Elizabeth Prater (Cresap) - Elizabeth Cresap questioned as the wife of Jonathan Prater

Started by Joseph E Crouch on Tuesday, April 28, 2020
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The DAR profile (https://services.dar.org/public/dar_research/search_adb/default.cfm...) for Col. Thomas Cresap shows his daughter Elizabeth married Isaac Collier. An 1866 book reprinted an 1826 Biographical Sketch of the life of the late Captain Michael Cresap (https://archive.org/stream/biographicalsket00jacorich#page/44/mode/...) , youngest son of Col Thomas Cresap states his sister Elizabeth Cresap married Isaac Collier. It's repeated in the 1937 book "The History of the Cresaps" that Elizabeth Cresap married Isaac Collier. And finally on page 9 (PDF page 11 (http://sites.rootsweb.com/~theduffypapers/parker/thomas_scott_1851_...) ) of a 1851 letter by Ohio Supreme Court Justice Thomas Scott (http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/SCO/formerjustices/bios/scottT.asp) wrote a letter outlining his children's ancestry wherein he stated that his father's sister married Elizabeth Scott of Oldtown, MD and then listed his Parker 1st cousins. Then he stated his cousin Elizabeth Parker married Michael Collier and cousin John Parker married Sally Collier, grandchildren of Col Thomas Cresap. Several of the children for these two Parker/Collier marriages have given/middle names with Cresap in them.

John J. Jacob, the March 10, 1826 author of the original 'Biographical Sketch of the Life of the Late Captain Michael Cresap' started working for Capt. Micahel Cresap at the age of 15, several years before 1774 and after Captain Cresap's death married his widow with whom he lived 40 years. As such he had intimate knowledge of the Cresap family.

Per Jacob, Col. Thomas Creasap only had 2 daughters Sarah & Elizabeth. We have a reprint of an 1826 document that gives as close to a first hand account of who the children of Col., Thomas Cresap were and who they married as you can get. When Jacob wrote about Captain Michael Cresap's older sister Sarah, he listed her two marriages, 1st to Colonel Enoch Innis and 2nd to Mr. John Foster. IF the Michael Cresap's sister Elizabeth had been married more than once, then one can assume Jacob would have listed both marriages also, but he only listed Elizabeth Cresap's marriage to Mr. Isaac Collier of Pennsylvania. Using the Search function in the digitized 1866 book searching for Prater / Prater results in zero instances found. Searching for Jonathan results in only 1 found, a Jonathan Zane in a footnote.

My observations of the Ancestry records (Marriage (https://search.ancestry.com/collections/5774/records/1946969) and Birth (https://search.ancestry.com/collections/4725/records/5002434) } that link Jonathan Prater to Elizabeth Cresap seem to be based upon information from peoples trees submitted to a DNA firm, imputed into a database, then exported as a genealogical record and sold to Ancestry. See Source Information on each records. They're modern day creations, not, historical documents. And the Findagrave record for Elizabeth Prater (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/45168672/elizabeth-prater) is a virtual cemetery record, not from an actual cemetery, and the text has ? marks in front of ?Thomas Cresap and ?Hannah Johnson. Neither the Ancestry records, or the Findagrave records could be used to apply for a DAR membership.

Giving the 1826 John Jacob biography of Capt Michael Cresap, and the Ancestry / Findagrave information, did Jonathan Prater really marry Elizabeth Cresap, daughter of Col. Thomas Cresap and Hannah Johnson?

I've created a web page with the above information and sources. See: http://sites.rootsweb.com/~theduffypapers/parker/parker_collier_cre...

Hello Joseph E Crouch, I am working on this tree. Elizabeth will soon be the wife of only Isaac Collier. Two husbands, too many kids with birth dates intermingled together. Unbelievable.

Thanks Faustine! I only have a 'Basic' Geni membership which allows me to post here, see Sources, a few other thinks, but not make changes to relationships/edit profiles. I already edit FamilySearch, WeRelate and WikiTree profiles and posted the same information on the profiles for Elizabeth Cresap on each of them.

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