Humphrey Gilbert (1615)

Born 1615 in Devon, England

Ancestors

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Biography

This profile is part of the Gilbert Name Study.

Humphrey was his father's eldest son and was aged 5 in 1620 according to the Visitation of that year signed by his father.^[1] His father Raley makes detailed bequests to his other 4 younger sons and 2 daughters in his 1625 Will^[2] but the only mention of Humphrey is in a puzzling sentence at the end which reads: "I give and bequeath to my sonne Humphrye Gilberts boye ?Robbe ?Lynn ?who came from Plymouth with mee six pounds thirteen shillings four pence of lawful money of England to be payed or disposed to and for the benefit of my said sonnes boy." Humphrey would only have been about 10 when this Will was written so the "boye" could not have been his son.

Research Notes

He might be the Humphrey Gilbert, mariner, who made a will dated 16 March 1639 while on his deathbed aboard the ship the Fortune. He leaves all his goods on the ship, and all his goods both by sea and land to the ship's bosun Richard Williams in payment of debts owing.^[3]

This Humphrey might be the Humphrey Gilbert who died in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts Bay in 1657 as many trees assume but without proof. More recently (2023) from research in the Gilbert Y DNA Project, it seems possible that the Massachusetts Humphrey could be the Humphrey Gilbert son of Thomas Gilbert baptised in Ashby Magna in Leicestershire in Nov 1614.

Sources

1. ↑ The visitation of the county of Devon in the year 1620 page 128
2. ↑ Will of Raley Gilbert of Greenway, Devon held by The National Archives, Kew, Ref PROB 11/167/170 (image on Ancestry.co.uk transcribed as Rayley)
3. ↑ Will of Humphery Gilbert, Mariner; Reference: PROB 11/183/724; Date: 22 August 1640; The National Archives, Kew