1A-B: Mary Guthrie
Guthrie Family Group 1A · Branch B
Mary Guthrie
Christ Church Parish, Middlesex County, Virginia
Baptized 23 January 1701/2 · Later identity unresolved
The Family
Mary Guthrie is included in the family research of John Guthrie and Elizabeth Baskett. Her baptism on 23 January 1701/2 records her as a daughter of John and Mary Guthery. The difference in her mother’s name remains unresolved.
Later bonds for Mary Guttrich and Mary Goodrich, together with a Goodrich burial, offer possible continuations of her story. Each needs a secure connection to the baptized child before it can establish her later life.
- Recorded Parents
- John and Mary Guthery
- Family Placement
- Associated with John Guthrie and Elizabeth Baskett; the maternal-name discrepancy is discussed below.
- Birth
- About December 1701–January 1702, estimated from baptism; no birthday or birthplace is given in the entry.
- Baptism
- 23 January 1701/2, Christ Church Parish, Middlesex County, Virginia
- Marriage
- No marriage securely identified
- Children
- None identified
- Death & Burial
- Unconfirmed. The death on 17 January and burial on 19 January 1724/25 belong to Mary Goodrich, whose identification with Mary Guthrie remains a possibility.
A promising trail, with missing connections. The baptism, two estate bonds, and burial should be compared without assuming that every similar surname identifies the same family.
DNA representation: No descendant participant has been securely identified through Mary. She would not transmit her father’s Y chromosome to her descendants; an autosomal connection would still need a documented family line.
Explore the Records
The evidence begins with a baptism and continues through several possible identities. Open each record to see what is established and what still needs connecting.
The Baptism & Her Mother’s NameOpen the recorded wording, double date, and family question.
23 January 1701/2 · Christ Church Parish
The Parish Register of Christ Church, Middlesex County, Va., from 1653 to 1812 (Richmond, 1897), printed page 54.
Modernized reading: “Mary, the daughter of John and Mary Guthery, was baptized the 23rd of January 1701/2.”
The mother’s printed name is clearly Mary. An accidental repetition of the daughter’s name, in the original entry or a later transcription, could explain the discrepancy. That remains a plausible explanation, not a demonstrated correction.
Elizabeth Baskett survived John. His widow’s later court appearances do not support explaining this baptism by her death and his remarriage to a woman named Mary. The entry alone does not establish another partner or settle whether a different parental couple was intended.
The double date preserves the register’s year numbering while identifying January 1702 by a January-start year. A birth about a month earlier would fall in December 1701. No exact birth date is recorded.
This is a reading of the 1897 published transcription, not the original manuscript register.
Read the published parish register →
Calendar and double-dating reference →
The Estate Bonds · 1718 & 1719Compare Mary Guttrich and Mary Goodrich.
These summaries preserve the names reported in the family research. The full original bonds are needed to establish whether they concern the same Mary.
| Date & Record | Reported Details |
|---|---|
| 3 June 1718 Middlesex Deed Book 3, p. 440 |
Phillip Warwick, Thomas Cheyney, and John Owen gave a bond, reported as 250 pounds of tobacco. Warwick was to pay Mary Guttrich, orphan of the deceased John Guttrich, the estate due to her when she reached lawful age. |
| 1 September 1719 Full book/page reference needed |
A bond secured William Cardwell’s payment of the estate due to Mary Goodrich, orphan of the deceased John Goodrich, when she reached lawful age. The reported securities were William Cardwell, Thomas Kid, and Thomas Kid Jr. |
The 1718 bond is a promising lead for the child baptized in 1701/2. The 1719 record may be related, but a transfer between guardians has not been established. Neither summary identifies the mother or proves that she had died.
The Middlesex militia return of 1687 lists John Gutteridge and John Goodrich separately. Similar spellings therefore require comparison rather than an automatic merger.
William Cardwell’s involvement also invites examination of the proposed Cordwell/Cardwell connection to Elizabeth Baskett. It does not establish her parentage or identify the orphan as her daughter.
Sources: bond abstracts preserved in the family research; William Armstrong Crozier, Virginia Colonial Militia, 1651–1776, pp. 98–99. The original bonds have not been inspected here.
The Mary Goodrich Death & BurialOpen the candidate record and its corrected year.
The published parish register, page 182, records Mary Goodrich’s death on 17 January and burial on 19 January 1724 as printed.
The entry follows December 1724 and precedes spring 1725. Its chronological date is therefore 17 January 1724/25, with burial on 19 January 1724/25. The day and month remain unchanged.
The entry gives no age, parent, or spouse. It does not by itself identify the deceased as Mary Guthrie, the orphan in either bond, or the child baptized in 1701/2. These dates remain a candidate death and burial, not confirmed endpoints for this profile.
Another Mary in the Later Parish RecordsKeep the 1701/2 and 1715 children distinct.
A separate Mary, daughter of Elizabeth Guttery, was born on 24 August 1715 and baptized on 16 October 1715 (printed page 92). That entry names no father and concerns a different child from the Mary baptized in 1701/2.
The later mother’s identification as Elizabeth Baskett remains unconfirmed. Elizabeth’s association with William Finney does not establish his paternity of that child. The wider evidence is discussed on the Family Hub.
Most Wanted DocumentsOpen the evidence that could resolve Mary’s identity.
- The original baptism: An image or independent contemporary copy that could resolve the mother’s name.
- The complete 1718 and 1719 bonds: Full wording, references, amounts, related court orders, and any estate accounts connecting the two orphans.
- John’s estate and family records: A distribution, receipt, deed, or other record linking Mary to John Guthrie and Elizabeth Baskett.
- The Goodrich family context: Records identifying the Mary buried in January 1724/25 and distinguishing the local Guthrie and Goodrich households.
- A marriage or later family: Evidence connecting this Mary to a spouse or descendants without relying on name similarity alone.
Please share a full citation and, where possible, an image of any promising record.