jackson protested only on behalf of "two female children that are now living, had by the daughter of the aforesaid testator," despite the fact that at this time he had at least one more daughter and two sons, all probably still minors. This strongly suggests that these other children were not born of Jackson's Washburn wife . . . .

It is also unlikely that William Washburn had a daughter old enough to bear all these children. Thus it would appear that before he married Miss Washburn, Robert Jackson had at least one other wife, whose name is totally unknown to us, and she was the mother of at least three of his children. This previous marriage most likely took place in England prior to emigration.[27]

So the descendants of Sara and another daughter can claim a relationship with Anne Plantagenet, but we cannot, at least not through the Washburns.