John Gedney, of Salem

Updated Info

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gedney-26

Dispute: There was speculation that John's wife Sarah died on passage or shortly after arrival in New England and he married second widow Mary (possibly Prince/ unk) but this is unproven (see NEHGR: 170: 2016). In TAG: 14: 1937: this was speculated by the employees Robert and Rebecca Prince, working at his tavern as the children of this wife Mary. Recent research in NEHGR170 has shown that these are actually the children of wife Katherine (Franklin/Prince/Clarke) Gedney. A 1637 church admission at the church at Salem for Mary Gedney may simply a transcription error for Sary Gedney.

New Info: A new article in NEGHR indicates John's three wives were: 1) Lydia who d. 1636 in England, 2) Sarah who was listed on the custom house record and sometimes identified as Mary who joined the Salem church in 1637, and 3) Catharine widow of James Prince and William Clarke. Some say Mary was the mother of the children in the Salem baptisms, but no mother was named.[1]

References

• Prince, Roger A., The English Origin of John Gedney of Salem, Massachusetts, and His Three Wives, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register (NEHGS, Boston, Mass., Winter 2020) Vol. 174, WN 693, Page 33.

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Notes for JOHN GEDNEY

John, Sarah and their first three children immigrated to America, May 11, 1637, on the ship "Rose of Yarmouth" out of Norwich, England. John was listed as a weaver in the shipping list but he was ordered to keep an inn at Salem on November 10, 1639 and is always described in the Salem records as a "vintner."

Listed as one of the passengers to New England aboard the MARYANNE OF YARMOUTH 10-15 May 1637. Examinations of passengers to New England on the Mary Anne of Yarmouth, Mr. William Goose, Master:

• Gedney John, Weaver from Norwich, bound for Salem
• Gedney Sarah 25
• Gedney Ledia
• Gedney Hanah
• Gedney John
• Walker William, servant for John Gedney
• Burges [---] 26, servant for John Gedney

origins

Parents unknown. Not the son of John Gedney, of Swaby

"The first connectected lineage is one listed in the official "Visitation of Lincolnshire in 1564" and again in 1592. Here we find that Robert Gedney of Flyte (or Fleet) moved from Linconshire to County Norfolk and established the family there in 1372. The line is traced from 1372 through ten generations in this record. The John Gedney, born in Norfolk in 1603 and emigrating to Salem in 1637 where he established the first Gedneys in America, was apparently of the eleventh generation of the Norfolk group. Since the living Gedneys and Gidneys are of the twelfth to fourteenth generation in this country, this would indicate that the family history covers some 25 generations in the 600 years from 1372 to the present. ..”

notes

From https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/21920874/media/b9e77e9418...

John Gedney

• Birth: 1603 Norfolk, England
• Death: Aug. 5, 1688 Salem Essex County Massachusetts,

Came to America onboard the "Mary Ann oy Yarmouth" in 1637 with wife, Sarah Mary Bartholomew and children. He's said to be the first non-Puritan in Salem, he was a Quaker. He opened a tavern on the outskirts of Salem called "Ship Tavern".

John Gedney Will ". . . .This twenty second day of September One Thousand Six hundred Eighty and Foure I John Gedney of Salem . . . . in health of body . . . .

Item. I give to my daughter in law Rebecca Putnam one of my feather beds in the parlour chamber and ye tapestry Coverlidd anf five pounds household stuffe.

Item. I give unto Bethiah Hutchinson that now liveth with me five pounds in money and the debt which her father Joseph Hutchinson oweth unto me being on my book thirteen pounds sixteen shillings seven pence to be paid to her by her father Joseph Hutchinson.

Item. I give unto my son Bartholomew Gedney and my Grandson Eleazer Gedney and unto their heirs my pond of salt Marsh lyeing on the south field side commonly called Emryes Marsh to be equally divided into two parts and my son Bartholomew to take his choice.

Item. After my funeral charges debts and legacies as aforesaid are paid I give my Grandchildren the children of my son Eleazer Gedney deceased one fourth part of my remaining estate or the value thereof to be paid to them in equall porcons as they come of age.

Item. I give unto my daughter Susanna Gedney and unto her children she had by my son John Gedney and their heirs one half of the remaining estate after all the above named bequeaths are allowed for out of the whole estate (that it to say) the one half both of money moveables houses and lands.

Item. I give unto my son Bartholomew Gedney, his wife and children and their heirs all the remainder of my estate in money moveables houses and land and shipping reall and personal of what nature or Kind so ever . . . .

My well beloved son Bartholomew Gedney . . . my whole and full executor . . .

John Gedney Senior signed by mark. Witnesses: John Browne, Sr; John Marston, Sr; Acknowledged to be his own etc. August 3, 1686 in presence of John Pickering, Samuel Gardner, Jr and John Marston. Witnesses sworn August 2, 1686 before William Browne, Stephen Sewall Clerk. Probated December 12, 1688."

Links

• http://rhead-burtonconnections.com/gedney%20ancestors.html