Clarence -- If I may, I should like to formulate a consolidated response to your several queries regarding Anthony Colby's parentage. As I see it, there are two separate issues here: 1) How conclusive is the evidence against the assertion that the immigrant Anthony Colby was the son of Thomas Colby and Beatrice Felton of Beccles in Suffolk? 2) What evidence can be marshalled in support of the assertion that the immigrant Anthony Colby was the son of Thomas Colby and Anne Jackson of Horbling in Lincolnshire? From my perspective, the answer to the first item must be that the evidence is substantial. As Ron indicated in a recent posting, a number of respected genealogists have called into question the reliability of James Colby's original identification of Anthony with the Beccles family. One of the most cogent rebuttals is to be found in the 1975 Nelson article, which Ron posted to the list in its entirety. I find Nelson's arguments to be compelling. His reasoning can be boiled down to two main points: A) Based upon the 1588 will of Thomas Colby of Beccles (and other related documents cited in the article), Thomas's fifth child Anthony would have been approximately 56 years old at the time of his arrival in Massachusetts. This would require him to have begotten 8 children over the next 20 years, and to have engaged in strenuous physical labor up to the time of his death at age 87. Such a scenario is highly unlikely. B) The 1643 will of Anthony's brother Phillip, which provides for an annuity to be paid to Anthony twice a year, strongly suggests that Anthony Colby of Beccles was still in England 13 years after the immigrant Anthony Colby arrived in Massachusetts. Moreover (and this is the real clincher), this same will makes a bequest to Anthony's adult son Thomas -- seven years before the birth of Thomas Colby, son of the immigrant Anthony Colby! In light of the above, the likelihood seems to me remote that Anthony Colby, son of Thomas Colby of Beccles, was the individual who came to America with the Winthrop fleet in 1630. So, then, who was Anthony Colby the immigrant, and who were his parents? As Nelson points out, there were a number of men by that name living in England in the first quarter of the 17th century. Is there conclusive evidence that the Anthony Colby who was christened in 1605 at Horbling in Lincolnshire is the right man? The answer to this question is that while no absolute proof exists, circumstantial evidence to this effect is persuasive. John Brooks Threlfall has demonstrated that all other contemporary Anthony Colbys can be eliminated from consideration for one reason or another, leaving us to assess whether Anthony Colby of Horbling is a logical candidate. Consider the following: I) He is the right age -- he would have been approximately 24 at the time of his arrival in Massachusetts. II) Thomas Colby's 1625 will mentions his five living sons. Three of them (William, Richard, and Robert) are mentioned in subsequent source documents as being in residence at Horbling after 1630, but there is no record of Anthony or his brother Matthew in England after 1625. III) Early records suggest an association between the immigrant Anthony Colby and Simon Bradstreet, who eventually became governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony. The two men were nearly the same age, and it is of no little significance that Bradstreet (who also arrived in America in 1630) was a Horbling native. Winthrop's original company also included a number of others from villages near Horbling. John Brooks Threlfall has compiled a brief documented history of the ancestry of Anthony Colby of Horbling, taking both his paternal and maternal lines back several more generations. I hope this posting provides answers to some of your questions. While absolute certainty will probably remain beyond our reach, the foregoing represents a summary of the most current research on the subject. Regards, Guy I. Colby IV Irving, TX