Janice,
Thank you for taking the time to download all of that Kerly information, unfortunately modern investigation has shown that much of what was reported and published many years ago, now shows a lot of strange holes -- for instance -
in the listing for Planters at Hull in 1637 there is noted a William Kerly, who we now take to be the first and eldest of the Kerlys to be in America -- this would be William the Immigrant, b. @ 1598, his wife Ann White, b @ 1600, daughter Mary, b. 1627; son Henry, b. 1632, and son William, b. 1633.
Daughter Mary is known to have married Richard Smith, Sr, and to have died in 1654 -
Henry married (1) - Elizabeth White, who was killed in the Massacre at Lancaster in 1676 while Henry was in Boston seeking more help to ward off an imminent Indian attack which came sooner than thought - their son William was also killed in that attack but son Henry, Jr, b. 1657 survived along with son Bartholomew and other daughters and possibly son Joseph. Capt. Henry m. (2) - Elizabeth Ward, widow of John Howe, Jr. in 1677. They had 2 known daughters and it is noted that there were probably at least 2 sons - a William, b. before 1684 and now perhaps this Joseph mentioned in the births at Boston in 1680.
The William, Jr. b. 1633, m. Jane Unknown in 1666 at Sudbury but left by before 1692 for Lexington, where he, Jane and a daughter Elizabeth were buried between 1719 - 1721. This William's Will filed in 1719 listed seven
daughters, one son-in-law and one grandson, not a Kerley/Carley.
As you have stated, William the Immigrant took for his third wife, Rebecca Jude Josselyn, widow of the Thomas mentioned in your listings of early arrivals at Hull and Sudbury and she survived him. (His second wife was Bridget
Bradstreet, widow of Thomas Rowlandson)
The William and the Edmond Kerley who arrived in America in 1638 aboard the Confidence are now noted as such - William, b. 1621 as determined by court testimony he gives about his age in Middlesex County records about 1666/7, is the William who married Hannah (Anna) King. He appears to have died without issue as his wife is the only person - other than Henry, whom he calls brother - named in his Will. Whether he was indeed a son of William the Immigrant
by a wife other than, and prior to, Ann White, or a nephew who grew close enough to Henry to call him brother, is a matter of some question.
Of the Edmond, who also arrived in 1638, b. in 1616 as he is noted as being age 22 at the time of the ship's sailing, it is generally thought that he died in passage or soon after arrival as he in not noted in any other records.
It is a surprise to see him listed as being at Sudbury - there is no further record of him or of a Kerley male other than those already mentioned. The ages of these last two men preclude either of them being the parent of either
Mary, Henry or the true William, Jr. - they would have been much to young to have fathered offspring.
Capt. Henry, b. 1632, m.( 2) - Elizabeth Ward Howe. She was the widow of John Howe, Jr, who was killed in the Massacre at Marlborough in 1677. She and Henry married that same year at Charlestown and later resided in Marlborough, where they had their 2 daughters, Hannah and Mercy, and at least 1 son, William. (Both Capt. Henry and Elizabeth Ward were children of fathers named William.)
Of the Kerly/Kerley/Carley descendants, only the two Henry's, Capt. and Jr., were only Henrys married to an Elizabeth having children in the 1680's, Henry, Jr b. 1657 having married an Elizabeth Unknown, also had a son John, b
about the same time as this Joseph born in Boston. So the question still hangs - was Joseph a son of the Captain or the Jr.?
I hope this makes sense and thanks for your thoughts and interest -
Janice's reply --
Good research and saving yours to be sure, and thanks very much
Janice