Looking through Hungerford and Shelley ancestors on this site, some questions arose in my mind.
The story starts with Lee-21369 George Roscoe Lee, born about 1504 somewhere in England, for whom the only source offered is that he was an alumnus of Cambridge University. Unfortunately, an online search of university records does not come up with his distinctive and for the time unusual name. As there is no proof of his existence, should he be marked unproven and unlinked?
He is given a son, Lee-9197 Odell Lee born in Gloucestershire, England, but wholly unsourced. As there is no proof of his existence, should he be marked unproven and unlinked?
Odell Lee is given a unsourced wife called Forsythe-275 Delores Maude Forsythe, born somewhere in England on 5 Jun 1530 and died there aged 122 (one of the oldest people on this site?) As there is no proof of her longevity, her rather unusual names, her very precise date of birth, or even of her existence, should she be marked unproven and unlinked?
So far, needless to say, these three ancestors are unknown to FamilySearch. Odell and Delores are given a son with unusual names, a complicated life and matrimonial history, and no sources at all. This is Lee-971 Joyce or Joos Lee, who was born twice, first in 1566 in Gloucestershire, England (another event that seems to have escaped FamilySearch), and secondly in 1570 in Leiden, Holland, and died twice, both in Leiden, the first in 1621 when he was aged either 51 or 55 and the second in 1671 when he was either 101 or 105. (By the way, there is nothing improbable about his first names, as Joyce was sometimes used for men in English and Joos or Joost occurs as a Dutch name.)
Joyce or Joos Lee had the good fortune to marry three wives, though the absence of dates or places for the marriages does not allow us to place them in order, or prove they ever happened.
First is a wife called Unknown-94484 Unknown Unknown, who despite having no first or last name to find in a record was born in 1581 in the city of Hereford, England, As well as no name, she had no children. Since there is no proof of her existence, should she be marked unproven and unlinked?
Next is Hungerford-61 Anne Hungerford, who was born and died at unknown places and left no children, but was apparently of gentry descent. Without any evidence, she is credited with Hungerford-63 Anthony Hungerford and Shelley-108 Bridget Shelley as parents, though no record I've seen of either family mentions her. As there is no proof of her existence, should she marked unproven and be unlinked?
Finally, we come to a third “wife” called Lee-15052 Josephine or Joos Lee, born of unknown parents in Leiden and, by one of those coincidences that make genealogy interesting, with the same names as her 'husband”. The only evidence offered for her name and existence is a photograph of the marriage register dated 1617 for her daughter Lee-119 Bridget Lee, which does not name the father and gives the mother's name as Joos Lee. Since there is no proof of the father's identity, should Joyce or Joos Lee be marked unproven and unlinked?
It's possible, of course, that more research will satisfactorily confirm the existence of all these people and their links, making my questions redundant.
