These research notes are provided as-is and contain supplementary working research.
This page expands an Evidence link in Family — the children as a family group: the findings, sources, and qualifications behind the marked passage.
Finding
Reconstructed family group: five children (Sarah, Mary, Richard, John Jr., Peter) + Isaac uncertain, all Mary's
John Gurney's children form a reconstructed family group of five — Sarah, Mary, Richard (the direct-line G12), John Jr., and Peter — with Isaac a probable but unproven sixth; all were born to his first wife Mary, and no single colonial record enumerates the family, which is assembled from compiled genealogies (Sprague, the Weymouth town history, Rigler) and per-child primary records.
Date: children born c. 1628 (England) to c. 1643 (Massachusetts)
Why this conclusion
- Supported by Evidence Torrey p. 331 cross-check of the John1 family groupTorrey's family-group page independently corroborates the roster and John1's own dates.
- Synthesized by Analysis Shared matching-criteria profile: tailor, wife Mary, five named children, birth c.1602–1610, gone from England by 1641The reconstructed five-child roster is one strand of the shared matching-criteria profile.
- Required by Analysis John named no child Francis — the strongest naming-pattern argument against Candidate BThe absence is read off the reconstructed child roster (Sarah, Mary, Richard, John Jr., Peter).
- Required by Finding John Jr. and Ruth's Mendon household, 1671-1676The household finding rests on the family-group roster's identification of John Jr. as a son of John Gurney-1.
- Required by Finding Peter's King Philip's War service and 1676 deathPeter's identification rests on the family-group roster's identification of Peter as a son of John Gurney-1.
Qualifications and conflicts
- Qualified by Analysis Isaac (c. 1643) most plausibly John-1's son, by elimination (moderate)Isaac is the uncertain sixth member; the by-elimination identification qualifies the roster's completeness.
Related context
- Context from Analysis Ackworth held at a residual ~3%: the only wife-name match, capped by naming and corridor mismatchesThe colonial John's own five-child roster (Sarah b. c.1628) is what bounds his first marriage to before 1628, capping Ackworth's fit.
- Context from Finding Candidate C (Berkhamsted) eliminated on age, child set, and child chronologyThe elimination turns on comparing the Berkhamsted children against the colonial five-child roster.
Sources
- Chamberlain, George Walter, and Channing Harris Cox, comps. History of Weymouth, Massachusetts. 4 vols. Published by the Weymouth Historical Society (Howard H. Joy, President), under direction of the town. Weymouth, Mass.: Weymouth Historical Society, 1923. Vol. 3 carries the Genealogy of Weymouth families (John Gurney Sr. and Richard Gurney entries)., vol. 3, p. 251, John Gurney family entry
- Rigler, Jean Gurney. The Gurney Family from Aaron to Zuinglius: A Genealogical Dictionary; Some Descendants of Richard Gurney Who Settled at Weymouth, MA before 1656. Rev. and expanded ed. Honolulu, Hawaii: J. G. Rigler, 1994., John Gurney-1 children entry
- Sprague, Waldo Chamberlain. Genealogies of the Families of Braintree, Mass., 1640–1850. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001., p. 695, John Gurney entry (children Sarah, Mary, Richard, John, Peter)
Appears in
- John Gurney fact sheet — Children: the family group of Sarah, Mary, Richard, John Jr., and Peter (plus the uncertain Isaac), all born to first wife Mary.
- John Gurney identity case file — Problem-statement baseline: children Sarah, Mary, Richard, John Jr., Peter (plus Isaac uncertain), born in England.
Topic file location: Family — the children as a family group
Also covered here
Technical details
- Evidence marker:
G13-PM-000041 - Primary research item:
G13-RI-000065 - Graph revision:
244 - Machine-readable JSON:
/assets/g13-graph/marker-bundles/G13-PM-000041.json