The following memorandum I found accidentally on the margin of a MS.
pedigree of Downing, but I am sorry I cannot recall the source from whence
I obtained it. Possibly, however, it may assist "ALPHA" in his enquiry.
"Sir George Downing was not the son of Calibut Downing, rector of
Hackney, but of Emmanuel Downing, a London merchant, who went to New
England. Governor Hutchinson, in his _History of Massachusetts_, gives
the true account of Downing's affiliation, which has been further
confirmed by Mr. Savage, of Boston, from the public records of New
England."