Proposal to address the unproven father of Edward Gilman-14 (~1525-1573)

Question

Currently Edward Gilman-14 has father Edward Gilman-15 born in Caston, Norfolk, England and mother Unknown (Unknown) Gilman attached. We have found no evidence for the father Edward Gilman -15 and propose to change his name to Unknown Gilman with a birth location of England.

Members of the England and PGM Projects have been working on this Gilman family and its links to the Lincoln family (ancestors of Abraham Lincoln).

The Caston parish records begin in 1538 (the year that English parish registers were introduced). Edward Gilman-14 has an estimated birth date of 1525, so the disputed Father Edward would not have had a parish register baptism or marriage entry in any parish. We have not found a burial entry for Edward the Father in the Caston register.(Norfolk Record Office Archive reference PD 158/1)

The earliest entry is the burial of “Margery Gyllman of Caston”, buried Caston, 4 October 1545 {{Ancestry Sharing|27328709|19e648}}

The next two Gilman burials are in 1592 and 1593 (Laurence and Nathaniel respectively, sons of Laurence Gilman, himself a son of Edward Gilman-14)

Edward Gyllman-14 married Rose Rysse on 21 June 1550 at Caston. The entry does not note their parish of residence. They had the first of their 10 children baptised in Caston in December 1550. The oldest son John (eldest from his precedence in Wills) does not have a baptism entry at Caston. 

Wills for Gilman and variant spellings for Caston and the surrounding parishes: the earliest Caston will catalogued by the Norfolk Record office is that of Edward Gillman, 1573 (Gilman-14) 

The next Gilman of Caston will identified is dated 1629, for Lawrence Gilman, the son of Edward and Rose.  

We have not found a will for an Edward Gilman from any of the parishes within 20 miles of Caston in the online catalogue of the Norfolk Record Office in the right time frame.

In the adjoining parish of Carbrooke, one Edward Gilman son of Sampsone Gilman was buried on 26 June 1547. Sampson Gylman himself was buried at Shipdham, Norfolk, 07 March 1558/9.

If anyone has compelling evidence that Edward Gilman-14’s father was named Edward, please would you enter this as an answer below.

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Comments

Couldn't find any entries in the WAALT legal records database for any Edward or Edmund across all England (including various alternate spellings of the last name).  Nothing in the Visitations of Norfolk other than a Margerie Curson who married an unknown Gilman of Norwich.  No IPM entries at British History Online and the only BHO entries at all were for the 1600s and had to do with either a sailor or a man on the hearth tax list for Stepney in 1666 who also apparently failed to pay taxes on the profits from his fishing at Pitsea island creek, quite the scoundrel.  But not our man of Norfolk.

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Good work and helpful.  Thank you, Brad.

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Thanks for looking Brad

Answer 1

There has been no evidence found for Edward's father (name, dates or locations), and changing him to an Unknown Gilman (with reasons) seems the best course of action in this case. Simply detaching the unproven parents would leave the profiles floating about as trash profiles, and liable to attempts to reattach them.