Was John Thrower who d. 1611 the father of John Thrower, or of John's wife Margaret?

Question

The John Thrower of Great Yarmouth who wrote his will 11 Jan 1610/11 names five daughters, no sons, and leaves bequests to "John Thrower my sonne in law and Margaret his wife my daughter".

Examining a contemporaneous copy of the will at Ancestry ($, sorry, FamilySearch record isn't viewable online), that is indeed what it says: Margaret his wife my daughter.

Felton in 1935 interpreted this to mean that Margaret who married John Thrower was herself a Thrower and daughter of this elder John Thrower, which seems right to me. I know "son in law" can have multiple meanings, but I can't think of any other way to read "his wife my daughter" — it seems unambiguous.

Currently John Thrower the elder is listed as the father, rather than the father-in-law, of John Thrower the younger, and John's wife Margaret is listed as LNAB Unknown.

Should we update Margaret's LNAB and switch these parents?

Answer 1

Here are some more Throwers in Great Yarmouth, from Common Pleas and Norfolk Archives. I don't know how they might be related.

1510 Thrower, John, of Great Yarmouth, butcher (Common Pleas)
http://aalt.law.uh.edu/Indices/CP40Indices/CP40no990Act.htm

1514 Will of Thrower, Stephen, marener, of Moch Yarmouth
https://nrocatalogue.norfolk.gov.uk/thrower-stephen-marener-of-moch-yarmouth

1535 Thrower, Henry, of Great Yarmouth, mercer (Common Pleas)
http://aalt.law.uh.edu/Indices/CP40Indices/CP40no1084Def.htm

1543 Will of Thrower, Henry, of Great Yarmouth
https://nrocatalogue.norfolk.gov.uk/thrower-henry-of-great-yarmouth

1593 Tower alias Thrower, John, of Great Yarmouth, felt maker (Common Pleas)
https://waalt.uh.edu/index.php/IDXCP40no1508

Here is another possibility. When a man married an heiress, he often took a combination of their names, in order to preserve her surname. This had different forms: Smith alias Jones (16th century) or Smith-Jones (18th century). In practice, one or other of the two surnames might get dropped. So John Tower alias Thrower could be John Thrower's son-in-law (by our definition).
 

Answer 2

Images of the will are available free via the National Archives: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D915084

The key phrase here is 'sonne in lawe' which unambigously shows that the younger John Throwar was not the biological son of the elder one. The word 'daughter' was often used for a daughter-in-law as well as for biological daughters, so if we had the phrase 'his wife my daughter' alone without qualifiers it would not be as specific. However, the pattern through the whole will is that he names 'X my son-in-law and Y his wife my (late) daughter'. With that I think it cannot be doubted that Margaret was his daughter and John Throwar his son-in-law.