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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 1995-12 > 0817827600


From: Bill Marshall <>
Subject: Re: Bogus Gateway Ancestors
Date: Fri, 1 Dec 1995 09:20:00 EST


: By way of a dry run, lets hear some examples people are familiar with.
: I'm not suggesting anybody sit up and type in the entire contents of
: Browning's Americans of Royal Descent or anything, but how about examples
: off the tops of your heads?

Needed here are really two-part examples: the faulty claim and the disproof.

I have three cases, but only one suitably disproven.
The other two are at best flakey, but the proof/disproof is still lacking.

(1) Edmund RICE, early settler of Sudbury, MA, d May 3 1663 Marlborough MA

there was a booklet published by Charles Elmer Rice in 1911, entitled
The Name of RICE, an Historical Sketch of Deacon Edmund Rice, the Pilgrim,
published in Alliance OH by Williams Printing Co. He made many claims
about royal ancestors of Edmund RICE, through Sir Griffith Rice and
Sir Rhys Ap Thomas. He gives no references other than pointing to
Burke's Peerage and Lodge's Peerage, which do not confirm.

An article in TAG (The American Genealogist) by Donald Lines Jacobus,
Pre-American Ancestry of Edmund Rice of Sudbury, MA, TAG vol 11 no 1,
July 1934, examines each statement made by Charles Elmer Rice and
disproves them all.

Two articles in TAG by Mary Lovering Holman, first in January 1934 and
second in April 1939, give some "real" ancestry information, with
suitable citations to make it believable.

LDS Ancestral File is somewhat a mixup of both, or perhaps it was
someone's attempt to reconcile them both into a single pedigree.

(2) Elizabeth BREWSTER, wife of Thomas EMERSON, both of whom immigrated
in 1635 on the Elizabeth Ann to Ipswich, MA

Many references identify Elizabeth BREWSTER as a daughter of William BREWSTER,
the famous Elder of the Pilgrims. While there seems little doubt that Thomas
EMERSON did indeed marry Elizabeth BREWSTER, parentage of Elizabeth is
questionable. The claims all seem to be based on a book by Peter Henry Emerson
in 1898, _The English Emersons - A Genealogical Historical Sketch of the
family from the earliest times to the end of the Seventeenth Century_ (on
LDS Film#0990427), who mentions this only as a possibility. Ancestral File
goes a step further and says Elizabeth came on Mayflower. In a later work,
Peter Henry Emerson, _Penultimate Notes on the Emerson alias Emberson
Family of Counties Herts and Essex, and Massachusetts Bay Colony_, published
1925, he avoids any discussion of parents of wives of Emerson ancestors.

If anyone has any proof one way or another of the identity of Elizabeth
BREWSTER, I would be very interested.

(2b) Mary WENTWORTH, wife of William BREWSTER

The second connection from the descendants of Thomas EMERSON to royalty
depends on the identity of the wife of William BREWSTER. I think this
controversy is well known, and is probably even accepted now as fact.
Mary WENTWORTH has a clear royalty connection.

(3) Joseph LOOMIS, immigrated 1638 on Susan&Ellen to Windsor CT

Elisha Loomis traces this immigrant back several generations to John LUMMYS,
who died Dec 1567 in Thaxted, Essex Co, England. The evidence is given
in her book _Descendants of Joseph Loomis in America and his Antecenents in
the Old World_, published originally in 1835, revised and reprinted in 1908.
Available as LDS Film#0908720#2 and also Univ Microfilm #G225. Was John
LUMMYS the son of Thomas LUMMYS & ___ THAXTED, and was Thomas LUMMYS the
son of Thomas de LUMLEY who is said to have married Elizabeth PLANTAGENET
(CP VIII p274)? The only source I have to the last two generations is
the self-published work of Donald Notley, available as LDS Film#1513337#8.
Several other published souces seem to be based on Donald Notley's work.

I am also interested in any proof one way or another on this line.

Bill Marshall

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