I'm searching for any living descendant of ARTHUR DOWNING of Lexham, Norfolk who might have information on his descendants, or some of his "branches".
The data below is compiled from Family Search:
1. John Downinge, son of Arthur Downinge, bap. 1 Jan 1578 at Saint Bartholomew, Chichester, Sussex
2. Grissell Downing, dau. of Arthure Downing, bap. 12 Jun 1580 at Weasenham All Saints, Norfolk
3. Margaret Downinge, dau. of Arthur Downinge, bap. 10 Jun 1581 at Weasenham All Saints, Norfolk
4. Edmund Downinge, son of Arthure Downinge, bap. 13 Jun 1581 at Weasenham All Saints, Norfolk
5. George Downeinge, son of Arthure Downeinge, bap. 3 May 1584 at Weasenham All Saints, Norfolk
6. Arthure Downinge, son of Arthure Downinge, bap. 20 Apr 1585 at Weasenham All Saints, Norfolk
7. Robert Downeinge, son of Arthure Downeinge, bap. 29 May 1586 at Weasenham All Saints, Norfolk
8. Wingfilde Downeynge, son of Arthure Downeynge, bap. 17 Apr 1587 at Weasenham All Saints, Norfolk
9. Francis Downinge, son of Arthure Downinge, bap. 3 Nov 1588 at Weasenham All Saints, Norfolk
10 Ellen Downeinge, dau. of Arthure Downeinge, bap. 2 Nov 1589 at Weasenham All Saints, Norfolk
All spellings are as shown in the record.
Additionally, we know that ARTHUR DOWNING(e) was the son of Geoffrey (Jefferry) Downing(e) of Poles Belcham, Essex, or present day Belchamp St Paul.
1. Elyzabeth Downinge, dau. of Jefferry Downinge, bap. 18 Aug 1538 at Belchamp St Paul, Essex
2. Arthur Downinge, son of Jefferry Downinge, bap. 10 May 1543 at Belchamp St Paul, Essex
3. Katherin Downinge, dau. of Jefferry Downinge, bap. 20 Jun 1546 at Belchamp St Paul, Essex
And that ARTHUR married Susan Calybut, dau. & Co-heiress of John Calybut of Castle Acre, Norfolk, 22 Nov 1570
(from: Clare, Suffolk Parish Register FL 501/4/1)
Lexham is just over 2 miles east of Castle Acre and less than 3 miles south of Weasenham.
ARTHUR DOWNING(e) was granted arms in 1576 and appears in the Visitations of Norfolk 1563 and 1589 having the exact same family group in BOTH visitations, as such:
Arthur, his wife Susan, and their children, John, Dorothy, Anne, and Susan.
Susan Calybut was born in 1552 or 1553 and would have been just 10 or 11 years old in 1563, making it impossible for her to have had four children by then.
But we can assume that these were Arthur's four eldest children, even if his family was recorded by the College of Arms at the time he was granted arms, and the data was retroactively added to the 1563 visitations, the only one existing for Norfolk at the time.
Then, when the 1589 visitations were recorded, the College of Arms simply duplicated Arthur's data, despite his family having grown considerably since 1576.
If you look at the list above, I would speculate that 'John' (No. 1) does NOT belong to the same family group. Arthur already had a son named 'John', who was likely born about 1571, in order to leave enough time for his three sisters to be born before 1576. But we know that the fifth child was named 'Calybutt' because he is included in the 1613 Visitations of Norfolk along with his four older siblings. Yet Arthur apparently had eight, of his nine, other children by the time the 1589 visitations were undertaken.
My own branch supposedly connects to 'John', b. abt 1571, but we have some work to do to "prove" the connection, which opens the possibility that my branch connects to one of his siblings.
So, the project at hand is to identify as many descendants of Arthur as possible and fit the pieces together.
Any information you may have could be a key puzzle piece.
I have a lot of data we would be happy to share.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post,
Rick
