Talk:Omie Wise

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The familiar story of Naomi Wise is based mostly on the rather questionable account by Braxton Craven published in 1851, about 40 years after the murder. Another source for information on this story is the notebook of Mary Woody, available here. Some discussion of these different sources would be nice in the article. Sorry I can't do it at the moment. For now I will simply link to the alternative source. --Chinasaur 06:15, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Is this matter really settled?
OK, the "Braxton Craven" page says Craven took a few facts about Ms. Wise and spun out an extravagantly fictionalized account. The "Omie Wise" page says that the element of truth in the story is much greater, and cites all of Roote's research, which is lovely stuff.

Maybe the Braxton Craven page needs amending.

As to Mary Moody and her 'commonplace book,' however, I am left with a couple of questions. Is there any indication of the date when the version she put into her book was written down? All I can find is Mary's birthdate and the date when the book was donated to the university. That gives me no clue as to whether she copied it BC (Before Craven) or AD (After [that] Date). That would be informative, if it is knowable.

Terry J. Carter (talk) 18:16, 18 May 2009 (UTC)

An easy deduction can be made. Mary Woody was born in 1801 and wrote the poem as a schoolgirl. Braxton craven was born in 1822 and wrote his story while in school, perhaps college. An amendment could be made in describing the "Evergreen newspaper". It was actually a magazine Craven self published that eventually failed because he could not get enough subscribers. 24.22.70.51 (talk) 00:34, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

I have a question,forgive if it is unhelpful but... The dates on the tombstone and the dates on this wikipedia page say that Naomi was 19 years old when she died. That scholar (sorry I forget her name) says that she was considerably older than Lewis and had already two children aged 9 and 4. I suppose the four year old sounds possible, but did she really have a child when she was 10? And was Lewis barely pubescent? Or is the tombstone date made up? What is the deal here? I also wonder when the wiki page says that the scholar found that mothers of illegitimate children did not expect marriage. Um. Really? Ever? Maybe her argument is clearer/more solid and the wiki page needs a brushup? User:hempenasphalt —Preceding undated comment added 17:03, 1 March 2010 (UTC).

The headstone is a memorial erected after the publication of Craven's book and based on his inventive story. Neither date is correct. She died in 1807 (based on arrest record of Jonathan Lewis) and no one knows her birth date. Jonathan was not "barely pubescent"; he was 24 years old (1807-1783)so if Naomi was considerably older, you're right... she did not have a child at 10 years. Monabolona (talk) 19:04, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

Do you happen to have a source for the claim that the memorial was erected after the publication of the book? I had assumed this was her actual burial ground. Is her true place of burial unknown? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.169.82.237 (talk) 23:22, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

If what Monabolona says is correct, then someone should clarify all this in the article. As it stands, this article is ridiculous. It presents a 19 year old girl as a multiple-time mother with at least one child almost half her own age who becomes pregnant by a boy several years younger than her. If she was truly old enough to have a 9 year old child we should discuss how the song has changed the details to better fit the ideal of the murder ballad genre. --Khajidha (talk) 11:12, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
 * This whole article needs a complete rewrite.--Khajidha (talk) 13:22, 16 October 2016 (UTC)