Mystery from early 1600's

[DebbieAnn]

Another mystery in my line involves the marriage(s) of William Carpenter, b: 23 May 1605 in Amesbury, Wiltshire. He married Abigail Briant of Wherwell, Hampshire on 28 Apr 1625 in Wiltshire. There are persistent attempts on others' trees to link him in marriage to Abigail Searles, either prior to his marriage to Abigail Briant or (more usually) instead of it.

Can anyone tell me for certain if he ever married Abigail Searles? She was born 13 Feb 1592/3 in Chesham, Buckingham, so would have married him (if at all) between 1622-1625 (given his date of birth).

Debbie |banghead|

[Andrew Mead]

Is it possible that the two Abigails are the same person, and she had been married before?

[DebbieAnn]

Doubtful - Abigail Briant was born in 1606 while Abigail Searles was born in 1593 (as we would now measure it).

Compounding this confusion is that William and Abigail Briant's son William married (second) Miriam Searles, of the same family, after his first wife died. Miriam's aunt was the Abigail Searles in question.

Also, 2 of their (William and Miriam's) grandchildren, who were first cousins, married (Bethia Carpenter, daughter of Daniel, and Obadiah Carpenter, son of Obadiah), so it seems they weren't against the marriage of cousins in that line.

Trying to get this right is making me nuts!

Debbie