Dorothy Sparks is the source of some of the information I have on the Silverthorne family -- most importantly that we are related to them because Abraham Enloes’ wife Elizabeth was in fact Elizabeth Silverthorne.

Someone, not me, traced the Silverthorne family back several generations in England and to about 1450. It makes an interesting chart but I have little way of verifying this information so I only include it and don’t delve further into the additional family names of Talman, Martyn, Palmer or Hobbs and no further comment is included.

William’s Parents.
John Silverthorne, born Abt. 1592 in West Ashton, Wiltshire, England; died Aug 1655 in West Ashton, Wiltshire, England. He married Edith Talman 9 Jan 1619/20 in Steeple Ashton, England. Edith Talman, born Abt. 1600 in Wiltshire, England.

John’s Parents
William Silverthorne, born Feb 1549 in West Ashton, Wiltshire, England; died 12 Jul 1612 in West Ashton, Wiltshire, England. He married Anstance Martyn Abt. 1589 in Wiltshire, England. Anstance Martyn, born Abt. 1560 in Wiltshire, England; died Jul 1612 in Steeple Ashton, England. She was the daughter of Anthony Martyn.

William’s Parents
John Silverthorne, born Abt. 1520 in West Ashton, Wiltshire, England; died Abt. 1598 in West Ashton, Wiltshire, England. He married Johane Abt. 1545 in West Ashton, Wiltshire, England. Johane, born Abt. 1525; died Apr 1598.

John’s Parents
William Silverthorne, born Abt. 1485 in West Ashton, Wiltshire, England; died Oct 1538 in West Ashton, Wiltshire, England. He married Jane Palmer Abt. 1510. Jane Palmer, born Abt. 1490; died 1559.

William’s Parents
John Silverthorne, born Bef. 1450 in Benington, Somerset, England; died 12 Oct 1538 in Steeple Ashton, England. He married Avise Hobbs Abt. 1489 in Amesbury, Wiltshire, England. Avise Hobbs, born 1460 in Amesbury, Wiltshire, England; died Bef. 1517 in Steeple Ashton, England. She was the daughter of Thomas Hobbs Jr. who was born abt 1440 and Anne. Thomas Hobbs Jr. was the son of Thomas Hobbs and Anne Saucer (a surname that later shows up in early Somerset County records).

Well, you can chose to believe that someone was able to trace these people back that far if you care to and you can also puzzle over the interesting pattern that each John was the son of William and each William the son of John.

Officially, I consider our ancestry only to extend back to William Silverthorne and Elizabeth Arew.

A couple of Internet family trees suggest this connection. That proves nothing of course. Elizabeth Silverthorne was a witness to the 1689 will of John Arew. Why would this be? It could be she was just a neighbor I suppose but I think it is a good clue that she might have been John’s daughter.

I know there was a woman named Elizabeth Silverthorne in Accomack County and that she was the wife of William.

In 1667, Elizabeth, the wife of William Silverthorne, was “found guilty of mutinous behavior” and ordered to have 20 lashes upon her bare back six weeks after the delivery of the baby she was carrying. William Silverthorne was due for a similar punishment -- apparently in both cases for “mutiny at the clearing of the highways”. But William got the punishment abated by paying 1000 pounds of tobacco for each of them,.

Then in 1689, Elizabeth Silverthorne was a witness to the will of John Arew. I believe Elizabeth may well have been Elizabeth Arew and that she married William Silverthorne -- but I have no real proof and am basing that on various Internet family trees which I distrust but in this case have no evidence to the contrary.