A Study on the Ancestry of George Partridge

George PARTRIDGE’s English ancestry remains a mystery. There have been many published ancestries of him, but none to my knowledge have stood up to proofing. In Winsor’s History of Duxbury he is listed as coming from the County of Kent, though this reference is attributed to the link between George and Ralph; In Bank’s Topographical Dictionary he is listed as coming from Creeting, St. Mary, Suffolk. Where he comes from lies mostly from how you believe he is related to Ralph Partridge, also of the town of Duxbury.

There is a traditional belief that the two are in some way related. Many manuscripts list Ralph as the father, and George his son. Certainly, their age difference makes this possible. However, I have an extensively detailed history of Ralph Partridge and his family, and there lacks any mention of George. There are other manuscripts that purport George to be the nephew of Ralph, yet I have found none that detailed this relationship. A past E-mail message from Joan Hantel claims the following:

“It was my understanding, through information gleaned from NYHISTGEN that Rev. Ralph Partridge (1579-1658) and James Partrich (1586-) were both sons of Thomas–and, George was son of James and Elizabeth was daughter of Ralph.”

On the whole the suggestion that George is the son of James is very plausible. Many records have pointed that George was the son of a James Partridge and Christian Sims (Boston Transcripts, various dates). But the records I have show that James, brother of Ralph married Christian Denn and had many children baptized at Lenham, Suffolk, England between 1612-1622. None of those children were named George. None of the Boston Transcripts, though they purport, show any proof of the relation. There is a marriage of one James Partridge to Christian Broughton, 22 Jul 1610, and another marriage of a James Partridge to Sarah Sims in 1618. I have been unable to find further information on either of these two remaining unions.

For record purposes I will follow with a list of George’s as found in different Parish Records in England. I will only include those christened between the years of 1605-1622 (this is by no means meant as a complete list!):

1. George, son of James and Sarah Partridge, c. 23 Mar 1622 at St. Margaret, Westminster, London, Eng.
2. George, son of George and Sarah Partridge, c. 5 Sep 1621 at St. Benet Pauls Wharf, London, Eng.
3. George, son of William Partrich, c. 27 Jan 1614 at Harbone, Staffordshire, Eng.
4. George, son of Thomas and Margaret Partridge, c. 24 Jul 1614 at Charles, Devonshire, Eng.
5. George, son of Stephen Partridge, c. 4 Jan 1609 at St. James, Clerkenwell, Eng.
6. George, son of Willyame Partrydge, c. 24 Mar 1605 at East Grinstead, Sussex, Eng.
7. George, son of Nicholas Partridge, c. 12 Jan 1605 at St. James, Colchester, Essex, Eng.

Of these George’s, four can be ruled out immediately:

#3 Married Ann ———, and had many children christened in Stafford Co., Eng.
#4 Married Mary Vayde in 1639 and had several children christened at N. Molton and Charles, Devonshire, Eng.
#5 Had several children christened at St. James, Clerkenwell, Eng.
#6 Had several children christened within the county of Sussex.

This leaves me with three untraced George’s. Of those three let me compare their ages at the marraige of Sarah and (Tracy) Partridge and the birth of their last child Sarah:

#	Age at Marriage	Age at Birth of Sarah
1	16-17	41
2	17-18	42
3	33-34	58

Knowing that the English prided themselves in passing their given names from generation to generation, I will show you the known siblings of the above three George’s:

#1 Katheryne, Thomas, James, Ann, Isaac, William, Anne, Alice.
#7 Nicholas, George, Jone, William, Francis, Ann, John, Ellin, Thomas.

Except for John, which is byfar the most common given names for Partridge’s, none of these names matches those of George and Sarah. This would place a high degree of doubt that either of these are the George of Duxbury.

I also possess an unassigned marriage of a George Partridge to Amy Bacon, 5 Jun 1638 at Polstead, Suffolk, Eng. This could have been either #1, #2, or #7, or an altogether different George. Unfortunately, though a mass of information, it leaves us with practically nothing on the parentage of George.

Interestingly, in the spring of 1994 I had the opportunity to review the Parish records of Lenham, the supposed residence of James and Christian (Sims) Partridge. I could not find any Partridge listed in this extraction. If you would like to review these records for yourself, then order FILM #1544552 from your local FHC.

The following is aa extract from the Index of Wills Preserved in the Probate Registry at Cantebury, Essex, England (1396-1558):

1. Partreche, Agnes, widow, Lenham, vol. 11; folio 271; year 1510.
2. Partreche, pertreche, or Pertrege, John, Lenham, vol. 11; folio 270; year 1510.
3. Partryche, William, Lenham, vol. 23; folio 44 and 78; year 1540.
4. Partriche, William, Lenham, vol. 10; folio 90; year 1551.