Looking for info. on and beyond a Richard Frith which later turned to Thrift. He was born abt.1570 in Scotland, not sure if he died there, but his son Nathaniel abt.1598-13/12/1675 married an Elizabeth Parsons on abt. 1644 in VA.

I am a descendant of Nathaniel Frith (c1620-1677) and Elizabeth Parsons through their daughter Joan, who married Roger Williams. I would be interested in any information you have dug up about where Nathaniel Frith and his wife came from and when they came to Virginia.
Thanks,
Sara

Hi
Your post above asks about origins of Nathaniel Frith (c1620-1677) who married Elizabeth Parsons.

I may or may not be a descendant of that Nathaniel Frith. Seriously, many Friths in the US hope to trace back to him, and further to Richard Frith of Jamestown in 1607 & 1609, who some *claim* is his father.

As I mentioned in another post today about early immigrants to VA,
http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.frith/386/mb.ashx
the documentation is so poor in most cases that the only hope for doing this is by DNA testing (and even then it will depend on luck in identifying and testing the right Frith family in England, based on whatever records might be available there).

An example of this problem is Elizabeth Parsons, who you say married Nathaniel Frith (c1620-1677). The family trees I am familiar with all claim she married Nathaniel Frith (c1669-1736), who is said to be the GRANDSON of the Nathaniel you mention. e.g. this one, which gives a pedigree for her, and makes it seem real:
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&d...
This one also questions the surname of the wife of Nathaniel born ~1620:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~grizzard/f...
Which version of the story is correct? Is there any hard evidence available to back it up?

As far as I know (and I admit much ignorance) the references to Elizabeth Parsons come from LDS / IGI WHICH CANNOT BE TRUSTED. Info from LDS / IGI is useful as a starting point, to lead the way for more research, but it is notorious for providing wrong information. It needs to be backed up by other documentation.

You may be aware of the research on early Friths in VA compiled by Tress Pittenger.
http://www.vagenweb.org/shenandoah/thrifttressms.html
It is excellent research but most of his early info is based on information from IGI. He is careful not to give it full weight, but he doesn't warn enough about the imagination and wishful thinking that went into many of the family trees at IGI.

Pedigrees going back through all-male ancestors can be checked or confirmed by DNA testing, and I would love to see more of this:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~thriftzzfr...

Pedigrees going back through females can't test descent by DNA reliably (yet), so are stuck with a need for documentation. I'd like to see documentation that Elizabeth Parsons married Nathaniel Frith (c1620-1677)

thanks!
Richard Thrift

I have received information that suggests that I am not descended from Nathaniel Frith--that my ancestor Roger Williams (c1638-bef1677) was married to a Joan Dudley, not a Joan Frith. I am looking proof one way or the other.

Thanks for your reply. It was interesting looking at the links you provided.

Sara

Sara, when you figure it out, please let us know what the evidence is (give the links) that Joan Williams was not a Frith. Several people will be interested ...probabably more Williamses than Friths, though...

thanks
Richard Thrift