Anthony West - Parentage of Anthony West

It appears as though he is related to the Lords de la Warr. I have no definitive evidence, but often because of laws of primogeniture in England, Sons who were not first-born came to America. His father was a colonial governor, which leads me to think that Anthony would easily find a passage over the ocean. I would bet that the two are linked.

Thread Necrology! Anthony West did NOT pay his own way - he came as an indentured servant. This means he *cannot* have been connected to a wealthy and powerful family...except, possibly, as an unacknowledged bastard.

Anthony West came to Virginia in the "James," 1622, and in the census, 1623/4, is listed at James City, where he is living at "Mr. Treasuror's Plantation," across the river from Jamestown, 1624/5. At a court held at James City, 12 Dec 1625, Henry Menefre, merchant, testified that Mrs. Rowsley did set Anthony West free and delivered his Indenture to Capt. Sampson to carry into England to his friends.

Necrology II because NECESSARY again.

No he is NOT a De La Warr. No he does NOT belong to that family.

His parentage is UNKNOWN, but he came to Virginia as an INDENTURED SERVANT, meaning his family was POOR and could not afford to pay his passage.

I have been through this, repeatedly, with the New England White/West connection - those Wests are not De la Warrs either, but members of the Somersetshire yeomanry (like the Whites they intermarried with).

It took a while to find the broken link - but there was one.

Anthony West *is* a broken link himself - antecedents unknown, and apparently the only evidence for a De la Warr connection is the use by later generations of the De la Warr coat of arms. It is probably worth pointing out that the English College of Heralds does not have, and never has had, any jurisdiction over America - and as soon as people figured that out, it was open season on any coat of arms anybody wanted.

Y-DNA provides another clue - and it's negative.

The putative De la Warr line (traced back, perhaps accurately, perhaps not, to Sir Thomas West of Devonshire, d. 1386) tested R-P311.

Anthony West and his verified descendants form an isolated group with the haplotype R-U198.

There are five mismatches in the first 20 or so markers.

Other claimants to the De la Warr line are even farther out, with tests of I1 and I2.

As of this date Anthony appears to be a Unique - no traceable antecedents on paper *or* via Y-DNA. Which is exactly where we started.