William Marchant, I

This is a 'conjectured' father of several probable siblings found in Maryland in the early 1700's.

There is no documentation to show that Abishai Marchant of Massachusetts had a son named William b. 1673 in Massachusetts who came to Virginia and died in Charles Town VA (now Charles Town WV). In fact, Charles Town, VA did not exist until 1787 so he certainly did not die "in" Charles Town.

There is documentation that Richard Marchant (Richard Merchant, I), born about 1700, had land ten miles from that town. Trees claim that William Marchant, born in Massachusett, was the father of Richard (who they claim was born in Maryland, without documentation, though we can document Richard's marriage in Maryland 1723).

I know from many years of genealogical work that while places such as PN and NY often had descendants who came to VA, it was very unusual to come from Massachusetts. I am not saying it never happened or it is impossible but I want documentation in order to accept it.

There are two different Williams documented to have emigrated to Virginia (apparently from England) in the late 1600s. But we don't even have documentation, as far as I can tell that the father of Richard Marchant (who eventually lived near what would become Charles Town, VA) was named William.

Other sources say he (this Richard) came from England in about 1722. I can document a Richard Marchant born there in 1703, but with no proof it is the same person. So...I don't think we can assume his family were in Massachusetts as early as 1625. Many people wish to have ancestors at Plymouth Rock. If we can document it, great!

From Linda Arnold, June 2018.