The book by D. H. Carpenter has been cited as the probable source of the
idea that the father of William was Thomas. Apparently, in 1900, a Rev.
Phelps from Amesbury wrote to the author and cited "William, son of Thos.
and ffrittisweed Vincent, baptised June 17, 1638" in the parish records.
Carpenter published this info in his book. Howwever, in FHL film 1279337,
Item 25, I have read the same passage but with "Nicholas" instead of
"Thos."
Certainly, there were Thomas Vincents in Amesbury at that time. The family
used almost nothing BUT" Thomas", "William", and "Nicholas"
for the boys.
Given the poor images that I saw in the film and the likely plethora of
Thomases in the records, one must excuse Rev. Phelps for some confusion.
It is unfortunate, tho, that an apparent error in a letter written 100 years
ago has been copied ad infinitum since then. Putting "Thomas Vincent" as
search terms on the LDS page returns a barrelfull of records with the same
error, not to mention the doubtful assignment of Susanna Trevelyan as
Frittisweed/Fridgwith's mother. Even if I tried to contact the originators
of the files, I would not succeed in changing records that the LDS church
has buried under a mountain somewhere.
Richard Vincent
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