These research notes are provided as-is and contain supplementary working research.
Finding
Admitted Weymouth inhabitant (c. 1638/9-1642/4)
John Gurney was an admitted, resident inhabitant of Weymouth c. 1638/9-c. 1642/4: early-Massachusetts town land divisions went only to admitted inhabitants, so his three original East/Mill-Field grants mark him as a recognised member of the Weymouth community before his removal to Braintree.
Date: c. 1638/9-c. 1642/4
Why this conclusion
- Supported by Analysis Grants sat inside an Aylesbury-Vale Bucks neighbour cluster (reception)That John's land-neighbours were an established Aylesbury-Vale regional cluster frames his grants as reception into a settled community, reinforcing the admitted-inhabitant reading.
- Analyzed by Analysis When the Jenner debt may have begunUses John's early Weymouth residence as context for the possible debt period.
- Supports Finding Arrival window: 1636–early 1641John's original Weymouth grants support the arrival range by showing later residence there.
- Supported by Evidence Manuscript Land Grants book: John original grantee of 3 parcelsManuscript grants evidence John's inhabitant standing at Weymouth.
- Analyzed by Analysis Why the arrival range begins in 1636Uses the inhabitant-standing finding to connect the later grants with residence at Weymouth.
Qualifications and conflicts
- Qualified by Negative result Absent from Weymouth's 1636 Fresh Pond great-lot rollThe 1636 great-lot absence refines the start of John's inhabitant standing: he was not yet a Weymouth householder in 1636, so his admitted-inhabitant window opens after 1636.
Related context
- Context from Analysis 1651-52 great lot = proprietary right, not residence (John Read comparator)Distinguishes John's residence-era inhabitant standing (early 1640s) from the later 1651-52 proprietary right, which is not evidence of residence - guarding the standing finding against over-reading the great lot.
Topic file location: Colonial Weymouth community
Technical details
- Research item:
G13-RI-000018 - Graph revision:
381 - Machine-readable JSON:
/assets/g13-graph/findings/G13-RI-000018.json
This is one research item from the John Gurney research graph; the fuller narrative treatment is in the linked topic above and the research library.