The Plastket/t surname has caused some descendants to argue over the correct spelling - one or two "Ts" so I'm here to say this is a win-win situation. You are all right! One T was often used for secular transactions, land records, etc., but for records written in Latin, e.g. Church Records, and some official court documents, where Latin is the language of choice, two T's were used.

Studying the descendants and searching for the origins of William Plaskett of Trenton, New Jersey, has long been a passion of mine. His descendant, William Lucas Plaskett, born 1 February 1820 and his wife, Sarah Barnes Plaskett were my husband's earliest California emigrants. William tested the waters with the Birmingham Immigration Company, from Birmingham, Iowa, and then went back there to bring his wife the long way back to California - traveling down the Mississippi River; reaching Panama and crossing the Isthmus on mules before catching another boat ride up the coast.

In 1989, I compiled a four generation study of his descendants for the National Genealogical Society, and a copy of the manuscript was requested by the LDS library in Salt Lake City, and is also available from the Indiana Historical Society and the Library at Fort Wayne (in earlier versions). In 1995 I published their story in 4 issues of "The Plaskett Basket" - a newsletter which also contained many entries from the IGI along with some speculation as to his origins.

While compiling the above, and collecting Plaskett data, I've also received information on approximately five other Plaskett lines, throughout the United States and Canada. There were even Plasketts in Maryland - a contractor in Baltimore in the early 1800s, who descends from a later Plaskett emigrant to New Jersey. I owe much of my collection to the research of others. The late Wesley Bitzer (of West Virginia) gave me a large box full of family group sheets on five different Plaskett immigrants, including William of New Jersey. I corresponded with other family researchers from 1970 when I began this quest, through the publication of Volume I of the Plaskett Baskett.

In some ways it is gratifying that there are very few differences between my conclusions on his descendants and that of Kory L. Meyerlink, A.G., in his excellent article, "The Descendants of William Plaskett of New Jersey," published in The Genealogist, Spring 1997, pg. 84-104. He reached the same tentative conclusion as I had in "The Plaskett Baskett," as to possible origin in Whitehaven, county Cumberland, England, citing the same baptismal records, from St. Bee's and St. Nicholas for Anne, b. Jan. 1696, William b. Feb. 17, 1698, Mercy b. Jan. 21, 1703 and John, b. Mar. 23, 1705 all children of John Plascat of Whitehaven. I also found in the same church record that Sarah, dau. of Edward Biles of Whitehaven was born Apr. 20, 1701, and found it interesting as John Plaskett married a Phoebe Biles in Philadelphia in 1733.

In his article, Mr. Meyerlink cites the LDS microfilm numbers for most of the records used to proved the descendants and their relationships, but he missed one key record, linking William Plaskett who died ca. 1796 in Hamilton County, Ohio to his five children. (Only four are mentioned in the article). William Plaskett had purchased land in the Symmes Land Grant in Ohio. His son William sold this property (which was then in Butler County), and recorded the deed along with a power of attorney from his other heirs. This deed was recorded in Butler Co. Deed Book D:305-305, which identified his heirs as William, Joseph, Robert Lucas and Samuel Plasket, and Elizabeth Fislar (wife of John Fislar) and Martha Kelly (wife of John Kelly Jr.). All in all though, it is a well done article for publication, which to my mind still leaves two great research problems for this lineage:

(1) Who was Elizabeth, the non-Quaker wife of William Plasket (ca. 1740-1796) whom he married before 5th day 1st month, 1775 when at the Chesterfield Montly Meeting, Stacy Potts reported that "William Plascot hath married and neglects to make satisfaction."

and (2) How can we further strengthen the excellent theory presented by Mr. Meyerlink about the Whitehaven origins of William Plaskett of Trenton.