> I just checked the census pages, the WETHERELL name does
> not show up in 1790 in MA.

Readers unfamiliar with searching for early families should bear in mind that there was no standardized spelling of surnames in the Colonial and Federal eras. In Colonial times this name was frequently spelled WITHERELL or WEATHERELL, with several other variants (some noted by Betty later in her message). There are Plymouth Colony vital records for this family as early as the Scituate birth of Sarah, daughter of William WITHERELL, on 10-Feb-1644 [PCR 8:18]. The earliest Old Colony record of William of which I am aware is a grant of land in Duxbury at the General Court session of 06-Apr-1640 [PCR 1:144]. Note that the Great Migration Project apparently found no record of this family in New England through 1633.

Dale H. Cook, Member, NEHGS and MA Society of Mayflower Descendants;
Plymouth Co. MA Coordinator for the USGenWeb Project
Administrator of http://plymouthcolony.net