WHAT? That Isn't Right: Looking For Thomas Portas' Parents...

Well, I'm in trouble now. It has been quite awhile since I wondered who my 8x great grandfather Thomas Portas' parents were. About a year ago, I decided to let it be and come back to it because I always see something that doesn't make sense. And that is exactly what happened.

I've been working on my PORTAS lineage, trying to put families together -- connecting them to mine -- for over 25 years. I finally...after many years and with help from cousin Margaret in Lincolnshire...have finally linked back to Thomas and Tomasin Portas, possibly from Wold Newton, Lincolnshire, England. They were married about 1660 probably in Wold Newton. Basically, other than their children, this is all I have on Thomas and Tomasin. The exact dates of marriage, baptisms, and who are their parents are mysteries. That far back, the parish registers aren't all that great, so I may never know. I have searched Lincs to the Past website to no avail.

THIS IS MY PROBLEM
Looking at the siblings I had slotted in the family card on my Reunion family tree program I noticed brother Samuell bp. about 1595 was 45 years older than my Thomas bp. about 1640! Could that be? Samuell is old enough to be Thomas' grandfather giving the 20-year span between generations. I decided Samuell had to be Thomas' grandfather.

I moved Samuell from being brother of Thomas to be his grandfather. So who could be Thomas' father? I had all the known children for Samuell and wife Ellen (White) and there was only one son who fits the age who could possibly be Thomas' father. It was Thomas, bp. 1617 Wold Newton. If it is him, it would make him 23 when Thomas was bap. about 1640.

Going on that assumption, I plugged my Thomas in under the 1617 Thomas. I wrote an email to cousin Margaret and mentioned my predicament. She wrote back and said she was sure I was right. I usually am pretty confident her information was correct and have settled in on that for now.

Of course I can't be positively sure until I investigate further. It sure would be nice to have all the information at hand, but some of the parish record pages I've been looking at are not too readable, so it is going to be hard. I am hoping the Family History Center I'm going to soon will have better imaging on their website than I'm getting from the Lincolnshire Archives website Lincs to the Past. One can only hope...

I do have a baptism image for Thomas, son of Samuell, bp. 8 Feb 1617, Wold Newton. That's a start.

I also have a burial record for a Thomas Portas, bur Dec 1679. At first I thought this Thomas was the 1617 one, but it could also be Thomas my 1640 one. I haven't found any Thomas Portas buried Wold Newton after 1679. By the way, their daughter Elizabeth was also buried the month before.

I did find that Thomasin married a William Smyth in 1686 which leads me to believe seven years earlier it was her husband Thomas who was buried...yet, I could be wrong, too:

I'm sorry the images aren't that great, but they weren't all that great taking them from the micro film "reader bed" at Salt Lake City. I did try to enhance them.

I have one more quandry...the first born son to Thomas and Thomasin is a William, not a Thomas. Naming conventions didn't seem to play a role in this family. In fact I haven't found any Thomas only a daughter Thomasin amongst their nine children. This could also lead to me not having the correct parents after all! AARRGGHHH!

Now you can see I have a lot of work to do. I may never find the answers, but I sure as H... will have fun looking.