Thomas Downes - Thomas should not be listed as II

I see the numerals added in trees to visually help keep track of generations. I’d rather use a Will based location suffix (or how referred to in records), or nickname in quotes to distinguish between a similar named person. But the real question here is if there’s any supporting evidence for the father showing?

No, none. It's a guess from an old GedCom -- the same person made the erroneous connection to Simpson for Catherine (also unsupported, and thankfully, removed -- from here, anyway).There are about a half dozen fathers in England that would fit the timeline, two or three named Thomas, a Robert, and a couple others... still looking! I did find a Downes male that began with an F (I don't have it handy) but it was an odd name for the time, maybe Frederick? HE was married to a Catherine with a sister Elizabeth (which is often claimed about Catherine Simpson). That's the closest i could find on that front, and I do think it could very well be the erroneous Simpson connection, but they never even left England. Thank you Erica Howton!