Need help with the children of Robert Heaton

Question

Robert Heaton (Heaton-149) was married to Grace Pearson.  There are 4 proven children of Robert and Grace. Grace died in 1719, her burial was recorded by the Middletown Monthly Meeting, Bucks County, PA.  The record of her burial also included deaths of children of Robert Heaton.  The mother of these children is not given.  The children are: Robert & Mary bur. 9th mo. 23 1719; Thomas & Alice bur. 9th mo. 28 1719, and Isaac bur. 10th mo. 28 1719.  Were these children of Robert & Grace?  I have not found any birth records for these children at this time.  Likely a disease was prevalent at this time to lose 5 children at almost the same time in a family.  Grace was 39 at the time of her death, and these children would probably have been born after 1708.  There were 2 Robert Heaton's- Sr. and Jr.  Robert Heaton Sr. and his wife Alice did not have any known children with these names, so it is likely that they were the children of Robert and Grace.  The only issue I have found is that Robert and Grace already had a daughter Alice, b. 1708, married John Plumly and is named in her father's will. Would he name 2 daughters Alice? Is there another Robert Heaton in Bucks County, PA at this time?  Quaker birth records would help prove who these children belong to.  

 

Comments

It was quite common to name a subsequent child with the same name as a deceased child.   It's not so much that they were naming the younger child after the older one.  They had used the name to honour someone else, likely an adult family member, and when one child did not live long enough to perpetuate the name, it was logical to try again to honour that family member by re-using the name

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It is also not unheard of for family historians to come across the birth info of the first child, not notice the death info, not look for further birth info, find the marriage info, and assume that the birth info applies to the person who got married.

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Thank you for your thoughts on this.  The first Alice in the family was b. in 1708, married abt. 1739 and didn't die until after 1784.  The second Alice died in 1719, unknown birthdate.  That is why I asked about naming 2 children the same,  They would have been alive at the same time.

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If Alice 1 died in 1719 then Alice 2 could have been born to a second wife in 1720 or 21 and married in 1739 at the age of 18 or 19.

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Hmmmm. That is a possibility I hadn’t thought of. It is possible that she was the daughter of Robert and Susannah.