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- 20250914GHLn- LDS
Explanation from FindAGrave explain all this confusion
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/142997767/eleanor-dean
Eleanor Strong is the second wife to William Cogan. Her first husband was John Strong Sr. She is never named in any document, but today people still call her Eleanor. John nor William never names their wife in the will, except the three children, and the 3rd child named Eleanor Cogan is the daughter of John 'Richard' Strong Sr and Eleanor. Read discussion below...
The children are as follows: Eleanor Cogan, from most likely his first marriage that is unknown, married Walter Deane. He names a Joane Cogan (probably also from the first marriage) and then names another Eleanor Cogan. This last Eleanor is intriguing, because she is the daughter of John 'Richard' Strong that he mentioned as the 'unborn child' in his will before he died. The reason she didn't show the last name of Strong is because her legal guardian at that time became William Cogan, and she knew him since birth.
Walter and John Deane, q.v., were brothers, as shown in the latter's will. They are believed to be the sons of William Deane of Southchard, Somerset, whose will dated 22 July 1634 named sons William (oldest), Thomas, John, Walter, and Isaac, and daughters Susan Deane, Eleanor Deane, Margery Strong, and Elizabeth (youngest), and grandson John Strong (one of the witnesses was William "Cogam") (NEHGR 51:432-34). A Walter Deane, son of William Deane of South Chard, Somerset, was baptized at Chard 13 May 1612 (NEHGR 80:336). Walter Deane sailed for New England on the Speedwell from Weymouth, Dorset, on 22 April 1637 with six servants, the same ship carrying Elizabeth Poole, Henry Cogan, and Giles Rickard (NGSQ 71:176). His wife was Eleanor, who joined him in a deed of 20 August 1693 (NEHGR 3:375). The will of William Cogan of Southchard, Somerset, dated 24 April 1654, named his daughter Eleanor Deane, wife of Walter Deane in New England; however, he named another daughter Eleanor Cogan (NEHGR 51:434), and this has given rise to much speculation about the identity of Walter Deane's wife. George E. McCracken, "Early Cogans English and American," NEHGR 110:267-68, points out that Eleanor Deane had been supposed on other grounds to have been the daughter of Richard Strong of Taunton, Somerset. Bristol County, Mass. LR 1:152, dated 26 January 1690/91 shows Walter Deane of Taunton, a tanner, sold land for his beloved brother John Strong, living in Northampton, New England.
Mary Lovering Holman, Ancestry of Col. John H. Stevens…, (Concord, N.H., 1948), pp. 348-49, gives a verbatim excerpt from the will of this William Cogan, who may have been the Cogam witness of the William Deane will, above, and identifies Eleanor, the wife of Walter Deane, as a daughter of John Strong of Chard, Somerset, and sister of the John Strong of Northampton, Massachusetts. However, Mrs. Holman also shows the younger John Strong had for his first wife Margery Deane, the sister of Walter Deane...see link for full, no word count left.
Last Changed: June 17, 2025
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mgladson
Eleanor's (Mrs. John Strong) firstname is unknown, unproven, not documented anywhere, PLEASE READ
August 1, 2015
John ‘Richard’ Strong Sr. was married to a Eleanor? Her last name is NOT KNOWN, nor is her FIRST NAME KNOWN. There is simple complicated reason why people have mixed this all up. Their is too many people of the same names in this line, and this has caused everything to be twisted. This discusses the matter of why she is not the daughter of Walter Deane and Joan Walsele.
First there is never a marriage or a proof of any kind that comes right out and says Eleanor Deane, as the marriage cert is obliterated (not readable on who the wife is). Even in John's undated will around 1613 (believed), it does not mention her by name. Where her name ever gets mentioned in the first place is still a mystery to this day. Their is a slight source that does shed some light on her, and hints to the fact that she obviously was married again after the death of John Strong Sr, his name was William Cogan, married probably around 1615. The will of William Cogan in 1654, names two daughters, Eleanor Deane, the wife of Walter Deane, and a Eleanor Cogan, unmarried. However fails to mention his wife’s name. There is also a will from Walter Deane in 1585, the supposed father of Eleanor, and he names his three children in it: Joan, Eleanor, Margery Strong and William. It only states Eleanor’s last name as Deane, and so we ask, who is this Eleanor that is mentioned in the will? Their is controversy do to the fact there was another Eleanor that married a Sylvester Balston in the same area, and was born around the same timeframe of 1560's. This would match to the correct timeframe of when Walter and Joane would have been married. The reason alone seems to hold true, mainly do to the fact that Eleanor was married to John Strong Sr. around 1609, based on calculations of their children being born to them. This would conflict with the age requirements of Walter and Joane, as they seem to have been born around the 1540’s (calculated, this is do to the fact of the information we currently have on William Deane, the son of Walter and Joane). So, if this Eleanor that married John Strong Sr., was the daughter of Walter and Joane, she would have been nearly 40 years old by the time she would have had her first marriage! Because of this, Eleanor cannot be the child of Walter and Joane Deane. Now William, who we know for fact is part of the line to Walter and Joane, names in his will of 1634 his grandson John Strong. See, William Deane had a daughter named Margarie, and she died along with her infant child on the ship voyage to Massachusetts in the 1630’s. Her husband was Elder John Strong, the son of John Strong Sr and this Eleanor. Margarie also had a son named John Strong, who came on the ship and lived on for years, this is the grandson that was mentioned in the will. Another point to clarify is that Margerie Strong who was the first wife of Elder John Strong (who was the son of this John 'Richard' Strong, being a sister to Eleanor, how is it possible they can be siblings and yet be older by say 20 years? And if she is the wife of Elder John 'Richard' Strong Sr, how come she is not named in the will as being a Strong too? This would indicate that she was not married yet and a sister to Margerie. This makes sense of the dates above, showing this to be a younger Eleanor...Now the last point, William Deane had a son named Walter, and this Walter married an Eleanor Strong, the daughter of Elder John Strong and Abigail (remarried after death of Margarie). This is where the mix up has happened. Because of the daughter named Eleanor, and also the grandmother being named Eleanor (this happened in modern times methinks by people/researchers getting lost with names), and also Walter Deane the father of William Deane mentioned, has created this mess of same names at different points of time near each other. So in laman terms Eleanor's real name should just be plain old Mrs. John 'Richard' Strong Sr. This would fix the whole mess, and her name still needs to be found out by some future investigation one day…for now we will just call her Eleanor.
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Pioneer42
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1586 - 1654 (68 years)
