Sherry, I believe it is true that a Francis Downing came over here about 1624. His father is a John Downing, who died in 1623. Somewhere I saw a copy of this man's will: it mentions a Francis, Richard, and an Abigail. I suspect after his father died, and the estate was settled, then this Francis took off for America, and then returned to England. My idea only, but I have nothing better to offer; this Francis, of course, cannot be the one said to be born in 1736; unless there was a bad mixup in the dates, and surely someone would have caught that and corrected it by now. But at the time I saw a copy of the early Francis' father's will, I was new to this and didn't copy down the source. Should you come across anything more on this subject, I sure wish you'd let me know it, too. Suehodnett@aol.com