In a work published not many years ago, entitled _Antigua and the
Antiguans_, by Mrs. Flannigan, there is the following passage:
"The Hon. Nathaniel Gilbert, Speaker of the House of Assembly in the
island of Antigua, and one of the chief proprietors in that island,
derived his descent from a family of considerable distinction in the
west of England, where one of its members, Sir Humphrey Gilbert,
associating himself with his kinsman, Sir Walter Raleigh, became one of
the most eminent circumnavigators of the reign of Queen Elizabeth."
Dying, he left a son, Raleigh Gilbert, who along with others obtained from
King James I. a large grant of land, in what was then called Plymouth, but
which now forms part of the colony of Virginia. To this place he emigrated
with Lord Chief Justice Popham in 1606. Afterwards he succeeded to an
estate in Devonshire on the death of his elder brother, Sir John Gilbert,
President of the Virginian Company.
Can any of your correspondents kindly inform me from what source I can
complete the line of {260} descent, by filling up the interval of three or
four generations between the above Raleigh Gilbert and the Hon. Nathaniel
Gilbert mentioned by Mrs. Flannigan?
The present Sir George Colebrook and Sir William Abdy are connected, more
or less remotely, with the last-mentioned Mr. Gilbert.
The English branch of the family is now established at Tredrea in Cornwall.
(See _Burke_.)
Any information whatever upon this subject would be exceedingly valuable to
the inquirer.