Person:Edward Gray (39)

Possible Match

There has been speculation that this is the Edward Gray who died in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1681^[3]. However, the age at death reported for Edward Gray of Plymouth is 6 years younger than would be true if he were baptized in April 1623. Since there was a tendency to give age at death as older than the actual age, rather than younger, and the name Edward Gray was by no means uncommon, there is good reason to doubt that they were the same person.

Furthermore, the assignment of the 1623 Stapleford Tawney baptism to Edward Gray of Plymouth, Massachusetts appears to be, at least in part, based on the assumption that Thomas Gray and Edward Gray of Plymouth were brothers, and the finding of 2 brothers named Thomas Gray and Edward Gray in England. However, there is no evidence that Edward Gray who came to Plymouth in about 1643 was the brother of Thomas Gray who came to Plymouth in 1639, in spite of a "family tradition" that they were brothers smuggled on board ship by people wanting to get their property^[3]. This type of "family tradition" undoubtedly arose several generations later, based on some research blended with speculation and romanticism.

1. ↑ Edward Graie, in England. Births and Christenings, 1538-1975. (FamilySearch, Ancestry.com, Findmypast).

   christened 15 Apr 1623 in Stapleford Tawney, Essex, England
   father: John Graie

2. ↑ Church of England. Parish Church of Stapleford-Tawney (Essex). The parish registers of Stapleford Tawney, Essex. (London: F.A. Crisp, 1892)
   13.

   Ano Doni 1620.
   The sixteenth day of July was baptised Thomas Graie sone of John Graie.
   Ano Doni 1623.
   The fifteenth day of Aprill was baptised Edward Graie sone of John Graie.

3. ↑ ^3.0 3.1 Wilbour, Benjamin Franklin, and Little Compton Historical Society [Rhode Island]. Little Compton Families. (Little Compton [Rhode Island]: Little Compton Historical Society, 1967 (College Hill Press : Providence, R.I.))
   1:292.

   "EDWARD¹ GRAY, born 15 April 1623 (?) in England, died in June 1681 in Plymouth, ... It is said that at the time of his death, instead of being 52 years as recorded on this gravestone, he was over 58 for the record of his baptism in Stapleford Tawney, England, is April in 1623. According to the tradition of the family, he and his older brother Thomas were smuggled on board the ship in which they came and were sent to America by people who were intriguing for their property."