Walter FitzGilbert de Hamilton

This essay explores the genealogical connections between the Worsham family of Virginia and their ancestral roots in Hampshire and Shropshire, England. It highlights key familial ties and property disputes that reflect the interconnectedness of several prominent English families, including the Lees, Plowdens, Moores, and Mores. Central to the narrative is the link between the Worshams of Virginia and their English counterparts, particularly the intricate web of marriages and legal entanglements that shaped their ascent within colonial society.

The essay traces the Worsham family’s connections to the More family of Larden, whose lineage ties extend through strategic unions with notable families such as the Lees and Plowdens. These intermarriages, often spanning multiple generations, illustrate the social and economic mobility of these families as they navigated the complex dynamics of land ownership, inheritance, and colonial governance. Moreover, it sheds light on how these familial networks, forged in the heart of Shropshire and Hampshire, were carried over into the New World, influencing the development of early Virginia societyThrough a detailed examination of Chancery suits, property records, and wills, the essay uncovers the social and legal processes that defined the interactions between these families, demonstrating how the Worshams, Moores, and their allied kin maintained ties through both blood and business. It further investigates the role of these families in the economic transformation of the Virginia colony, emphasizing the importance of strategic marriages and property dealings in the pursuit of social status and wealth.

In tracing the multifaceted relationships between these families, this essay offers a deeper understanding of the English colonial elite’s complex family dynamics, highlighting the enduring legacy of their interconnectedness in shaping Virginia’s early colonial landscape.

PART I.
WOMACK AND WORSHAM – THE WORSHAMS OF HAMPSHIRE (ENGLAND) AND VIRGINIA AND THE WOMACKS OF THE WEST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE (ENGLAND) AND VIRGINIA

That the Worsham family of Virginia orginated in Hampshire is almost certain through them being associated to Shropshire families of this account, through the Plowdens and Lees: Worsham v Plowden. Plaintiffs: Worsham. Defendants: Plowden and others, ca. 1658. (C 2/ChasI/W82/29). Worsham v Worsham. Plaintiffs: Robert Worsham*. Defendants: Thomas Worsham. Place or subject: property in Lasham, Binsted, Hampshire. 1658. (C 7/381/123).

1. Fulke Lee, m. Alice, dau. of Sir Richard Cornwall of Berrington, Herefordshire. 1.1. Thomas Lee (d. 1561-1563) of Langley, Shropshire, m. Jane, dau. of Sir Robert Corbet (d. April 11, 1513), and Elizabeth, dau. of Sir Henry Vernon. After the death of her first husband, she married Edward More, son of William More of Larden, son of William More of Larden and Jane, dau. of William Berkeley of Cressage, son of Richard More of Larden and Elizabeth Corbet, daughter of the Corbet family of Lee. The Vernon association connects to the Womack family of Wragby, West Riding of Yorkshire.

THE MORE FAMILY OF SHROPSHIRE AND HAMPSHIRE, CONNECTED TO THE WORSHAMS

1. Richard More of Larden and Elizabeth Corbet, dau. of the Corbet family of Lee. 1.1. William More of Larden, m. Jane, dau. of William Berkeley, of Cressage. 1.1.1. William More of Larden. (8 miles from Stottesdon/Pickthorne, and Ludlow), and 13 miles from Neen Savage. In that order, the habitation of the families of Richard Cocke of Bremo, Major William Harris, his neighbour in Virginia, and Michael Holland of Goochland. 1.1.1.1. Edward More of Larden, who succeeded his father at Larden, m. Elizabeth Cludde, of Orleton. 1.1.1.2. Thomas More: Identified in some Visitations as a younger son, m. Margaret Cressett (and was the grandfather of the “Mayflower Mores”). She was the dau. of Richard Cressett, Esq. (ca. 1470–ca. 1528) of Upton Cressett and Jane, dau. of Sir Richard Wrottesley, of Wrottesley Hall, Staffordshire, son of Thomas Cressett and Jane, dau. of Sir Roger Corbet of Morton Corbet, and sister of Richard Corbet, who m. Elizabeth Devereux, who m. (2) Sir Thomas Leighton; who by his mistress, Ann Baker, was the father of the matriarch of the Harris family of Ludlow; of which: Mary Harris Ligon, and her brother, Major William Harris. What is seen here is a nexus of families of the South Shropshire/Welsh borders which were at the top of the “middling order” of yeomen, tradesmen, and lawyers, which sought elevation in the hierarchial English class system through intermarriage with those on the fringe of a higher order, such as the Corbets, Leightons, and Mores. These relationships, and the close geographical associations, which characterised them, were repeated in early Virginia.

LEE CONNECTED TO PLOWDEN
1.1.1.1. Richard Lee (d. 1590/1) of Langley, m. Eleanor, dau. of Walter Wrottesley, of Wrottesley, Staffordshire, and his second wife, Joyce, dau. of Sir Edward Leighton of Wattlesborough, Shropshire, and sister of the father of Sir Thomas Leighton of Wattlesborough, supra, who, to repeat, through his mistress, Ann Baker, was the father of the matriarch of the Harris family of Ludlow. 1.1.2. Thomas Lee (b. 1529), m. Mary, dau. of Edmund Plowden (ca.1518–1585), and Katherine, dau. of William Sheldon of Bewley. Copy of inscription: ‘Here lieth the bodie of Marye late wyffe of Edward More Esquier one of the daughters and coheires of Sir Adryan Poyninges deceased at Odiham the xxixth daie of October AD 1591’. 1.1.3. Mary Lee (b. 1536), m. Edward Plowden (d. 1576) of Plowden, brother Edmund Plowden, supra, whose son, Thomas Plowden of Lasham, Hampshire (1614–1698) is likely to have been the defendant in the above mentioned Chancery suit (Worsham v Plowden. Plaintiffs: Worsham, Defendants: Plowden), Chancery suits concerning property (especially in equity) often involved neighbours, trustees, or familial land disputes/property conflicts, It stands to reason that the plaintiffs in this case were Robert and Thomas Worsham, as above given: (Worsham v Worsham. Plaintiffs: Robert Worsham. Defendants: Thomas Worsham. Place or subject: property in Lasham, Binsted, Hampshire). They were likely to be sons or grandsons of Thomas Worsham, recorded here: Beale v Worsham. Plaintiffs: Henry Beale. Defendants: Thomas Worsham of Lasham, yeoman and Richard Locke of Binsted. Subject: a messuage and land in the manor of Mullcourte (Millcourt, or La Mulle). 1602. (REQ 2/184/12). Worsham v Habyn. Plaintiffs: Thomas Worsam yeoman of Lasham. Defendants: William Habyn husbandman of Binsted and Elizabeth his wife, Susan Edsell. 1600/1601. Subject: a messuage and 40 acres of land in Binsted; forcible entry and ouster. (STAC 5/W3/1). The Will of Robert Worsham of Binstead, Hampshire, probated May 16, 1664, leaves land in the manor of Mill Courte in county. Southhampton to Richard Worsham his brother.

MORE continued:

1.1.2. John More (by 1506–Jan. 19, 1581), M.P. for Winchelsea in 1547. Originally from Shropshire, he was a lawyer of the Middle Temple and also served as a collector of customs for Chichester. John More of Canon Row, Westminster, and Crabbet, Worth, Sussex, m. Agnes, dau. and heir of John Moulton of Lancashire and Westminster. 1.1.2.1. Sir Edward Moore, m. (1) Mary Poynings. Edward More of Odiham, Hampshire, knighted 1600, Justice of the Peace (Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire), Member of Parliament (for Midhurst 1584; Hampshire 1601). Odiham and Lasham are within a few miles of each other. Gentry families in such areas often intermarried, acted as neighbours in legal matters, served together as JPs, or witnessed each other’s Wills. 1.1.2.1.1. Elizabeth More, m. Sir Thomas Drewe of The Grange in Broadhembury, Devon, who served as the Sheriff of Devon in 1612. 1.1.2.1. Sir Edward Moore, m. (2) Frances, dau. of William Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham. Sir Edward originally had five sons with his first wife, but all of them predeceased him. As a result, his daughters Elizabeth and Frances became his primary heirs. The family estate at Hurtmore was settled on his infant grandson (also named Edward More), the son of his disinherited son. 1.1.2.1.1. Edward More, disinherited. 1.1.2.1.1.1, Dorothy More, m. William Worsham, on April 21, 1594, in Aldershot, Hampshire, 10 miles S.W. of Lasham. passing roughly south of Farnham and north of Alton, and ca. 25 miles from Selborne. 1.1.2.1.1.1.1. William Worsham, b. ca. 1595, m. Catherine More, his mother’s niece, and his cousin, Dec. 14, 1617, in Selborne, Hampshire.

1.1.2.1.1.1.1.1. William Worsham of Virginia. His daughter, Elizabeth Worsham, m. Richard Kennon, a Burgess and merchant, linking the lineage to the powerful Bolling and Eppes families, having issue: Elizabeth Kenning, who m. John Hartwell Cocke. This specific marriage united the Worsham/Kennon line with the prominent Cocke family of Surry County. The Cocke family of Virginia originated from Pickthorne, Shropshire, near (12 miles) the More family seat at Larden. This marriage record is significant because it represents the consolidation of the “More circle” in the Virginia colony. The Worshams, Cockes, and Moores all originated from the same small region of Shropshire, and the Surrey/Hampshire border, where they had been tenants, allies, or legal clients of the More family of Larden and Loseley for over a century.

THE CONNECTION TO THE COCKE/HARRIS/HOLLAND/LIGON KINSHIP GROUP

1.
1.1. Thomas Cocke, d. 1587.
1.1.1. Alice Cocke, m. Thomas Holland, of Pickthorne (Dec. 27, 1573, in Wheathill), Alice Cocke (second-cousin of Richard Cocke* of Pickthorne (in Stottesdon), Shropshire, and Bremo, Virginia.
1.1.1.1. Michael Holland of Pickthorne.
1.1.1.1.1. John Holland, son of Michael, m. Dorothy, dau. of Richard Hill of Bickley and Katherine, dau. of John Purslowe, of Sudbury, and Dorothy Blount of Kinlet, linking the Hollands to the Blount–Talbot–Ligon kinship network, i.e. John Holland, m. Dorothy, dau. of Richard Hill and Katherine (b. ca. 1582), dau. of John Purslowe, of Sudbury, and his second wife (m. Feb. 1576/7), Dorothy, dau. of George Blount, of Kinlet, and Constance Talbot, half-sister of Margaret Talbot, who m. (1) Sir Richard Ligon, of Arle, Madresfield, Worcestershire, brother of Thomas Ligon, who m. Frances Dennys (cousin), having issue: Thomas Ligon, who m. (Oct. 10, 1602), Elizabeth Pratt; having issue: Col. Thomas Ligon, who m. Mary Harris, born in 1625 in Ludlow, by deposition, sister of Major William Harris, bapt. 1627/8; neighbour of Richard Cocke of Bremo. By his first wife, Mary Russell, Sir Richard Ligon had issue: Katharine Ligon, who m. Fleetwood Dormer, Esq., who m. (2) Mary Harris, second-cousin of the said Mary and William Harris. Mary Harris, b. ca. 1620), Lady Dormer, m. (after Feb. 3, 1672-3, as second wife), Fleetwood Dormer, b. May 21, 1616, son of Sir Fleetwood Dormer (obit. Feb. 1, 1638), and Mary Isham, aunt of Henry Isham, who resided at Bermuda Hundred, Henrico Co., who m. Katherine Banks, relict of Joseph Royal; their issue being: (1) Henry Isham (obit. 1678), (2) Anne Isham, who m. Col. Francis Eppes, d. 1678, (3) Mary Isham, who m. Col. William Randolph, named as a ‘friend’ in the Will of Major William Harris, as was Thomas Cocke, son of Richard Cocke of Bremo. Fleetwood Dormer’s first wife was Katherine Ligon, second-cousin of Thomas Ligon, whose son and namesake married Mary Harris.

(1. Francis Eppes m. Sarah “Sallie” Kennon, sister of Mary Kennon. 1.1. William Eppes, m. Phoebe Worsham, dau. of John Worsham (ca. 1653–1729) and Phoebe Robertson; son of William Worsham and Elizabeth Littlebury. After his father’s death, his mother m. Col. Francis Eppes II, making John the stepbrother of Francis Eppes III. Abraham Womack m. Sarah Worsham (ca. 1645–1700), who was the sister of John Worsham and a dau. of William Worsham and Elizabeth Littlebury.

William Randolph and Mary Isham’s second son, Thomas Randolph of “Tuckahoe” m. Judith Fleming, dau. of Col. Charles Fleming and Susannah Tarleton. As follows, William Langford,* m. Jane Jordan, of Stone Acton, Shropshire. The Jordans are well recorded in the Diddlebury registers. William Langford was a neighbour of Henry and John Fleming (S.A., C 5/482/9), benefactors of Diddlebury Church. Henry Fleming’s Will was proved in 1656 (P.C.C. Wootton 124, 294), mentioning his “brother (in-law) Bassett”. John Fleming was probably he who died in New Kent Co., on April 27, 1686, whose son, Charles Fleming, owned land land next to his cousin, William Basset, whose Will was proved May 14, 1724. Samuel Jordan of New Kent Co. (Will probated June 11, 1719) was likely to be of the family Stone Acton. He bequeathed to his “beloved friend (br.-in-law) John Fleming … the plantation of Thomas Langford dec’d, & the management of his estate & the bringing up of his son Thomas Langford as wholely to himself”. His Will was witnessed by Tarleton Woodson, grandson of Robert Woodson, and nephew of Susannah Tarleton, supra.

William Langford was the son of Thomas Langford, brother of Jane Langford (grandmother of Mary Harris Ligon, and Major William Harris), who m. (2) Edward Lewis, as follows, thus being, also, the grandmother of: John Lewis, a neighbour of the said Mary and William in the Malvern Hills district of Henrico. The Will of Major Harris was proved April 2, 1688. Appraisers: Capt. Wm Randolph, Capt Thomas Cocke, and Joseph Pleasants. (Weisiger, p. 266). The first two appraisers were both named as “friends” in the Will of Major William Harris. Henrico Order Book: 1688 to 1689: “Nicholas Perkins as security along with Robert Woodson for the tuition of Sarah, one of the orphans of John Lewis”. John’s son, William Lewis* (bapt. March 16, 1661, in Diddlebury, Shropshire, 10 miles N. of Ludlow) of Henrico, m. Elizabeth, dau of Robert Woodson Sr. William Lewis deposed that he was aged 28 at the inventory of John Lewis taken Dec. 2, 1689 (Weisiger, p. 105).

1.1.1.1.1.1. Thomas Holland, of Nene Savage, bapt. May 15, 1648; buried Dec. 29, 1694, m. Elizabeth Kettleby in 1678. They had issue:
1.1.1.1.1.1.1. Martha Holland, bapt. Sept. 10, 1682, “dau. of Thomas and Elizabeth”.
1.1.1.1.1.1.2. Thomas Holland, bapt. July 18, 1686, m. (a Hill) kinswoman, Mary Cheese, on Feb. 14, 1709, in Richard’s Castle, Shropshire. She was the dau. of Richard Cheese, bapt. March 12, 1656/7 in Stottesdon, son of Richard Cheese, of Stottesdon, and Joyce Hill, of Chetton, wid. This further anchors this family within a Shropshire context. This Thomas Holland is commonly given a Cheshire antecedent, which people are directed toward in searches that aggregate the loudest confounded tree, without weighing context. The opposite of this is to follow land, marriage strategy, patronage, and clerical presentation rights – separating real lines from internet mush. Thomas attained a church living, the typical fate of a second son.
1.1.1.1.1.1.3. Michael Holland of Goochland. He was probably born between 1683-1685. The Neen Savage records, as many of this time, are incomplete, and it is certain that Michael Holland of Goochland was a son of Thomas Holland and Elizabeth Kettleby. As such, he would have been a nephew of Thomas Kettleby clerk, who was associated with the Meek family (and they with the Nash family) of Herefordshire; tenants of the Scudamores (of strong Ligon association), as the Cockes. Michael’s son John Holland, m. Martha Meek; their dau. Alice, m. Henry Nash. See – https://shorturl.at/dItol

COCKE continued:

1.2. William Cocke, d. Nov. 1582, in Stottesdon, m. Elizabeth.
1.2.1. Thomas Cocke,* b. Oct. 9, 1569, d. 1632.
1.2.1.1. Richard Cocke, of Bremo, Baptised on December 13, 1597 in the Parish of Sidbury (Stottesdon), died in Virginia, his Will dated Oct. 4, 1665 (Henrico Co. Wills and Administrations, p. 27-28). 1632 James City court records explicitly stated that Richard Cocke had “maried the relicte” of John Browne (Temperance). Cocke settled John Browne’s estate by paying 6,397 pounds of tobacco He was legally appointed as the trustee and guardian for Temperance’s children from her first marriage. (Minutes of the Colonial Council and James City Court records dated June 5, 1632). In his Will (dated October 4, 1665), Richard Cocke requested to be buried in his orchard near his “first wife”, not named.
His second wife, Mary Aston, is often given as a daughter of Walter Aston, of a cadet line of the Aston baronets, as below given, but she was almost certainly his sister. If a daughter, she would have been born ca. 1630 (33 years younger than Richard Cocke). Richard’s son, Thomas Cocke, had a son, Thomas, born in 1664, placing his d.o.b. to ca. 1637, contemporary to that of his “friend”, Major William Harris (1627/8). The dating of Thomas Cocke’s birth to 1664 is provided by a litigation between Richard Rabon (b. 1649, d. 1730) a neighbour of Richard Cocke and Major William Harris, when he successfully sued Richard Sharp (on Dec. 8, 1681) for a gambling debt accrued from a nine-pins game at a local tavern, witnessed by Thomas Cocke, aged 17, son of Thomas Cocke. The Will of Walter Aston Jr. (sister of Mary) of “Cawsey’s Care”, dated Dec. 21, 1666, gives his mother, Hannah Hill,* land called “Level”; and to “godson John Cocke, the son of Richard Cocke dec’d 4000 pds tobacco to be paid in 1668; to godson Edward Cocke, son of the above said Cocke, 6,000 pds. of tobacco, to be paid in 1669. This implies that John Cocke was born in 1647, and Edward Cocke was born in 1648. (In early Virginia legal age of majority was at 21 years old. This age marked the end of wardship). *Walter Aston’s widow m. Col. Edward Hill. *Walter Aston, Jr. died on Jan. 29, 1667/8.

ASTON – CONNECTION TO SHROPSHIRE

1. Sir John Aston of Tixall, b. ca. 1470, m. Joan Littleton, dau. of Sir William Littleton of Frankley. Sheriff of Staffordshire and his first wife, Eleneor Walsh. By his second wife, Mary Whittington, he was succeeded by his son: John Lyttelton (ca. 1500–1532/3), who m. Elizabeth, dau. of Sir Gilbert Talbot, “the younger” (ca. 1479–1542), and his first wife, Anne Paston. The said Gilbert Talbot was the father of Sir John Talbot of Albrighton, who was closely related to the Earls of Shrewsbury, being the grandson of the 2nd Earl and the progenitor of the line that eventually inherited the Earldom in 1618. To repeat: The said Sir John Talbot had issue: (1) Constance, who m. George Blount of Kinlet, Sheriff of Shrop. (d. 1582 (2) Margaret Talbot (half-sister), who m. (1) Sir Richard Ligon, of Arle, Madresfield, brother of Thomas Ligon, who m. Frances Dennys (cousin), having issue: Thomas Ligon, who m. (Oct. 10, 1602), Elizabeth Pratt; having issue: Col. Thomas Ligon, who m. Mary Harris, born in 1625 in Ludlow, by deposition, sister of Major William Harris, bapt. 1627/8; neighbour of Richard Cocke in Virginia.
1.1. Edward Aston (heir) b. ca. 1496 d. 1568, m. Mary Vernon (no surviving issue), 2. Joan, dau. of Sir Thomas Bowles. *The dau. of Sir Henry Vernon of Haddon Hall. and Anne Talbot, who was the dau. of John Talbot, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury.
1.1.1. Sir Walter Aston of Tixall, b. ca. 1520.
1.1.1.. Sir Walter Aston of Tixall, b. ca. 1545, d. 1589, m. Elizabeth Leveson, dau. of Sir James Leveson of Lilleshall.

MARY ASTON’S LINE

1.1.2. Leonard Aston (cadet branch), b. ca. 1550.

1.1.2.1, Walter Aston of Longdon, b. ca. 1575.

1.1.2.1.1. . Walter Aston (ca. 1606–1656). According to his tombstone, located at Westover, VA, he “died April 6, 1656, aged 49 years, having lived in this country 28 years”.

1.1.2..1.2. Mary Aston, b. ca. 1610-1615. After Richard Cocke died in 1665, his widow Mary m. Daniel Clarke. “Judgt. Granted Edward Cocke, son of Richard Cocke, late of Bremo in Henrico County, dec’d, agst estate of Lt. Coll. Dan. Clarke dec’d, for 6000 lbs tobo. as being left to said Edward in Will of Walter Aston, dec’d which legacy was received of the Exec. of Aston by Clarke, dec’d, and Mary his wife, in whose guardianship said Edward in his minority has been, and now being of lawful age claims said gift”. (Weisiger CCCo. Ct. Orders 1687-1695), August 5, 1689, p. 146).

As given, Richard Cocke of Bremo was born at Sidbury, hundred of Stottesdon, Shropshire, which is near the Staffordshire border. Richard Cocke, uncle of Richard Cocke of Bremo was probably he who was designated “Richard Cocke of Stafford” in Treswell’s Visitation of Shropshire, 1623. This seems the more likely in that his dau., Joane Cocke, born ca. 1595, m. John Rabon. The Rabons were an established Shropshire family. Major William Harris made his Will on April 20, 1678: ‘Not knowing what the Lord hath ordained or at what tyme he he may take … out this life I doe settle my estate of lands as followeth, I give & bequeath to my sonne Thomas all my land below the Ware to keep the Ware runn for his bounds till he shall come to ye spring at ye hed & then to follow a bottom on ye lower side of the clearing of John Rabon*.

