Having looked at this will, I could see where it's possible that Thomas who d 1623 could be father of Salem, MA immigrant Thomas. Thomas was the youngest son; not much for him to stick around for.
What disturbs me some is the reference at the end to his friend Thomas Gardiner, who with John Miller and Henry Durnford are appointed overseers. Who's this second Thomas?
That said, it's the following year that a Thomas Gardiner shows up in Massachusetts. So the timing is interesting. In another g2g thread about this man, I've asked John, a Gardiner researcher who has been living in the Sherborne records, to check to see if the Thomas and Margaret married there, and who start baptizing children there, disappear from the records around 1623/4.
The Sherborne marriage and baptism records are on ancestry.com (international version for those of us in the US)-- Helen Ford found some of the same records that John did. Would be interesting to see if we can find records for those named in Thomas' will.
From a review of all three wills you sent me, it SUGGESTS a POSSIBLE family looking like this:
- John Gardiner m. Margaret ______; he died in 1570 (date of will anyway); she survived him. Children from his will:
- John Gardiner
- Thomas Gardiner; possibly he who m. Agnes _____; if so, he left will in 1623; she left will in 1634; children mentioned in Thomas' will:
- Robert - only child mentioned in mother’s 1634 will
- John
- Thomas; possibly the PGM immigrant who m. 1617 in Sherborne Margaret Frier; baptized a couple of sons; then emigrated 1624 to Massachusetts, settling initially at Cape Ann then Salem, Massachusetts; m2 Damaris ____.
- Margaret m. ____ Edson?
- Katherine m. Dollyer?
- Edith Gardiner
- ?din (daughter) Gardiner
