Mary Lou wrote: > > Hello Jim Downing of Sarasota, Fl., > > How delightful that you have found a birthdate and place for John > as none was given. Would you mind sharing your source? > > Do you happen to know the maiden name of Eli Downing's (son of Daniel) > wife Mercy. They were married before coming to Ohio. Her grave stone gives > her bd. as 5 Mar 1790 and the census says PA. I have wondered if it could > be Cary/Carey as my grandfather's name was Wilson Cary Cook. There were > several marriages between the Downings and Careys in Luzerne Co. > Mary Lou Cole mlc@tlexpress.com To Mary Lou Cole from Jim Downing, Eli Downing (son of your Daniel) m. Mercy Arnold 18 Jan 1809 in Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne Co., PA. Your date of birth for her is correct. Three Cary/Carey's married children of Reuben Downing (b. 19 Feb. 1765 in Canterbury, Windham Co., CT.) who was a son of your Daniel Downing. Bateman Downing's second wife was Sarah Cary/Carey, his brother Martin was married to Laura Cary/Carey, and one of their sisters (Ann) was married to George Cary/Carey. This may be where your grandfather acquired his middle name of Cary. Most of the above information I got from our "cousin" Linda June Moss. You can contact her for sources. I believe she had quite a bit of it passed down through family records, Bibles, etc. She has two connections to our John Downing and Mary Bunce Meekins. One through her father and the other through her mother. We have about a dozen DFHSA members in this line. Although, Linda and I seem to be the only ones actively searching and sharing information. We have, however, received a nice packet of info. from a DFHSA "cousin" in Idaho. The source for John's birthdate is a deduction based upon Waldo Spraque's "Families of Braintree", Sylvester Judd's "History of Hadley", and Clarence Torrey's "New England Marriages prior to 1700". Judd maintained that John was from Braintree and Spraque's work shows a John Downam/Downham/Downing of Braintree (m. Dorothy). The last name varies depending upon who's records you are looking at, as I found out at the NEHGS in Boston. Spraque also says that he had a brother named Dermon/Dorman/Deerman (m. Elizabeth). Both of these men are also in Torrey's work. According to Spraque, they testified in a court case (#1073) in 1671 that "they had worked at a mill in Braintree 25 or 26 years ago". This would place them in Braintree around 1645/46. In that court case John gave his age as about 50 and in an earlier case (# 188) in 1653 he stated his age as 33. This is how I arrived at his birthdate as bc.1621. Both men had son's named John. However John (bc. 1621) also had a son named Benjamin. On 8 Feb. 1678 a John and Benjamin Downing took the oath of allegiance at Hatfield, MA. John's son John was born 7 Mar 1652 (an earlier child was also named John, but died nine days after his birth in 1644). Dermon/ Dorman/Deerman's son John was born 15 Feb 1647. On the basis that it is more likely that John (b. 1652) was with his brother and not his cousin at Hatfield, I am ASSUMING that John Downing who married Mary Bunce Meekins on 20 July 1676 in Hatfield, MA is the son of John Downing (bc. 1621 in either England or Ireland) of Braintree, MA. But, I wouldn't bet the farm on it. :-) I would like to send you copies of this info., as a second opinion is always an asset in genealogy. I also have a couple of descendant outlines that should interest you and I have found out that they don't travel well as e-mail. If you send me your address I'll get them right out to you via snail mail. Apologizing for the length of this, Jim Downing Sarasota, FL