Re: 17th century medieval gateways in America - first steps

On Oct 8, 8:54 pm, Nathaniel Taylor <nltay...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In article
<9b811662-8513-47e0-8344-17fa363d6...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,

 AdrianBnjmBurke <adrianbenjaminbu...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
John of Watertown is
different from other "debunked" gateways in that in the Whitney case,
the problem is not identifying the immigrant's immediate origins but
in identifying his paternal grandfather who was most likely at least a
gentleman if not of higher social rank and almost certainly belonged
to a medieval family with many RDs dating early on.

Could you summarize the case for this 'almost certain' connection to the
Whitneys of Whitney?  As a caution I will point out that I think the
phrase 'almost certain' is much overused (and often misused) in
genealogy.

Nat Taylor
a genealogist's sketchbook:  http://www.nltaylor.net/sketchbook/

Well, i am not going to repeat everything that has already been
written in TAG - you can always go to the WRG website. All I was
referring to was the fact that in the 16th century, almost every
whitney family discovered in records was 'of the gentry' in that the
male head of household was either styled a gentleman or higher, or of
certain wealth to make wills, hold property. Obviously, a very poor
man named whitney would not show up in a lot of documents, but, of the
whitneys we know about they almost all were gentry. Also, the evidence
strongly suggests a common Herefordshire origin of the major whitney
families at that time - so, what i was referring to was the high
probability that thomas whitney, gentleman of lambeth and later
westminster was probably descended from the Whitney of Whitney family
one way or another. But of course, until his paternity is established
for certain, we cannot be 100% sure. I certainly have come across
ample use of that term mostly in 19th and early 20th century
literature - and am aware its over use - however, i stand by my use of
it for the moment.....!!! I mean - i'm not betting on it just yet! I
am keeping an open mind - something i think more people should do.
.