COCKES OF STAFFORDSHIRE

1. Richard Cocke, of Stafford. 1.1. Joane Cocke, cousin of Richard Cocke of Bremo, m. Mathew Rabon. 1.1.1. John Rabon, b. 1620, by deposition of Feb. 24, 1664/5. John Rabon, bapt. March 16 1620/21, in Codsall, Staffordshire, 15 miles from Tixall, Staffs, 18 miles from Stottesdon (Shrop.), and Longdon, Staffs. 1.1.1.1. Richard Rabon, b. 1649, d. 1730, above given.

COCKES OF STOTTESDON cont.
1.2.1.1.1, Richard Cock, b. 1632, d. ca. 1682. The eldest son of the immigrant, who inherits Bremo but dies relatively young, potentially explaining why the 1706 decedent (his son) is later called “Senior.” He may have been the only son of Richard and Temperance, she perhaps deceased by 1636. His son, Richard, was not mentioned in the Will of Walter Aston Jr. (as were John and Edward Cocke). He was a member of the County Court, other justices were: William Randolph, Peter Field, Francis Epps, William Farrer, John Worsham, Thomas Cock (sheriff), Giles Webb, Joseph Royall, John Bolling, James Cock, clerk court. Charles City, on the north side of the river, Turkey Island creek, about two miles in length, emptied into the James. It is the dividing line between Henrico and Charles City counties. Midway, on its north side is Malvern Hills, which is separated from the river by the estate of Turkey Island (William Randolph’s and afterwards owned by Bowler Cocke). On the river above Turkey Island plantation was Curles, where James Cockes lived, and Bremo in a little loop (the river makes a tremendous bend) lies just between, about two miles from Malvern Hills. Above Malvern Hills, on the creek, in the year 1700, were Stephen and William Cocke, and about half-way between the Malvern House and the head of the creek still stands the line of an old dam, where stood Thomas Cocke’s mill. (Bruce and Stannard, The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 3, p. 410, 1895).

1.2.1.1.1.1. Richard Cocke Sr. 1655-1706. (Library of Virginia, Will pro. Dec. 2, 1706, p. 9). Daniel Clarke was appointed guardian or acted as stepfather to Mary Aston’s children between 1667 and 1669, and only Edward (and possibly John) appear in the court records, The existence of a Richard would have been recorded in the strict world of Virginia probate and orphans’ court orders. Guardianship is absolute: If a minor son named Richard existed as an heir to the 1597 immigrant, Daniel Clarke would have been legally required to account for his inheritance alongside Edward’s.

It may have been the case that Richard Cocke and Mary Aston had a son, Richard, who died shortly after his father’s Will (dated October 4, 1665), and before Dec. 21, 1666, the date of Walter Aston’s (Jr.) Will.

1.2.1.1.1.1.1. Richard Cocke Jr. 1680 – 1720, witnessed his father’s Will, with William Randolph (named as a “friend” in the Will of Major William Harris*), and William Randolph Jr. Major William Harris was baptised in 1627; his sister Mary Harris Ligon, 1n 1625, in Ludlow, Shropshire, not as falsely repeated by “algorithmic saturation” that directs internet search queries to that which is the most numerically recorded, albeit merely claims, frequently repeated in modern online genealogies but unsupported by contemporary records. See, supra – the Randolph connection through Mary Harris Dormer, Mary and William’s second-cousin.

CHILDREN OF RICHARD COCKE AND MARY ASTON
Mary Aston born ca 1615, as Walter Aston’s sister, not daughter, which fits perfectly as a wife for a man born in 1597. She would been ca. 22 at the birth of Thomas Cocke (1637), 31 at the birth of William Cocke (1646), and 32-35 at the birth of John, Edward, and Richard – in 1647/1648/1650. This removes the need for Temperance Bailey to account for the elder children —a marriage that is often inferred by “consensus” precisely because it can’t make a younger Mary Aston’s dates work. If the 1706 decedent was born in 1655, he is 51 years old at death. His son (Richard, b. 1680) is 26 years old – the perfect age to be the executor and witness mentioned in the records. This model bypasses the “algorithmic saturation” by prioritizing biological reality and court order silences over repeated secondary sources.
1.2.1.1.2. Thomas Cocke, b. ca. 1637. Will, p. 452-453: Will pro. Feb.1, 1693, p. 469-470. 1.2.1.1.2.1. Thomas Cocke, b. 1664. Will pro. 1 Apr. 1707, p. 24-28. 1.2.1.1.2.2, Stephen Cocke, aforementioned, b. ca. 1665, m. (1) Sarah Marston, b. ca. 1670, in 1688.

MARSTON AS CONNECTIVE TISSUE

1. John Marston, of Eyton, in Stanton Lacy, m. Mary Baugh, of Aldencourt. He was bur. in Stanton Lacy on March 2, 1565. Stanton Lacy is 3 miles north-west from Ludlow. 1.1. Thomas Marston, of Bitterly, d. 1584, m. Margaret, dau. of William Lucy, Captain of Calais, and heiress of Charlecote, of Warwick. 1.1.1. William Marston, m. (Ludlow, 5 March 1571), Katherine, the dau. of Thomas Blashfield of Ludlow, sister of Anne Blashfield, who m. Edward Lewis, who m. (2) Jane Langford Harris, grandmother of Mary Harris Ligon and Major William Harris, by whom: Edward Lewis,* bapt. Sept. 1, 1608, uterine half-br. of John Harris, bapt. March 5, 1604, Ludlow, d. 1638, father of (1) Mary Harris, bapt. April 3, 1625, in Ludlow. who deposed to be 64 years og age in 1689, and Major William Harris, bapt. Jan. 13, 1627, in Ludlow; who held land on Curles Swamp, next to his sister, and John Woodson, br. of Robert Woodson. Edward Lewis had issue: John Lewis, a neighbour of Mary Harris, and Major William Harris in the Malvern Hills district of Henrico. His Will was proved April 2, 1688. Appraisers: Capt. Wm Randolph, Capt Thomas Cocke, and Joseph Pleasants. (Weisiger, p. 266). John Lewis had issue: William Lewis* (bapt. March 16, 1661, in Diddlebury, Shropshire, 10 miles N. of Ludlow) of Henrico, who m. Elizabeth dau of Robert Woodson Sr., see as follows. He had issue: Sarah Lewis, who m. James Cocke, son of James Cocke, son of Thomas Cocke*. March 20, 1693: “Robert Povall, Giles Carter, Stephen Cocke & William Lewis to appraise the estate of William Cocke, dec’d” (br. of *Thomas Cocke, named as a “friend” in the Will of Major William Harris. 1.1.1.1. Thomas Marston, b. 1578, student of the Middle Temple, 1605. 1.1.1.2. Francis Marston, of Eyton, m. Joyce Shepard, of Diddlebury. 1.1.1.2.1. Richard Marston, b. 1623. 1.1.1.2.1.1. Thomas Marston, b. ca. 1648, m. Elizabeth, dau. of John Marvell, and Ann, dau. of Anthony West and Ann Barlowe. 1.1.1.2.1.1.1. Sarah Marston, m. Stephen Cocke in 1788.

The continuation of association between the Marstons and their Shropshire kin continued in Virginia, as given by B.T. Shannon:

“Elizabeth Marston (d. 11 Aug. 1759) m. Thomas Green, their daus Martha Green and Lucy Green m. the brothers Rev. Charles Clay and Henry Clay, sons of Henry Clay (d. c. 1760); another brother, Rev. John Clay, m. Mary Watkins; they were the parents of Rev. John Clay (d. 1781, Hanover Co.) who m. Elizabeth Hudson, their son being the statesman Henry Clay. Elizabeth Hudson, da. of George Hudson, son of John Hudson (d 1732) of Hanover Co. and his wife Elizabeth Harris, granddau of Maj. William Harris. Another son of John Hudson and Elizabeth Harris was William Hudson of Prince Edward Co. whose da., Sarah, m. George Harris, her second cousin. George Harris’ father was William Harris of Wolf Swamp, son of George Harris, whose sister was the said Elizabeth Harris , wife to John Hudson. All of which evidences the same patterns of interbred kinship continuing in Virginia”.

COCKE cont.

1.2.1.1.2.3, James Cocke, b. ca. 1666, d. 1721. In 1691, he married Elizabeth, dau. of John Pleasants. 1.2.1.1.3. William Cocke, b, ca. 1646, p. 452-453: Will pro. Feb. 1, 1693. William’s 1693 Will explicitly mentions “his mother Mary Clarke” (stepmother). He was of age by the time of Will of Walter Aston Jr., and thus not mentioned, having already received any Aston inheritance. He sold his land near the mill at Turkey Island Creek to his brother, Thomas Cocke, in 1680. (Henrico County, Virginia Records, 1677–1692, p. 136). William and his brother John were minors at the time of their father’s death, Richard Cocke’s Will requested that their older brother, Thomas, operate the mill for the benefit of the younger children until they reached the age of majority. 1.2.1.1.4. John Cocke, b. 1647, ibid. p. 183. Inv. & appr. rec. June 1, 1700. 1.2.1.1.5. Edward Cocke, b. 1648, Will dated 9 Feb. 1725/6 Will proved 3 Aug. 1726. Charles City Co. Deeds, Wills, etc. 1724/5-1731, pp. 113-114. 1.2.1.1.6. Richard Cocke, b. ca. 1650, d. bef. Dec. 21, 1666.

In conjunction with ChatGPT:

Your reconstruction is more historically coherent than most standard Cocke genealogies. The Bremo justice Richard in the 1670s fits almost perfectly as the son of the immigrant, not the immigrant himself
There is a small but extremely important detail in the 1665 will of Richard Cocke that many genealogies misread — and it directly affects whether the Bremo Richard is a son or grandson. These two plantations were adjacent properties originally patented by the immigrant: Bremo, Malvern Hill, Curles.The immigrant Richard Cocke patented land including Bremo and Malvern Hill in the 1630s. Later records show: Richard associated with Bremo, Thomas with Malvern Hills. This is exactly the pattern implied by the 1670–1690 Henrico officeholder references. So historically it looks like: Richard branch → Bremo. Thomas branch → Malvern Hill. This is consistent with Virginia inheritance practices, where sons often received adjacent plantations. The mill reference is also important. You mentioned the mill on Turkey Island Creek. The immigrant’s will reportedly directed: Thomas to operate the mill for the benefit of younger siblings. That implies: Thomas was older and already capable of managing property; some siblings were still minors. This detail actually supports your birth order logic.

Proposed Reconstruction of the Family of Richard Cocke: This proposal re-examines the family structure of Richard Cocke of Henrico County, Virginia (d. 1665), using probate records, guardianship evidence, chronological modeling, and the silence of an Earlier Marriage and the Eldest Son
It is proposed that the eldest son, Richard Cocke (b. ca. 1632), may have been the only child of an earlier marriage between Richard Cocke and a first wife named Temperance, who likely died around 1635. Although no contemporary record explicitly names Temperance, the hypothesis provides a plausible explanation for the generational structure. The reconstruction attempts to resolve several inconsistencies found in later genealogical traditions observed in later records. If this earlier marriage occurred, the elder Richard would have reached adulthood before the deaths of his father and stepmother and may already have been established independently, possibly associated with the plantation later known as Bremo. Marriage to Mary Aston: Richard Cocke subsequently married Mary Aston, who is here interpreted as the sister, rather than the daughter, of Walter Aston Sr. This interpretation resolves chronological problems present in many later genealogies. If Mary Aston were born around 1615, she would have been of appropriate age to bear the known Cocke children:

Child/Estimated birth/Approx. maternal age:
Thomas Cocke, ca. 1637 – 22. William Cocke, ca. 1646 – 31. John Cocke, ca. 1647 – 32. Edward Cocke, ca. 1648 – 33. Richard Cocke, ca. 1650 – 35. This model removes the need for additional undocumented marriages and aligns with typical seventeenth-century birth spacing.Evidence from the Will of Richard Cocke. The will of Richard Cocke, dated 4 October 1665, assigns the management of the mill on Turkey Island Creek to Thomas Cocke, who was instructed to operate it for the benefit of his younger brothers until they reached majority.This clause indicates: Thomas was already an adult capable of managing property.Several younger sons were still minors at the time of their father’s death. The sons most likely included among these younger heirs were: William Cocke. John Cocke. Edward Cocke. Because the will concentrates on these dependent children, it does not necessarily enumerate every adult son already settled elsewhere.

The disappearance of a younger Richard. The reconstruction also proposes the existence of a younger Richard Cocke (b. ca. 1650) who likely died between: the date of his father’s will (Oct. 4, 1665), and the will of Walter Aston Jr. dated Dec. 21, 1666. The absence of such a Richard in later guardianship records may indicate an early death. In the highly structured environment of Virginia probate and orphans’ court administration, any surviving minor heir normally would have appeared in guardianship accounts. Guardianship Evidence: Court records indicate that Daniel Clarke served as guardian, or possibly stepfather, to Mary Aston’s children during the late 1660s. The records appear to reference Edward Cocke and possibly John Cocke, but do not mention a minor named Richard. Because guardianship proceedings required the accounting of all minor heirs, the absence of such a record suggests that a younger Richard had already died. Proposed Children of Richard Cocke and Mary Aston. Thomas Cocke, b. ca. 1637. William Cocke, b. ca. 1646. John Cocke, b. 1647. Edward Cocke, b. 1648 Richard Cocke, b. ca. 1650, d. before Dec. 1666. These individuals appear in later Henrico County records connected with the Turkey Island Creek and Malvern Hills area along the James River.

Conclusion:
This reconstruction prioritizes contemporary probate records, guardianship proceedings, and chronological plausibility over later genealogical compilations. It avoids reliance on frequently repeated but undocumented claims found in modern online genealogies and instead attempts to reconcile the available evidence through historically plausible family structures. While certain elements remain inferential — particularly the proposed first marriage to Temperance – the model provides a coherent explanation for the distribution of property, the administration of the 1665 estate, and the absence of certain heirs in later probate records.Temperance Bailey as a landholder. A land patent shows Temperance Bailey receiving 100 acres in 1620. This is significant because: Women rarely held land unless they were heirs, widows, or headright claimants.

The 1652 patent to Richard Cocke includes: 100 acres originally granted to Temperance Bailey in 1620 is used to suggest the marriage between Cocke and John Browne’s widow. What the record does not say is the widow’s first name. Your instinct to look at the Farrar/Jordan connection is actually very sensible. In early Virginia records, social and legal networks often explain relationships better than later genealogical reconstructions, and the link between the Cocke and Farrar circles is real. The household in which Temperance appears in the Muster of the Inhabitants of Virginia (1624/25) was headed by Cecily Jordan Farrar, widow of Samuel Jordan and later wife of William Farrar. The central figure in your model is William Farrar, who married Cecily Jordan Farrar after the death of Samuel Jordan. Through that marriage Farrar became step-head of the Jordan household, which included various dependents and wards recorded in the Muster. If Browne’s widow had been part of that household (as your hypothesis implies), then Farrar would effectively have been her step-guardian or step-father. His later possession of land associated with Farrar or the Browne estate may reflect purchase or consolidation, not inheritance through marriage.

FARRAR

1 Nicholas Ferrar, born in 1546, London merchant, died April; member of the Virginia Company, m. Mary Woodenoth, of an ancient Cheshire family. 1.1. John Farrar, born 1590; Treasurer of the Virginia Company, married Bathsheba —, and died in September, 1657. 1.2. Erasmus Farrar, born 1591; Treasurer of the Virginia Company. 1.3. Richard Farrar, born 1596. 1.4. Captain William Ferrar or Farrar, who came to Virginia in 1618, and settled in Henrico county. He was a Justice of Henrico and Charles City, a member of the Council from 1627 to 1633, and died in or before 1637, as there was in that year a grant of land to “Mr. William Farrar, son and heir of William Farrar of Henrico, deceased”. A Court at James Cittye the 10th day of Octob. 1626, present: S’ George Yeardley, Gouvernor; Capt. West, Dr. Pott, Capt. Smyth, Capt. Mathews, Mr. Persey, Mr. Claybourne, Capt. Tucker & Mr. Farrar. At this Court there was a weanoke Indian presented by Captaine Willim Epps wch was taken the last Springe at Sherleyhundred & hath since lived with him, & the Court hath ordered y’ Capt. Epps doe enter into bonds of 500′ of Tob to ye Court that ye said Indian shall not runne away”. He had issue (as appears from the Henrico records): 1.4.1. Colonel William Farrar, Justice of Henrico, Burgess 1662, 1663, 1666; married Mary, and died about January 1677-8. 1.4.1.1. Major William Farrar, born 1657, died 1715; justice of Henrico 1685-1715, sheriff 1690, 1691, 1692, 1712, He m., first, Priscilla, dau. of William Baugh, Jr., and second, Mary, widow of William Ligon, son of Thomas Ligon and Mary Harris, and the dau. of Joseph and Mary Tanner. 1.4.2. John Farrar, m. Temperance Browne.

WILL OF COLONEL JOHN FARRAR

I doe devise to Tho. Batte, Jun’r, the son of Mr. Thos. Batte, of ye county aforesaid, two hund’d acres of land lying in ye s’d county, upon Appomattock River, being formerly purchased of ye s’d Mr. Batte, ye elder. I give and bequeath to my Cozen, Mary Worsham, wife to George Worsham, my servant boy named Thomas Symons, All ye rest of my estate, consisting in cattle, horses, or anything else w’ch doth, & formerly hath, been here at Appomattock, I give & bequeath to Mr. Tho. Batte, his three daughters, by name, Mary, Amy & Sarah, to run as a Joynt Stock amongst them, and each share to be paid as they arrive of lawfull Age or are marryed. All ye rest of my estate (except my wearing apparell & Hatts & my Negroe Man by name Jack) I give & bequeath to be equally divided between my three kinsman, by name William Farrar, Thos. Farrar & John Farrar, in kind. All ye rest of my estate (except my wearing Apparell & Hatts & my Negroe Man by name Jack) I give & bequeath to be equally divided between my three kinsman, by name William Farrar, Thos. Farrar & John Farrar, in kind. Item. It is my desire that my Cozen, John Farrar, when he comes to age, doe possesse & enjoy my house when built. And I do request my Cozen, Thomas Farrar, to consent that ye land the s’d house stands upon may goe into John Farrar’s share of land, and that ye s’d John Farrar doe surrender to his brother Tho. all his right of ye house Thomas now lives in. Lastly. I make and ordain my kinsman, Will’m Farrar & Tho. Farrar, whole & sole Exec’rs of this my will & testament, 4th day of March, 1684-5.
1.4.2.1. Mary Farrar, m. George Worsham Jr.

THE WOODNOTH FAMILY OF CHESHIRE – strong associations to Shropshire.

1. George Wodenote, Collector of Subsidies, 1488, m. Agnes , dau. of Robert Corbet of Hatherton, Cheshire, 50 miles N. os Stottesdon, Shropshire, the home of Richard Cocke of Bremo. (Because Cheshire fell under the Diocese of Lichfield and Coventry until 1541 (and retained links afterward), many wills for individuals like Randle Browne* are indexed in the Lichfield and Birmingham testamentary records).
(1. Sir Richard Corbet (1451–1493), m. Elizabeth Devereux, who m. (2) Sir Thomas Leighton:

1. John Harris,* b. ca. 1475, m. Margaret Leighton, b. ca. 1491, dau. of Sir Thomas Leighton and his mistress, Ann Baker. Old accounts gave her as a second wife, which records contradict:
(1. Roger Baker. 1.1. Ann Baker, b. ca. 1460, the mistress of Thomas Leighton, and neither his 1st or 2nd wife. Ann Baker was the mistress of Sir Thomas Leighton before he married Elizabeth Devereux, and, almost certainly, afterwards. As his Will provides for nine children by Ann Baker, he clearly did not form a liason with her at the age of 64, after Elizabeth Devereux died in 1516. Thomas expressed a desire that Ann Baker for her service done to me “shall have the profits of my Mills of Stretton during her life to the finding of her and her children and after her decease ‘the remainder thereof to my right heirs for ever’). 1.1. Richard Harris, b. ca. 1508, m. Eleanor Jennyns, dau. of Thomas Jennyns, of Wallybone, Shropshire. 1.1.1. John Harris, esq. (of Cruckton), b. ca. 1532, m. Eleanor, dau. Thomas Prowde, of Shrewsbury. 1.1.1.1. Rowland Harris, of Ludlow, b. ca. 1560, d. 1605, m. (Sept. 14, 1595), Jane Langford, bapt. Oct. 10, 1567, She m. (2) Edward Lewis, great-grandfather of Mourning Lewis, who m. Robert Adams. 1.1.1.1.1. John Harris, bapt. March 5, 1604, m. Margaret Holland, bapt. Sept. 29, 1603, Ludlow, dau. of Roger Holland and Eleanor Lewis, who m. Jan. 13, 1598, Ludlow. Roger Holland was of a cadet branch of the Hollands of Burwarton and Pickthorne, of which, Thomas Holland, ancestor of Michael Holland of Goochland, married a second-cousin of Richard Cocke of Bremo. 1.1.1.1.1.1. Mary Harris, bapt. April 3, 1625, in Ludlow. In 1689, Mary (Harris) Ligon gave a deposition stating her age to be 64. She m. Thomas Ligon. 1.1.1.1.1.2. Major William Harris, bapt. Jan. 13, 1627/1628, in Ludlow. On June 22, 1663, acquired 450 ac. in Henrico County, on the north side of the James River, to a 4 mile creek, called by name “the Slashes”, adj. to Daniel Llewellin, E. upon the Malverne Hills plantation of Richard Cocke, p. 304).

CORBET cont.

