Even the best ones make mistakes....

When you do a lot of research in any particular area, you get a sense after awhile of whose work is good and whose is not. In Chester county, PA and the surrounding areas, one of the trusted names in genealogy research has always been Gilbert Cope. He was also very prolific and his work is generally very high quality. But, even the best researchers can make mistakes, and Cope was no exception. The sad thing is, when a reputable researcher publishes a work with a mistake in it, that error gets compounded over and over again, as newer researchers take the older research as gospel truth. That is almost certainly the case with one Emanuel Grubb, son of John and Frances Grubb.

Actually, Emanuel isn't the problem -it's his wife who has the issues. Everyone agrees that her first name was Anne (or Ann) and nearly all seem to agree that her rest of her name was Hedge Cock (or Hedgecock or Hedges Cock, or Hedge Koch, etc, etc, etc). In Cope's case, he listed her in the Smedley Genealogy as Ann Hedge Cock, and that seems to be the most common variant. Her parentage seems to remain a total mystery. Poor Anne - destined to live in obscurity forever...or at least for as long as we continue to let others' research stand in for doing our own.

Luckily, Anne has been found and does have parents. Born September 27, 1691, she was the daughter of Thomas and Anne Hitchcock of Cecil county, Maryland. But, hey, don't take my word for it - let's look at some documentation:

First, we have the extract of Thomas Hitchcock's will:

Hitchcock, Thomas. Cecil Co.
12th Oct. 1707
To wife Anne, dwelling plantation, including 200 A., ____, during life; at her decease to son John.
To son Thomas and hrs., land ____, on which he lives.
To dau. Anne and hrs., "Swamp" and "Paradise" on s.e. side N.E. River.
To daus Anne, afsd., Millycent and son John afsd., personalty.
Wife, afsd., extx. and residuary legatee.
Test: John Coosyne, Wm. Dare,Sr., Andrew Rosenquist, Paul Phillips.
12.190

By itself, that doesn't prove much, except that Thomas had a daughter named Anne, who apparently was named after her mother. The land transfer below is the piece that pulls it together:

P. 243. Deed.
Emanuel Grubb of New Castle Co., upon Delaware, farmer, and Ann his wife, for £120, to Robert Story of Cecil Co., gent., a tract of 165 acres called the Swamp on the east side of the Shannon River (now called North East River) by land called Whitton's Forest. Said land is part of the land that belonged to George Talbot and was sold to him by Thomas Hitchcock by deed dated 11 Aug 1684, recorded in Lib. C, folios 159-160. Also a parcel of land called Paradise on the south side of the Shannon River adjoining the other tract and containing 150 acres. This was also part of George Talbot's land and sold by his wife Sarah Talbot to Edward Johnson by deed dated 27 Aug 1686 recorded in Lib. C, folio 434. By the Last Will and Testament of the said Edward Johnson and the said Thomas Hitchcock the lands became the property of Ann Grubb, one of the daughters of Thomas Hitchcock.

Made and Ackn: 19 Oct 1736. Wit and JPs: Wm. Rumsey, Thos. Johnson, Jr.

Rec: 11 Dec 1736.
Wm Knight, Clerk.


Taken together, these two documents make it clear that Anne was the wife of Emanuel and the daughter of Thomas Hitchcock. Now, all I have to do is convince the rest of the researchers...OK, I won't hold my breath on that idea...