Jeffrey Ferris, of Greenwich - The Ancestors and Origins of Jeffrey Ferris (c.1610-1666)

What a wonderfully crafted, and brilliantly researched piece of work this is !!!!!
THANKYOU SO MUCH for making it available for wider viewing

I discovered it when researching our family history. As the first son, of a first son, it has become my "duty" to see what I could piece together - to have something concrete to pass on to our future generations from the bits and pieces that had been assembled so far.
We are in Australia, so , working backwards, I have successfully traced verifiable data to the late 1600's in England, when, as you are very aware, things can tend to get a "bit murky".
But I was delighted to discover your work, and the helpful insights especially into the early history of the Ferris Line.

While verifiable "connections" for our particular branch are still unclear, the thumbprints are unmistakeable. I can't imagine the hours and hours you have spent to achieve this, but I must say, I appreciate the hours and hours you have saved me - - I am deeply indebted to your passion, perseverence and diligence.

With sincere best wishes

Douglas John Ferris
Camden, NSW, Australia

Thank you very much, Douglas. I am very pleased to hear that my work helped you in your quest to leave something more for future generations.

The pre-17th century Ferris family has certainly provided some fun and educational stories to tell younger generations. But I do wish we could bridge that 17th century gap in the genealogy. New information does arise occasionally, so we will just need to keep our fingers crossed.

Best wishes to you as well, especially that you do not suffer further horrible and frightening fires. I have not been to Camden, but I did enjoy some time in Sydney... friendly people and beautiful city!

Ray

Your insight and clues about different name spellings has been helpful in uncovering some additional information - thankyou. Trouble is there were just a lot of Ferris's around that time - can be very confusing without complete records to verify. I think our branch may also have been London based, so the Great Fire probably didn't help.
Generally, do you find it helpful sticking to a particular County or District ?? - or were they usually more transitory ??

Fires were certainly bad just near us, but some good autumn rains helped put them out - just in time for us to deal with Covid 19 !! When it's all done, you will be more than welcome in Camden anytime.
Staying "locked down" has provided some more research time though.
Take care

My suspicion too has been that the Great Fire may have destroyed some of the records we need. For example, it burned All Hallows church on Lombard Street where William Ferrers (c.1586-1625) was a member. William was a Merchant Adventurer and had at least a son, but I have not been able to find records of his children.

Building the family tree from the top down has required concentrating on the various locations where the family lived, just to insure that I found them all. I think that approach is still necessary because the migrant we want could have come from any of the branches.

At the same time, however, having found some of the Merchant Adventurers in the family, I think those branches would likely be most fruitful to develop further. Specifically, the most intriguing of those to me are William Ferris-Ferrers (c.1549-1625), Edward Ferries-Ferrers (1573-1639) and Thomas Ferrers-Ferris (b.aft. 1540-d.aft. 1604). Each of them had children, but I have not been able to trace all of them.

A larg branch of the family that I have found generally intriguing is the one descended from Sheriff John Ferys-Ferris (c.1418-aft.1478). That branch of the family spread in subsequent generations around Wiltshire and Gloucestershire and led to the Merchant Adventurers mentioned above. The migrants to foreign lands in the family may have been children of men like that or even their nieces and nephews.

In terms of migration within England, the Wiltshire and Gloucestershire Ferrers families were sometimes so large, that each generation seemed to move to other areas nearby, perhaps out of a need to find some new land where they could make a living. On the other hand, the Tamworth and Baddesley Clinton branches of the family seemed more tied into the existing religious and economic "establishment," i.e. the landed gentry.

Thanks for the invitation. Perhaps one of these days we will all be able to safely travel and have lunch together again. In the meantime, like you said, it is an opportunity to do some research.

All the best...

Speaking of Merchant Adventurers, the commentary about the SpaceX launch today reminded me of them. Two rich merchants, Musk and Bezos, want to use the SpaceX system to colonize the moon and/or Mars. Sounds like the English Merchant Adventurers who backed Sir Walter Raleigh's explorations, the colonization of Virginia and the Mayflower's voyage to Plymouth. These modern Merchant Adventurers, however, do have some impressive new toys. What's old is new...

I love your analogy with the SpaceX - very true indeed !!!

