1A-B: Henry Guthrie/Guthridge
Guthrie Family Group 1A · Branch B
Henry Guthrie / Guthridge
Christ Church Parish, Middlesex County, Virginia
Baptized 5 August 1683 · Later life unknown
The Family
Henry Guthridge was baptized on 5 August 1683 as the son of John and Rebecca Guthridge. His baptism provides a brief glimpse of a household that may belong to the earlier life of John Guthrie, later husband of Elizabeth Baskett. Henry’s mother was Rebecca; his subsequent life remains untraced.
- Parents
- John Guthridge & Rebecca, whose maiden surname is unknown
- Birth
- About 1683, probably in Middlesex County, Virginia; exact date unrecorded
- Baptism
- 5 August 1683, Christ Church Parish, Middlesex County, Virginia
- Occupation
- Unknown
- Marriage
- No marriage identified
- Children
- None identified
- Death
- Date and place unknown; survival into adulthood remains unresolved
- Burial
- Unknown
A possible earlier household: the baptism names Henry’s parents, but identifying his father with the John Guthrie who married Elizabeth Baskett on 6 February 1686/87 remains provisional.
Historical Highlights
Henry may have reached adulthood and moved elsewhere in the region. Several surrounding counties suffered major losses of early records through courthouse fires and other disasters. The absence of a Middlesex marriage or death entry therefore does not establish that he died young, remained unmarried, or died in Middlesex.
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7 September
1674 Family contextA Planter in Middlesex
Thomas Loe, planter, sold land described as 500–600 acres to John Gutteridge and Nicholas Paine, also planters. Loe’s patent was dated 9 April 1674. This is a probable early record of the Branch B progenitor, although it does not name Rebecca or Henry.
Source: Middlesex land-record abstract cited in the Guthrie Research Tree and Branch B family timeline.
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5 August
1683 BaptismHenry, Son of John and Rebecca
The published parish register records: “Henry Guthridge ye sone of John & Rebea Guthridge baptz 5 of August 1683.”
This was a year of change for the parish. Rev. John Shepherd, who had served since 1668, died in 1683; Rev. Duell Pead arrived from England in November. Henry’s entry does not identify the officiating minister.
Source: The Parish Register of Christ Church, Middlesex County, Va., from 1653 to 1812 (1897), p. 25 and Introduction.
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1711 Unconfirmed lead
The Estate of Henry Goodrich
A Middlesex record grants administration of Henry Goodrich’s estate to Thomas Haselwood. If this was the child baptized in 1683, he had survived into adulthood. The identification remains unproved, so the estate record does not establish Henry Guthridge’s death date.
Source: Middlesex Deed Book 3, p. 246, as cited in the Guthrie Research Tree. See the estate research note below.
Explore the Records
Reading, Research & Resources
The parish entry establishes Henry’s parents and baptism. The remaining research asks how this household fits the Middlesex family and whether any later record belongs to Henry.
The Parish Register & Henry’s Birth EstimateOpen for the source, recorded names, and distinction between birth and baptism.
Source: The Parish Register of Christ Church, Middlesex County, Va., from 1653 to 1812, published by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Virginia (Richmond, 1897), p. 25, under “Christenings—1683 & 1684.” This is a published transcription of the register.
The entry spells the surname Guthridge and abbreviates Rebecca’s name as Rebea. It gives a baptism date, without a separate birth date. Infants in this parish were commonly baptized at about one month old, making a birth around July 1683 plausible for Henry; it does not establish an exact birthday.
John & Rebecca — The Proposed Family ConnectionOpen Ann’s research notes on the parents, surname variants, and missing records.
No marriage entry for John and Rebecca has been identified in the parish register. They are presumed to have been married: Henry’s baptism names both parents and does not describe him as an illegitimate child, although the register uses such descriptions elsewhere. That wording supports the interpretation without supplying a marriage record.
No other child of this couple, or burial for Rebecca, has been identified in the register. If this John was Elizabeth Baskett’s later husband, Rebecca is a possible earlier wife whose death would presumably precede that marriage. Her death date remains unknown.
Ann’s proposed connection draws on the local chronology and the varied spellings of Guthrie, including Guthridge and Gutteridge. Similar names such as Goodridge and Goodrich also occur, but spelling resemblance alone cannot establish that they belong to the same family.
Henry Goodrich’s Estate — A Lead to FollowOpen the 1711 reference and the evidence still needed to identify him.
The Guthrie Research Tree associates 3 April 1711 with a possible match in Middlesex Deed Book 3, p. 246: the court granted administration of the estate of Henry Goodrich, deceased, to Thomas Haselwood, also rendered Haslewood in the research notes.
The abstract supplies no age, parents, wife, or children. The complete entry and any related estate papers are needed to compare this man with John and Rebecca’s son. Even if the identification is established, an administration date would place his death before the court action rather than supply the exact day he died.
The search must extend beyond Middlesex. Nearby Gloucester and King and Queen counties, as well as New Kent and King William in the wider region, suffered substantial record losses. Henry’s later life might be traceable through surviving parish records, land patents, or copies of documents preserved in other jurisdictions.
Research guides: Library of Congress: Virginia Courthouse Records · Library of Virginia: Burned Jurisdiction Records Database.
The Guthrie DNA Project
No Y-DNA or autosomal participant has been identified as a documented descendant of this Henry. The tested Henry line discussed in Branch B belongs to the later Henry Guthrie, husband of Penelope Johnson, a son of John Guthrie and Mary Shay.
Most Wanted DocumentsOpen the questions that could reveal more of Henry’s story.
- The complete 1711 estate record and associated papers: do they identify Henry Goodrich’s relatives, residence, or age?
- A record connecting John and Rebecca with the Branch B household: a deed, marriage, burial, or court entry could clarify the proposed earlier family.
- Any later record of Henry, in Middlesex or elsewhere: an apprenticeship, marriage, property transaction, will, or burial could establish what became of him. Include surviving records and substitute sources for the surrounding burned counties.