Hi all, It is a great pity for the American Haydens that John was not the son of Gideon. As I have said before DNA is the only way forward, and we are lucky it is available. Ignoring any "Hayden sounding Irish" or similar Dutch or German; the English Haydens [Heydon] who incidentally were originally Normans [they would never have got those properties in those early days without being of Norman blood] The English Heydons originated in Heydon, Essex [now just in Cambridge county] and a branch got established in Norfolk by about 1150, a branch from Norfolk moved to Devon in about 1250 and then the Watford branch in about 1350. Much of the Norfolk branch that stayed in Norfolk had either died out, moved to London or no longer important by 1600. This leaves [in isolation] the Essex branch [my Mother's father] stayed in the north west Essex area until at least 1900 and some may still be there. [None of mine that I can find] Also note the "isolation" of the Devon lot from cousins in Norfolk [a long journey in those days] That part of Essex and Cambridge were very strong Puritan areas, as was Devon; I have looked at all recorded Haydens in these areas, but cant be sure of a John, William or James [there were a few possible John's and a couple of William's] So I feel that of the three Haydens in 1630, we are looking for at least one from Devon [ a few possibilities, who could have been related] Gideon's father Robert had three brothers, Peter, Thomas and John; but I cant find any children from these. This is mostly likely where one of the 1630 Haydens came from. One or both of the other 1630 Haydens, may well have come from Cambridge / Essex and the DNA separating is now 850 years. Not forgetting any "actual" father not being a Hayden, it did happen, maybe not as often as today!!! So DNA has to be pushed especially into England. Regards Tony Burgess, Australia