Gurney Genealogy Library Updated 29 May 2026 by Allen Gurney

These research notes are provided as-is and contain supplementary working research.

Richard Gurney (G12) Notes

Research notes for g12-richard-gurney-fact-sheet.md. See .claude/rules/research-files.md for the paired-file rule.

Working Notes

Born in England, came as a child

Richard’s birth in England c. 1630–1634 places him in the cohort of small children brought across the Atlantic by parents arriving in the Great Migration window. His father John Gurney (G13) is first recorded in Massachusetts in June 1641 at Weymouth (per Anderson, Great Migration Directory, p. 158, Source ID anderson-gmd-2015); the children were already born in England. Sprague, Genealogies of Braintree (Source ID sprague-braintree), p. 695, lists Richard among John Gurney-1’s children and is the principal published genealogical source for the family group.

The Anderson Great Migration Directory entry treats John Gurney-1’s English origin as “Unknown” — an implicit rejection of the older Banks attribution to Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. Until that question is resolved, Richard’s English birthplace is genuinely unknown. The case is laid out in detail in research/case-files/john-gurney-case-file-v4.md and is the primary unresolved problem above this generation.

Weymouth proprietor — “before 1642–44”

The History of Weymouth (the 1923 four-volume town history) is cited via data/ancestors v26.json as recording Richard’s land grants “in the East field,” “in the mill field,” and “on the east side of Great Pond” “before 1642–44.” If Richard was born c. 1630–1634, he would have been only eight to fourteen years old in 1642–44 — too young to be a proprietor in his own right. The most likely interpretation is that these are grants registered to the Gurney household and later associated with Richard rather than his father. This needs a direct examination of the History of Weymouth page references to clarify.

The 1683 town-meeting grant of six acres on the west side of the Pond “to build a house & fence” (Hist. of Weymouth, p. 251) is the firmest individual record — Richard would have been about fifty at the time, the right age for a settled household head being granted a building lot.

Mendon massacre, 14 July 1675

The death of Richard’s son John Gurney Jr. at the Mendon massacre is corroborated by multiple secondary sources — King Philip’s War standard histories (Drake, Bourne, et al.) routinely list Mendon’s casualties of 14 July 1675. The exact wording in data/ancestors v26.json says “Killed at Mendon massacre 1675”; Sprague, Genealogies of Braintree, p. 695, also lists this son in the John Gurney-1 family group (“of Weymouth/Mendon; killed at Mendon, July 1675”).

Rebecca Taylor’s father’s will

The 1688 reference is the only firm record of Rebecca Taylor’s family. The will should be findable in Plymouth County or Suffolk County (Boston) probate, depending on Taylor’s residence. Direct examination is the next research step on Rebecca’s parentage.

Freeman 1681

Massachusetts Bay’s Freeman lists are well preserved. Richard’s 1681 admission could be confirmed against the published Records of the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay (MBCR), which is the standard primary source for Freeman admissions.

Negative results

  • No will or probate for Richard (he died intestate in 1691, so administration only — the administrator’s record may still be in Plymouth County probate).
  • Date of marriage to Rebecca Taylor not captured.
  • Other children beyond Benjamin (G11), John Jr., and Zachariah not documented in this companion. Sprague’s family group is the obvious source.
  • The full list of John Gurney-1’s children that Sprague preserves on p. 695 is reproduced in research/people/g13-john-gurney-fact-sheet.research.md rather than here.

Children list and death-year conflict from History of Weymouth and Torrey

The 1923 History of Weymouth, Vol. 3, “Genealogy of Weymouth families,” gives Richard Gurney a children-list and a death year that both conflict with this file and with the G13 companion. Weymouth says Richard “died at Weymouth in Oct. 1719” and lists three Weymouth-born children: Richard3 b. 18 Jan. 1656; John b. near 1658; Zachariah b. near 1660. Torrey’s New England Marriages Prior to 1700, page 331, gives Richard’s death year as 1691 and his marriage to Rebecca Taylor “b 1656(7?), b 1654” at Weymouth.

