Downing Family Line

Downing

  • Geoffrey Downing (1524-1595)
  • George Downing (1552-1610)
  • Emanuel Downing (1585-1658)
  • John Downing (1640-1694)

    Geoffrey Downing

    b.March 7, 1524 Pynest, Essex, England; parents ukn
    d.Sept. 17, 1595 Ipswich, Suffolk, England
    m.(1)abt.1544 Cicely _______ ; b.1524 Beccles, Suffolk, England
    m.(2)abt.1551 Elizabeth Wingfield
    m.(3)abt.1556 Mary Browne

    CHILDREN included:

    1. John Downing b.abt.1546 d.Oct. 3, 1610
    2. Barnaby Downing b.abt.1548
    3. Margaret Downing b.abt.1550
    4. George Downing b.1552
    5. William Downing b.abt.1554

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    George Downing

    b.1552 St. Nicholas, Ipswich, Suffolk, England; s/o Geoffrey Downing and Elizabeth Wingfield
    d.Oct. 3, 1610 Beccles, Suffolk, England
    m.(1)1576 Ipswich, Suffolk, England; Dorcas Blois
    b.1554 Gundesberg, Suffolk, England; d/o William and Cecily (Wingfield) Bloise
    d.bef.1611 (prob. bef.1578)
    m.(2)bef.1578 Ipswich, Suffolk, England; Miss Bellamy
    b.abt.1560, parent ukn
    bur.Dec. 21, 1610

    CHILDREN of George and Dorcas included:

    1. Susan Downing b.bef.1578 chr.Jun. 3, 1578 d.1635

    CHILDREN of George and ______ (Bellamy) included:

    1. Abigail Downing b.1580
    2. Nahomie Downing b.abt.1583
    3. Joseph Downing b.1583 d.Aug. 1656 Salem, MA
    4. Emanuel Downing b.Aug. 12, 1585
    5. Nathaniel Downing b.Oct. 8, 1587 d.May 14, 1616
    6. James Downing b.1589/90
    7. Susanna Downing b.abt.1593 chr. Jan. 1, 1593
    8. Benjamin Downing b.abt.1593 chr. Jan. 1, 1593
    9. Joshua Downing b.1593 d.March 26, 1629
    10. Anne Downing b.1595 chr.May 12, 1595
    11. John Downing b.1595/96
    12. Elnathan Downing b.abt.1597 d.1609
    13. Dorcas Downing b.abt.1600
    14. George Downing b.1604
    15. Elizabeth Downing b.1606

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    Emanuel Downing

    b.Aug. 12, 1585 St. Lawrence, Ipswich, Suffolk, England; s/o George Downing and ukn Bellamy
    d.July 26, 1658 Salem, MA
    m.(1)June 7, 1614 Norwich, MA Ann Ware
    b.1592 Dublin, Ireland d/o James and Mary (Briden) Ware
    bur.Sept. 14, 1621
    m.(2)April 10, 1622 Lucy Winthrop
    b.Jan. 27, 1600 St. Peters, London, England d/o Adam and Anne (Browne) Winthrop

    CHILDREN of Emanuel and Ann included (all b. England):

    1. George Downing b.abt.1620
    2. Susan Downing b.1622 d.June 16, 1647 Boston, MA
    3. Mary Downing b.1618/20 d.June 16, 1647 Boston, MA
    4. James Downing b.1611 d.y.
    5. Abigail Downing b.1616 d.Nov. 8, 1694 Hadley, Hampshire, MA
    6. James Downing b.1616
    7. Emmanuel Downing b.1618

    CHILDREN of Emanuel and Lucy included:

    1. Lucy Downing b.ca.1620 d.Feb. 5, 1698 Ipswich, MA
    2. George Downing b.1623/25 d.July 7, 1684 Gamlingay, Cambs, England
    3. Joshua Downing b.1627
    4. Nicholas Downing b.1627 d.1698
    5. Robert Downing b.1629
    6. Adam Downing b.1631
    7. Ann Downing b.Apr. 12, 1633 d.Apr. 19, 1713 MA
    8. Martha Downing b.1636
    9. Dorcas Downing b.abt.1639 d.y.
    10. Henry Downing b.1640 d.Sept. 25, 1698 MA
    11. Dorcas Downing b.abt.1641
    12. John Downing b.March 1640 d.Apr. 29, 1694 Salem, MA

    FROM History of York by Banks, page 179:...Emanuel Downing, a wealthy lawyer of London, brother-in-law of Winthrop, and the "friend at Court" of the Massachusetts Colony...

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    John Downing

    b.March 1640 Salem, MA; s/o Emanuel Downing and Lucy Winthrop
    d.Apr. 29, 1694 Salem, MA
    m.(1)Nov. 2, 1669 Ipswich, MA; Mehitable Braybrooke
    m.(2)July 20, 1675 Hartford, CT; Mary Bunce

      CHILDREN included:
    1. Charles b.bef.1670 d.bef.Feb.7, 1690/1
    2. Sarah Downing b.1673 Ipswich, MA d.May 21, 1724 Ipswich, MA m.Dec. 22, 1692 in Ipswich, MA, Thomas Lufkin
    3. John b.Oct. 31, 1675 Ipswich, m.Boston Sept. 27, 1698 Hannah Ridgaway
    4. Margaret b.Feb. 7, 1677 apparently d.y.
    5. Nathaniel b.ca.1682 m.Aug. 10, 1704 Mrs. Margaret Pynchon d/o John and Margaret (Hubbard) Pynchon
    6. Richard b.Dec. 23, 1683 apparently d.y.

    NOTES: from an 1997 email from rleutner@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu / robert-leutner@uiowa.edu --...Carol F. Karlsen, The Devil in the Sahpe of a Woman (1987), pages 95-98, treats Salem accused witches Joan PENNEY/PINNEY, who turns out to the remarried Joan BRABROOK, wife of Mehitabel's father Richard, and Mehitabel (BRABROOK) DOWNING, both either acquitted or or freed after the panic faded. Karlsen says (knew?) nothing of the TAG article [TAG 36, pages 68-73 by Ruth Easterbrook Thomas and Ross Boothe Jr. re Downing, etc.] and doesn't list the DOWNING children, but shows that Mehitabel was the illegitimate daughter (b.1653) of Richard BRABROOK by a servant girl, Alice ELLIS, but brought up as their own by Richard and wife Joan. She also appears to not know of John BOWNING's death after his will date but before its probate (19 Jul 1694), nor that he wrote his will (and likely died) away from New England, on the Island of Nevis. [His death ca. 1690-91 would fit nicely with the witchcraft accusations of 1692.] But she does describe John & Mehitable in the 1670's and 1680's as in court several times for excessive drinking and neglect of their children. How that fits with John as son the estimable Emanuel and as a man with interests in the West Indies is hard to say, but Emanuel had another son James DOWNING who appears to have been a hopeless, alcoholic ne're-do-well, so perhaps it fits after all. It might also fit with John DOWNING at 29 marrying the 16-year old Mehitabel BRABROOK, who was something of a problem child, i.e., by some testimony a liar, a thief, and an "unchaste creature."

    From Directory of Ancestral Heads of New England Families 1620-1700 by Holmes: JOHN was at Charlestown, Mass., before 1659.

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    This page last updated on March 5, 2007

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