> >The ancestor in question is John Newton. I know he died in VA in 1697. >Most Newton researchers say he was from Hull, Yorkshire, England. This is >because in his will he leaves a house/land belong to his father, Thomas, >("John & his heirs & assigns forever, what land I have at Charton >&Camilsforth in Yorkshire and that house in Hull which was my Fathers"). This seems the best piece of evidence that your particular John Newton was from a family in Hull, Yorks, which owned property, and this should make the task of research very much easier. >Several months ago I was reading a old Virgina history magazine article on >William Fitzhugh, also from Bedforshire, and it said that his friend, John >Newton served on the Council in Bedford in 1648. It is a very common combination of names, so this is probably an entirely different John Newton. (Unless this is Bedford Mass, of course, which is not relevant to Bedford, England.) >John Newton was married four times and >had children by each wife. No names of wives are known except the last one >who was in VA. SO I am interested in finding out wives/children and did my >John Newton actually live here ...well, just anything at all. If there are two John Newtons around in the same place, then you may need to share the wives between them! > >Most researchers of this line try and tie John Newton and his father Thomas >into the Newton line from Barr's Court near Bristol but there is a gap of at >least two generations. This is rash - it is a VERY common name, and there is no reason to try to force a link between such disparate mentions of men called John Newton. > I would love to find if this Newton line actually >lived in Bedfordshire for some time or it John just passed through for a few >years. It is highly unlikely that a man from Bristol would settle long enough in Bedford to become a burgess (a necessary prerequisite to serving on the council of a corporate town.) -- Eve McLaughlin Author of the McLaughlin Guides for family historians Secretary Bucks Genealogical Society