• In the register of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church – burial of Mary, “wife of Isaac Roberts” died 26 May 1811 age about 71 years. One of the witnesses at this burial was Jonathan Eckart who is not otherwise identified but who was probably the Father of WRE who had married Elizabeth Roberts in 1794.
1003, p 4; Note 4• PUTATIVE: Mary Sproat leaves William Nelson and goes to live with neighbor Isaac Roberts, ca. 1772. They have children of their own, so now it’s a blended family.
1105• Then, William (Guillaume) Nelson dies c. 1791. Yay! So now Mary Sproat is free to marry and she and Isaac Roberts
get married in 1792. She is listed as a spinster, not a widow.
1105, email
• The Roberts children are all illegitimate but only the later ones are marked as such, because immediately post-Conquest, the Anglicans are disorganized and overworked (?)
1105, email• As for your comment about Mary Sproat leaving her marriage, I agree, I don't see why that would be legally recorded anywhere. However, at her
1792 marriage to Isaac Roberts she was called a spinster, which I thought was reserved for women who had never been married? I'm not very familiar with Anglican church formulae but certainly the RC church is very particular about such things, so she would have been specifically identified as a widow in the register if it were a Catholic ceremony. The Anglican population of Quebec City was pretty tiny at the time so it seems unlikely that the community was unaware of her situation; but on the other hand, it was poor old
de Montmollin who performed the ceremony, and he apparently spoke little English and wasn't, perhaps, a very good priest, so the wording can probably be overlooked in any case.
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