These research notes are provided as-is and contain supplementary working research.
Evidence
The Great Berkhamsted father-John baptism run, 1597-1637, and the parish's Gurney burial record
The Hertfordshire baptism index records twelve children baptised at Great Berkhamsted to a father John Gurney between 1597 and 1637 - Hugh 1597, Anne 1599, Amye 1602, Bridgett 1606, Henrye 1610, Sara 1615, Jhon 1624, Richard 1626, Elizabeth 1629, Michaell 1631, Sarah 1634 and Francys/Francis 1636/7 - with the mother not indexed in any row. The run is forty years long, which is not one man. The parish's burial record, read across seven surname stems rather than one, holds sixteen Gurney-variant burials between 1579 and 1643, among them Jhon Gourney in 1612 and again in 1620; no John Gurney-variant burial occurs at Berkhamsted after 1620, and none anywhere in Hertfordshire between 1620 and 1690 except Jonathan Gurney at Bovingdon in 1682-3. That post-1620 absence is not interpretable as departure, because the record set states that many Hertfordshire registers are defective for 1643-1660 and the parish's Gurney burials stop in 1643 and resume only in 1711.
Date: eight Berkhamsted baptisms, 1610-1636
Why this conclusion
- Supports Finding Candidate C is two men: C(i) eliminated on age, C(ii) held at a low probabilityThe indexed Berkhamsted baptisms and the absent Berkhamsted burial are the whole record basis for the Candidate C elimination.
Sources
- Hertfordshire Baptisms, parish-register baptism records, Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies; served via Findmypast., Hertfordshire Baptisms index, Berkhamsted: eight baptisms to father John Gurney (indexed Gourney/Gurney), 1610-1636 - Henry 1610, Sara 1615, Jhon 1624, Richard 1626, Elizabeth 1629, Michael 1631, Sarah 1634, Francis 1636. Search executed 9 May 2026.
- Hertfordshire Burials, parish-register burial records and images, Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies; served via Findmypast. Great Berkhamsted, 28 June 1638 burial entry on viewer page 165 of 175, record GBPRS/HERT/007567815/00277., Hertfordshire Burials index, John Gurney walk across the full 1538-onward span: forty-eight results; the only seventeenth-century Berkhamsted entries are Jhon Gourney 1612 and Jhon Gourney 1620; no John Gurney burial at Berkhamsted 1640-1700. Search executed 9 May 2026.
- England, Births and Christenings, 1538-1975. FamilySearch indexed records., England Births and Christenings index, consulted 9 May 2026 in the same same-name sweep that assembled the Berkhamsted group.
Topic file location: Identity — Berkhamsted: Candidates C(i) and C(ii)
Technical details
- Research item:
G13-RI-000171 - Graph revision:
381 - Machine-readable JSON:
/assets/g13-graph/findings/G13-RI-000171.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.