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Gloucestershire Lookup Requests / Re: Sherrington Parish Registers - DOWNING (DOWNYNG), 16th century
« on: Tuesday 26 August 25 16:11 BST (UK) »
I agree with you that it is complicated. I think I'll just start at the beginning of your latest and work my way through it if I can.
From the Travers side, I still find Hickson/Blennerhassett persuasive. Annabella Browne married Capt Thomas Spring in 1583, almost immediately after the death of her first husband, which means that Susanna, their third daughter, could not have been born much before 1587. Susanna married a Travers, who I believe to have been Alexander Travers, an ensign in the army and sometime sheriff of Co Kerry. Alexander would have been born c1570-75, and he would have married Susanna c1607, and they had numerous children - but only two girls according to Hickson (Annabella and Alice - no sign of a Catherine). These dates allow for Annabella marrying John Downing Jr whose own dob would seem to be 1605-10.
In stating that you know for a fact that JD Jr 'apparently' married Catherine Browne, how sure are you exactly? The CB who was a daughter of Sir VB and Ellis Fitzgerald married Sir Terence Magrath (who wasn't born until 1628 at the earliest - his parents married in 1627) and so would have been too young to have married JD Jr. The CB we seek is far more likely to have been the daughter of his father Nicholas Brown, Esq. and Julia O'Sullivan, since for CB to have married JD Sr., and to have had a son JD Jr. approximately when she did, she would probably have been born c1580-85. (But she could have been some other Browne altogether - there were plenty of them, after all.) Moreover, quite a lot of the Brownes were strong Catholics - VB even married a Desmond, so I can't see many of them wanting to marry a Downing!
Moving back to the Springs. There is some uncertainty here about the sequence of the generations, but I am fairly certain that Capt Thomas Spring was not born in 1519. That would make him 48 when he first went over to Ireland - quite old to be just a lieutenant, which he was when he went out there - 65 when he was appointed Constable of Castlemaine and 73 when appointed High Sheriff of Co Kerry (note possible Travers connection!). A dob of 1519 would also make him the son of Thomas Spring of Lavenham, the wealthy cloth merchant, although he is usually described as his grandson or even great grandson, with a dob of 1545-50.
I look forward to hearing what you think.
From the Travers side, I still find Hickson/Blennerhassett persuasive. Annabella Browne married Capt Thomas Spring in 1583, almost immediately after the death of her first husband, which means that Susanna, their third daughter, could not have been born much before 1587. Susanna married a Travers, who I believe to have been Alexander Travers, an ensign in the army and sometime sheriff of Co Kerry. Alexander would have been born c1570-75, and he would have married Susanna c1607, and they had numerous children - but only two girls according to Hickson (Annabella and Alice - no sign of a Catherine). These dates allow for Annabella marrying John Downing Jr whose own dob would seem to be 1605-10.
In stating that you know for a fact that JD Jr 'apparently' married Catherine Browne, how sure are you exactly? The CB who was a daughter of Sir VB and Ellis Fitzgerald married Sir Terence Magrath (who wasn't born until 1628 at the earliest - his parents married in 1627) and so would have been too young to have married JD Jr. The CB we seek is far more likely to have been the daughter of his father Nicholas Brown, Esq. and Julia O'Sullivan, since for CB to have married JD Sr., and to have had a son JD Jr. approximately when she did, she would probably have been born c1580-85. (But she could have been some other Browne altogether - there were plenty of them, after all.) Moreover, quite a lot of the Brownes were strong Catholics - VB even married a Desmond, so I can't see many of them wanting to marry a Downing!
Moving back to the Springs. There is some uncertainty here about the sequence of the generations, but I am fairly certain that Capt Thomas Spring was not born in 1519. That would make him 48 when he first went over to Ireland - quite old to be just a lieutenant, which he was when he went out there - 65 when he was appointed Constable of Castlemaine and 73 when appointed High Sheriff of Co Kerry (note possible Travers connection!). A dob of 1519 would also make him the son of Thomas Spring of Lavenham, the wealthy cloth merchant, although he is usually described as his grandson or even great grandson, with a dob of 1545-50.
I look forward to hearing what you think.