Dorcas Riddlesdale

Family of Edward Riddlesdale & Mary

Apparently the Dorcas Riddlesdale bp. at Bures St. Mary 18 June 1629, although the record says "daughter of Henry." There was indeed a Henry Riddlesdale aljas Loker living there, but he died in Feb. 1630/31, testate, naming his other known children (for whom no baptisms have been found) but naming no daughter Dorcas. Thus, if he did have a daughter of that name, she must have died in infancy and then another Dorcas, daughter of Edward, was born. It seems more likely that confusion between the two Riddlesdale families in the parish led to an error in recording the name of the father. It should be noted, moreover, that Edward's mother was named Dorcas, whereas Henry and his branch of the Riddlesdales (alias Loker) had not used the name in three generations or more. A Dorcas Riddlesdale appears in the Ipswich (Mass.) Quarterly Court Records as a witness in March 1647, listed with others who were Ipswich townspeople, but there is no further record of her -- she is the only Riddlesdale found in New England records, and probably the daughter Dorcas [i.e., stepdaughter] to whom John Wyatt bequeathed 5s. in 1665. [2]

• http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~dtuttle/Others/He...
• http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/gen/report/rr02/rr02_127.html#P62724
• http://www.wellswooster.com/tree/getperson.php?personID=I49104&tree... 

1. [S13] NEHGR, NEHGR, (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society), 143:220.
2. [S13] NEHGR, NEHGR, (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society), 143:213-220.
3. [S13] NEHGR, NEHGR, (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society), 143:217.