Coming to a Conclusion with Finding Francis

Will of William Tanner from 1757

For over a hundred years, the descendants of my particular Tanner family have been copying the conclusions about their common ancestors from two books written by a researcher who apparently never visited the original ancestral homes or record repositories in Rhode Island and conducted all of his "research" through letter writing from Minnesota in the 1800s and early 1900s. Fortunately, today, we have the benefit of both microfilm and digital images to provide access to the original records. From time to time lately, I have been writing about my efforts to resolve the contradictions and inaccuracies of these early accounts that have long been accepted almost as scripture to the Tanner descendants. Finally, I have found the crucial documents that answer some of the main issues and questions, but also open up other important questions.

The image above shows the will of William Tanner dated 1757. William mentions his wife Elizabeth and names each of his children except one who is deceased at the time the will was written. The children are William, Palmer, Francis, Hannah, Mary, Deborah, Avis and Henry. The deceased child is Nathan whose will was probated in 1752. However, finding these two wills does not answer the question of the identity of William Tanner. We do know that Nathan's will and his birth record mention his mother Elizabeth. Francis' will mentions his brother Nathan. So Nathan and Francis had a mother named Elizabeth. Francis was born in 1708 and Nathan was born in 1709 or 1710. Nathan's birth record says his father's name was William. So it appears that this William Tanner was married to one wife named Elizabeth from 1708 until he died in 1757.

These recently discovered documents clearly indicate that the William Tanner who married Mary Babcock in Connecticut in 1715 is not the same William Tanner who was the father of Francis and his brother Nathan.

As soon as I have time to do some more research, I will see if I can find more information identifying this William Tanner. It also almost certain that this William Tanner is not the same as the one who signed a quit claim deed in 1680 and whose birth date is presently recorded in the Family Tree as 1657 in England.

It would be very helpful if any of the Tanners read this post to stop putting in random parents for Francis Tanner.