[DavidByrne]

My ancestor, Henry Cottrell, b.1747, Uffculme, Devon, is widely understood to have married a Mary Carew. His children's birth records show the mother to be "Mary" and there are several references in genealogical forums to family records suggesting she was in fact a Mary Carew. That notwithstanding, there is no marriage record to demonstrate that she was a Mary Carew.

Assuming, however, that the family indications of her being a Carew are correct, there are several possible Mary Carews that might qualify. The one favoured by almost all other published family trees and other references including the LDS web site is that she was Mary Carew, b. 1750, St Kew, Cornwall. However, this runs counter to suggestions by others claiming a family connection on genealogical forums that she was born in Exeter (and that she and Henry married in Exeter). Alas, these references now go back 15-ish years, and I've been unable to contact any of the writers.

Available birth records suggest that she might be (a) Mary, "base child" of Mary Carew, born Bickleigh (near Exeter) in 1747, (b) Mary, daughter of John and Deborah Carew, born St Kew, Cornwall in 1750 (as above), or (c) Mary, daughter of Nathaniel and Sarah Carew, born Creed, Cornwall in 1752. However, Nathaniel and Sarah had another daughter called (d) Mary in 1760, so it's supposed that their first Mary had died before then. Other possibilities are that she was (e) the daughter of Thomas and Betty Carew, born in Laycock, Wiltshire in 1754, or (f) the daughter of Walter and Lydia Carew, born 1760 in Callington, Cornwall.

Henry and Mary's first known child was born in 1779, so it's not unreasonable to suppose that Mary could have been born as late as 1762. But these six seem to be all the possibilities in the whole of England.

Personally, I gravitate toward her being (a), born in Bickleigh, since that most closely matches family suggestions she came from Exeter. However, this runs counter to the conventional wisdom that she was (b), born in St Kew. Do any posters have any thoughts or suggestions as to how the search could be narrowed?