She was named in her father’s will and he bequeathed her Colegate’s Last Shift. Later John Talbott and his wife Prudence sold Colegate’s Last Shift.

Some people on the Internet are confused by whether John Talbott married Prudence Colegate or Rebecca Colegate. I think their confusion originates with the fact that there is an LDS IGI record that calls her Rebecca. The IGI is a mish-mash of different types of records -- some are actual church records (the good stuff) and some are user submitted (the possible nonsense). The IGI record saying John Talbott’s wife’s name was Rebecca Colegate was a user submitted record. I strongly suspect it was an error -- that whoever entered it first was confusing the name of Prudence’s mother -- which was Rebecca -- with her own. But once entered, it got repeated without challenge in far too many places.

Some people solve this problem by calling this woman Prudence Rebecca, a name for which there is no basis whatsoever. And that is how genealogy becomes such a mess. I believe the “fact” which is fact (that her name was Prudence) should be taken as authoritative and the “fact” that is fiction (that her name was Rebecca) should simply be ignored. Her name was Prudence.

John Talbott inherited 1/3 of 1000 acre Talbott’s Vineyard on Elk Ridge from his father, the other 2/3 going to John’s brothers and sisters.

John Talbott and Prudence Colegate were a couple -- their marriage recorded in 1723. We know their fathers were Edward Talbott and Richard Colegate -- land owned by their respective fathers was later sold by John and Prudence.

Land records tell the story of John and Prudence. They started life with a lot of land inherited from either his father or hers but John was apparently not a good steward of his wealth so sold his land holdings off piece-by-piece. The book says: “it seems not unlikely that he left Anne Arundel County a poor man and began life anew in Baltimore County.”

We know for a fact that the family came to Baltimore County. Edward (presumed) son of John and Prudence married Margaret Slade 7 Apr 1763. He died though by 14 Oct 1764 and his Baltimore County inventory cited John Talbott Sr. and Jr. as next of kin.

This fact is quite critical to my whole theory connecting our Mary Talbott to the Richard Talbott family and particularly to John Talbott and Prudence Colegate. Because in a 1759 Baltimore County deed, Blois and Mary (Talbott) Wright conveyed lands Blois had inherited to William Andrew and that deed was witnessed by John Talbott. As best I can determine, there were only two John Talbotts -- Sr. and Jr. -- in Baltimore County in 1759. The other John Talbott, son of Edmund Sr., had moved to Virginia.

Whichever witnessed the deed -- her father or brother -- doesn’t really matter. What matters is that it provides real evidence of a connection between Mary (Talbott) Wright and the John and Prudence Talbott family. So my theory that the name she gave her son -- John Talbott Wright -- and the name she gave her daughter -- Prudence -- is also evidence of that connection, certainly has merit.

The Talbott book is of little further help to me in terms of nailing down the identity of Mary Talbott. It says: “John and Prudence had two children for sure, possibly four, and the family may have been a large one.”

Then by 9 Sep 1771 John Talbott, son of John, died in Baltimore County. Benjamin and Thomas Talbott signed his inventory as next of kin. (This younger John’s wife was named Sophia and one of their daughters, Rachel, I believe, married Greenbury Wiley.)

So it is first the inventory of Edward wherein John Sr. and John Jr. were next of kin and now the inventory of John Jr. wherein Benjamin and Thomas were next of kin -- that seem to suggest that Edward, John, Benjamin and Thomas were probably all children of John and Prudence. And I add Mary.