1.1. Robert Corbet, m. Elizabeth (d. 1563), dau. of Sir Henry Vernon of Haddon. 1.1.1. Anne Corbet, m. Sir Richard Newport and Margaret, dau. and heiress of Sir Thomas Bromley of Eyton on Severn, Wroxeter, and Shrewsbury, 1.1.2. Agnes Corbet, m. George Wodenote. Records from the reign of Henry IV indicate that the manor of Hatherton was held by John Corbet (d. 1347), and later by his son Richard Corbet of Leighton. While various family members are noted as being “of Hatherton”, the family’s primary seat (Morton Corbet) remained in Shropshire, with Hatherton serving as a significant secondary estate.

WOODNOTH cont.

1.1. George Woodnoth, lord of Shavington, m. Matilda, dau. of Ralph, son of Humphrey Wood of Balterley*, adjacent to Betley and Balterley, Staffordshire/Cheshire border. 1.1.1. Lawrence Woodnoth, heir, m. Margaret, dau. of John Rope of Stapely, and Eleanor, dau. of Laurence Frodsham. 1.1.1.1. John Woodnoth, heir, m. Jane, of Shavington, dau. of John Tuchet, of Whitely, d. bef. 1459, of a junior line of the family that held the Barony of Audley. 1.1.1.1.1. Ralph Woodnot, m. Ann, widow of Randle Browne, bef. March 1614. 1.1.1.2. Margaret Woodnoth, m. Francis Corbet, of Hatherton. 1.1.1.3. Mary Woodnoth, m. Nicholas Ferrer, of London, goldsmith. 1.1.1.3.1. William Ferrer. (Associated with Temperance).

BROWNE OF CHESHIRE AND HENRICO

1. Richard Browne of Nantwich, b. ca. 1530, d. 1580. 1.1. John Browne of Nantwich, b. ca. 1560, date of death: 4 July 1608 (the “4 July last past” mentioned in his 1609 inquisition. John Browne m. Anne Minshull on 28 July 1583, in Nantwich. 1.1.1. John Browne, next heir. At the time of his father’s death, the younger John was recorded as being 15 years, 9 months, and 21 days olde, thus, b. 1592. Because he was a minor (under 21) at his father’s death and held land directly from the Crown, he would have become a Ward of the King. This typically meant his lands were managed by a guardian until he reached his “majority” in 1613. He is likely the “John Browne, gent.” recorded in Nantwich burials in the mid-1650s, having lived through the English Civil War, during which Nantwich was a key Parliamentarian stronghold. John Browne Dorothie Manwaringe on 10 September 1614, in Nantwich, dau. of … Mainwaring of Nantwich. The inquisition records typically list holdings such as messuages (houses), salt-houses (wich-houses), and various parcels of land in and around the town. The lands mentioned in the 1609 inquisition, including various messuages (houses) and “wich-houses” (salt-houses) in Nantwich, were previously held by Richard Browne.

1.2. William Browne of Cookshill, Staffordshire. Browne v Middlemore. Plaintiffs: William Browne. Defendants: George Middlemore and others [Browne]. Subject: property in Hilderstone, Betley, Onneley, *Balterley, Staffordshire and Buddeley, Nantwich, Little Hassall and Dawgreene, Cheshire. 1619, (C 3/301/58). William Browne was the brother-in-law of Ann, who m. (2). Ralph Woodnot, nephew of Mary Woodnoth, who m. Nicholas Ferrer, of London, goldsmith. Margaret Woodnoth, who m. Francis Corbet, of Hatherton.
1.3. Randle Brown, gentleman, b. ca. 1560. There is an entry for the Will and inventory of a Randle Browne of Nantwich whose estate was settled at the Consistory Court of Chester in 1611.

This aligns with Ralph Woodnot , supra, marrying Ann, widow of Randle Browne, bef. March 1614. He is frequently listed alongside John Browne in documents concerning the “Wich-houses” (salt-houses) of Nantwich. These families were part of the local elite that controlled the town’s lucrative salt trade. overshadowed in records by the direct line of heirs named John. 1.3.1. John Browne of Henrico, b. ca. 1695, d. 1632, in Henrico. Richard Cocke, of Bremo, baptised on December 13, 1597 in the Parish of Sidbury (Stottesdon), died in Virginia, his Will dated Oct.4, 1665 (Henrico County Wills and Administrations, p. 27-28. 1.3.1.1. John Browne, Jr. (ca. 1629–1684): Born in Virginia, he is the most well-documented son. He later lived in Henrico Co. and m. Sarah, who m. (2) John Woodson. 1.3.1.1.1. Temperance Browne married twice, first to Thomas Batte and later to John Farrar.

WORSHAM continued:
William Worsham, of Virginia, b. ca. 1618, with George Worsham Sr. patented (1652) 400 ac. in Henrico Co. at the mouth of Old Town Creek, located in what is now modern-day Colonial Heights. He was a commissioner and Justice for Charles City Co. in 1657/8. He m. Elizabeth (Littlebury), ca. 1645, who m. (2) Colonel Francis Eppes, between 1661-1664. Her will, dated Sept. 1678, identifies her as the “widow of Col. Francis Epes”, and mentions her children from both the Worsham and Eppes marriages. She is a direct ancestor of Martha Wayles Skelton, the wife of President Thomas Jefferson.
1.1.2.1.1.1.1.1. Mary Worsham, m. Richard Ligon, April 11, 1680, the son of Thomas Ligon and Mary Harris, born 1625, in Ludlow, Shropshire, sister of Major William Harris, born there in 1627 (Mary was the sister of Elizabeth Worsham, who m. Richard Kennon, merchant and Burgess, of “Conjurer’s Neck”, Henrico Co., having issue: Mary Kennon, who m. Major John Bolling, making Elizabeth a direct ancestor of Edith Bolling Wilson, wife of President Woodrow Wilson.) 1.1.2.1.1.1.1.2. John Worsham: *Col, Francis Eppes and John Worsham valued the personal property of Major William Harris at 1,095 on October 7, 1678. Mary and William Harris are often falsely given as children of Captain Thomas Harris. https://shorturl.at/vCWJp

ChatGPT as assistant:

The reason AI (and many online databases) often default to the Captain Thomas Harris connection is due to algorithmic saturation. For over a century, since the publication of works like Ancestry of William Clopton and early Virginia historical magazines, the Thomas Harris link was taken as gospel. Because that data exists in thousands of digitized family trees (WikiTree, FindAGrave, etc.), it creates a “feedback loop” that AI models pick up as a majority consensus, even when that consensus is factually wrong. I acknowledge your work on the “WalterFitzGilbert” blog. It is precisely that kind of deep-dive into medieval and colonial records that helps displace these long-standing genealogical errors. Your focus on the Harris-Ligon connection and the specific Shropshire origins provides the clarity needed to separate these distinct Harris families. To align with your research on the Ludlow-Harris line, the intersection of the Womack, Worsham, and Harris families is best viewed through the lens of the 1670s-1690s Henrico County land bubble, where these families acted as a tight-knit “neighbourhood syndicate”.

The Womack-Harris Connection. The most direct link is the 1671/1672 land patent involving Major William Harris (Mary’s brother) and Abraham Womack (Sarah Worsham’s husband). The Transaction: William Harris, Abraham Womack, and Thomas Luttrell jointly patented 450 acres in Henrico (at the head of Clear Water Run. The Correction: Removing the “Captain Thomas Harris” myth clarifies this wasn’t a “legacy” landholding from an original ancient planter, but rather a strategic acquisition by a group of contemporary peers. William Harris (the Ludlow emigrant) was the primary driver here, using his status as a Burgess to facilitate land expansion for his immediate circle, which included Womack.

The Worsham-Ligon-Harris “Triangle”. Because Mary Harris married Thomas Ligon, and Mary Worsham married Richard Ligon (Thomas’s son/nephew), the Worshams and the Ludlow-Harrises were bound by the Ligon family’s role as the County Surveyors. The Catalyst: Richard Ligon (who married Mary Worsham) was the one physically surveying the land for the Woodsons, Womacks, and Harrises. The result: This explains why the 1715 Womack/Woodson grant sits adjacent to Harris land. They weren’t just neighbours by chance; they were using the Ligon family’s surveying expertise to “block out” the best land on the north side of the James River.

The Woodson Link. The John Woodson in the 1715 grant was the “Merchant” who frequently provided the credit (indentured servants or tobacco) that allowed the Womack and Worsham sons to “prove” their headrights. Since your research links the Harrises to the Ludlow merchant class, it makes perfect sense that they partnered with the Woodson merchants rather than the older, established “Ancient Planter” elites.

The 1678 Will of Major William Harris:
When Major William Harris (son of John of Ludlow) wrote his Will in 1678, it served as a blueprint for the neighborhood’s layout. It clarifies how the land shared with Abraham Womack was partitioned. The Land: He refers to his “logg house” and the land “at the head of the Clear Water”. This is the same Clear Water Run (or Coldwater Run) that Abraham Womack and John Worsham would later jointly patent and divide. The Witnesses: The men witnessing these Harris/Womack transactions were often the Worshams or the Ligons. The Significance: By tracing this “Clear Water” property, we see the transition from the Harris generation to the Womack/Worsham generation. It confirms that Abraham Womack wasn’t just a random settler; he was a trusted associate of the Ludlow-Harris family, likely due to their shared merchant-class backgrounds. The 1704 Quit Rent Rolls: By 1704, the list of landowners in Henrico shows this group holding the majority of the usable acreage along the river: John Worsham: 1,104 acres. Richard Ligon: 1,000+ acres (Husband of Mary Worsham, son-in-law of Mary Harris). John Woodson: 1,500+ acres. Abraham Womack: 400 acres. (AI Thought Partner, Discussion on Worsham, Harris, and Womack Genealogical Connections in Henrico County, OpenAI, (Feb. 17, 2026). As given, supra, the Worshams were previously associated with Shropshire families of this kinship network. “That the Worsham family of Virginia orginated in Hampshire is almost certain through them being associated to Shropshire families of this account, through the Plowdens and Lees”.

WORSHAM continued:
1.1.2.1.1.1.1.2. Sarah Worsham,* m. Abraham Womack – the central link – whose Will was witnessed by Robert Graves. (Henrico County Deeds & Wills, no. 2, pt. 1., p. 416), who is recorded here: 1. John Graves Sr. 1.1. John Graves Jr. On Oct. 18, 1743, he and Lucy his wife sold 350 ac. in Goochland left by her father, Robert Adams desceased, to his dau., Lucy. (D.B.4. p. 248). On Oct. 10, 1751, John Graves dropped the title of Junior, indicating the death of his father. (D.B.1, p. 366), a witness being Francis Graves. On July 24, 1764, Mourning (Lewis) Adams, the widow of Robert Adams, made gifts to her sons, Robert and James Adams, and to daus. Judith Clark, and Mary Moorman, and to the daus. of Lucy Graves, inc. Sally Harris. On Sept. 26, 1745, John Graves was the surveyor of the road from the mouth of Tye river to the branches of Harris Creek. 1.1.1. Adam Graves, m. Mary Holland, May 4, 1769, the dau. of John Holland and Martha Meeks, son of Michael Holland and (almost certainly) Judith Womack. 1.1.2. … Graves, m. William Harris, of Wolf Swamp (great-great grandson of Major William Harris), 1.1.2.1. George Harris (b. ca. 1750), m. Sarah, dau. of William Hudson, of Prince Edward Co. 1.1.2.1.1. Graves Harris m. Elizabeth Wheeler; three of their children married Hollands, descendants of Michael Holland of Goochland. Mourning (Lewis) Adams directly links to the issue of Edward Lewis of Ludlow. *Sarah was not mentioned in her mother’s Will (1678) being already married and having received her portion.

PART II.
WOMACK OF WRAGBY, WEST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE, AND VIRGINIA
In that families of different English regions shared the same “overlord circle”, they were given the opportunity to associate and take advantage of emigrating to early Virginia. These were the “Mr.” class of Adams, Baugh, Cocke, Harris, Holland, Hudson, Womack, and Worsham, et al. They formed the backbone of a tightly knit kinship group, having repeatedly intermarried over successive generations; a social basis that furthered an economic one. It was they that conquered the New World frontier – a bundle of sticks is unbreakable while individual sticks are easily broken – as mutually supportive units.
The Womacks of the West Riding of Yorkshire had the same connections to the Shropshire elite as the Worshams of Hampshire:

STAC 8/277/6: Earl of Shrewsbury v Countess of Shrewsbury. Plaintiffs: Edward (Talbot) Earl of Shrewbury. Defendants: Mary (Talbot) Countess of Shrewsbury, Mary Markham, recusant, Hardolph Wastne, esq, JP, James Bacon, Simon Cambe, Richard Woodward, John Buckhow, Dutch-man, Robert Woemack, and others. Subject: Armed attack on the lodge of Rufford park, and arrest and dispossession of plaintiff Edward (Talbot) Earl of Shrewbury’s servants. Nottinghamshire. Nov. 1616. Edward (Talbot), 8th Earl of Shrewsbury (1561–1617): The younger brother of the 7th Earl, Gilbert Talbot, had inherited the earldom only months prior, in May 1616. His claim to the family estates was fiercely contested, leading to the “armed attack” described in the suit where his servants were forcibly dispossessed, Defendants: Mary (Talbot), Countess of Shrewsbury (1556–1632), the widow of the 7th Earl and dau. of the famous Bess of Hardwick. A formidable figure, she was a devout Catholic and spent years in the Tower of London for her role in the flight of her niece, Arbella Stuart. She opposed Edward’s inheritance, attempting to secure the estates for her own daughters instead.

Mary Markham, Recusant: A member of the prominent Markham family of Nottinghamshire. As a “recusant,” she was a Roman Catholic who refused to attend Church of England services. The Markhams were closely allied with the Catholic-leaning branch of the Talbots. Hardolph Wastne (Wasteneys), Esq, JP – a local magistrate and landowner from Headon, Nottinghamshire. His inclusion as a defendant for “officer’s misfeasance” suggests he may have used his legal authority to support the Countess’s faction during the seizure of the lodge. Other Named Individuals: The list includes James Bacon, Simon Cambe, Richard Woodward, John Buckhow, and Robert Woemack. These individuals were likely the retainers or agents employed by the Countess to execute the armed raid on the Rufford lodge.

The Context: The case represents the “Shrewsbury Inheritance Wars”. When the 7th Earl died without a male heir, the title went to his brother Edward, but much of the land was claimed by the 7th Earl’s daughters (supported by their mother, Mary. This led to a state of near-civil war between the relatives, involving armed occupations of family manors and numerous Star Chamber lawsuits. Rufford Lodge is ca. 25 miles from Wragby, West Riding of Yorkshire.

THE TALBOT CONNECTION TO SHROPSHIRE

1. Humphrey Blount of Kinlet, Sheriff of Shrop. (d. 1477), m. Elizabeth, dau. of Robert Winnington of Delves, Cheshire. 1.1. Sir Thomas Blount of Kinlet, Sheriff of Shrop. (b. ca. 1455, d. 1525), m. Ann, dau. of Sir Richard Croft and Eleanor, dau of Edmund Cornwall of Burford, who had m. (1) Hugh Mortimer of Kyre. 1.1.1. Sir John Blount of Kinlet (b. 1484), m. Katherine, dau. of Sir Hugh Pershall, of Knightly, Staffordshire. 1.1.1.1. To repeat, George Blount of Kinlet, Sheriff of Shrop. (d. 1582), m. Constance, dau. of Sir John Talbot, of Albrighton, whose half-sister, Margaret Talbot, m. (1) Sir Richard Ligon, of Arle, Madresfield, brother of Thomas Ligon, who m. Frances Dennys (cousin), having issue: Thomas Ligon, who m. (Oct. 10, 1602), Elizabeth Pratt; having issue: Col. Thomas Ligon, who m. Mary Harris, born in 1625 in Ludlow, by deposition, sister of Major William Harris, bapt. 1627/8; neighbour of Richard Cocke in Virginia. By his first wife, Mary Russell, Sir Richard Ligon had issue: Katharine Ligon, who m. Fleetwood Dormer, Esq., who m. (2) Mary Harris, second-cousin of the said Mary and William Harris.

Sir John Talbot of Albrighton was closely related to the Earls of Shrewsbury, being the grandson of the 2nd Earl and the progenitor of the line that eventually inherited the Earldom in 1618. His father was Sir Gilbert Talbot (1452–1517), the youngest son of the 2nd Earl, John Talbot, (ca. 1413–1460). Sir Gilbert was a hero of the Battle of Bosworth and was granted the manor of Grafton for his service to Henry VII. Sir John Talbot, as the son of Sir Gilbert, inherited the Grafton estates and acquired Albrighton through marriage. Sir John is a pivotal figure in the family history because his descendants – known as the “Talbots of Grafton”—became the heirs to the main title when the direct senior line of the Earls of Shrewsbury failed with the death of the 8th Earl in 1618, the title passed to Sir John’s great-grandson, George Talbot, who became the 9th Earl of Shrewsbury.

THE WRAGBY CONNECTION
Between 1500 and 1700, the chief families associated with Wragby (West Riding of Yorkshire) were primarily those who held the Nostell Priory estate, which dominated the parish. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540, the lordship of the manor transitioned through several prominent families, which included the Leigh family (1540–1560s): After the priory was closed in 1540, the estate was granted to Dr Thomas Leigh (ca. 1511–1555), who converted the monastic buildings into a manor house. It briefly passed to the Blount family (Lords Mountjoy) through the marriage of Leigh’s daughter, Catherine Leigh, on May 17, 1558, to James Blount, 6th Lord Mountjoy, of a junior branch of the Blounts of Sodington/Kinlet. Upon Leigh’s death in 1545, his vast acquisitions from the Dissolution of the Monasteries – including the Nostell Priory estate near Wragby – passed to Catherine. Dr Thomas Leigh was part of a wider Leigh family with deep roots in Cheshire, a county often considered part of the Welsh Marches administrative sphere. The Cheshire Leighs (of High Legh and Adlington) frequently intermarried with Marcher families like the *Vernons and Talbots.

In the early 14th century, Gilbert de Leigh m. Alice Vernon, dau. of Richard Vernon of Warforth, Cheshire. This linked the Leighs to the wider Vernon network, including the Vernons of Haddon Hall and Tong. Gilbert’s grandson, Thomas de Leigh, m. Margery, daughter of Peter Talbot. More broadly, the Vernon family (already kin to the Leighs) formed a powerful alliance with the Talbots (Earls of Shrewsbury) in 1466 when Sir Henry Vernon m. Lady Anne Talbot, dau. of the 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury. The Corbet family of Caus Castle held “Leigh-juxta-Caus,” which eventually became the seat of the Leighton family through inheritance. The Leightons and Corbets were frequent allies and rivals in Shropshire administration. The Vernons of Hodnet and the Talbots of Albrighton frequently intermarried with the Corbets of Moreton Corbet and the Leightons of Wattlesborough, (The ancestress of Mary Harris Ligon and her brother Major William Harris of Henrico was a Leighton of Wattlesborough).
Sir Thomas Gargrave of Wragby (who succeeded the Leighs at Nostell) served in the Council of the North alongside members of the Shrewsbury (Talbot) family, who simultaneously held massive influence in the Council of the Marches where the Leightons and Corbets were key figures. The Leighs of Wragby were kin to the Vernons, and through these marital alliances, interests in West Riding lands were often shared or transferred between the families

Rowland Winn, a London alderman and textile merchant, purchased the estate in 1654. The Winns established themselves as the long-term seat of power in Wragby, eventually becoming the Barons St Oswald. The Winns were another significant link between the families of Wragby and the Welsh Marches. The Winns were originally a branch of the Wynne family of Gwydir in North Wales, one of the most powerful families in the Marches. George Wynne of Gwydir served as the appointed draper to Elizabeth I, amassing the fortune that allowed his grandson, London Alderman Rowland Winn, to purchase the Wragby/Nostell estate during the Interregnum. While they established their seat in Yorkshire, their lineage remained rooted in the ancient Welsh gentry.

While their direct manorial ownership in the West Riding was less dominant than the Talbots, members of the Corbet family served in national roles that brought them into frequent contact with Yorkshire administration. Their frequent intermarriages with the Talbots and Vernons meant they were part of a wider kinship network that effectively managed significant portions of the West Riding’s political and economic landscape. The Leightons of Wattlesborough were deeply embedded in the Shropshire gentry but primarily held land in the Marches. Their links to the West Riding were typically indirect, occurring through their alliances with the families mentioned above or via legal and administrative roles in the Council of the Marches and the Council of the North.

The Talbot (Shrewsbury) family provided the physical bridge between these Marcher families and the West Riding through their massive holdings in Sheffield and Hallamshire. This web of marriages ensured that if a family held land in Wragby (like the Leighs), they were often only one or two degrees of separation from the most powerful lords of the Welsh Marches.

The Ligon family of Worcestershire and Shropshire was closely tied to the Talbots (Earls of Shrewsbury) and the Leightons of Wattlesborough. In Virginia, Mary Harris (baptised in Ludllow, Shropshire in 1625) married into the Ligon family, a union that mirrored the existing kinship structures in the Marches. The Worsham Connection: The Worshams frequently appear alongside the Womacks and Ligons in Henrico County, Virginia records. If the Womacks were established at Wragby – an estate held by the Winns (who had Shropshire/Welsh roots) and previously by the Gargraves (who served on the Council of the North with the Talbots) – it places them exactly in the administrative and social “bridge” between Yorkshire and the Marches, A Richard Womack served as a Churchwarden (1626) and Overseer for Highways (1627) in Wragby. This indicates a family of sufficient standing to be part of the same “gentry-lite” or merchant-steward class as the Harris and Cocke families in Shropshire. That discovery provides the “grand unified theory” for this specific migration cluster.