Those Merchant Adventurer families you mentioned are where I am "playing" at the moment too - ( in particular the Thomas Ferrers - Ferris line ) - so I will keep in touch if i find anything that connects !!!!!!
Have so far found several young Ferris men who were mariners - some of their Wills have been written from sea and include interesting wording/formatting that nuances "the adventure, and dangers of the sea, that may see their demise"

HAPPY SEARCHING !!!!

Hello again Ray - Trusting all is well with you and yours ??? Who would have thought 2020 would turn out like this !!!!!

I am hoping you may be willing to do me a small favour ?? In your "Origins of Jeffrey" document you include a Table "Ferris, Ferrers and similar surnames Baptisms in All of England 1526-1620". I am keen to utilise the spreadsheet version of this Table, however the link referenced does not appear to be working - is there another option available ???

Many thanks - and best wishes

Hello Doug. So far, all is okay here. But it is very discouraging to see the exponential growth of the virus and the mounting deaths in the US. Living in a large urban area in California is not the best strategy for avoiding contagious diseases. Two relatives were exposed but tested negative. As careful as one might be, it is still something like playing roulette, even in less populated areas.

I too hope all is going well for you and yours. So true...2020 is nothing like I would have predicted on January 1st.

I uploaded a copy of the spreadsheet version of "Ferris-Ferrers English Baptisms 1526-1620" in OpenOffice (ods) format. Open my Roots Magic web site for Jeffrey Ferris at the following link: http://sites.rootsmagic.com/Ferris-Ferrers/index.php on the left hand side of the page near the bottom is a link called "Spreadsheet: Ferris-Ferrers English Baptisms 1526-1620." That link should open the spreadsheet in your browser. That page has a menu ("... More") that allows you to download the spreadsheet. Just let me know if it fails to work.

Best wishes and best of luck to you, too!

Thanks Ray - that's excellent - much appreciated.

The situation here in Australia seems a lot more stable than where you are. Our local community goes into shock when there is more than a few new cases each day. Our southern state of Victoria is currently experiencing a "second wave" and recorded an all time Aussie high of 738 new cases today with 13 deaths. All the other states have minimal cases at the moment - BUT - it can change very quickly so everyone here is still very much on "high alert". Our willingness to generally comply with directives around social distancing and mask wearing is probably helping us get through this ok.

Looks like your "Camden visit" will have to be on hold for quite some time methinks !!!!

I've been enjoying my dives into the ponds of 16/17th century England, but have not been able to improve on your stellar research efforts. Hoping to one day stumble across a tasty morsel that might prove a valuable contribution to the team effort :)

Take care !!!

What a treasure of information! I have spent the entire day just reading messages, articles, stories and working links from here. My response is, Jeffrey Ferris is my direct ancestor but for now anything past him is speculation. But what great speculation! We all know his ancestry is from England but we just cannot find that missing link. Richard Ferris, the 600 mile boat rowing man, certainly seems to be a contender with all of his connections to other people in Jeffrey's life by way of maritime, merchants, America, the Crown, the elite, aristocracy, etc. But again we cannot prove anything, yet. I have always figured the Ferris family which my ancestors come from had enough money to live nicely. They were not paupers or indentured servants. They came to America by way of paid passage, bought land and made a home for themselves and family. I am not sure what the cost was to move one's household, wife and at least 2 sons from England to America in 1634 but I am sure very few were able to pack up and go easily.

Thank you to all who search and share!

Was just using this New Year holiday time to "resurrect" my attempts at tracking down some "missing information" on our side of the Ferris Family Tree.

Found this little snippet that mentions a "Geoffrey Ferris" - mentions him along with a "Nicholas" and a "William" - you may have already seen it, but thought I would forward in case you're interested.

https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DEV/Kenton/Kenton1641

Sorry I have been absent for so long, I hope everyone has been well these past few years. I have moved to Wisconsin (Temporarily) and will be soon immigrating to Ontario, Canada.

Doug Ferris Thank you Doug for the "Geoffrey Ferris" link. I had to look up what the protestations were all about and found this explanation with that same list of names included.

https://www.devonheritage.org/Places/Kenton/KentonProtestationRetur...

Kenton Parrish is another possible link to our Jeffery Ferris. I wonder if the Ferris family left England and moved to America because they were not supporters of King Charles?

Debra, i think it's a 'reasonable possibility' - but tracking down that final piece of the jigsaw is elusive.
But it adds some intrigue and fun, along with the frustration.
Take care