I have been looking at the Browning (Browninge, Brounyng) family of Coaley, Gloucestershire and would like to propose a significant restructure because I believe there are a couple of generations missing.
The current wikitree descent has:
William Browning of Melbury-Stampford (1400-1472), MP for Dorset intermittently 1439-1456 - dates well sourced to "History of Parliament"
son: John Browning of Coaley (1440-1523) m Margaret Harding - no dates in sources
son: Richard Browning of Coaley (1468-1497) m Elizabeth Parsons - no dates in sources
son: John Browning of Coaley (1493-) m Christina Webb - no dates in sources
(note currently subject to a pending merge with Browning-328 - please ignore for this discussion)
son: John Browning of Coaley (1519-1573) m 1541 Joan Tovey - burial date from FamilySearch but otherwise no dates in sources
son: John Browning (1554-1646) m. Mary Codrington - unsourced; died in York, Virginia
son: Captain John Browning (1588-1635) m. Elizabeth Dameron - born in Suffolk, England; emigrated to Virginia 1621; died York, Virginia Genealogy of the Brownings in America from 1621 to 1908 gives a thorough account of his descendants but nothing of his ancestors.
Overall, this means that all the vital dates in the period 1400 to 1588 - some 188 years or 6 generations - are unsourced.
The main sources for the descent shown above are the Abstracts of records and manuscripts respecting the county of Gloucester ("Abstracts") by TD Fosbrook, printed 1807, and the visitation of the county of Gloucester, taken in the year 1623 ("Visitation") published 1885. I'm assuming that Fosbrook included the visitation in his sources for Abstracts but I have confirmed this. No dates are given in either source.
Visitation has the following descent (highlighting differences to WikiTree in red)
William Browning - no dates
sons: William Browning & John Browning a clerk - no dates - inserted generation
son of William: John Browning m. Margaret Harding - no dates
son: Richard Browning m. Elizabeth Parsons - no dates
son: John Browning m. Christian Webb
children: John Browning m. Joane Tovey; Mary m. John Smyth 1609.
son of John: John Browning
Visitation quotes extracts from the parish registers, including the marriage of Mary & John Smith. This gives a discrepancy in dates of about 80 years compared to the WikiTree version - partly accounted for by the inserted generation.
Abstracts has the following descent (also highlighting differences to WikiTree in red)
William Browning - no dates
son: John Browning - no dates - inserted generation
sons: William Browning & John Browning a clerk - no dates - inserted generation
son of William: John Browning m. Margaret Harding - no dates
son: Richard Browning m. Elizabeth Parsons - no dates
son: John Browning m. Christian Webb
children: John Browning m. Joane Tovey; Mary m. John Smyth 1609.
son of John: John Browning m. Mary Codrington
son: John m. Elizabeth Bridges
daughter & heir: Elizabeth m. John Dowell.
This gives two extra generations which allows us to account for the 80 missing years.
The single extra generation in Visitation is contradicted by History of Parliament (see [[Browning-4257]]) which states that William Browning MP did indeed have a son called William but he died without heirs. This makes the Abstracts version with two additional generations more likely.
Other sources
There are some other primary sources that support the Vistation timelines over that of the current WikiTree:
1. The parish registers shows a marriage of John Browning and Joane Tovey in 1623 in Olveston (which Abstracts identifies as the home of her father)
2. An Inquisition Post Mortem was taken in 1628 for John Browning of Coaley, who had died 7 August 1628; it names his widow Christiana; it recited an indenture dated 6 June 1623 between John Browninge & Christiana his wife and John Tovy of Olveston, making reference to the marriage of John Browning's son to John Tovy's daughter Joan.
Actions:
1. The assertion that Capt John Browning who emigrated to Virginia in 1621 was the son of John & Mary Codrington seems to conflict with Abstracts. Therefore should this link be removed?
2. It seems consistent that the marriage between Joan Tovey and John Browning was in 1623 rather than 1541. Therefore should this date be changed?
3. Given the missing 80 years, it seems consistent that there are two generations missing as per the Abstracts descent. Should these two generations be added in?
4. There are no sources given for the dates for John & Margaret Harding, Richard & Elizabeth Parsons, John & Christian Webb, John & Joane Tovey, Mary & John Smyth or John & Mary Codrington. Therefore should these dates be removed and approximate dates added consistent with the sourced start and ends?
5. Finally it's clear on these new dates that [[Smythe-266]] is not the son of John Smith & Mary Browning so should this be removed?
6. Is there anything else that should be considered at the same time?
Many thanks
== EDIT ==
(Working through the new dates reveals a new duplicate for Margaret Harding)
Proposed dates for new descent; in red where there is a supporting source and in blue where the dates are interpolated.
William Browning - 1400-1472 - unchanged
son: John Browning (1440-)
sons: William Browning (1470-) & John Browning (1465-) a clerk -
son of William: John Browning (1500 - 1553) m. Margaret Harding (1503 - 1564) - based on wills; birth date of M.H. supported by the marriage of her parents William & Isabel at Cam in in 1496
son: Richard Browning (1530 - 1594) m. Elizabeth Parsons - based on will
son: John Browning (1570 - 1628) m. Christian Webb - source: IPM
children: John Browning (1605-) m.1623 Joane Tovey; Mary m.1609 John Smyth - source: OPR
son of John: John Browning m. Mary Codrington
son: John (-1708) m. Elizabeth Bridges - OPR
daughter & heir: Elizabeth (1703-) m. John Dowell. - OPR
