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

On Oct 9, 8:27 pm, Nathaniel Taylor <nltay...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In article
<a14cc744-aa65-4dc6-bb0a-5259d3e72...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,





 Kathy <kathy...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
  I have a question, how can the wife of the Elder William Brewster be
disproved if you don't have a last name.  I am a local to the Plymouth
area, and grew up with the stories and such and the history of the
Mayflower.  It is said that her full name was Mary Wentworth, born
circa 1569 in Yorkshire, England died in the Plymouth Colony April 17
1627.  My sources for that are a couple different family webpages,
which can easily be disproved I know, but how can you prove or
disprove someones lineage if you don't know the maiden name?  I have
seen in a few places there was confusion over whether her last name
was Wyrall or Wentworth. If she was Mary Wentworth, wouldn't her lines
be proved?

According to this book:

 The Society of Mayflower Descendants in Washington DC, 1970; The
Society of Mayflower Descendants in the District of Columbia, 76.

Her line would go back to Sir Knight Richard (John) FitzWilliam and
Elizabeth Clarell and from the tudorplace site it has her line going
back to Joan Gascoigne.

So if she was in fact Mary Wentworth daughter of Thomas Wentworth and
Grace Gascoigne, wouldn't she be considered a gateway or at least an
on the line gateway, because of the uncertainty of her last name?   I
know I probably don't have enough sources and such, but she was one
that caught my eye as I was reading and was curious to know how she
could be disproved without the knowledge of her maiden name?

Brewster's entry in Anderson's _Great Migration Begins_ has a concise
bibliographic summary of the attempts to identify Mary.  No, Mary's
alleged surname of Wentworth has not been *disproved* with the finding
of another true surname; but more importantly, after decades of
searching not a single shred of evidence has ever been found to support
either that her maiden name actually was Wentworth, or specifically that
she was daughter of Thomas Wentworth of Scrooby, Nottinghamshire.  John
G. Hunt was the author of the fullest arguments for both the Wentworth
and Wyrrall theories, but neither is now considered valid, let alone
conclusive. All that is necessary to throw someone into the 'bogus
gateway' pile is to show that his or her parentage remains unknown; and
that is the case here.  

Nat Taylor
a genealogist's sketchbook:  http://www.nltaylor.net/sketchbook/- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thank you for answering so quickly. Would you happen to know the name
of the book, I'd like to look it up for future reference.

Thanks,
Kathy
.

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