The conflicts are real and should be preserved rather than silently merged:

  • Death year. Torrey: -1691. History of Weymouth: Oct. 1719. The G13 companion currently follows Torrey (“Died intestate October 1691”). The Weymouth 1719 date may reflect the death of his son Richard3 (b. 18 Jan. 1656) being conflated with the father, or it may be a separate well-grounded town-record date. Plymouth County or Suffolk County probate is the right next step before changing the preferred year.
  • Children list. The G13 companion currently lists Richard’s children as John (killed at the Mendon massacre 1675), Zachariah, Joseph (b. 22 Feb. 1664/65), Mary (b. 9 Sept. 1667), and Benjamin (G11, c. 1676). Weymouth gives only Richard, John, and Zachariah. Joseph, Mary, and Benjamin are absent from Weymouth’s three-child list. Treat Weymouth as a confirmed-eldest-three sequence with explicit Weymouth-recorded birth dates rather than a closed list.
  • Surname spellings. Weymouth notes the surname “is found spelled Garey, Garry, Gerry, and Gurny.” Use this when searching New England town and probate records for Richard.
  • Wife. Weymouth gives “Rebecca Taylor, probably daughter of John and Phebe Taylor of Weymouth.” This is the first explicit Phebe Taylor parent name preserved here for Rebecca and matches the existing 1688 Taylor will lead.[1][2]

Open Questions

  1. Direct examination of History of Weymouth for the “before 1642–44” land grants and the 1683 grant. Page numbers, editor, edition.
  2. Plymouth County probate — Richard Gurney administration, October 1691 forward.
  3. Rebecca Taylor’s father’s will, proved 1688 — Plymouth County or Suffolk County probate.
  4. Massachusetts Bay Freeman admission, 1681 — confirmation in MBCR.
  5. Mendon massacre primary records — eyewitness accounts and the official town-meeting record naming the dead, if recoverable.
  6. Reconcile Richard’s death year: Torrey gives -1691; History of Weymouth gives Oct. 1719. Plymouth County and Suffolk County probate, plus Weymouth town-meeting and vital records, are the right places to test which year belongs to Richard2 the father and which (if either) belongs to Richard3 his son b. 18 Jan. 1656.
  7. Children of Richard2: confirm whether Joseph (b. 22 Feb. 1664/65), Mary (b. 9 Sept. 1667), and Benjamin (G11, c. 1676) belong to Richard2 alongside the Weymouth-listed Richard3 (b. 18 Jan. 1656), John (b. near 1658), and Zachariah (b. near 1660); examine the underlying Weymouth town and church records.

Sources Consulted

  • data/ancestors v26.json, G12 entry.
  • Sprague, Genealogies of Braintree (Source ID sprague-braintree) — referenced indirectly via the John Gurney-1 family group on p. 695.
  • Anderson, Great Migration Directory (Source ID anderson-gmd-2015) — for G13 context.
  • Jean Gurney Rigler, The Gurney Family from Aaron to Zuinglius (rev. and expanded ed., 1994). Key compiled genealogy for the G4-G13 direct line; source ID rigler-gurney-family-aaron-zuinglius-1994. Full page-level audit still pending.
  • History of Weymouth, Massachusetts, Vol. 3 Genealogy of Weymouth families, Richard Gurney entry. Source ID history-of-weymouth. Transcribed extract at sources/corpus_supplement/history-of-weymouth-vol3-gurney.md.
  • Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700, p. 331, Richard Gurney entry. Source ID torrey-new-england-marriages-prior-1700. Transcribed extract at sources/corpus_supplement/torrey-new-england-marriages-prior-1700-page-331-gurney.md.

Sources to obtain

  • History of Weymouth, Massachusetts (1923 four-volume town history). Direct text for p. 251 and the “before 1642–44” land entries.
  • Plymouth County, Massachusetts, probate records — Richard Gurney administration 1691; Rebecca Taylor’s father’s will 1688.
  • Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England (Shurtleff ed.) — Freeman admissions 1681.
  • Drake, The Book of the Indians, or Bodge’s Soldiers in King Philip’s War, for the Mendon casualties of 14 July 1675.

Notes for Future Drafting

  • The Mendon massacre entry is one of the most powerful single facts in the whole colonial-American chapter and should be preserved in any future revision.
  • The “before 1642–44” land grants are the family’s earliest documented New England property record. Resolving the apparent age inconsistency (Richard was a child in those years) is a research priority.
  • The Weymouth “east field / mill field / east side of Great Pond” geography deserves a place file and map note in research/places/weymouth-ma.md at some future point.

  1. History of Weymouth, Massachusetts, 4 vols. (Weymouth, Mass.: Weymouth Historical Society, 1923), Vol. 3, Genealogy of Weymouth families, Richard Gurney entry; Ancestry.com collection 21610 image dvm_LocHist007443-00634-1; transcribed extract at sources/corpus_supplement/history-of-weymouth-vol3-gurney.md. Source ID: history-of-weymouth. ↩︎

  2. Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2004), p. 331, Richard Gurney entry; Ancestry.com collection 3824 image gpc_newenglandmarriages-0347 (pId=51825); transcribed extract at sources/corpus_supplement/torrey-new-england-marriages-prior-1700-page-331-gurney.md. Source ID: torrey-new-england-marriages-prior-1700. ↩︎