• General Notes

  1st wife:  Mary SYDENHAM
  
  William's first wife was Mary, who, according to an old family Bible, was surnamed SYDENHAM. She is not named in William's certificate of removal which merely states that he would be taking his wife and children with him. Her death is not recorded in Middletown Friends records, and may have occured while the family was separated from the Meeting over the Keithian controversy, or she may never have been a Friend. An interesting clue is found in a letter from William Penn dated 28 Third Month [May] 1705: "The lieutenant-governor first took lodgings at W. Paxson's, where his wife's health rendering his stay improper, he removed to John Finney's . . ."[19a]  It seems quite possible that Mary died soon after.

Details of Mary 's family with William  PAXTON