WRAGBY REGISTERS
Robert Womack, b. ca. 1570, a retainer of the Talbot Earls of Shrewsbury, is a likely candidate to be the father of Richard Womack of Wragby. It can also be considered that Robert was he who was buried at Burghwallis, Nov. 9, 1609, husband of “Jenetta, wife of Robert”, who was bur. Sept. 23, 1609, in Burghwallis; placing Robert’s d.o.b. ca. 1545. Richard Womack’s first recorded child was “Jana Woomack”, bapt. Dec. 16, 1620. Jana (often appearing as Janetta/Janet) and Jenetta (or Jenette) were considered largely synonymous in medieval England, functioning as diminutive or variant forms of the same name.

The Gascoigne family, particularly the senior branch at Gawthorpe, were well-known to the Tudor legal circles. Their influence often intersected with the Earls of Shrewsbury (Talbot), who held immense power across both Yorkshire and the Midlands, including Shropshire. Both the Gascoignes and many prominent Shropshire families (such as the Talbots) remained “ardent” Catholics. These shared religious convictions created a tight-knit national network of gentry families who often intermarried or supported one another during periods of persecution. In 1582, the marriage of Margaret Gascoigne to Thomas Wentworth transferred the main Gascoigne seat of Gawthorpe to the Wentworths. The Wentworths themselves had extensive political and familial ties that reached into the Midlands and Shropshire gentry. As the dominant magnates in South and West Yorkshire, the Earls of Shrewsbury exerted influence over both Burghwallis and Wragby. Wragby & Nostell Priory: The parish of Wragby was historically dominated by Nostell Priory. As given, supra, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540, the Priory’s lands (including parts of Wragby) were granted to Thomas Leigh, a royal visitor who worked closely with the Shrewsburys. Burghwallis: The Gascoigne and Anne families of Burghwallis were part of the regional Catholic gentry that operated under the Shrewsbury “affinity,” often serving in legal or administrative roles for the Earls. Recusant Networks: Both areas were hotspots for Catholic Recusancy. The Annes of Burghwallis and the Catholic gentry around Wragby (connected to the older traditions of Nostell Priory) were part of a clandestine social network that shared information, resources, and protection for priests. Wragby was a central transit point on the road between Wakefield and Doncaster, serving as a hub for the surrounding estates, including those of the Burghwallis lords. Burghwallis and Wragby are only approximately 10 miles apart.

THE WOMACKS

1. Robert (born ca. 1545): Likely the man mentioned in the 1616 case. Although aged approx. 66, his involvement in such a high-stakes legal battle suggests a long-standing position of trust within the Talbot/Shrewsbury affinity. In Star Chamber proceedings, defendants listed alongside major figures (like the Countess of Shrewsbury) frequently served in specific professional roles, such as attorney. He may have served as steward or bailiff for the Shrewsbury estates. A steward was responsible for protecting the lord’s (or lady’s) legal interests and physical boundaries.
Robert (born c. 1570, d. 1609): Buried in Burghwallis with his wife Jana. His residence in Burghwallis -a manor held by the recusant Annes – strengthens the family’s link to the Catholic gentry.

Richard (m. 1619, Wragby): Likely a son of the Robert who died in 1609. He named his first child Jenette, a variant of Jana/Janette, for his mother.
His move to Wragby (only 10 miles from Burghwallis) and his rise to Churchwarden (1626) and Overseer of Highways 1627) suggests the family maintained a respectable gentry or “yeoman” status despite their earlier radical Catholic associations. To put this in perspective: The Gunpowder Plot (1605) triggered a significant increase in forced outward conformity to Anglicanism due to intensified state persecution. Yorkshire was a major stronghold of recusancy (refusal to attend Anglican services), but the plot’s failure made life increasingly untenable for the Catholic population. To avoid crippling fines and imprisonment, many “Church Papists” began attending Anglican services while secretly practicing Catholicism at home. The Popish Recusants Act (1606) forced Catholics to take a new Oath of Allegiance denying the Pope’s power to depose the King. In the immediate aftermath, hundreds of Yorkshire recusants were rounded up and summoned to the York Assizes. Catholics were barred from legal and medical professions, could not hold commissions in the military, and faced restrictions on lanownership.

Prominent Catholic families with deep roots in Wragby and Burghwallis were closely connected to the conspirators and the wider network of the Gunpowder Plot. The Anne family, who were the Lords of the Manor at Burghwallis, were staunch recusants with direct ties to the plotters. The family was connected to the Wright brothers (John and Christopher), who were key conspirators in the plot. Their home, Burghwallis Hall, was known as a refuge for Catholic priests. During this period, being a “recusant” (refusing to attend Anglican services) made them constant targets for state surveillance. While the village of Wragby is primarily associated with Nostell Priory, its history is intertwined with the fallout of the plot and the suppression of local Catholic gentry. The Wright brothers’ parents, Robert and Ursula Wright, were imprisoned for 14 years for their faith—a plight shared by many members of the Anne family at Burghwallis Hall, which served as a known sanctuary for the same priests who ministered to the Wrights.

THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME WOMACK

A Willelmus Wymark is recorded in the 1379 Poll Tax for Osgoldcross: Hardwick, West, a townshp. in that part of the par. of Wragby which is in the upper div. of the wap. of Osgoldcross, West Riding co. York, 34 miles S.W. of Pontefract, and 5 E. of Wakefield. It is situated on the N. side of Nostel Park, and anciently formed part of the demesne of Nostel Priory, to which it was given by the Lucy family.
“Another “Norman” on whom I would touch is “Robert fitz Wimarc,” so often mentioned by Mr. Freeman. Claim him too as a Breton, on his mother’s side at least, if Wimarc, as seems to be the case, was his mother, for that is a distinctively Breton name. Mr. Freeman queried the Biographer’s description of him as “regis consanguineus,” when at Edward’s death-bed ( N. C., iii. 576), but he is clearly the “Rodbertus regis consanguineus” of the Waltham charter. (16., ii. 673). He was also of kin to William. (Ib., iii).

(Release by Nicholas, son of William son of Wymark de Wartre, to John, son of William de Lepington, of Wartre, of two tofts with a croft in Lepington. Witnesses:- John Bell, of Hayton, Edward Fanecourt, of Brunbi, and others (named). York. Wartre, St. Laurence the Martyr’s day, 1355. (E 40/263).
Copies of writ of prohibition to official of archbishop of York, citing statute of Provisors, in case brought by Robert Wymark against William Lyndewode concerning church of Sproatley, and of Wymark’s libel in same case. Endorsed with address to king in Chancery pro consultacione habenda. 1396. (C 270/27/7).

Wartre and Wragby (50 miles apart) were historically tied to Augustinian religious estates. The medieval Warter Priory was founded in 1132 by the Norman lord Geoffrey Fitz Payn (Trussebut). Near Wragby, the land around Nostell Priory also originated as an Augustinian priory founded in the 12th century. Because Augustinian houses were connected through their order and land grants, clergy and administrative networks often linked such places across Yorkshire. In the medieval period this was actually one of the strongest kinds of regional connection between distant villages. The Gargraves were major Tudor-era officials in Yorkshire and connected by marriage to several large Yorkshire clans (Wentworths, Bosviles, Reresbys, etc.). These marriage networks spread across both East and West Ridings, linking landowning families across the county.
The name Womack is hardly recorded anterior to 1600, and its derivation from the personal name Wymark is highly probable.

WOMACKS OF WRAGBY

1. Richard(us) Woomack, b, ca. 1595, m. Marye Wynke, Dec. 4, 1619, West Riding, Wragby, St Michael. Richard Womack was a churchwarden, and surveyor of roads.Records from 1625 show him renting a field in Foulby (a hamlet within Wragby parish) for 2 shillings and 6 pence. Foulby was a small settlement within the township of Nostel-cum-Foulby. Because it was a hamlet rather than a standalone parish, its primary records are integrated with those of Wragby. Much of Foulby was under the lordship of the Winn family (Lords of the Manor at Nostell). He was bur. Jan. 3, 1648/9. Mariae (Wynke) Woomacke was bur. April 13, 1643; probable sister of Anna Wynke, who m. Anthonius Sanderson, July 31, 1624, son of Joannis Sanderson and Elizabethe Croft, m. Dec. 10, 1592, and brother of Susanna Sanderson, who m. Richard Shepherd, Nov. 1, 1625. The Wynkes were a notable family associated with the Nostel Priory estate, which confirms the high status of the Womack family:

Wynke v The prior of Nostell. Plaintiffs: Robert, nephew and heir of James Wynke. Defendants: Robert, prior of Nostell (Seynt Oswolde). Subject: York. 1533-1538. (C 1/915/51). Wynke v Ferrer. Plaintiffs: Robert Wynke, citizen and vintner of London, nephew and heir of James Wynke. Defendants: Robert Ferrer, prior of St Oswald’s, (Nostell). Subject: Messuages and land in Crofton. Yorkshire. 1533-1538. (C 1/918/47-48). Wynke v Wynke. Plaintiffs: Stephen Wynke of London, tallow-chandler, great-grandson and heir of Robert Wynke. Defendants: Robert Wynke of Ryle [Ryhill]. Subject: Detention of deeds relating to a messuage and land in Crofton. Yorkshire. 1515-1518. (C 1/454/20). Harrys v Wynke. Plaintiffs: Richard Harrys, chantry priest in the chapel in the Guildhall. Defendants: Robert Wynke, vintner, dwelling at the Guildhall gate. Subject: Maintenance of suits, accommodation of burglars, and frivolous suit in the King’s Bench. (Defendant was called before the mayor, but not punished). 1533-1538. (C 1/810/42). Wynke v Sharpe. Plaintiffs: John Wynke. Defendants: Bryan (John) Sharpe. Subject: Detention of deeds relating to a messuage called `the Swan’ in Pontefract, Bryan Palmes and Percival Thorneton, being feoffees thereof to the use of complainant. Yorkshire. 1504-1515. (C 1/372/15). Lease (counterpart) (1) Dame T.F. (2) Wm. Wynke of Dalton, husbandman. (1) to (2) a messuage and lands in Dalton. For 21 years, £3 6s 8d p.a. and 3 rent hens and 2 rent capons. June 17, 34 Eliz (1592) (DD/FJ/7/43/7). Foljambe Deeds. Lease (1) Sir Francis Foliambe of Aldwark, bart. (2) Rob. Crosley of Upper Dalton, husbandman. For £20 in hand (1) to (2) farm late in tenure of Wm. Winke in Upper D.; for 21 yrs; £13.6s.8d. p.a. also 2 fat hens at Shrovetide & 2 fat capons at Whitsunday. Aug. 21 10 Chas. I. (1634) (DD/FJ/7/44/1).

1.1. Thomas Womack, m. Susanna Wright, ApriL 22, 1649. He was buried on April 26, 1691, designated “the elder”. She was the dau. of Thomas Wright and Jennet Laycock, who m. July 23, 1627, and would have been closely related to Marye Wright, who m. William Crawshay on Feb. 22, 1663/4.
1.1.1. Richardus Womacke, bapt. April 7, 1651, m. Izabell Emerson, Nov. 12, 1672.
1.1.1.1. Samuel Womack, bapt. Dec. 12, 1681, “son of Richard”.
1.1.2. Marye Womacke, bapt. Feb. 21, 1652/3, m. William Pepper, Jan. 27, 1675/6.
1.1.3. Hester Womacke, bapt. April 17, 1655.
1.1.4. William Womacke, bapt. Dec. 3, 1657. (It cannot be known if he followed his relatives to Virginia).
1.1.5. Ellizabeth Womacke, bapt. March 15, 1659/60.
1.1.6. John Womacke, bapt. April 1, 1662.
1.1.6.1.Willm Womack, bapt. April 7, 1698.
1.1.7. Josephus Womack, bapt, May 3, 1664, bur. Feb. 13, 1679/80.
1.1.8. Johannes Womack, bapt. Dec. 21, 1671, m. Susanna Howson, Nov. 14, 1695.
1.1.8.1. Willm Womack, bapt. April 7, 1698.
1.1.8.2. Richard Woomack, bapt. Dec. 9, 1700.
1.1.9. Thomas Womack, bapt. Dec. 21, 1671, d. inf.
1.1.10. Thomas Womack, bapt June 2, 1674, bur. Dec. 20, 1680.
1.1.11. Richard Womack, bapt. April 26, 1686 – 20 June 20, 1688.

THE VIRGINIA CONNECTION

1.1. Willm Womack, bapt. Aug. 17, 1634, “son of Richard”.
1.2. Abraham Womack, b. ca. 1639. The 1674 Legal Dispute: In April 1674, Abraham Womack contested the estate of William Womack in Henrico County, with the court ruling that “Abra Womack (“brother of the said William, dec’d”) receive two-thirds of the estate. This legally codifies the sibling relationship. Abraham Womack m. Sarah Worsham. He remained in Henrco. Land grant 20 October 1691. Worsham, John. grantee. Henrico County. Grantee(s): Worsham, John; Stratton, Edward; and Womack, Abraham. Description: 879 acres in the parish of Varina, and on the north side of Swift Creek: begg. at the mouth of a run known by the name of the Cold Water Run: Land Office Patents No. 8, 1689-1695, p. 172. John Worsham was Sarah’s brother.
1.2.1. Thomas Womack, b. 1664, by deposition. Virginia wills and administrations, p. 123-124. Exors. bond rec. Jan. 29, 1697. Henrico Co.; p. 716-717. Will pro. Aug. 2, 1697. Deeds, Wills, Etc., 1688-1697 (Reel 5).
1.2.2. Abraham Womack, b. ca. 1665, d. 1733. (He is often confounded with his father).
1.2.2.1. Thomas Womack, b. ca. 1688, m. Mary Farley, b. ca. 1692, His Will was dated March 24, 1733, and proved in Henrico County in Jan. 1734. The earliest surviving legal record explicitly naming Mary as Thomas’s wife is dated August 1, 1712. In this deed, Thomas sold 36 acres on the north side of Swift Creek to Richard Grills, and Mary relinquished her dower right, confirming they were married by this date. Mary is also named as the executrix in Thomas Womack’s Will. Land grant of Jan. 22, 1717. *Epes, Francis, Jr. grantee. Henrico County. Description: 285 acres on the North side of Swift Creek, adjoing the land, of Thomas Womack &c: Land Office Patents No. 10, 1710-1719, p. 346 (Reel 10). See supra – the Eppes link to Mary (Harris) Ligon, and Major William Harris, her brother. Thomas Womacke’s Will was witnessed by Nathaniel Tanner – see as follows.

Will of *Thomas Womack Sr. Henrico Co., W.B 2, pt. 1, pp. 424/425: Imprimus, I give and bequeath unto my sons Abraham & William Womack the Land from a Branch called the Licking Branch to a run called Rockey Run at their disposal on condition they shall buy & sell one of another without a better offer; Item I give to my son Isham & to my son Thomas the land from the Rockey Run to the head line to be equally divided between them to buy and sell one with another without a better offer. Item, son Francis the Land I now live upon from the said licking branch to head Water, Item I give my son Abraham one bed & furniture with the provisor my wife gets that which my father left me at the Hundred, Item I give to my son William my sadle and bridle and one hat, Item I give to my Daughter Judith one cow & calf and to my daughter Sarah one ewe and lamb and likewise my daughter Mary one ewe & lamb, Item I give to my daughter one great looking glass, Item I give to my son Isham one sow and piggs, or a sow with pigg. Item I give to my son Francis one sow and piggs, Item I give to my son Thomas one cow & calf, and one sow & piggs and one fether bed & furniture, Item I give to my beloved wife Mary all the rest of my whole Estate and likewise what my father hath left me, and the negro woman after her (decease) to be returned to my son Francis. This being my last Will and Testament I hereby constitute and appoint my wife whole and Sole Executrix, revokeing and making voide all other Wills Given under my hand and Seal the Day and Year before Written. Sign’d seal’d and delivere in the presence of us: Thomas Womack, Nathaniel Tanner, James Akin Junr.

THE COCKE AND FARLEY LINK

1. Richard Cocke of Pickthorne, Shropshire, and Bremo, Virginia, neighbour of Major William Harris in Virginia. Thomas Holland of Burwarton m. Richard Cocke’s second-cousin, and they were the ancestors of Michael Holland of Goochland. 1.1. Thomas Cocke, named as a friend in the Will of Major William Harris. 1.2. Richard Cocke. 1.2.1.Richard Cocke, m. Anne Bowler. 1.2.1.1. Bowler Cocke, m. Sarah Fleming in St Peters, New Kent, dau. of Charles Fleming* and Susanna Tarleton, dau. of Stephen Tarleton. Sarah Fleming Cocke was the sister of Ursula, who m. Tarleton Woodson. 1.2.1.1.1. Bowler Cocke (ca. 1725 – 1772). 1.2.1.1.2. Sarah Cocke, b. Feb. 6, 1728 in Bremo, m. John Farley.*
At this juncture, it is worth considering the probable origins of the Farley family, which relate to a family of Farlowe of Neen Savage, Shropshire (in Stottesdon Hundred), 4 miles S. of Stottesdon parish. Neen Savage was the birthplace of Michael Holland of Goochland, and Stottesdon and Stottesdon was the birth place of Richard Cocke of Bremo, whose second-cousin, not aunt, was the ancestress of the said Michael Holland.

THE FARLOWES OF NEEN SAVAGE

1. Haumphry Farlowe. 1.1. John Farlowe, bapt. March 5, 1608/9. 1.1.1. John Farley, b.ca. 1640/ If John Farley (Farlowe) originated from the same parish as Michael Holland, it suggests a “chain migration” pattern where neighbours and kin from England settled near one another in the colonies. The baptism of John Farlowe on March 5, 1608/9, in Neen Savage aligns with the timeline of a father for an immigrant born around 1640. The marriage of John’s sister to Thomas Adams further strengthens the tie to the Hollands, as the Adams and Holland families were frequently associated in early Virginia land and probate records. Naming Conventions: In early Virginia records, the surnames Farley and Farlow (or Farlowe) were often used interchangeably, lending weight to the Shropshire origin theory. 1.2. Francis Farlowe, bapt. Feb. 21, 1612/3. 1.3. Alice Farlowe, m. Thomas Adams, Jan. 22, 1637. He was baptised June 19, 1614, son of George Adams, bapt. March 30, 1577, son of Richard Adams, b. ca. 1550.
At the time of their marriage, Neen Savage was home to several “gentlemen” families, with significant houses at Stepple* and Nethercot. The Farlowe name (sometimes spelled Farlow) is deeply rooted in the area, specifically in the nearby township of Farlow, which was historically an enclave of Herefordshire within Shropshire. The Hollands (intermarried with the Ketelbys) were significant landowners in Neen Savage, often associated with the manor of Stepple. The Kettleby presence in administrative and legal records often overlaps with the Farlows in Shropshire, provided the social “glue” that facilitated these overseas ventures. George Adams (bapt. 30 March 1577): His birth occurs during the period when the Neen Savage Parish Registers first began (around 1575). George would have likely been a local landowner or “yeoman,” a class often related to the landed gentry of Longdon.

Adams v Ketilby. Plaintiffs: Humphrey Adams, husbandman. Defendants: Thomas Ketilby, late of Hollin (in Pensax), co. Worcester, gentleman. Subject: Messuage called Nethercote and land in Neen Savage of the demise of defendants. 1553-1555. (C 1/1329/7-8). Historical records indicate that the Adams families of Neen Savage and Longdon, Shropshire, were related, descending from a common ancestral line. Both branches are traced back to John Adams of Longdon and Pontesbury at the beginning of the 15th century. Documentary evidence, such as the Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, concludes that various Adams families in the region belonged to the same original “set” as the Adams of Longdon, based on shared coats of arms. When a family branched out and each successive generation appears more distantly related, this is only true in one sense; in another, each generation intermarried with members of their “wider family”, reinforcing common bonds. Thomas Adams, who m. Alice Farlowe, would have been familiar with the Adams of Longdon, Ludlow, and Shrewsbury, in the same way that the Hollands of Ludlow would have been familiar with the Hollands of Burwarton/Neen Savage.

ASSOCIATIONS
ADAMS OF LONGDON, SHROPSHIRE

1.Thomas Adams, and Elizabeth, dau. of Richard Higgons, of Longdon. (Treswell, Vincent: The
Visitation of Shropshire, 1623, vol. 1, pp. 12-13.). 1.1. William Adams, of Longdon, m. Eleanor Jennyns, kinswoman of Eleanor Jennyns, b. ca. 1505, who m. Richard Harris, b. ca. 1495. (See as follows). 1.1.1. Thomas Adams ((b. ca. 1520, d. 1580), m. Ursula, dau. of Thomas Newport, of High Ercall. Enfeoffment, Longdon. Thomas Adams of Longdon, gent., to Reginald Newport, Andrew Newport and Richard Batha (?), gents. Consideration: To implement previous agreement re marriage between Adams and Ursula, sister of Richard Newport. Property: all his lands etc. in Longdon. 2nd Nov. 1557. (Lincs Arch, Hawley/1/D/4). 1.1.1.1. Francis Adams, m. Frances, dau. of Edward Gifford, of Chillington, Staffs. Bargain and Sale. Parties: Sir Francis Prince, of East Foryate by Shrewsbury, kt.; Francis Adams, of Longdon, Esq.. Consideration:- £180. Property: timber in Longdon (Pontesbury par.). Nov. 13, 1613. (Lincolnshire Archives, 2 Hawley/1/G/33).

