Thomas Gibbs of Sandwich needs PGM protection

Question

Thanks to S Willson's recent reminder of MyWikitree>Family Activity Feed>Ancestors (thanks, SW!!!) I found an "ancestor" for whom there is no proof, leading down to this PGM-era Barnstable settler.  Given that he had children documented in Plymouth in the 1630s, that would qualify HIM as a PGM profile.

Would love the project to add him to their list of managed profiles.  

I've also suggested that the current father attached to Thomas be detached and I've edited the narrative in preparation for that detachment .

Comments

Update: lacking a response on the profile for almost a month, and given other comments there, I've detached the father (he's still linked to from the narrative).

Sure would love PGM to keep tabs on him. Thanks.

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If PGM won't protect him, how about the Massachusetts project?

Answer 1

I've checked for any mention of him in the early Plymouth records (see the Mass. Archives list) with no luck. He was a quiet man with no court records, and no deeds recorded early.

Comments

The birth of his son Thomas in 1636 is recorded in the Sandwich Town Records, book 1, page 221, but there's no way to determine when that entry was made.

"Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9QY-4HHK?cc=2061550&wc=Q4DM-VZF%3A353349701%2C353349702%2C353349703 : 13 July 2016), Barnstable > Sandwich > Births, marriages, deaths 1651-1691 > image 124 of 143; citing Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston.

[Edit:] Also son John was recorded in Sandwich, 1634:

"Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9QY-4HJ6?cc=2061550&wc=Q4DM-VZF%3A353349701%2C353349702%2C353349703 : 13 July 2016), Barnstable > Sandwich > Births, marriages, deaths 1651-1691 > image 112 of 143; citing Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston.

And then Samuel in 1639:

"Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99QY-4H4S?cc=2061550&wc=Q4DM-VZF%3A353349701%2C353349702%2C353349703 : 13 July 2016), Barnstable > Sandwich > Births, marriages, deaths 1651-1691 > image 129 of 143; citing Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston.

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It's these records of childrens' births pre-1640 which I think are sufficient for PGM to "claim" him.  He also has disputed origins, another reason to keep an eye on him.

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There's also a list of householders in 1641 as given in the Hamlin Genealogy, p. 12, although I've never been able to find what his original source was for it. And I know it's 1641, but it helps lend credence to the arrival in New England by 1640.

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Another source, not easily located, would be Jeremy Bang's 

The town records of Sandwich during the time of Plymouth Colony, 1620-1692 

Answer 2

For what it's worth, he isn't included in Anderson's Directory. Also, the source on the profile suggests that his children were probably not born until the 1640's (ref NEHGR 123:55) although there were some 1630's dates published for them in the Mayflower Descendant (ref 14:167, 170 for two of them).

If there are further sources that support his arrival by 1640, we will add him.

Answer 3

I've got a copy of Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs' The Town Records of Sandwich during the time of Plymouth Colony, 1620-1692, (Leiden American Pilgrim Museum, 2014). Merry Christmas to me!! ;)

The first 3 birth records for Thomas Gibbs' sons are indeed not entered in the early pages of the town records, but inserted into the book among later entries in the 1650s. It isn't fair to say that they were entered later, as the birth entries are in a semi-alphabetical order that was akin to a dog's breakfast. The earliest clerk was apparently trying to organize births alphbetically by first name of the child, but later others entered names at random where there was space. 

It's possible to say that Thomas Gibbs' children's births might have been entered at the time of their births, but there is no way to know due to the lack of any chronological order in this section of the records.

Also of note is that his name does not appear among the land grants that took place by 1641. He does appear in the "1643 list of names" (which appears to be those taking the oath of fidelity, but it is not spelled out). 

So, although he did record his son's births in the town records as occurring in the 1630s, the first record that is dated clearly is in 1643 in the Plymouth Colony Records, Vol. 8:192.