Elizabeth  BROWN

Thomas Gunn married by about 1638 _____ _____. She was born about 1605 (on 19 January 1667-8, [Dr.] John Winthrop Jr. treated "Gun [blank] 63 years wife of [blank] Gun of Winsor") and died at Westfield on 28 November 1678.

They had five children: Elizabeth, Elizabeth again, Deborah Thrall, Mehitable Ensign Sheldon, & John.

There is no proof that her name was Elizabeth Brown.

In his 17 August 1677 list of "what children has been born in Windsor from our beginning hither to so far as I am able to find out," Matthew Grant credited "Thomas Gunn" with four children.

Various interpretations have been made of the Windsor records regarding Elizabeth Gunn. The death of an Elizabeth in 1640 precedes by a few months the birth of another daughter of the same name. One might argue that one of these dates is in error, but the death of a daughter Elizabeth in 1655 requires the existence of two of the name. One might also argue that the first Elizabeth was not a daughter of the immigrant, but was rather a sister or an otherwise unknown first wife, but there is no evidence in favor of this position, and we reject both of these potential interpretations. The interpretation which we are making here, in which there are two daughters named Elizabeth, appears to be in conflict with Grant's statement that this immigrant had four children born at Windsor, but in this accounting Grant seems to have ignored children who died in infancy.

Thomas Gunn, his wife and surviving children were treated by John Winthrop Jr. on several occasions between 4 February 1657-8 and 19 January 1667-8. The wife's name is never given, but on two occasions she is called "mother of David Ensign's wife." On 4 February 1657-8, Winthrop treated the three surviving children at the same time, giving the age of Deborah as 16, of Mehitable as 14, and of John as "almost 11 years."

Source: Anderson's Great Migration Study Project