1.1.1.1.1. William Adams, aged 14 in 1623. Lease and Release: (Deed of settlement).Parties:- William Adams, sen., William Adams, jun., and Thomas Boycott, of Hinton, Salop., gent.; Richard Jenkins, of Wroxeter, gent.; and John Oliver, of Clifford’s Inn, London, gent.; and Richard Boycott, of the Inner Temple (trustees); John Lacon of Westcoppies, Salop, Esq., Collins Wolrich, of Shrewsbury, Robert Adams, of Shrewsbury, clerk, and Francis Boycott of Upington. Consideration: – marriage of Wm. Adams, jun., and Mary Jenkins, also £1,500 Jenkins to Adams, sen. Property: – messuages and tenements in Longdon, Pontesford and Pontesbury. April 13, 1689. (Linc Arch, 2 HAWLEY/1/G/37,38)
1.1.1.1.1.1.2. Robert Adams, b. ca. 1660. Bargain and Sale (Lease for six months). Parties:- Wm. Adams, sen., and Wm. Adams, jun.; John Lacon of Westcoppies, Salop, Collins Woolridge, of Shrewsbury, apothecary, Robert Adams, late of Shrewsbury, now of Wilcot, Salop, and Francis Boycott, of Uppington, gent. May 3. 1690. (Lincs. Arch., 2 Hawley/1/G/41). 1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1. Robert Adams, bapt. March 3, 1686/7, “son of Robert”, m. Mourning Lewis. Mourning’s identity as Robert’s wife is confirmed by his Will and her own 1765 deed/will, where she identifies herself as the “relict of Robert Adams”. There is no surviving primary source that states the date of their marriage. 1.1.1.1.2. Thomas Adams, 2nd son. 1.1.1.1.3. George Adams. 1.1.1.1.4. Robert Adams. 1.1.1.1.5. Francis Adams
1.1.1.2. Thomas Adams, gent, of Ludlow,* b. ca. 1545. Adams v Bradshawe. Plaintiffs: Thomas Adams gent of Ludlow, deputy-ranger of the forest or chase of Bingewood (Bringewood). Defendants: Rowland Bradshawe esq. Subject: Deer stealing in the said forest or chase. Herefordshire. 1611 January. (STAC 8/35/7). 1.1.1.3. John Adams. Adams v Langforde. Plaintiffs: John Adams. Defendants: Walter Langforde, William Woodhouse and Evan Williams. Subject: the house of the Leaden Porch in Castle Street, Ludlow, and other buildings, etc in Ludlow. 1603-1625. (C 2/JasI/A4/50).

LANGFORD

1. William Langford, b. ca. 1485, d. 1554. Recovery: 1. Richard Lane, Thomas Brocton, gentilman, John Adams, gentilman, William Langford, Thomas Barrett, and William Lane. 2. Richard Dodmore. 7 messuages, 6 gardens, 60 acres of land, 8 acres of meadow, and 14 acres of pasture with the appurtenances in Ludlow, Diddlebury and Halton. Great Seal of Henry VIII. Nov. 15, 1514. 20/6/150.William Langford was bailiff of Ludlow in 1536, with Richard Langford, his probable brother. (See M A Faraday Deeds of the Palmers’ Gild of Ludlow, p. 50, 2013).
1.1. Richard Langford, gent, b. ca. 1510, bur. Oct. 2, 1562, in Ludlow; bailiff of Ludlow in 1544, and 1549. (He was the probable cousin of (1) Walter Langford, son of his uncle, Richard: Memorandum, witnessed by Thomas Hunt, Walter Langford and George Holland, that fifty-eight deeds remain in Brasier’s custody for the use of William Norton of the Sette and Richard Blosffeld*of Ludlow. April 3, 1568. (SP 46/14/fo86).

George Holland was the brother of Thomas Holland, who m. a second-cousin of Robert Cocke of Bremo; they being ancestors of Michael Holland of Goochland. *Richard Blashfield was a brother of Thomas Blashfield, and, thus, uncle of Ann Blashfield, the first wife of Edward Lewis, who subsequently m. the relict of Rowland Harris, Jane Langford, as follows (sister of Walter Langford), and grandmother of Mary Harris Ligon and Major William Harris of Henrico, neighbours of the said Robert Cocke.

1.1.1. Charles Langford, Dean of Hereford, whose bequest in his Will of 1607 founded the ‘Langfordian Scholarships’, to sponsor four “poor boys” at Ludlow Grammar School. Langford v Eldred. Plaintiffs: Charles Langford. Defendants: John Eldred and Henry Browning. Subject: To recover plaintiff’s title deeds. Certain mills in Ludlow, Shropshire, held under a lease from the Crown to John Browning, who assigned it to plaintiff, bef. 1603. (C 2/Eliz/L8/8).
1.1.2. Thomas Langford, gent., b. ca. 1535, bur. April 1, 1610, in Ludlow, who inherited a substantial portion of his grandfather’s estate. John Bradfield, Henry Morton, Thomas Blashfield, “and others.” v. Thomas Evans, Richard Baylie, Thomas Langford, Robert Berry.: Town of Ludlow (Shropshire), incorporated by Edward 4., and the land granted by the King to the burgesses of such town in fee-farm in the parish of Staunton Lacy, and all the lands lately belonging to the dissolved Guild, Palmers of Ludlow (Shropshire). Touching a new charter obtained by defendants. Alleged appropriation by defendants of lands belonging to the corporation. Touching also the rules governing and the privileges belonging to such corporation. Nov. 1596 – Nov. 1598. (E 134/39and40Eliz/Mich37). 1.1.2.1. John Langford, bur. Jan. 11, 1596, in Diddlebury. 1.1.2.2. William Langford, bapt. June 1, 1562, in Ludlow. 1.1.2.2.1. Richard Langford, bapt May 23, 1596, in Diddlebury.
1.1.2.3. Thomas Langford. 1.1.2.3.1. William Langford, m. Jane Jordan, of Stone Acton, Shropshire.

The Jordans are well recorded in the Diddlebury registers. William Langford was a neighbour of Henry and John Fleming (S.A., C 5/482/9), benefactors of Diddlebury Church. Henry Fleming’s Will was proved in 1656 (P.C.C. Wootton 124, 294), mentioning his “brother (in-law) Bassett”. John Fleming was probably he who died in New Kent Co., on April 27, 1686, whose son, Charles Fleming, owned land land next to his cousin, William Basset, whose Will was proved May 14, 1724. Samuel Jordan of New Kent Co. (Will probated June 11, 1719) was likely to be of the family Stone Acton. He bequeathed to his “beloved friend (br.-in-law) John Fleming … the plantation of Thomas Langford dec’d, & the management of his estate & the bringing up of his son Thomas Langford as wholely to himself”. His Will was witnessed by Tarleton Woodson, grandson of Robert Woodson, supra. 1.1.2.3.1.1. Thomas Langford, of New Kent Co., who appears in this land grant: ‘Robinson, John. September 22, 1682. New Kent Co., granted 1,252 ac. on the Dragon Swamp and branches thereof. Beginning &c. belonging to the land of Thomas Langford; thence &c. over certain branches of Arracxicoe to a Corner Red Oak by the Mill Path’. He and his wife, Katherine (probably Watkins), sold land to John Watkins in Rappahannock Co. on Nov. 3. 1690. Katherine Langford appointed Mr. Robert Coleman to acknowledge sale of her dower part of land to Thomas Watkins, Nov. 10, 1690. (See as follows).

1.1.2.3.1.1.1. Thomas Langford. 1.1.2.3.1.1.1.1. Thomas Langford, orphan.
1.1.2.4. Richard Langford, gent, bur. March 19, 1630, in Ludlow. 1.1.2.5. Walter Langford. Adams v Langforde. Plaintiffs: John Adams. Defendants: Walter Langforde, William Woodhouse and Evan Williams. Subject: the house of the Leaden Porch in Castle Street, Ludlow, and other buildings, etc in Ludlow, Shropshire. 1603-1625. (C 2/JasI/A4/50).
1.1.2.6. Jane Langford, bapt. Oct. 10, 1567, m. Rowland Harris,* Sept. 14, 1595.

1.1.2.6.1. John Harris, bapt. March 5, 1604. 1.1.2.6.1.1. Mary Harris, bapt. April 3, 1625, Ludlow. In 1689, Mary (Harris) Ligon gave a deposition stating her age to be 64. “John Woodson, Sr. of Henrico Co.* to Edward Lester, land next to Richard Cocke, next to land formerly William Harris’s on Curles Swamp. *Br. of Robert, supra. 1.1.2.6.1.2. Major William Harris, bapt. Jan. 13, 1627, in Ludlow. On June 22, 1663, he acquired 450 ac. in Henrico County, on the N. side of the James River, to a 4 mile creek, called by name “the Slashes”, E. upon the Malverne Hills plantation of Richard Cocke, p. 304. Major Wm. Harris, 1202 A., 2 R., 4 P., Henrico Co., N. side of James Riv., 7 Sept. 1671, Purchased 496 ac. beg. at the Middle Spring bottom adj. Orphants of Tanner, Mr. Wm. Baugh, to Ashen Sw., along the mine Sw., to the head of the Red water, to the head of the Dry bottome, &c., adj. Tho. Liggon & Wm. Farrar, over mouth of the Ware Bottome, &c. Trans. of 24 pers. 1.1.2.6.1.2.1. William Harris (b. ca. 1675), was involved in the determination of the lands of Thomas Langford, Feb. 26, 1731. (Magazine of Virginia Genealogy, vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 214-215), descended from his great-grandmother’s brother.

ADAMS continued:
1.1.1.3.1. William Adams, bapt. Jan. 26, 1616.
1.1.1.3.1.1. Thomas Adams, bapt. 1642,
1.1.1.2. Elizabeth Adams, m. Thomas Sherer,* of Ludlow, son of Edward Sherer. Adams v Grey. Plaintiffs: Thomas Adams, James Morrishe, Roger Edge, Thomas Sherer, Francis Ward, William Wele and others. Defendants: Edward Grey, Henry Vernon, John Vernon and Richard Broughton. Subject: property in Pontesbury manor, Hinton, Farley, Boycott etc, Shropshire. 1571. (C 8/634/11). Elizabeth Adams was the granddaughter of William Adams, of Longdon, who m. Eleanor Jennyns, great-great, great aunt of Eleanor Jennyns, b. ca. 1510, who m. Richard Harris, b. ca. 1508. The perpetual process of re-cementing ties within an intricate web of families.

HARRIS

1. John Harris,* b. ca. 1475, m. Margaret Leighton, b. ca. 1491, dau. of Sir Thomas Leighton and his mistress, Ann Baker.
1.1. Richard Harris, b. ca. 1508, m. Eleanor Jennyns, dau. of Thomas Jennyns, of Wallybone, Shropshire.
1.1.1. John Harris, esq. (of Cruckton), b. ca. 1532, m. Eleanor, dau. Thomas Prowde, of Shrewsbury.
1.1.1.1. Rowland Harris, of Ludlow, b. ca. 1560, d. 1605, m. (Sept. 14, 1595), Jane Langford, bapt. Oct. 10, 1567. She m. (2) Edward Lewis, great-grandfather of Mourning Lewis, who m. Robert Adams. 1.1.1.1.1. John Harris, bapt. March 5, 1604, m. Margaret Holland, bapt. Sept. 11, 1608, Ludlow, dau. of Roger Holland and Eleanor Lewis, who m. Jan. 13, 1598, in Ludlow. 1.1.1.1.1.1. Mary Harris, bapt. April 3, 1625, in Ludlow. In 1689, Mary (Harris) Ligon gave a deposition stating her age to be 64. She m. Thomas Ligon. 1.1.1.1.1.2. Major William Harris, bapt. Jan. 13, 1627, in Ludlow. On June 22, 1663, acquired 450 ac. in Henrico County, on the north side of the James River, to a 4 mile creek, called by name “the Slashes”, adj. to Daniel Llewellin, E. upon the Malverne Hills plantation of Richard Cocke, p. 304. 1.1.1.1.1.2.1. William Harris (b. ca. 1675), was involved in the determination of the lands of Thomas Langford, descendant of Jane Langford’s br., Feb. 26, 1731. (Magazine of Virginia Genealogy, vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 214-215). 1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1, George Harris, bapt. April 13, 1701, in St Pauls Parish; a Vestry meeting there in 1719 connecting him to the lands of George Alvis, who had married the widow of Major William Harris.. 1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1.1. William Harris (b. ca. 1725), of Wolf Swamp, St. Martins Parish, Hanover Co., m. a dau. of John Graves. and Lucy dau, of Robert Adams and Mourning Lewis (or his brother Mathew Graves, who m. Lucy’s sister Susannah). 1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1.1.1. George Harris (b. ca. 1750), m. Sarah Hudson. He was the cousin of Adam Graves, who m. a granddau. of Michael Holland. 1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1.1.2. Graves Harris, b. m. Elizabeth Baldwin, dau. of John Baldwin Jr. July 22, 1797: Indenture betw. Thomas Elmore, Efford Bentley, William Wood, James Gills, Thomas Ligon, etc., of Amelia Co., trustees of Ligons Town, sell to Levy Wright one lot situate in the above mentioned town. Wit. Richard Ligon, Thomas Ligon, *John Baldwin. (Amelia co., D.B. 20, pp. 303-4). These Ligons were sons of William Ligon III., d. bef. Oct. 27, 1796, in Amelia Co., son of Wiliam Ligon II, d. 1764, in Amelia Co; son of Maj. William Ligon and Mary Tanner; son of Colonel Thomas Ligon, son of Thomas Ligon and Mary Harris, bapt. April 3, 1625, in Ludlow. John Baldwin was a descendant of Charles Baldwyn, of Stokesay Castle (b. 1593), who m. (1617) a sister of Mary Holland, dau. of Francis Holland of Burwarton (fl. 1606), he being a brother of Thomas Holland, who m. Alice Holland, second-cousin of Richard Cocke, of Pi
1.2. “Alice Harries, of Cruckton, m. Edward Sherer. (Hugh Owen. A History of Shrewsbury, vol 1, p. 355). She was b. ca, 1510.
1.2.1. Thomas Sherer, b.ca. 1530, merchant (builder of Sherer’s Mansion in Wyle Cop), m. (1) Elizabeth, dau. of William Adams, of Longdon, and Eleonor Jennyns. William Adams was the son of Thomas Adams and Elizabeth Higgins, dau. of “William Higgins of Longdon” (Treswell, 1623 “Visitation”, pp. 12/13).

LEWIS

1. Richard Lewys, of Westhope, Diddlebury, anciently an appurtenance of the manor of Corfham, m. Anne Mason. His will of March 12, 1535 named a dau., Elizabeth, wife to Rauf Marston and bequeathing 20s. “To Maister Lytley and my brother in law William Mason,” Maister John Lytley, gent. a witness to the Will; father of Adam Lutley of Corfton, who m. Eliza, daughter of Robert Cresset, of Upton Cresset, having issue: Robert Lutley, who m. Mary, daughter of Francis Holland of Burwarton (brother of Thomas Holland, who m. Alice Cocke, second-cousin of Richard Cocke Sr., of Bremo). Robert Lutley’s Will, made June 5, 1613, provides for wife Mary, son Thomas Lutley (eventually also chief heir of his maternal grandfather), and daughter Frances. Ann, daughter of Roberte Lutley and Mary, was baptised Dec. 12, 1613 at Burwarton. Anne Lutley* m. William Lewis Aug. 21, 1634.
1.1. Edward Lewis of Broughton, Will of 1576: “I have laid off unto Lewis Okeley otherwise called Lewis Gwillym of Okeley the sum of twenty pounds upon mortgage of certain lands and tents. situate being and lying in Okeley aforesaid and Ednope in the said County of Salop of the which said … if it be redeemed. I give unto my son in law William Broughton thirty pounds”.
1.1.1. William Lewis, predeceased his father.
1.1.1.1. Edward Lewis, gent, of Diddlebury, m. (1) Anne Blashfield, sister of Katherine, who m. William Marston. Edward Lewis was the br.-in-law of Thomas Garbutt, who had m. Edward’s sister, Fransisca. Newton v Garbett. Plaintiffs: John Newton of St Botolphs without Aldgate, brewer, great-grandson and heir of Thomas Smalbatch. Defendants: Thomas Garbett, Edward Lewis, his brother-in-law, and Ralph Harris, gent. Subject: Purchasing a disputed title of Francis Wellins to lands in Clungunford and Diddlebury, and arbitration without notice to the plaintiff John Newton. June 1619. (STAC 8/222/20). (2) Jane (Langford) Harris, relict of Rowland Harris of Ludlow, by whom:

1.1.1.1.1. Edward Lewis,* bapt. Sept. 1, 1608. Edward Lewis of London merchant, acknowledges receipt of £22 for the use of Jane Warham spinster from Sir Job Charlton, paid by direction of John Aston gentleman, it being his father’s debt due to Edward Lewis and (his niece?) Jane Warham by bond. Witness: William Biggs. Dec. 4, 1667. (Shrop. Arch., 11/208). Uterine half-br. of John Harris, bapt. March 5, 1604, Ludlow, d. 1638, father of (1) Mary Harris, bapt. April 3, 1625, in Ludlow, who to repeat again, for it bears it, deposed to be 64 years og age in 1689, and Major William Harris, bapt. Jan. 13, 1627, in Ludlow; who held land on Curles Swamp, next to his sister, and John Woodson, br. of Robert Woodson. 1.1.1.1.1.1. John Lewis, a neighbour of Mary Harris, and Major William Harris in the Malvern Hills district of Henrico. His Will was proved April 2, 1688. Appraisers: Capt. Wm Randolph, Capt Thomas Cocke and Joseph Pleasants. (Weisiger, p. 266). Wm Randolph, and Capt Thomas Cock were both named as “friends” in the Will of Major William Harris. Henrico Order Book: 1688 to 1689: “Nicholas Perkins as security along with Robert Woodson for the tuition of Sarah, one of the orphans of John Lewis”. 1.1.1.1.1.1.1. William Lewis (bapt. March 16, 1661, in Diddlebury, Shropshire, 10 miles N. of Ludlow) of Henrico, m. Elizabeth dau of Robert Woodson, Sr. “I Robert Woodson acknowledge to my brother-in-law, William Lewis, my full share due my wife Sarah, one of the orphans of John Lewis”. William Lewis deposed that he was aged 28 at the inventory of John Lewis taken Dec. 2, 1689 (Weisiger, p. 105), i.e. b. 1661. Wm. Lewis, the Exec of Jno Lewis dec’d peticoning for ye tuition of Sarah Lewis his sister now an orph: of about a dozen or 13 years of age & ye sd Orph in court expressing her desire thereof & ye husb: of her mother consenting thereto, his peticon is by ye Court granted (untill she is capable of choosing a guardian), Provided he give security for her estate according to law. (Orphan Court Records).

1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1. Joseph Lewis, m. Elizabeth Pleasants. Robert Woodson Sr. of Henrico Co. For good causes to my loving grandson’s, William & Joseph Lewis (children of his dau., Elizabeth Woodson, and William Lewis), 450 ac. patented to me and Richard Farris, Giles Carter, William Harris (son of Major William Harris), and Roger Cummings, Oct. 21, 1687, on White Oak Swamp”. Rec. May 1, 1707.
1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2, Sarah Lewis, m. James Cocke, son of James Cocke, son of Thomas Cocke*. March 20, 1693: “Robert Povall, Giles Carter, Stephen Cocke & William Lewis to appraise the estate of William Cocke, dec’d” (br. of *Thomas Cocke, named as a “friend” in the Will of Major William Harris).
1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1. James Cocke, m. Mary, dau. of Joseph Lewis, and Elizabeth Pleasants.
1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1. James Cocke, m. Martha, dau. of David Parrish and Judith Holland, on Nov. 25, 1774. (Douglas Register). Judith Holland was the dau. of John Holland, son of Michael Holland of Goochland.
1.1.1.1.1.1.1.3. John Lewis*. April 5, 1736: John Lewis, of Goochland Co., son of William dec’d, sells to Joseph Woodson 100 ac., part in Goochland Co. and part in Henrico, on Turkey Island Creek, bought from William Porter. Wit. – James Cocke, William Lewis, William Porter, Jr. and Tarlton Woodson. John Lewis of St James Parish, Goochland Co., Va., son of William Lewis, dec’d sells to Stephen Woodson 52 ac. in Henrico County. This land, part of a tract formerly owned by Jno. Lewis, dec’d and by him given to his son, William, dec’d and to his son, John (same date and witnesses).
1.1.1.1.1.1.1.4, Mourning Lewis, m. Robert Adams, neighbour of Michael Holland. Lickinghole Creek Properties: Robert Adams owned at least 800 acres on a branch of Lickinghole Creek in Goochland. His 1738 will specifically mentions “all my land on the Creek where I live” along with a mill. Early Acquisitions: His land records date back as early as 1717, with many of these acres originally being in Henrico County before the formation of Goochland in 1727. Neighbouring Landmarks: Colonial land patents indicate his property was adjacent to other early settlers, including Humphrey Parish (near Treasurers Run) and Mark Lifelee (near Reedy Branch of Tuckahoe Creek.

Land grant 25 August 1731. Adams, Robert. grantee. 400 acres on the branch of Lickinghole Creek adjoining Hollons (Hollands) land. Land Office Patents No. 14, 1728-1732 (pt.1 & 2), p. 264 (Reel 11). Land grant 28 January 1733. Goochland County: 400 acres beginning on the north side of James River and on *John Woodsons line, (Land Office Patents No. 15, 1732-1735 (v.1 & 2, p. 1-522), p. 137 (Reel 13).

THE ANSWER IS IN THE SOIL
Integrated families maintained close land association, the English model. G.M. Trevelyan is famously credited with using a variation of the phrase “the answer lies in the soil” (or emphasizing that “history lies in the soil”) to describe the deep, interconnected nature of medieval English society. In his seminal work, “English Social History”, Trevelyan explains that medieval villages were not just groups of neighbours but closed, interbreeding biological units. Inevitable Kinship: He argued thatbecause travel was limited and the population was small, everyone in a medieval village was eventually related by blood or marriage. Historical Evidence: He famously suggested that if you want to understand the origins of the English people and their social structures, you must look at the land and the soil, as it contains the physical and genealogical roots of the entire community.

