1Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association
URL = http://books.google.com/books?id=1fIMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA410&lpg=PA410&dq=%22John+Sheldon%22+%22Hannah+Stebbins%22&source=bl&ots=7QullusTTL&sig=MifPx85tQ0waun5QxSEaJ_VquHA&hl=en&ei=yuB-S9HrIYTitgOG1NT8Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CBwQ6AEwCTgK# Deliverance Palmer (b. Abt 1665, N. Kingston, Washington, Ri) is widely quoted to be the wife of John Sheldon (b. 8 Dec 1658, Northampton, Hampshire, Ma, son of Isaac Sheldon and Mary Woodford). However this source shows that the real wife is Hannah Stebbins (b. 8 Jul 1664, Northampton, Hampshire, Ma, d. 29 Feb 1703/4, Deerfield,Franklin,Ma). Some websites even suggest that John Sheldon was born in Ri, but the birthdate suggests this to be a copying error.
History and Proceedings of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Vol. 1, p 410 (1890).
"Isaac and Mary Woodford Sheldon were blessed with thirteen children. John Sheldon of Deerfield, their second son and third child, was born in Northampton, Dec. 5, 1658. Among the companions of his childhood, were John and Benoni Stebbins, sons of John Stebbins of Northampton, and grandsons of old Rowland Stebbins of Springfield. In 1679, while yet lacking a month of his majority, he married their sister, Hannah Stebbins, she being then but fifteen years and four months old. The boy husband and his child wife remained in Northampton until after the birth of their first two children; but the pioneer spirit was born in him, and we find him soon, with his young family, among the founders of a frontier settlement, as her father and grandfather had been before him."
Deliverance apparently therefore married Edward Cleveland (b. 20 May 1664, Woburn ,Middlesex, Ma).2Clarence Almon Torrey, Torrey's New England Marriages Prior to 1700, (2001).
"SHELDON John (1658-1734) & 1/wf Hannah STEBBINS (1664-1704); 5 Nov 1679; Northampton/Deerfield/Hartford {Deerfield 293; Strong 767; Stebbins 1:119; Chapin 1:12; Cross Anc. 117, 122; Goodwin-Morgan 2:180; Springfield Fam. (ms) 636; Clapp 17; Warner-Harrington 574, 626; Stevens-Miller 406}.".