Family relationship puzzle - Genealogists' Forum

Pinefamily · #1 20-12-20, 23:04

Hello everyone. I hope you are all safe and well in these difficult times.
I have a longstanding puzzle that I was looking over again. Hopefully some fresh eyes can help sort it out.
My ancestor, Ferdinando Dowdeswell, died in 1619 in London. His will lists many relatives as beneficiaries as he didn't marry. My puzzle is who is John Gyne, who is described as "brother". Now I know that can mean brother, brother-in-law, and step/half brother, but I can rule out the first two reasonably confidently.
As far as I can tell Ferdinando only had one sister, Alice. She is named in his will, and also named in their father's will of 1585 (only three children named in this will: Ferdinando, Thomas, and Alice). The father, John Dowdeswell, died when his children were all minors, so it is possible that his wife Christian remarried, possibly to a Gyne/Gine. I haven't been able to find any such marriage of a Christian Dowdeswell to anyone though.
https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.au/i...=successSource

Thanks in advance.

HarrysMum · #2 21-12-20, 04:41

I’ll have a look for marriages, but could it mean Brother John Gyne....as in religious brother? I have a few early ones who left money to religious persons.

Pinefamily · #3 21-12-20, 04:48

Thanks, I hadn't considered that. But this John had children, so unlikely? Considering one of his children was named Ferdinando Gyne, it made me think of a familial link.
There were several Gyne children baptised in Guiting Power, Gloucestershire; the Dowdeswell's were from Temple Guiting, the adjacent parish.

HarrysMum · #4 21-12-20, 04:50

There’s quite a few references to Ferdinando in Google Books but nothing on Gyne or Gine.

Pinefamily · #5 21-12-20, 05:39

Yes, Ferdinando worked as a secretary or similar in the Exchequer.

kiterunner · #6 21-12-20, 10:29

Can you be sure that Ferdinando Dowdeswell didn't marry?

Pinefamily · #7 21-12-20, 15:33

Only as certain as he mentions no wife or children in his will, Kiterunner. And I've never found a marriage or any baptisms.

kiterunner · #8 21-12-20, 15:59

So it's possible that he had been married and that John Gyne was his brother-in-law that way.

Pinefamily · #9 21-12-20, 16:24

Thanks Kiterunner. That is a scenario I hadn't thought of. I will have to do a fresh search for a marriage.
I was starting to think his terminology was rather fluid; he mentions quite a few "nieces" and "nephews", and I am wondering if some of them are cousins.

kiterunner · #10 21-12-20, 16:34

Niece and nephew were sometimes used to mean any younger female / male relative at that time.