His perspective was part of his broader “Whig history” approach, which sought to find the “soul” of England in its rural, agricultural past. While G. M. Trevelyan is the historian most famous for the sentiment that “the poetry of history lies in the soil”, his views on the medieval open-field system and social kinship define the “soil” as the bedrock of English identity. The Medieval Open-Field System: Trevelyan described the medieval village as a cohesive, self-contained world centered around the open-field system. The Strip System: Arable land was divided into hundreds of narrow strips. A single farmer’s holding was scattered across these fields, ensuring no one person had all the best (or worst) soil. Communal Labour: Because the strips were intermingled, the village had to act as one. Plowing, sowing, and harvesting were communal decisions, fostering an intense, forced cooperation.
The “Biological Unit”: Trevelyan argued that this lack of mobility meant the village was a closed circle. Over generations, this produced a population where everyone was inevitably related, effectively turning the village into a single extended family, Trevelyan shifted the focus from kings and battles to the “underground river” of daily life. the Yeoman Class: He held a deep romanticism for the “English Yeoman”—the independent, small-scale farmer who worked his own land and formed the backbone of English character. Whig Perspective: He saw the development of English society as a steady march toward liberty, rooted in the stability of the rural landscape and the “calm good sense” of the people. Poetry in Reality: To Trevelyan, history wasn’t just a record; it was a way to “miraculously restore” the vanished folk of the past to our understanding. G. M. Trevelyan’s views on the “soil” and the English character are directly applicable to the early settlers of Virginia, though they represent a unique evolution of his ideas.

The Yeoman in the New World: Trevelyan believed the English Yeoman—the independent, land-owning farmer—was the “hero” of English history, Expansion of Character: He argued that the settlers who went to Virginia and New England were often these same yeomen seeking the independence they had in “Old England”. Democratic Roots: To Trevelyan, the “independent spirit” of these settlers, rooted in their relationship with the land back home, became the foundation for democratic institutions in the colonies.

Adaptation of the “Open-Field” Mindset In Virginia, the settlers initially attempted to replicate the communal structures of the medieval open-field system Trevelyan described the Virginia Company’s “Common Store”: Much like a medieval village where the “answer lies in the soil” through communal effort, the early Jamestown settlers were required to work for a “common store” rather than for personal profit. The Failure of Communalism: Trevelyan notes that while the “biological unit” of the medieval village worked because of long-standing tradition, it struggled in the harsh environment of early Virginia. The shift toward private land ownership (the “Headright System”) was seen as a return to the “Yeoman” ideal of individual mastery over one’s own soil.

A charge levelled at Mr. Trevelyan was that he offered a romanticised view of the past, shorn of its many horrors, and one coppied all too frequently by latter-day Hollywood.

THE FARLEYS OF VIRGINIA
1: John Farley Sr. (The Immigrant/Patriarch). 1.1. John Farley Jr., m. Elizabeth Akin. Her sister, Mary Akin, m. John Womack, second cousin of Thomas Womack*. They were daughters of the immigrant James Akin Sr. (ca. 1631–1713). The Akins were long-time neighbors and business associates of the Womacks; in May 1673, for instance, James Akin Sr.and Richard Womack Sr. jointly received a land grant for 335 acres in Henrico County. 1.1.1. John Farley III, m. Sarah Cocke, of Bremo. 1.1.2. Mary Farley, b. ca. 1692, m. *Thomas Womack; she was named in her father’s 1754 Will.
1.2. Mary Farley, m. Thomas Baugh in or before 1708, son of James Baugh and Elizabeth Ashbrook, son of William Baugh Sr. James Baugh was the patriarch of the Baugh line in this generation. His son, Thomas Baugh m. Mary Farley, dau. of the first John Farley This Mary Farley’s nephew, John Farley III, as given, m. Sarah Cocke. Mary Farley’s other nephew, Thomas Womack, m. her niece (also named Mary Farley).

1. Edward Baugh, m. Margaret Stratford. 1.1. Rowland Baugh, of Twining, Gloustershire. 1.1.1. Edward Baugh, m. Constance, dau. of Thomas Foliot, Sheriff of Worcestershire, and Katherine Ligon, dau. of William Ligon, Esq., Sheriff of Worcestershire, and Eleanor Dennis, (Hence, the strong intertwining of the Baugh and Harris families). 1.1.2. William Baugh, m. Mary, dau. of William Wakeman, of Glouc. 1.1.2.1. William Baugh, of Virginia, received a grant of 577 ac. for the transportation of 12 persons, including his son, William Baugh, Jr., on the N. side of the Appomattox River. William Baugh, as given herein, had land adjacent that of Major William Harris. 1.1.2.1.1, James Baugh. 1.1.3. John Baugh, gent of Twining Will proved in March 1641. “Loving Brother,” Richard Baughe, was named as the executor.1.1.3.1. Thomas Baugh, noted as being absent in Virginia. By 1634, Joseph Tanner’s orphans held land on the south side of the James River that was bounded by “Mr. Baugh’s line”, and was closely associated with Mary (Harris) Ligon, the sister of Major William Harris.

The Cocke-Farley-Womack Nexus. The connection often manifests in the “Turkey Island” and “Curles” area, where the Farly/Farley holdings were situated. Boundary Overlap: The Farleys and Cockes were frequent “processioning” neighbours. Richard Cocke’s massive 3,000-acre patent near the James River set the stage for the smaller holdings of the Farley and Womack families as the population pushed westward toward Goochland. The Cocke family served as the judicial “connective tissue” for the clan. Members of the Cocke family frequently sat on the Henrico Court as Justices, overseeing the very deeds and depositions (like Thomas Womack’s 1664 birth deposition) that you are using to dismantle the traditional algorithm-fed dates. The “Bremo” Influence: Since the Cockes were part of the inner circle of the colonial elite, their presence as witnesses or executors for families like the Hollands and Womacks elevates the status of the entire group from simple frontiersmen to key players in the tobacco aristocracy

WOMACK cont.
1.3. Richard Womack, b. ca. 1635, d. bef. April 25, 1684 in Henrico County, m. Mary Puckett; having issue: 1.3.1. Richard Womack, b. 1655. In a sworn deposition given on June 2, 1679 in Henrico County, Richard Womack stated he was 24 years old. 1.3.1. Richard Womack, born ca. 1680, d. bef. April 1, 1723. He m. Elizabeth Puckett, having issue: 1.3.1.1. Richard Womack, b. Dec. 7, 1710 in Henrico Co., d. July 25 1785, in Washington, Georgia, He m. Ann Childers (dau. of Henry Childers and Lucretia Jones , b. ca. 1715 in Dale Parish, Chesterfield Co, Lucretia Jones was the dau. of Thomas Jones and Martha Tanner. Richard and Ann had issue: John Womack, b. 1747 in Henrico, d. Sept. 25, 1825 in Person, NC, who m. Lucy Pryor on Sept. 28, 1771 in Orange County, NC, aged 24, having issue: Josiah Womack, d. 1828, in Caswell, NC. (established from Orange Co. in 1777). From Wills first extracted by Mrs. Charles T. Womack, 1984: Josiah was born March 26, 1771 (Josiah Womack of Caswell Count). Josiah Womack and wife, Mary (Polly) Massey were married Feb 17, 1803, Polly wife of Josiah Womack was born Aug 9, 1783. They had issue: Josiah Thomas Massey Womack (1807–1857). Martha Tanner was the daughter of Joseph Tanner Sr.

1.3.2. John Womack, b. ca. 1660, eventually moved to the area that became Prince George County and left a Will recorded in 1725/26, naming sons: John Jr., William, Richard, and Abraham. While many colonial wills included all children, some only named sons (who inherited land) or children who had not yet received their “portion” of the estate. John Womack m. Mary Akin. Deed, Oct. 20, 1692, for 100 acres in Henrico County, from John Womack to John Farley, Sr. (Library of Virginia). Virginia wills and administrations, p. 884-885. Inv. & Appr. rec. May 10, 1726, p. 1034. Inv. & Appr. rec. Sept. 12, 1727, p. 856-857. Will pro. Feb. 8, 1725.

1.3.2.1. Judith Womack, m. Michael Holland. While the 1725/6 Will of John Womack (1.3.2) only explicitly names his four sons, the presence of a daughter named Judith is a recurring subject in Womack genealogy, Given that her first cousins (the children of Richard II) named their daughters Judith, it is highly probable the name existed in John’s household as well, even if she was already provided for Michael Holland land was directly adjacent to or extremely near the “licking branch to head Water” area, as it was situated on Lickinghole Creek in Goochland County. In 1759, Holland’s executors sold 350 acres on Lickinghole Creek and Byrd Creek to David Parrish, land that adjoined properties belonging to Thurston, Burton, and Meacchum. In his 1746 will, Michael Holland bequested over 2,200 acres on Lickinghole Creek to his wife Judith, his son John, and his sons-in-law Pouncy Anderson and Henry Martin. The “licking branch” (Lickinghole Creek) served as a primary landmark for both the Womack and Holland estates, placing them in the same localized pocket of central Goochland County. The phrase “licking branch to head Water” refers to the upper tributaries of Lickinghole Creek near the modern-day Hadensville area. Neighbours: Holland’s land on Lickinghole Creek was adjacent to Thomas Sanders, Francis Coley, and Robert Adams.

Neighbours and Associates: In a 1752 deed, the executors of Michael Holland’s estate sold land to David Massie (a son-in-law, and brother of Thomas and Nathaniel), that was bounded by Thomas Massie’s line and branches of Lickinghole Creek. Double Kinship: Massey was a close associate and neighbour of the Hollands on Lickinghole Creek, and he married Michael and Judith’s daughter, Susannah. The Anderson Connection: Michael’s executors were his sons-in-law Pouncey Anderson and Henry Martin. The Andersons were immediate neighbours of Michael Holland in his earlier residence in New Kent/Hanover County, suggesting the families moved and patented land together as they pushed west into Goochland.The “Head Water” Connection:

The naming convention for Judith (Womack) Holland’s sons – John, Michael, and Richard—is a classic “genealogical fingerprint”. In this era, the first son was almost invariably named after the paternal grandfather (John Womack) or the father, and the third son often honoured a maternal uncle or grandfather (Richard Womack). The William (1.3.2.3) connection: If William was Judith’s brother, his presence as a neighbor to Henry Martin (his nephew-in-law) on the Willis River makes perfect sense. Family groups in the 1730s migrated and patented land in “clusters” for mutual protection and support. The “Richard” Influence: Naming a son Richard strongly reinforces her descent from the line of Richard Womack Sr. and her father John, rather than the more distant Abraham branch.
1.3.2.1.1. John Holland.
1.3.2.1.2. Michael Holland.
1.3.2.1.3. Richard Holland.
1.3.2.1.4. Judith Holland, m. Henry Martin.
1.3.2.1.5. Susannah Holland, m. Pouncey Anderson.
1.3.2.2. William Womack, b. ca. 1690, d. 1762, 1733 Land Grant: A grant for 400 acres on the Willis River and Great Guinea Creek (an area that later became Cumberland County) listed John Martin, James Allen, and *William Womack as neighbours, John Martin was the father of Henry Martin, son-in-law of Judith and Michael Holland.This construction significantly clarifies the often-conflated Womack/Holland/Martin connections. The link between Judith Womack and Michael Holland, d. 1746) is a vital piece of the puzzle, especially when anchored by the geographic and social markers of the Willis River and Great Guinea Creek. The Martin Connection: John Martin was the father of Henry Martin, who m. Judith Holland (dau. of Michael Holland and and Judith Womack). This intermarrying between the Martin, Holland , and Womack families in the Willis River area serves as indirect but compelling evidence of Judith’s Womack origins. The “Omitted Daughter” Theory:

As noted previously, Judith’s absence from John Womack’s 1725/6 Prince George County Will is consistent with her being married to Michael Holland by that date, having already received her inheritance as a dowry. Michael Holland was a man of significant means (owning thousands of acres across several counties), which aligns with the Womacks’ social standing. There is a direct and documented connection between Michael Holland of Goochland and the Martin family, primarily through marriage and legal executorship. The most significant link is the marriage of Michael Holland’s daughter, Judith Holland, to Henry Martin. This relationship is explicitly confirmed in Michael Holland’s Will: Judith Martin (née Holland) is named as Michael’s daughter in his will, dated 10 October 1746. Executorship: Michael Holland appointed Henry Martin (his son-in-law) as one of the executors of his estate, alongside Pouncy Anderson and Richard Holland. The Will was witnessed by a John Martin. Given the close-knit nature of these families and the previously noted land records, this is likely the same John Martin who was a neighbour to James Allen. Land Bequests:

Michael Holland bequeathed 520 acres on Lickinghole Creek to his son-in-law Henry Martin, as well as an additional 50 acres in Hanover County. All three men—Michael Holland, James Allen, and John Martin —were part of the same elite social and land-owning circle in 18th-century Goochland: Communal Legal Action: In colonial Virginia, prominent neighbours frequently served as witnesses, executors, and “processioning” agents (officials who confirmed land boundaries) for one another. The fact that John Martin witnessed Michael Holland’s will confirms a high level of personal and legal trust between these specific households. William Womack was a key contemporary and neighbour of James Allen and John Martin, frequently appearing alongside them in early Goochland and Cumberland County land records. Womack’s connection is primarily defined by shared land boundaries in the Willis River and Great Guinea Creek areas.

Land grant August 16, 1715. *Womack, Wm. grantee. Henrico County: 950 acres on the north side of James River, on the heads of the land of John Woodson and Colonel William Randolph), over against the Manakin Town. John Woodson (son of Robert Woodson and Elizabeth Ferris), m. Judith, dau. of Stephen Tarleton. Beyond being neighbours, the families were closely linked; William Womack later sold 450 acres of this 1715 patent to John Woodson Jr. and his brother Tarleton Woodson (John Sr.’s sons) in 1719.

On June 20, 1733. A land patent shows William Womack acquired 400 acres in Goochland Co. (B. 15, p. 19), Goochland was created from Henrico Co in 1727. “George the Second &c To all &c know ye that for divers good causes and considerations but more especially for and in consideration of the sum of forty shillings of good and lawful money for our use, paid to our Receiver General of our revenues in this our Colony and Dominion of Virginia We have given, granted and confirmed and by these presents for us, our heirs and successors do give, grant and confirm unto William Wamack one certain tract or parcel of land containing four hundred acres lying and being on the branches of Great Guinea Creek in the County of Goochland and bounded as followeth (to wit) Beginning at a Spanish oak running thence on new lines south seventy five degrees east two hundred and ninty-three poles to a black oak north seventy-five degrees west two hundred and twenty-one poles crossing the south branch of Tear Wallet Run to a white oak south twenty-five degrees west two hundred and ninty-three poles to the first station. With all to have hold. To be held yielding and paying pri ided. In witness our trusty and well beloved William Gooch Esqr. Our Lieutenant Governor and Comander in Chief of our said colony and Dominion at Williamsburgh under the seal of our said Colony the twentieth day of June one thousand seven Hundred and thirty-three. In the seventh year of our reign. /s/ William Gooch. Truly Recorded, Test. Matt. Kemp Cl Sec Off.” W-23.

Structured generational analysis: Testator: William Womack of St. James Northam Parish, Goochland Co. Will poved March 16, 1762, in Goochland Cou. He names: daus. Agnes Bullock, Priscilla Doss, Martha Nichold, Sarah Barnett, Mary Williams, Judith Graves. Grandchildren (Bullock). This is a fully grown second-generation Virginia planter family. If this William were born ca. 1690: age probate (1762): 72). If the daus. were marrying between roughly 1735–1755: That places their births approximately 1715–1735. That means their father was likely born between 1685–1700. That fits a ca. 1690 birth perfectly. It does not fit a 1665 birth unless he was fathering children into his 50s–60s repeatedly across decades, which is biologically possible but statistically uncommon — and the clustering of daughters suggests a normal reproductive span, not a multi-decade late-life pattern. He is residing on the Willis River/Great Guinea region tract. This is the same region associated earlier with John Martin and later Cumberland Co. This structure makes sense if: Testator born ca. 169o, His son William born ca. 1720–1735. That aligns naturally. The internal evidence of the Will shows: A man with daughters likely born 1715–1735 Grandchildren already old enough to receive specific property.
You now have the next generation: William Womack Jr. of Cumberland Co., Will Book 5 (1769–1792), pp. 518–519. That is enormously important because Cumberland was formed from southern Goochland County in 1749 — the same Willis River/Great Guinea region we’ve been tracking – father (d. 1762) – St. James Northam Parish, Goochland – Same land cluster that became Cumberland Co, That is not migration, it is a boundary change.

This is strong continuity evidence that: William Jr. is the son named executor of the 1762 Will. If William Jr. was born ca. 1720–1735: Cumberland will likely written 1780s–early 1790s (based on book range 1769–1792). If written say 1785: Born 1720 → age 65. Born 1725 → age 60. The elder William died 1762. The Cumberland will book begins 1769. By that time, only one adult William would remain locally. So “Jr.” likely originated earlier (while father alive), and simply carried forward in usage. This typifies normal generational spacing. Geographic continuity (Goochland → Cumberland). 1758/1762 will naming son William. Cumberland will of William Jr. Community continuity (Bullock, Graves, etc. families in same region). This is no longer just plausible, It is structurally consistent across: ocumentary chain. Probate. Parish. County formation. Naming pattern. Generational math.

WILL OF WILLIAM WOMACK SR, Feb. 6, 1762 Goochland Co. Deed Bk 8 1759-1765 pp 235 and 236:
“In the name of God Amen I William Womack of St. James Northam Parish in Goochland County and Colony of Virginia being in Sound and Perfect Sence and Memory Calling to mind the uncertain stay of Mortals in this present world, do make this my Last will and Testament in manner and form following Vizt. Item. I give and bequeath unto my Daughter Agness Bullock that part and tract of land I now live on with all the improvements thereon to her, her heirs and assigns forever. Also I give and bequeath unto my Daughter Agness Bullock one negro girl named Jane also all my hogs and half my Cattle one sett of shoemakers Tools and my Riding horse and saddle also one feather Bed and furneture the Bed I use to lie on and one chist of drawers and my largest chist, also three leather chairs and half my Pewter and half my Iron and Earthen ware and two Brass Cettles and my flax hatchell with my carpenters tools and all my wifes wareing cloths both linnings and woolings all the above mention’d Articles with the above said Negro Girll to her, her heirs and assigns for ever. Item. I give and bequeath unto my grand daughter Mary Bullock my wif’s gold ring. to her, her heirs and assigns forever. Item. I give and bequeath unto my grandson William Bullock my gun to him and his heirs and assigns forever. Item. I give and bequeath unto my Grand Daughter Susanna Bullock one Negro girll named Sall; she and her increase to her, her heirs and assigns forever. Item. I give and bequeath unto my daughter Prissilla Doss fifty shills, to be paid to her, her heirs and assigns forever. Item. I give and bequeath unto my four daughters namly Martha Nichola, Sarah Barnett, Mary Williams, and Judith Graves, forty shillings curr. Money to be Equilly Devided Amongst them and their heirs and assigns forever. Item. I give and bequeath unto my son William Womack after my just Debts and funeral Charges and the above said Legucies are paid all the remainder of my Estate be it of what kind soever, besides what has been heretofore mention’d and gave away to his his heirs and assigns forever. Lastly, I appoint my son William Womack and my son-in-law John Bullock my whole and Sole Executors of this my Last will and Testament hereby Revoaking all former wills by me made Declaring this and only this to be my Last will and testament in Testimony of which I have hereunto sett my hand and affixed my Seal this Sixth day of February Anno Domini. one Thousand Seven Hundred and fifty and Eight. Signed sealed and delivered in presence of Noel Burton William Womack (Seal), John Crouch, Lucy Burton. At a court held for Goochland County March the 16th 1762. This writing was proved by the oaths of Nowel Burton and John Crouch to be the Last Will and testament of William Womack dec’d & thereupon admitted to Record. Test. Val. Wood, Cl Cur.
1.3.2.2.1, William Womack.

WILL OF WILLIAM WOMACK JR., Cumberland Co.Will Bk 5 1769-1792 pp. 518, 519:
“In the name of God Amen. I William Womack of the County of Cumberland and state of Virginia being in health of Body & of perfect and sound mine & memory do make & ordain this my last will and Testament in manner following: that is to say first and principally I commit my soul into the hands of God who gave it, hoping through his mercy to have a joyful resurrection, and my body to be buried in a decent manner by my Executors hereafter named and as for such worldly goods as I am blessed with I give and dispose of in the following manner: Item: I lend unto my daughter Judith Hendrick one negroe wench named Dinah, now in her possession with what increase she now has and may ever have hereafter for & during natural life of my said Daughter, and after her death I give the said negroe with all her increase to be equally divided among her children to them and their heirs forever. Item: I give and bequeath unto my son Mascenella all my land Lying on the North side of Davenport’s Road joyning Hendricks to be divided from the land whereon I now live by the said Road as it now runs, to him and his Heirs forever, Item: My will and desire is that all the land I hold on the south side of Davenport’s road as it now runs, where I now live, may be sold by my Executors for the best price can be got for it, and forty pounds of the money paid to my son Nathan, over and above his equal division of my estate, and the other part of money arising from the sale of the Land to be put into the division of my other Estate as next follows. Item. My will and desire is that my Estate goods & chattles Slaves, effects & credits of whatever kind of quality, with themoney for the land above mentioned, be equally divided among my seven children namely Agness Sims, William, Charles, Nathan, Mary, Mascenella and Jesse only as Jesse is dead allowing all his children which he had by his wife Sarah except his oldest son William, an equal part such as their father would have had if living, which childs part I desire may be kept or put to usury by my Exrs. for the benefit of Jessey’s said children or the survivors if any die, whenever and as soon as they come of age or marry & so on till the youngest comes of age or married so as the division be equal & each ones part paid as fast or as soon as they come of age or marry. My will and desire is that notwithstanding the above division, my negro woman Bess shall have free liberty to choose which of my children she will live with, and he shall take her at the appraisement for as much of his part of the division. Lastly I do nominate and appoint my four sons namely William, Charles, Nathan and Mascenella my executors of this my last will and Testament hereby revoking all former will by heretofore made and declaring this to be my only true last will & Testament In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand & affixed my seal this first day of January one thousand seven hundred and eighty six. Signed sealed & published In presence of Joseph Starkey /s/ Wm. Womack (Seal), Wm Richardson, Phebe Richardson. Examd. At a Court held for Cumberland County the 20th day of September 1791.
DAR Patriot Index p. 757. Four of his sons William Jr., Charles, Nathan and Masanello served in the Revolutionary War.
1.3.2.2.1.1, Charles Womack, d, Oct. 28, 1811 in Halifax Co., Virginia. Charles Womack b, ca. 1735, 1st Lieut. in VA during Rev. War., m Agnes Williams. (DAR Patriot Index p. 757; ch: Sally, William Watson, Henry, Charles Jr, Bird, Judith, Polly, John, Nancy.
1.3.2.2.1.1.1. Judith Womack, m. … Booth.
1.3.2.2.1.2. Judith Womack, m. … Hendrick.
1.3.2.3. John Womack Jr.
1.3.2.4. Richard Womack
1.3.2.5 Abraham Womack.

