Among the various lists of passengers and emigrants, there are to be found several who seem to be worthy of further investigation. For example, in the year 1702, we find Francis and John Linfield recorded as immigrants to Bath County, North Carolina. (Ref. 1) The records also show the names of those who brought people to the County, who were apparently rewarded by being granted land. In the case of Francis and John, the person named is one William Brice, who is shown as having brought six people on June 22nd, 1702. As well as Francis and John, there were William and Ann Brice, and Elizabeth and David Depee. The records do not give any further details. The 1984 issue of the International Genealogical Index (IGI) does not have any Linfield or Lindfield entries for North Carolina, and I have not yet checked the vital records for that period. It would be interesting to know what happened to Francis and John, and whether they married and had issue. As yet, I can find no clues as to their origins in England, assuming of course that they came from England in the first place.

Some 50 years previously, another pair of Linfields appear as immigrants to North America. (Ref. 2) They were called Nicholas and Richard, and are shown as arriving in Virginia in 1652. The patentee, or person bringing them over, is shown as John Meredith of Lancaster County. In this case, however, we are able to make a tentative connection to the English roots. There were two cousins called Nicholas and Richard, who would have been the right age in 1652, on the basis that single men in their twenties or thirties would have been more able, and more inclined, to leave their homeland for a distant and relatively unknown continent. The details we have of this part of the tree are based upon the research carried out by Michael Burchell, formerly of the East Sussex Records Office, who was himself descended from this branch.

According to the Burchell tree, the two cousins were both descended from George Linfield as follows:

Whilst the evidence for this theory is somewhat circumstantial, it does seem quite likely that the Richard and Nicholas who appeared in Virginia were in fact the cousins detailed above. Certainly, no further record seems to exist of their lives in England, in the form of marriage or death entries in parish registers.

If any readers have researched any of these emigrants, or believe that they might be descended from them, we would obviously be very interested to hear from them.

References

1. “Emigrants to Bath County, North Carolina 1695-1702”; Rev. Wm J Gammon. National Genealogical Society Quarterly, 25, (1937)
2. 2. “Early Virginia Immigrants 1623-1666”, George Cabell Greer. W C Hill Printing Co. 1912, reprinted by Baltimore Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc 1960 (Lancour 216). Photocopy at Soc. Gen. 8C10/44775. Box 88a, folder 7.