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Early in my search for my family origins, I stumbled across a claim that the "Gambrel" name was French. That it was originally pronounced "Gahmbray". That the Gambrels were French Huguenots that fled religious persecution in the 1580s, and went to protestant England. The claim further went on to indicate that at some point in one of the many skirmishes of the English Civil War, one or more Gambrel men found themselves on the wrong side of the victors. They were then "wanted" by the victors. They found it expedient to flee to Scotland.
As I read further, I found that the author was referring to the Gambrel clan that I refer to as the Central Illinois Gambrels. This would be the family of Thompson Prettyman Gambrel, whose grandparents were William Gambrel and Winifred Elkins, and who are associated with Laurens County SC. Years later, Muriel Gambrel, who has been researching that branch of the family, sent me a picture of a Gambrel family crest, which shows a flag with St Andrew's cross. This would tend to indicate that there were Scottish connections. She indicated that the crest was from some unknown Gambrel family, not necessarily hers. But it lends credence to the claim that one of the Gambrel families came from Scotland, or at least spent some time there.
I have not discovered how my Central Indiana Gambrels are related to the Central Illinois Gambrels, but deep down I feel that they are related in some manner.
(The designation "Central Indiana Gambrels" is a slight misnomer. There were probably six brothers, and only three moved into Indiana; of which one, Travis, remained in Eastern Indiana, one, Hugh, settled in Hancock County near Greenfield, and the other, Edward, ended up in Montgomery County near Crawfordsville. Two of the others, John and William, remained in Hamilton County Ohio, and the sixth possibly went to Alabama.)
John had a daughter, who, in December of 1885, wrote her own granddaughter a letter revealing her knowledge of her grandparents. Harriet Gambrel Jackson wrote that her grandfather, James Gambrel, was a Scotchman by birth, and emigrated to Louden County Virginia. This tends to reinforce the claims of a Scottish sojourn.
One of the early wills of Currituck County NC, is that of Adam Gambel. In his will, Adam leaves his brother, James Gambel of Glasgow, a significant portion of his estate. I have to ask the question "Is James Gambel of Glasgow related to the James Gambrel who immigrated to Loundoun County?" If he is, he would be two generations removed from the immigrant, possibly a grandfather. Apparently Adam was a young merchant who died in North Carolina in 1690. He apparently was a young single man. It is not clear whether he was a settler of North Carolina, or merely on an extended business trip.
It should be noted that by 1690, William "The Planter" Gambril was already acquiring land along the shores of Chesapeake Bay in the colony of Maryland, having possibly come from Kent, England. In her letter, Harriet Gambrel Jackson also wrote that her grandmother was "Mary" Milstead who was from Maryland. I am quite certain that the name "Mary" is in error, and that her correct name was Anne Milstead. The Milsteads are quite well documented in Charles County Maryland in the early 1700s. The Milsteads also seem to be neighbors (at least in the same county) with some of the Gambril descendants of William the Planter. Another family in the same vicinity is comprised of the descendants of Domingo A'Gambra, who quite probably came from Spain in the 1680s. His name gets shortened to Gambra, and his son or grandson is sometimes confused with the English Gambrils. There are some researchers who believe that Augustine Gambrill, whose mother was Ann Mariott, was the son of Ricardo Gambra, whose name became aglicized to Richard Gambrill. I do not know if this is true or not. It is certainly plausible. I would like to know the religious affiliations of different familes. I would guess that Catholics and Protestants did not mix. Were the Gambras Catholic? What about the Marriotts? I have uncovered one claim that Ricardo Gambra's widow married a Milstead. It has been documented that Edward Milstead, Anne's grandfather, was a vestryman in the Anglican Church.
It makes me wonder about the early claim, I read, that said the name was originally pronounced "Gahmbray". (Unfortunately, I did not document that claim, because it was not my family.)
I have found Mormon records showing that Domingo Gambra was Christened in San Estaban's Parrish, in Roncal, Navarra, Spain. A quick look at Spanish history reveals that Navarra was one of the last kingdoms to join unified Spain. Navarre was a separate kingdom that straddled the Pyrenees. French Navarre was a vassal kingdom of France in the mid 1500s. The queen of Navarre, Queen Jeanne III, was one of the first rulers to embrace Protestantism. Navarre soon became a safe haven for the new movement. Her son, Henry, married the daughter of King Henry II of France and Catherine Di Medici, and would himself become King Henry IV of France. At about the same time as the wedding, his mother died. Either because of her death, or perhaps because of the wedding, many Huguenots were gathered together in one place. Catherine Di Medici went on a rampage and instigated the St Bartholomew's Day massacre, killing hundreds of Huguenots. This persecution spread rapidly to outlying regions, and thousands were killed. Could it be possible that some of the Gambra clan, had already come across the Pyrenees and settled in French Navarre, and had embraced the new Protestant Faith. With the massacre taking place in France, and remnants of the Spanish Inquisition on the other side of the Pyrenees, could a man by the name of Gambray, have fled to England where Elizabeth I was well established as a Protestant defender. Could it be that the Englishman William "the Planter" Gambril of Maryland was a distant cousin (3rd or 4th) to Domingo A'Gambra, a Spaniard who also settled in Maryland at the same time? And finally, might both have still another cousin who ventured from Scotland to North Carolina to sell a "boatload of merchandise", and ended up dying before he could accomplish his plans?
March 2020
Having taken DNA tests from both FamilyTreeDNA and Ancestry, I have learned that I have no Iberian origins. So, the Navarre scenario is not likely.
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