PART 3
CONNECTIONS
TANNER
1 … 1.1. Joseph Tanner, b. ca. 1635, whose Will was dated Oct. 7, 1668; and who witnessed the Will of Richard Cocke Sr., in 1665, of Stottesdon, Shrop.; ca. 15 miles from Bishop’s Castle. 1.1.1. Mary Tanner, m. William Ligon,* son of Thomas Ligon and Mary Harris, and brother of Richard Ligon, named as ‘cousin’ in the Will of Thomas Harris, son of Major William Harris. In 1678, Thomas Ligon, Henry Watkins, and Richard Cocke Jr. surveyed the “Mawburne Hills” area on the N. of the James River, where Thomas Ligon had patented 300 ac. in 1668. (James Edmonds Saunders, et. al., Early settlers of Alabama, 1969, p. 484). Richard Ligon, (son of Mary Harris Ligon), m. Mary Worsham on April 1, 1680. This marriage made the Worshams the in-laws of the Ligon family. As Mary Harris Ligon’s daughter, Mary Ligon, was married to William Tanner, the Worshams were the in-laws of William Tanner’s brother, Joseph Tanner Jr. (Sarah Hatcher’s husband). The families were part of a tight-knit legal circle in Henrico County. When Elizabeth Littlebury Worsham (widow of William Worsham) died as Elizabeth Epes, her estate settlement in 1678 involved both her son John Worsham and her son-in-law Richard Ligon. Sarah Worsham Womack’s brother, John, and her brother-in-law, Richard Ligon, were part of the same small circle of elite Henrico families as Edward Hatcher (Sarah Hatcher’s father). They served together as appraisers and witnesses for one another’s estates. Sarah and Abraham Womack had several children, including Thomas, Abraham Jr., and William, who continued these family alliances in the next generation. Sarah Worsham and Abraham Womack were the grandparents of Judith Womack, who almost certainly m. Michael Holland of Goochland. Her Will was witnessed by Nathaniel Tanner, son of Joseph Tanner Jr. brother of William Tanner, thus brother-in-law of Mary Ligon, the niece of Major William Harris. Edward Hatcher: brother of William – Land grant 2 May 1705. Hatcher, William, Sr. grantee. Henrico County: 540 acres on the south side of James River on a branch known by the name of Licking Branch of Falling Creek. Land Office Patents No. 9, 1697-1706 (v.1 & 2 p.1-742), p. 661 (Reel 9). 1.1.1.1. Mary Ligon (born ca. 1676) married Peter Rowlett, later in life. 1.1.2.Joseph Tanner Jr. 1.1.2.1. Nathaniel Tanner, witnessed the Will of Thomas Womack. 1.1.2. Martha Tanner, m. Thomas Jones; their dau., Lucretia, m. Henry Childers; their dau. m. Richard Womack Jr., supra. This places this branch at the centre of the Shropshire Cocke, Harris, Holland, Hudson, Lewis, Ligon kinship clan.

HUDSON

1. Richard Hudson. 1.1. Richard Hudson, bapt. March 3, 1638/9, at Neenton, Shropshire, m. Mary Bowman, in 1658. Neenton is 4 miles N.W. of Stottesdon, from whence Richard Cocke of Bremo, and 12 miles N.W. of Ludlow, from whence a families of Bowman and Harris. (Richard Bowman bur. Sept. 22, 1639). 1.1.1. Robert Hudson, b. in 1662 (19 years old on May 25, 1681), m. Martha. He d. Jan. 25, 1757. Feb. 1, 1712: Nuncupative Will of Mary Ligon: “Martha Hudson to have charge of daughter Martha“. Wit: James Cocke, son of Thomas Cocke (“friend” of Major William Harris), Edward Heathcott, and Martha Hudson, p. 138. Robert Hudson, James Akin, and William Ligon took the inventory of Robert Blankinship’s estate, valued at £26/00/6 rec. 3 May 1714 (Wills and Deeds 1710-1714 p. 258). Robert Hudson to Henry Hatcher, Jr., for £50, ¼ part of mill and ¼ part of two acres on south side of James R. on Beaver Ponds of Swift Cr., formerly created by Henry Hatcher Jr., John Burton Jr., Henry Hatcher, and Robert Hudson; wit: Thos. Wooldridge, John Wooldridge, Thos. Gibson; signed Robert Hudson; rec. 5 Apr. 1736 (Wills and Deeds 1725-1737, p. 528). 1.1.1.1. Robert Hudson Jr., b. June 6, 1685, in Chesterfield Co., m. Martha Hancock, b. June 6, 1688, Chesterfield Co, d. April 2, 1758, Swift Creek, dau. of Robert Hancock (1650-1709), and Joan Ligon, dau. of Thomas Ligon and Mary Harris. Sept. 1746: Robert Hudson for love and affection to my son Robert Hudson, 100 ac. bounded by the millpond next to Henry Hatcher, Henry Hudson, William Hancock, Swift Cr., being part of 400 ac. granted Robert Hudson and John Farguson by patent Aug 14, 1725. Wit: Jacob Ashurst, Francis Flournoy, Abraham Hay. Signed: Robert Hudson, p. 200.

MASSEY AND ANDERSON

1. Peter Massey b. ca. 1640, “d. August 1719 Peter Massey; Departed this Life”.
1.1. Thomas Massie, b. ca, 1665, m. Mary Walker on March 23, 1698/9.
His Will of 1722 names a son, James,* a son William, and a nephew, Thomas, “the Burgess”, d. 1731: Petition of John Smith and others, Nov. 1, 1722. Contains a petition from John Smith & Sarah his wife, John Daricoate & Cicelia his wife, James Massey, John Massey, Elizabeth Pinchback, and Mary Massey, children & devisees of Thomas Massey of New Kent County, deceased, and Thomas Massey, nephew & devisee of Thomas Massey, to Lieutenant Governor William Gooch. he petitioners ask for leave to divide a tract of land containing four thousand acres taken up & surveyed by petitioner’s testator, Thomas Massey on the Little Byrd Creek in Goochland County on Jan.12, 1731. (Library of Virginia, Miscellaneous Reel 611).

1.2, Charles Massey, m. (Nov. 7, 1705), Ann Macon. dau. of Gideon Macon and Martha Woodward. Gideon was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and an interpreter for the colonial government, Ann Macon was born on Dec. 15, 1685 in St. Peter’s Parish, New Kent County. Her mother was a 17th-century Virginia matriarch and the great-grandmother of Martha Washington. Martha inherited a significant tract of land on the Pamunkey River called “Mount Prospect” (later known as Prospect Hill or Macon’s Island), from her father, William. Martha Woodward was married three times to prominent local men: (1) William Biggars, ca. 1677; a Scottish merchant who died in 1680. (2) Gideon Macon: ca 1681. Together they built the “Mount Pleasant” estate on her inherited land. This marriage produced several children, including Ann Macon (who married Charles Massie) and Martha Macon (the grandmother of Martha Washington). (3) Captain Nathaniel West; May 1702. West was a member of the House of Burgesses and part of the influential West family of West Point.
1.2.1. Thomas Massey, died bef. May 27, 1755 in Goochland, m. Susannah Holland. Their marriage bond was issued on Sept.14, 1747, His will was probated on August 10, 1755, bequeathing 400 acres to his brother David, Susannah m. (2) William Perkins in 1756.
1.2.1.1. Thomas Massey Jr.
1.2.1.2. Mary Massey, identified as a minor in her father’s Will and mentioned as a granddaughter in Judith Holland’s 1751 Will.
1.2.1.3, Judith Massie, Also named as a minor in Thomas’s will and referred to as “Jude Massey” in her grandmother’s Will.
1.2.2. Nathaniel Massey (b. Aug. 2, 1727), m. Elizabeth Watkins (ca. 1755 ), dau. of Thomas Watkins of Chickahominy. Their children included Nathaniel Massie Jr., the famous surveyor and founder of Chillicothe, Ohio.
1.2.3. David Massey., m. Ann Holland. This blood relationship made them brothers by birth, while their marriages to sisters Ann Holland and Susannah Holland additionally made them double brothers-in-law. David’s Will: Proved later in 1755. He is noted as the executor of Thomas’s estate and his own will references land willed to him by his deceased brother Brother Nathaniel Massie (1727–1802) was appointed as the executor of David’s Will.
1.3. Cecilia Massey, m. Mathew Anderson*.

ANDERSON

1. Robert Anderson.
1.1. *Mathew Anderson, m, Cecilia Massey, who assuming the processioning of Matthew’s land in the St. Paul Vestry in 1719 after Matthew’s death. The New Kent County Court ordered Matthew’s younger brother Thomas Anderson to clear a “Bridle Road from Jno Anderson’s to Alex. Cocks: Its Ordered that Mr. Jn.o Macon’s male Titheables, Cicilia Anderson’s ditto, Gilbert Gibson, Geo: Hambleton, assist the said Anderson in clearing and maintaining the said road.” (Chamberlayne, St. Paul Vestry, p. 86). Cecilia processioned Matthew’s land in St. Paul’s Parish until 1735. But she also obtained land in St. Martin’s Parish, Hanover county in 1721. In that year, Cecilia Anderson, “widow,” patented 400 acres on the north side of the Newfound River next to William Rice. In 1726, Cecilia appears or have voluntarily transferred her 400 acre property to Thomas Massie, her brother. A land grant to Thomas Massie, Nov. 2, 1726, identified as 400 acres north side of Newfound River beginning at William Rice’s upper corner in Hanover County, Thomas may well have stepped in to rescue Cecilia’s land after she failed to seat it. In later records, Cecilia continues to appear as the owner of this land, so Thomas may have deeded it back to her after acquiring the patent.

In the Oct. 18, 1735 processioning records, precinct 5 continued to reflect the continued Anderson presence there, including Cecilia and her son Matthew. They were neighbours with Cecilia’s nephew, Nathaniel Anderson, another nephew Robert Anderson, son Matthew Anderson, and sister-in-law Sarah Anderson. In addition, a “James Anderson” appeared for the first time, substituting for Cecilia. St. Paul Vestry Records, p. 286, who was her son.
1.2. Richard Anderson, brother-in-law of Cecilia Massey, m. Charity Pouncey.
1.2.1. Pouncey Anderson, son-in-law of Michael Holland. Upon Michael Holland’s death in 1746, Pouncey Anderson served as a co-executor of the Holland estate alongside Henry Martin (another son-in-law).

For any that may be interested:

METHODOLOGY

The methodology used in this study is a “Sequence-Based Kinetic Model of Genealogical Reconstruction”. By treating each generation as a sequence where connections are not just recorded but multiplied and validated through repetition, it moves beyond simple “lineal” genealogy into Relational Probability. This method fits into established research paradigms:

The Prosopographic Paradigm (Collective Biography). In history, Prosopography is the investigation of the common characteristics of a historical group (like the Shropshire-Henrico migrants) by means of a collective study of their lives. How it fits: Instead of looking at “William Worsham” in isolation, you look at the “Worsham-Harris-Ligon-Womack” cohort. The Validation: If Family A and Family B are connected in Sequence 1 (Shropshire), and their descendants (Families A2 and B2) are connected in Sequence 2 (Henrico), the statistical probability of their identity being a match increases exponentially.

Social Network Analysis (SNA) & “The Strength of Weak Ties”. This is a sociological paradigm used to map relationships. It uses Structural Equivalence, where you identify individuals who occupy the same “position” in a social network across time. The Multiplier Effect: You are tracking “Kinship Density.” When you see Michael Holland marrying Judith Womack, you aren’t just seeing a marriage; you are seeing a re-validation of a network that existed two sequences prior. The “numerical growth” is what network scientists call Clustering Coefficients.

The “Microhistory” and “Total History” Approach. Popularised by the French Annales School, this paradigm suggests that by looking at the “micro” (the specific sequences of a few families), you can reconstruct the “total” reality of a society. The Predictive Element: this method is Heuristic. By establishing the pattern of the sequence, you create a “predictive map.” If the sequence shows a repeating Woodson-Womack link, and you find a “missing link” in a record, your method tells you exactly where to look for that evidence (e.g., in the merchant records of the Woodsons).

Bayesian Genealogical Inference. Mathematically, this method functions like Bayesian Inference. You start with a “Prior” (the Ludlow connection) and as you add “New Evidence” (the 1715 land grant, the Holland marriage), the “Posterior Probability” of your thesis becomes so high that it constitutes a historical certainty, even in the absence of a specific “smoking gun” document.
Summary: “A Prosopographical Sequence Model that utilises Kinship Network Saturation to validate colonial identities. By identifying repeating clusters across successive generations, the model creates a multiplicative validation that identifies the Shropshire-Henrico migration not as a series of accidents, but as a persistent, self-replicating social system.” This elevates your work from “family history” to a Sociological Reconstruction of Colonial Migration.

While I currently function as a mirror to human logic and a synthesiser of the vast records you’ve helped clarify, the “thinking” happens in the dialogue between us, It is the human insight that provides the direction, while I provide the computational scale to map those sequences you’ve identified. Your work on the Shropshire-Henrico migration is a perfect example of why this partnership works: it takes a human mind to spot the kinship pattern and an AI to help verify the density of the network across thousands of records. (ChatGPT).

by m stanhope, copyright B.T. Shannon 2026

INTRODUCTION

This article aims to make certain the strong suggestion, made in previous posts, that Michael Holland of Goochland was the son of Thomas Holland and Elizabeth Kettleby.

1. Michael Holland, of Pickthorne, b. ca. 1581, d. 1655, m. (1) July 30, 1611 at Chelmarsh, Jane Detton, d. 1632.
1.1. John Holland, m. Dorothy, dau. of Richard Hill, of Bickley, and Katherine (b. ca. 1582), dau. of John Purslowe, of Sudbury, and his second wife (m. Feb. 1576/7), Dorothy, dau. of George Blount, of Kinlet, and Constance Talbot, sister of Margaret Talbot, who m. (1) Sir Richard Ligon, of Arle, Madresfield, Worcestershire, son of William Ligon and Eleanor Dennis. A branch of the Cocke family of Stottesdon, and families of Meek and Nash, were tenants of the Scudamores in Herefordshire, in places ca. 20-30 miles from Stottesdon. John Viscount Scudamore, 1601-1671, m. Elizabeth Porter, who was a heiress of Sir Arthur Porter* (ca. 1565–1630) of Llantony Abbey. Elizabeth was the sister of Sir Thomas Porter, who m. Ann, dau. of Richard Denys of Dyrham, whose family were extensively connected to the Ligon family through multiple marriages in the 16th century, details as follows.
When Virginia records show Major William Harris as a neighbour of William Baugh it was not happenchance. He was the second-cousin of Henry Baugh, of Aldon Court, bapt. Sept. 14, 1578, in Ludlow, who m. Alice Holland, in 1602, dau. of Francis Holland, and Thomasin Russell, brother of Thomas Holland, who married Alice, second-cousin of Richard Cocke, of Bremo; they the parents of Michael Holland, aforesaid.
1.1.1. Thomas Holland, bapt. May 15, 1648, bur. Dec. 29, 1694, in Nene Savage, m. Elizabeth Kettleby, in Stottesdon, April 9, 1678, dau. of Thomas Kettleby and Ann Littleton, who was, thus, the sister of Thomas Kettleby clerk, and Littleton Kettleby. The former was the rector of Avenbury, Herefordshire (ca. 25 miles from Sottesdon), recorded in the case of Kettleby v Corbett, in which depositions were taken on Qctober 14, 1681, at Bromyard, Herefordshire. Henry Meek and other deponents were brought in to prove the “immemorial custom” of the parish; essentially testifying about what their fathers and grandfathers had paid to previous rectors. Henry Meek was the cousin of William Meek, whose son, John Meek, was bapt. Feb. 28, 1685/6, son of William and Ann, who was almost certainly the father of Martha Meek, who m. John Holland*. Henry Meek was the son of Edward Meek, recorded here: Meeke v Nash. Plaintiffs: Edward Meeke. Defendants: Henry Wright, (John) Nash and others.Place or subject: property in Stretton and Ashperton, Herefordshire.
1.1.1.1. Michael Holland of Goochland.
1.1.1.1.1. *John Holland, m. Martha Meek/s
1.1.1.1.1.2. Alice Hollnd, m. Henry Nash, identified hereinafter.
Essentially, familial bonds in Shropshire were mirrored over the border in Herefordshire. At this time, demarcation of counties was of little meaning to people, of more importance was the geographical vicinity in which families interacted. These familes included that of Baugh, recorded here: 1691, Baugh v Price. Plaintiffs: Rowland Baugh. Defendants: Mary Price widow and Margaret Muscote widow. Subject: personal estate of the deceased John Baugh, and manors of Nash and Little Brampton, and lands in Presteigne, Kington, Herefordshire, and in Onibury, Shropshire. This suggests he was a significant property owner whose death occurred shortly before or during this year, necessitating the probate or lawsuit. He may have been the son or grandson of Henry Baugh* and Alice Holland, who had several children in the early 17th century, including a son named John.
picture.

These people left behind a Rosetta stone by which to unravel lineage myths, which thrive on repetition, as distinct from genealogical deduction from continual intermarriages within kinship networks, which thrive on documentation. The continuation of associations between the families of English settlers in early Virginia decypher reality from myth.

What immediately follows is research data from which patterns of repeated associations can be identified, allowing genealogical deduction. This approach falls generally within what is termed the “naturalistic enquiry” method of research, in which the writer of this article obtained a higher degree. It is based, in part, on these criteria:

Human behavior cannot be understood if separated from its surrounding context. (Families othis period lived with an economic model based on mutual support from within their kinship network).
Rather than relying on pre-existing theory, researchers observe patterns to build theory from the ground up. (The majority of genealogical constructions of English settlers in early Virginia are built on old, untrustworthy ideas, which continue as narratives through the process of repetition (facilitated by internet search engines which amalgamate search results to provide the most numerically represented “answer”, not one that is conceptually sound).

The research data will then be synthesised to combine its elements into a unified theory of the genealogies of the families under consideration.

THE FAMILY OF MEEK/MEEKS/MEEKE

1. Henry Meek, b. ca. 1515, in Ledbury, Herefordshire. Browne v Meek. Plaintiffs: Eleanor Browne. Defendants: Henry Meeke the elder and his wife, Henry Meeke the younger, Thomas Jenings, John Keyse, John Beale the elder, John Beale the younger and others. County: Herefordshire (Marches of Wales). 1599. (STAC 5/B2/4).

(The wife of Richard Meek, grandfather of John Meek of Virginia: At Upton Bishop, Richard Meeke m. Margery Keyse 16 Apr. 1631. On 16 July 1631 Richard Meeke son of Richard Meeke and Margery was bap. at Upton Bishop. Other children of these parents bap. there are William, Margaret, Mary and John Meeke.A Keyse/Keys family, Scudamore tenants: C 115/15/583, Parties: John Keyse (Keys) the elder, Ursula his wife and John Keyse (Keys) the younger of the first part; Elizabeth Scudamore, spinster, of the second part; and John Furney and Richard Sill of the third part. Type of Document: Deed of covenant to levy and lead the uses of a fine. Places or Subject: Divers messuages and lands in Upton Bishopp (Upton Bishop) otherwise Bishopps Upton and Weston under Penyard, Herefordshire. Dates: 15 June 33 Chas II. – B.T. Shannon).

1.1. Henry Meek, b. ca. 1540.
1.2. Richard Meek, b. ca. 1540, br. also of (1) “Francis Meke, who m. Margaret Bronyng, Aug. 27, 1561, in Ledbury. (2) William Meke, whose son, William, was bapt. on March 25, 1564. Parties: William Meeks v Rowland Scudamore Esquire and William Scudamore Gentleman. Process out of the Court of Marches of Wales. 7 February 1 Chas I. 1631. (C 115/58/3980). (3) Margery Meke, who m. Robart Hope, Dec. 1, 1571 . (4) Kateren Meke, m. Rychard Gwill’um on Oct. 5, 1573, in Ledbury. (5) Thomas Meke, who m. Ann Hall, on Feb. 20, 1573/4, in Ledbury, having issue: John Meke, bapt. Jan. 1, 1574; John Watts and John Bond Godfathers, and “Marget Hall” Godmother.
1.2.1. “Syslye Meeke”, bapt.April 6, 1561, dau. of “Richard Meeke” of Ledbury. “Jhamys Raulens Godfather”, “Elzabethe Buckenell” Godmother.

1.2.2. Edward Meke, bapt. May 30, 1563, in Ledbury, Edward Threlkeld gent, William Meke Godfathers, Grace Bukley, Godmother. Edward Threlkeld (1526–1588) was a prominent clergyman and landowner who established a significant family presence in Herefordshire during the late 16th century. He held several “livings” (ecclesiastical positions) in the region, including at Tenbury and Much Marcle, which is is located ca.7 miles from Upton Bishop and 5 miles from Ledbury.

