These research notes are provided as-is and contain supplementary working research.
Evidence
Anderson GMD p.158 - published coverage summary; origin 'Unknown'
Anderson's Great Migration Directory (2nd ed., 2025), p. 158, summarizes John Gurney's documented New England presence — arrival 1636, settlements Boston and Braintree — records his English origin as 'Unknown,' and rests the entry on six cited records (Winthrop's Journal 2:422; Massachusetts Bay Records 1:331; NEHGR 62:94; Suffolk Probate Case #338; History of Weymouth 3:251; The American Genealogist 10:70-73); it omits the Weymouth residential phase the manuscript town-land records attest.
Why this conclusion
- Supports Finding Record coverage: a continuous 1641-1663 civic/land/court/probate footprintAnderson's independent directory entry corroborates the record-class map of John's documented footprint.
- Analyzed by Analysis Anderson's "Boston" settlement attribution reads as a conflation with the 1636 Newgate apprenticeReads Anderson's directory entry for what its "Boston" settlement attribution rests on.
- Supports Negative result Negative: no record states John's English originAnderson recording the English origin as 'Unknown' directly supports the origin-silence negative.
Sources
- Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Directory: Immigrants to New England, 1620–1640: A Concise Compendium. 2nd ed. Boston: NEHGS, 2025., Great Migration Directory, 2nd ed. (2025), p. 158 (John Gurney entry)
origin 'Unknown'; arrival 1636; settlements Boston, Braintree; six cited records
Topic file location: Colonial record coverage
Technical details
- Research item:
G13-RI-000039 - Graph revision:
244 - Machine-readable JSON:
/assets/g13-graph/findings/G13-RI-000039.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.