Analysis

A weak lever for John's origin; the connection is held to the identity work

For John Gurney's own origin the wardship-and-patronage network is a weak lever: it establishes that the senior West Barsham branch stood within the founders' circle but does not connect John to that branch, name him in these records, or trace a crossing through the Winthrop channel — 'yong mr. gurney' is Edward the heir, not John. Whether John belongs to that family, and whether he emigrated inside its network rather than in the West-Country Weymouth stream he is actually found among, is the identity question, held to the John Gurney identity case file and the origin candidate files.

Confidence: Moderate

Topic file location: Origin — wardship and patronage network