Family Folklore~Separating Facts From Fiction!

My paternal line goes back to a Frederick Rivers, b. bef 1754 and died aft 1820, said to be the son of William Rivers and Temple Dempsey.

No document has been found in my 40 plus years of research that names the parents of Frederick Rivers or the name of his wife. 

Folklore is that William Rivers and Temple Dempsey were the parents of Frederick. This has not been proven. In fact not a single document has been produced for the era (pre-1800) by anyone with the name Temple Dempsey or Temple Rivers mentioned within the document.

In early 2000 this folklore gained some legs when someone published a note on the internet claiming that William Rivers baptism date of 30 November 1718 is recorded in Droxford, Hampshire, England and claimed that Temple Dempsey was from the nearby village of Bramshot, 20 miles away. It also stated that Temple Dempsey was born in 1720.

Most of the above data came from a LDS Church IGI Extraction.

There was a William RIVERS, christened 30 November 1718, Droxford, Hampshire
Father WILLIAM
( Source IGI, Extracted)
Siblings;
THOMAS, 23 November 1712
JOHN, 17 December 1709
WILLIAM, 27 December 1710 ( may have died and other William born c 1718)

But, there is no proof that he migrated to America and that he is the Father of Frederick Rivers.
As a result of all this misinformation I wrote the Hampshire Record Office asking for confirmations. Letter posted here:














The Hampshire Records Office replied that the only William Rivers marriage occurred on:

20 May 1730 William Rivers and Mary Dunce married by banns



At the time of this writing, no one has found a single document that supports the claim that William Rivers and Temple Dempsey are the parents of Frederick Rivers.

No one can prove who Frederick Rivers married. No documents has been found that names his wife.
There was a William Rivers that served in the Cherokee War under Col. George Gabriel Powell whose men were mainly from Cheraw and Georgetown Districts of old Craven County. But, there is no proof connecting this man to Frederick Rivers or the Rivers Family. 















The search continues to determine who Frederick Rivers married and who his parents were.  If you have source documents relative to the marriage and parentage of  Frederick Rivers I would love to see your data and discuss the issue with you.










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folk·lore; the traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community, passed through the generations by word of mouth.
1. synonyms:
mythology, lore, oral history, tradition, folk tradition;

1.