The lineage of Ferdinand and Theodore can be verified as true with the exception of an ancestor called John, purported to be the son of Thomas Palaiologos but absent in contemporary sources, making their descent from the emperors plausible, but somewhat uncertain. None of Theodore's and Ferdinand's contemporaries doubted their imperial descent.' Ferdinand had three older brothers; Theodore (who died in infancy), Theodore Junior and John Theodore, and two older sisters; Dorothy and Mary.' After his baptism in 1619, the next record of Ferdinand is his name appearing on the list of soldiers present at St Michael's Fort in Plymouth Sound in 1639.' Before then he had likely lived with his father Theodore and his sisters Dorothy and Mary, first in Plymouth and then in Landulph, Cornwall.' This listing suggests that Ferdinand, at age 19, had chosen to support the royalist side in the English Civil War of 1642–1651 (the opposite side of his brother Theodore Junior). Unlike Theodore Junior, Ferdinand was not a commander in any capacity but a common soldier. What happened to Ferdinand immediately after 1639 is unclear, since he is absent from army lists compiled by both the parliamentarists and the royalists in 1642 (though these army lists are lists of officers only).' It is possible that he was either one of the royalists who chose to flee to Barbados to avoid punishment in England or that he had escaped to Barbados already before the war broke out.' A likely explanation is that Ferdinand sought his fortune with his relatives, the Balls family from Suffolk, from which his mother had been.' There were no less than three plantations owned by the Balls family on Barbados, including the largest plantation on the island. Ferdinand, and the Balls family before him, were some of the earliest settlers on the island,' which had only been discovered around 1620.' The British had first settled the island in 1627.' Ferdinand's presence on Barbados is first attested on 26 June 1644, when he and his older brother John Theodore are attested as witnesses to a deed. Ferdinand gradually integrated himself with the Barbadian elite. Some time before 1649, he had become a freeholder, probably with the support of the Balls family, and he married Rebecca Pomfrett, daughter of a local landowner. He built and owned an estate called Clifton Hall, named after the home he and his family had lived in while in Landulph, and owned a small cotton or sugar plantation. Clifton Hall is located on the heights of Saint John, near St. John's Parish Church, which Ferdinand supported throughout his life.