Family:John Ferne and Elizabeth Nedham (1)

Birth Order of the Sons

Lincolnshire Pedigrees^[1] identifies the order of most (but not all) of the sons in this family, with the additional note that Mathew (6th son) was 3rd son in 1633. This suggests that the order given reflects a list of living sons at a particular point in time. The order is:

1. William
2. John
3. George
4. Thomas
5. Edward
6. Mathew
7. none of the sons identified as being the seventh son
8. Henry

Since Edward was born and died before Thomas, it seems likely that there was another Edward born between Thomas and Mathew. The seventh son might have been James, who lived to adulthood. Since Benjamin is not assigned a birth order, he probably died young.

Mathew is identified as the 3rd son in 1633. Taking this at face value (as opposed to an alternate order), and knowing that William was alive in 1633, it suggests that one of John, George or the possible additional Edward was alive in 1633.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Larken, Arthur Staunton, and Arthur Roland Maddison (ed.). Lincolnshire pedigrees. (London: Harleian Society, 1902–1906)
   Volume 1, page 350.