Thomas Gascoigne, Sr. - Ancestry in doubt

There were apparently several Francis Gascoignes in the early 16th century:

1) Francis (1512-1576), son of William Gascoigne (7th) of Gawthorpe, m. Elizabeth Anne (d. 1589), daughter of Martin Anne, of Frickley, Yorkshire - probably no issue (Elizabeth supposedly married 2) Marmaduke Tyrwhitt of Kettleby and had a daughter, but this is open to question - she didn't marry the MP for Grimsby, at any rate).

2) Francis (c. 1536-?), son of Wiliam Gascoigne (8th) of Gawthorpe, supposedly m. Elizabeth Singleton but d.s.p.

3) Francis (c. 1531-1622?), son of Henry Gascoigne and NN Gournay (Gounay, Cournay), m. Elizabeth Singleton of Suffolk(!) and had, among other children, Henry (c. 1566-after 1602).

The "Suffolk" reference smells unless there is an MP connection on both sides (Members of Parliament were nearly as incestuous as the nobility, and it was the most likely way for untitled gentry to find spouses outside their own areas), or unless this is *not* a Yorkshire branch but e.g. Bedfordshire or Norfolk. (Gascoigne of Cardington, Bedfordshire, was well represented in Parliament through the 16th century, and there were other established branches in both Norfolk and Suffolk).

It should probably be noted that Temperance. Lady Yeardley (nee Flowerdew) was from Hethersett, Norfolk.

I believe that Thomas Gascoigne in the 1601 baptismal record is the same one in VA. He could NEVER inherit anything from his father. Henry, because he was the son of a SECOND marriage. He had two older brothers and one of them would inherit everything from Henry according to British law at that time. Therefore, Henry gave Thomas a ticket to VA where he would be able to buy land and build an empire if he wanted.

Thomas was NOT of majority when he left England and therefore, he left NO records in England. It all makes sense. The only place he could make records is in VA and Bermuda where he transported from in 1635 to VA the second time. And, he made 3 records in VA which document that he was born in 1601. What other Thomas Gascoigne can say that?

1653 Thomas made a deposition that he was 52 which equals 1601.
1658 Thomas made a deposition that he was 57 which equals 1601.
1661 Thomas declared an exemption because he was over 60 which equals 1601. You can only get an exemption when you turn 60 which equals 1601.

Personally I fancy a Norfolk/Suffolk connection. The Henry Gascoigne who married a Gournay and sired Francis, who married Elizabeth Singleton of Suffolk and sired Henry, who...? -- was probably East Anglian himself (there had been Gascoignes and Gournays in Norfolk from the Conquest on).

Everybody thinks that just because there were prominent Gascoignes in Yorkshire, there were NO Gascoignes anywhere else in England and ALL Gascoignes must belong to the Yorkshire family. This is the "Emma Siggins White" fallacy in full flower (named after the infamously incompetent/dishonest "genealogist" who mashed every White family she heard about into one big mess).

I just encountered this tracing a line on my son's paternal side and have skimmed the previous discussion. I'm surprised to find that the connections were left in such a mess. If there is no proof of who his parents were, better to have none connected than this hodgepodge of multiple parents that give false pathways to other Geni connections.

This book says his father was Henry but doesn't mention who his mother was:

https://books.google.com/books?id=tcM40zgdAZgC&pg=PA54&lpg=...

Correction: The footnotes on the page at the link above indicates Henry's wife was Anna Hobbes, and gives information on their marriage.

Based on the above documentation, I removed the Cartwright wife as the mother of Josiah on my son's direct line. This just leaves merging of the duplicate Henrys and Anna Hobbes connections, which I'll attemp to do if they aren't locked.

The population of England and Wales was about 3.6 million in 1500 and a little over 4 million in 1600. Those with French family names were probably less than 10 %. Those with the same or very similarly written French family names and the same first name living anywhere near the same age were so very few that the likelihood of them being one and the same is very great. So much so, that I am inclined to believe that two or three such separate records apply to one and the same person until proven otherwise.

Don't be too sure of that. Instances *are* known where two people with the same name were indeed two different people.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gascoigne-135

I am a descendant to Robert Gascoigne II from VA ..
Not sure if Thomas is in that family line- have not gotten past Robert b 1673

The wiki is not mine but it seems to fit his line -

Yes, there seems to be another Gascoigne family in VA, but they do not seem to have anyone named Thomas born in 1601. There seems to be only this ONE Thomas Gascoigne and he seems to have left a provable trail that has documentation. As for the ship's list I believe that the error was made by writing down his age as 34 and not 24. A simple error that could have been made looking at the digits. It was not like 34 and really being 28, etc. Besides, the 3 documents from Thomas Gascoigne seem to be made by the very same person. Where has anyone found a second Thomas born in 1601 to be a Thomas.

I don't think our problem is in VA. The problem is with Thomas born in 1601 in England. The British have sold many of their records from their courthouses. I did NOT find his birth record in the courthouse because those records had been BOUGHT by an institution in England years ago. It is not easy finding documents in England. And, there is also the problem of the English NOT giving up their documents to courthouses. One gentleman from America went home from England without ANY of his family's document. It seems that when he tracked his family down they owned a castle in England so he went there. When the castle was sold the new residents knocked out a wall to make an easier passage from on room to another. However, when they knocked out the wall it belonged to a secret room which contain hundreds of documents. So, the new owners hauled out all of the ancient documents and BURNED them all on the front lawn because they thought it was just trash.

Another thing we need to search for is the English genealogist whom Shirley mentioned in her book. She said that he had certified that Thomas in VA was the son of Henry. The only problem is that I have NOT been able to find out where he left his genealogy when he died. He had worked for several American families as well.

The clues are there. Now, get out and find the other pieces to the puzzle.

E. R. Edmondson
genpics1968@att.net