Person:George Downing (7)

“George(B) Downing (‘’George’’(C)) was born probably in Beccles, co. Suffolk, say 1552. He was buried in the parish of St. Lawrence, Ipswich, Suffolk, in 1610/1 (day and month blank, but after 17 January, the date of his will, and before 24 March, the end of the calendar year). His wife had been buried, as “Wife of George Downing,” in the same parish on 21 December 1610.

Beccles, the home of George’s parents, is about forty miles northeast of Ipswich, where George settled. Beccles is on the north border of Suffolk, over the River Waveney from Norwich. The city of Norwich, in Norfolk, the traditionally claimed place of origin of this Downing family, is about fifteen miles northwest of Beccles.

Evidence is inconclusive regarding George’s wife’s name. On the Downing family chart in Suffolk Manorial Families, her surname is given as ‘’Bellamy’’, with no given name included. Many Bellamy wills have been read, with nothing helpful about her discovered. The wills revealed, however, that son Joseph’s wife’s sister married a Bellamy.

George appears to be the only son of his father who attended Cambridge University. His record from the alumni records states: 'Matriculated pensioner [one who pays his own way] from Queens’, Michaelmas 1569. Son of George, of Beccles, Suffolk. Bachelor of Arts 1573-4; Master of Arts from Corpus Christi, 1577. Master of Ipswich Grammar School, 1589-1610. Will proved, 1610. Father of Emmanuel (1602) and perhaps of Joseph (1610.' Indeed he was father of both Emanuel and Joseph.”^[1]

[Edwards.GED]

George Downing entered Queen's College, Cambridge, 1569; B.A. 1573-74; M. A. 1577. Master of the Grammer School, Ipswich, 1589-1610. He left virtually all of his estate, including a house of his own, and the lease of the house he lived in (called "The White House", owned by William Hill of London, a merchant), to his three daughters: Susan, Nahomie, and Abigail, all unmarried, and made them executrixes. He gave his books "at home and at Cambridge" to Joseph Downing [his son]. His sons had been well educated and apparently well provided for. [1000 Years of Hubbard History, 866 to 1895; Harlan Page Hubbard, New York, 1895; Edward Warren]

Will: Dated 17 Jan 1610 - 1611 at Suffolk, England. Probated: 03 Oct 1611 at Suffolk, England.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5} Hyde, Myrtle Stevens, “A Study of the Downing Family in England, with Connections in Early New England”, v. 74 [Jul-Oct 1999] : 161-174, 299-308., in The American Genealogist (TAG). (Donald Lines Jacobus, et.al.)
   (at 74:166-168).

   GEORGE(B) DOWNING, b. say 1552; named as under 25 in his father's 1561 will. m. ----- (BELLAMY?).