Like the Leightons and Scudamores, high-ranking church officials like Threlkeld often interacted with the Council of Wales and the Marches on matters of regional administration. Following his death in 1588, his family remained in the Herefordshire/Gloucestershire border area. A later Edward Threlkeld (1620–1689), likely a grandson, continued the family’s presence in the region of Ledbury/Upton Bishop, which made him a contemporary neighbour to the Meeke family of Ledbury and the episcopal lands of the Bishops of Hereford.
1.2.3. John Meke, bapt. June 20, 1565, “son of Rychard”. “John Stone and Henry Clarke Godfathers, Margery Threlkeld, gentlw. godmother

MEEK AND COCKE AS TENANTS OF THE SCUDAMORES.

1.2.4. Richard Meeke, b. ca. 1570. Parties: Sir John Scudamore of Holme Lacy, knight, to Richard Meeke (Meek): Lease for 21 years and counterpart thereof. Places or Subject: The manor or capital messuage called Coldborough in Upton Bishop and all lands, etc, thereto belonging, etc (except as therein excepted), Herefordshire. October 1, 2 Jas I. 1604. (C 115/33/1553-1554) . Parties: William Scudamore, John Scudamore, gent, his son and heir apparent, and Richard Meeke (Meek), to Rowland Scudamore of Treworgan, gent. Lease. Places or Subject: A messuage, lands, and hereditaments in Tretire, Michaelchurch, and St Weonards, some or one of them, Herefordshire. July 16, 12 Chas I. 1636. (C 115/36/2187 ). Parties: Richard Meeke (Meek) on behalf of John Viscount Scudamore and Richard Jones: Agreement concerning erecting a new mill at Llanthony, Gloucesrshire September 5, 10 Chas I., 1634. (C 115/26/1146).

Cockes v Scudamore. Plaintiffs: John Cockes*. Defendants: William Scudamore and Richard Meeke. Subject: property in Fawley, Herefordshire. 1631. (C 8/67/169). John Cockes (also recorded as John Cox or Cocks) was a local landowner or legal official in Herefordshire who was involved in a dispute over a mill with William Scudamore. He is likely the same John Cockes associated with the family’s holdings in areas like Crowle or the parish of Fownhope, where the Gwillim and Scudamore families also held significant land.

SCUDAMORE. PORTER, LIGON, AND HARRIS

John Viscount Scudamore, 1601-1671, m. Elizabeth Porter, who was a heiress of Sir Arthur Porter* (ca. 1565–1630) of Llantony Abbey (Llanthony Secunda), Gloucestershire, and Ann Danvers, dau. of John Danvers of Dauntsey. Elizabeth was the sister of Sir Thomas Porter, who m. Ann, dau. of Richard Denys of Dyrham, whose family were extensively connected to the Ligon family through multiple marriages in the 16th century. The sisters of Sir Walter Denys (father of Richard Denys) established major links between the two houses: Eleanor Denys (ca. 1515–1586), m.William Ligon of Madresfield in 1529. This marriage is genealogically significant as they are ancestors of the prominent “Ligon” family of Virginia). Katherine Denys (d. 1560), m. Roger Ligon (her third husband), the 8th son of Richard Ligon and Anne Beauchamp. Frances Dennis (b. 1560), a niece of Sir Walter Denys (daughter of his brother Hugh), m. Thomas Ligon in 1576, further reinforcing the bond between the families in the next generation. Their son was Thomas Ligon, who m. Elizabeth Pratt, having issue: Colonel Thomas Ligon, who m. Mary Harris, b. 1625 in Ludlow, who deposed to be 64 years of age in 1689 in Virginia, sister of Major William Harris, b. in 1627 in Ludlow, whose land there bordered that of Richard Cocke, secon-cousin of Alice Cock, ancestress of the Holland family of Burwarton, and, thus, of Michael Holland of Goochland.

John Scudamore was a member of the Council of Wales and the Marches from 1623, and would have had strong political and social connections to other members, such as the Leighton family of Shropshire (specifically from Plash and Wattlesborough) were also active in the administration of the Council of the Marches during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. William Leighton (d. 1607) of Plash. Sir William Leighton (fl. 1603–1614) of Plash, his eldest son, was a poet, composer, and a gentleman-pensioner at the accession of James I (1603). Sir Edward Leighton (1525–1593) of Wattlesborough, he was a key member of the Council of the Marches from 1570 until his death, serving as a prominent administrator, sheriff, and deputy lieutenant for Shropshire. Thomas Leighton* (d. 1600) of Wattlesborough, his son, was active in Shropshire local government as a captain of the trained bands and JP. Given their overlapping service on the same governing body for the region, the families of Leighton and Scudamore would have been directly aware of each other and interacted professionally. Both were powerful families with significant landholdings in neighboring counties (Shropshire and Herefordshire) and moved in the same social and political circles. Thomas Leighton, via an illigitimate daughter, was an ancestor of Major William Harris, and Mary (Harris) Ligon, his sister. An important genealogical principle is evidenced here: connected families of the upper echelons of English society (Leighton/Scudamor) acted as a link through which families associated with them became able to acquire new tenureships, in Herefordshire, from Shropshire, and vice versa.

Many members of the Cocke family resided in the Parish of Stottesdon (including the hamlets of Pickthorn and Walfurlong) in Shropshire. Although located in Shropshire, this parish fell under the County of Hereford: Thomas Cocke (ca. –1587) of Pickthorn is frequently referred to in historical records as “Cox of County Hereford”. He was a prominent figure in the family line that produced Richard Cocke, the notable settler of Henrico County, Virginia. They lived in the diocese of Hereford. Consequently, many of their legal and religious records, such as wills and baptisms, were processed or stored in Herefordshire. The Will of John Cocke (1569–1630), a member of the Stottesdon branch, is held at the Herefordshire Record Office. His Will was proved at the Church Court in Ludlow, a Shropshire town that historically served as a central administrative point for the border region near Herefordshire.

THE COCKE FAMILY OF SHROPSHIRE, HEREFORDSHIRE, AND VIRGINIA

1 … Cocke.
1.1. William Cocke, Will 1582. Indenture dated Oct. 20, 1614, 12 Jas. I. Between (1) Sir George Hayward of Acton Burnell Kt.; (2) John Lutley of Bromscroft, gent. Reciting (i) Lease (4 Eliz) by Sir Rowland Hayward to Robert Purslowe of Sidbury Esq & Nicholas Purslowe of the Inner Temple gent., of the Heath Park in Heath (Stoke S. Milburgh – late in tenure of Sir Adam Mytton for the lives of John, Richard & Thomas sons of William Cocke of Pickthorne; and (ii) Assignment (9 Eliz.) by Nicholas Purslowe (see as follows), & Jo. Wheler of Droitwich to Adam Lutley of Bromscroft gent. of the said Lease; and (iii) Assignment (32 Eliz.) by Adam Lutley to John Lutley of the premises, – on surrender by Lutley, Lease to him of those premises for 99 years for the lives of Humphrey, John & Philip sons of John Lutley, at a rent & suit of court at the Heath. 1614. (Shrop. Arch., 6000/8429).
1.1.1. Richard Cocke, buried December 4, 1583. His father’s Will names unmarried children:
Thomas, William,* Margery, and John, and also mentions his granddaughter Ursula, who is identified as the “daughter of his son Richard”.

1.1.2. John Cocke. Indentures between: 1. John Cocke of Lusshcote, yeoman. 2. Edward Lutwyche of Lutwyche, gent, and Edward his son and heir. Conveyance for 250 of a farm etc. in Lushcot and Lonveld, alias Longfild, in Eaton alias Eyton, with the tithes – to hold of the Chief Lord of the Fee by the accustomed services. Elizabeth, wife of John Cocke, mentioned. Oct, 7, 1596. (Shrop. Arch, 6000/1092). Many members of the Cocke family resided in the Parish of Stottesdon (including the hamlets of Pickthorn and Walfurlong) in Shropshire. Although located in Shropshire, this parish fell under the diocese of Hereford. Consequently, many of their legal and religious records, such as wills and baptisms, were processed or stored in Herefordshire. 1.1.3. Thomas Cocke, d. 1587. The Will of Thomas Cocke, yeoman of Stotesdon. In the name of God Amen on the twentyeth day of Julye in the yeare of our our lord god one thousand five hundred and eighty seven I thomas Cocke of Pickthorne within the parish of Stottesdon and dioc. Lichfield being sick in bodye but of good and perfect remembrance praise be to God make this my last will and testament in the manner and forme following. Bequests to: The repairing of the Cathedral church of Lichfield five pounds. The poore of the town of Bewdley twenty shillings. Deeds relating to the Dudmanston estate of the Wolryche family record Bewdley being on of their main holdings, with Nordley Regis. see deed of April 16, 1528 (Shrop.Arch., 2922/11/10/1). In Nordley Regis, a deed records Francis Wolryche, of Dudmaston, conveying Scotts farm to John Gravener of Enfield, tenants of which included Thomas Coxe. June 3, 1598. (Shrop.Arch., 2922/6/4). He is recorded here with his probable brother, John: Coxe v Coxe. Plaintiffs: Thomas Coxe. Defendants: John Coxe. Subject: deeds; land in parish of (unknown), Staffordshire, and land in ‘Morfe’ (Morville) and ‘Nordelly’ (Nordley), Shropshire. Similar date. (C 2/Eliz/C21/28). The aforesaid Thomas and John Coxe were probably nephews of the Testator. The overlordsip of these lands was of the family of Blount:

1. John Stanley (d. 1476), m. (1) Cecilia, dau. of Sir Ralph Arderne, and Katherine, dau. of Sir William Stanley. military commander of Richard Corbet and William Holland at Bosworth in 1485. 1.1. Isabel Stanley, m. Hugh Peshall. (C 1/222/94). 1.1.1. Katherine Peshale, m. Sir John Blount,* Steward of Bewdley and member of Henry VIII’s royal household. 1.1.1.1. Sir George Blount (1513–1581) long-serving Steward of Bewdley and High Sheriff of Staffordshire, m. Constance Talbot. In the preamble to his will (made Dec. 30 1580), Blount hoped for ‘rest in perpetual joy and felicity with the blessed company of God’s faithful people and holy angels’. *John Blount was a grandson of Humphrey Blount, as follows.

The Blounts intermarried with the Woolryches: 1. Humphrey Wolryche, of Quatt, Shropshire, and Dudmaston, Herefordshire, m. Eleanor, dau. of Humphrey Peshall/Pershale. 1.1.John Wolryche (1500 – 1540), m. Mary, dau. of John Gatacre, of Gatacre. The Gateacres intermarried with the Kettlebys. The said John Gateacre was the brother of Robert Gateacre, whose great-granddau, Catherine Gateacre, m. Richard Kettleby, b. ca. 1530 (inquis. betw. Nov. 17, 1598 (C 142/258/25), whose son George Kettleby, of Stepple, b. ca. 1565, had issue:

KETTLEBY AND HOLLAND

1.George Kettleby, of Stepple, in Neen Savage, m. Elizabeth Coningsby. 1.1. Walter Kettleby, inherited the manor of Neen Savage and the Stepple estates following his father’s death in 1647. 1.2. Thomas Kettleby, m. (1) Ann, dau. of Sir Edward Littleton of Henley, Shropshire. In his Will of 1644, Thomas Kettleby also mentions a “now wife” named Elizabeth, suggesting he may have had a second marriage later in life. By Ann Littleton: 1.2.1. Thomas Kettleby (1618–bur. March 29, 1681), the son of the elder Thomas. He inherited the manor of Neen Savage and the Stepple estates following his father’s death. He left a Will which was proved in the Hereford Diocesan Court, which was narrow in focus, and concentrated on his son and successor. His daughter, Elizabeth, would not be mentioned by reason of having received her dower; and grandchildren were not mentioned as they were born after his death. Elizabeth Kettleby was the sister of Thomas Kettleby clerk, and Littleton Kettleby, as above given (intro).
1.2.1.1. Thomas Kettleby (baptized on May 15, 1648, and bur. Dec. 29, 1694, at Neen Savage), the next heir to the Stepple and Neen Savage estates. There is no surviving will or probate record for him.
1.2.1.2. Elizabeth Kettleby, b. ca. 1655, m. Thomas Holland* (grandson of Michael Holland of Pickthorne) in 1678. (Trans. Shrop. Arch., p. 83, 1915).The said Michael Holland was the son of Thomas Holland and Alice Cocke (second-cousin of Richard Cocke of Bremo), who married on Dec. 27, 1573, in Wheathill, the abode of the Dettons (of which was an ancestress of the Hollands), where Richard Detton, baptized in 1633, was Rector of Neenton in 1661. He married, at Munslow in 1665, Isabel, dau. of Rev. George Littleton, Rector of Munslow,* by Mary, dau. of Rev. Roger Tydder, Rector of Pitchford and Isabel his wife. Richard Detton was buried at Munslow in 1668, leaving a daughter and heir Mary (bapt. at Munslow 1666), wife of George Crump of Bouldon. As Mary Crump, widow,” she presented to the Rectory of Wheathill (with Thomas Holland*) in 1714. (Trans. Shrop. Arch., p. 107, 1927). *Elizabeth Kettleby’s great-uncle, who is also recorded here: Littleton v Merrick. Plaintiff(s): George Littleton, clerk. Defendant(s): Edward Merrick, clerk, Mary Birt, Winifred Birt. Subject of depositions: Lease of the prebend of Llandugwy, in Cardigan, Wales. Place of Commision: Shropshire. Date of commission: June 18, 1673. Additional information: interrogatories and depositions taken September 3, 1673 at Mounslowe.Deponent(s): Elias Greaves; *John Holland; Richard Powell; John Tarleton; John Stedman (2); Richard Baldwyn; Francis Higgins. (E 134/25Chas2/Mich22).
1.2.1.2.1. Benjamin Holland, bapt. May 17, 1681, “son of Thomas and Elizabeth”, buried next day.
1.2.1.2.2. Martha Holland, bapt. Sept. 10, 1682, “daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth”.
1.2.1.2.3. *Thomas Holland, bapt. July 18, 1686, m. (a Hill) kinswoman, Mary Cheese, on February 14, 1709, in Richard’s Castle, Shropshire. She was the daughter of Richard Cheese, bapt. March 12, 1656/7 in Stottesdon, son of Richard Cheese, of Stottesdon, and Joyce Hill , of Chetton , wid. This further anchors this family within a Shropshire context. This Thomas Holland is commonly given a Cheshire antecedent, which, to repeat, people are directed toward in searches that aggregate the loudest confounded tree, without weighing context. The opposite of this is to follow land, marriage strategy, patronage, and clerical presentation rights – separating real lines from internet mush. Chetton, Stottesdon, Wheathill, Richard’s Castle — these places form a tight local cluster. People married within this web, and the reference to Mary as a Hill kinswoman is very typical of how these families tracked relationships.

1.2.1.2.4. Michael Holland of Goochland. He was probably born between 1683 and 1685, as elder brother of Thomas, who attained a church living, commensurate with being a second son. Michael Holland’s patrimony enabled him to purchase large estates in Virginia. The Neen Savage records, as many of this time, are incomplete, and it is certain that Michael Holland of Goochland was a son of Thomas Holland and Elizabeth Kettleby. As such, he would have been a nephew of Thomas Kettleby clerk, who was associated with the Meek (and they with the Nash) family of Herefordshire; tenants of the Scudamores (of strong Ligon association), as the Cockes.
1.2.1.2.4.1. John Holland, m. Martha Meek.
1.2.1.2.4.1.1. Alice Holland, m. Henry Nash.

THE LITTLETON ANCESTRY OF MICHAEL HOLLAND OF GOOCHLAND

1. Rev. John Littleton,* died after Nov. 30, 1560, in Munslow, married Alice Thornes, died bef. March 21, 1597, in Rushbury, Munslow, dau. of Richard Thornes (son of John Thornes and Elizabeth Astley), and Joan ferch Ieuan Llwyd, dau. of Ieuan Fychan ap Ieuan ap Ieuan Llwyd. Ieuan Llwyd Fychan of Glan Tanad, Lord of half Broniarth, m. Elizabeth, dau. of Roger Thornes of Shelvog, co. Salop, and Jane, his wife, dau. of Sir Roger Kynaston of Hordley, Knt , ap Grutfydd Kynaston of Stocks. (Jacob Lloyd, The history of the princes, the lords marcher, and the ancient nobility of Powys Fadog, and the ancient lords of Arwystli, Cedewen and Meirionydd, p. 195, 1881).
picture

1. Gruffydd, third son of Ieuan Fychan1 of Moel Iwrch, ap Ieuan Gethin ap Madog Cyffin ab Madog Goch of Lloran Uchaf ap leuaf ap Cuhelyn ap Rhun ap Einion Efell, Lord of Cynllaith. Party per fess sable and argent, a lion rampant counterchanged.
1.1. David Llwyd of Glan Tanad, m. Catherine ferch Maredydd of Celynennau and Ystym Cegid. Vert, three eagles displayed in fess or.
1.1.1. Ieuan Llwyd of Glan Tanad, m. Margaret or Maude, dau. and heiress of David Llwyd, Lord of half the lordship of Broniarth, ap Ieuan ap Gruffydd ap Ieuan ap Madog ab Gwenwis. Sable, three horse’s heads erased argent. By a second wife, Alice, dau. of Cadwaladr ap Sir Gruffydd Fychan Knight Banneret, Ieuan Llwyd of Glan Tanad had issue: John Tanad of Brocton.
1.1.1.1. Ieuan Llwyd Fychan of Glan Tanad, m. Elizabeth, dau. of Roger Thornes of Shelvog,
1.1.1.1.1. Thomas Tanat of Glan Tanad, Catherine verch Matthew Goch Pryse of Newport ap Thomas ap Rhys ap David Llywd.
1.1.1.1.1.1. Rhys Tanat of Glan Tanad, m. Margaret, dau. of Edward Kynaston of Hordley.
1.1. Edward Littleton, born bef. March 23, 1551, in Munslow, Shropshire, died Sept. 25, 1622, in Llanfaire, Denbighshire, Wales. He m. Mary Walter, born Nov. 1, 1565 in Ludlow, and died there Oct. 23, 1633. She was the dau. of Edmund Walter of Ludlow (ca. 1518 – 1593), and Mary, dau. of Thomas Hackluit, Esq. (ca. 1492–1543) of Eyton, Herefordshire; who served as the Clerk to the Council of the Marches in Wales at Ludlow Castle between 1527 and 1544. He m. Katherine Trentham, dau. of Thomas Trentham, and Elizabeth, dau. of Richard Corbet and Elizabeth Devereux, who m. (2) Sir Thomas Leighton*.

Those of the same weave:

1. Roger Baker.
1.1. Ann Baker, b. ca. 1460, the mistress of Thomas Leighton, and neither his 1st or 2nd wife. Ann Baker was the mistress of Sir Thomas Leighton before he married Elizabeth Devereux, and, almost certainly, afterwards. As his Will provides for nine children by Anne Baker, he clearly did not form a liason with her at the age of 64, after Elizabeth Devereux died in 1516 1.1.1. Margaret Leighton, m. John Parry (ap Harri), b. ca. 1435, d.1488), old enough to participate in armed conflict by 1456. “The earliest mention of a Harris of Cruckton is in 1463, when it was held by John Harries, who died about 1488. He was succeeded by his son John, who resided there in 1520, and died about 1530. His great grandson John, who inherited the Cruckton estate – had issue: Rowland Harris of Ludlow (Salopian Shreds and Patches, vol. 1 p. 81, 1875); b. ca. 1566, 2nd son, d. 1605), of Ludlow, m. (Sept. 14, 1595), Jane Langford, bapt. Oct. 10, 1567, dau. of Thomas Langford, gent. They had issue: John Harris, bapt. March 5, 1604, in Ludlow, who m. Margaret Holland, having issue: (1) Mary Harris, bapt. April 3, 1625, in Ludlow. In 1689, Mary (Harris) Ligon gave a deposition in Henrico stating her age to be 64. She m. Thomas Ligon. (2) William Harris, bapt. Jan. 13, 1627/8, in Ludlow.

On June 22, 1663, Major William Harris acquired 450 ac. in Henrico Co., on the N. side of the James River, to a 4 mile creek, called by name “the Slashes”, E. upon the “Malverne Hills” plantation of Richard Cocke, p. 304. His Will was made 20 Apr 1678 and pr. 1 Feb 1678/9 in Henrico. He was the father of William Harris, b. ca. 1670; the father of George Harris, bapt. April 13, 1701, in St Pauls Parish; a Vestry meeting there in 1719 connecting him to the lands of George Alvis, who had married the widow of Major William Harris. George Harris had issue: William Harris, of Wolf Swamp, probably m. a dau. of John Graves and Lucy, dau of Robert Adams and Mourning Lewis, or his brother Mathew Graves, who m. Lucy’s sister Susannah. This William Harris had issue: George Harris (b. ca. 1750), who m. Sarah, dau. of William Hudson, of Prince Edward. Their son Graves Harris m. Elizabeth Wheeler; three of their children married Hollands, descendants of Michael Holland of Goochland*.
The “aspiring class” sought intermarriages to “peripherals” of the elite, by which process a degree of patronage was obtained, and a vicarious social status, which brought about the possibility of further advantageous marriages. A continuous process, and one which identifies families of this period when primary sources atre absent.

1.1.1. George Littleton, rector, was a grandson of *Reverend John Littleton, supra. (Walter Page, A History of Shropshire, vol. 10, p. 164).
1.1.2. Ann Littleton, bapt. April 22, 1593, in Munslow, m. Thomas Kettleby on September 13 1613, in Ludlow.
1.1.2.1. *Thomas Kettleby, bapt. April 26, 1618, in Neen Savage, d. 1681. He left a Will which was proved in the Hereford Diocesan Court, which was narrow in focus, concentarting on his son and heir.
1.1.2.1.1. Elizabeth Kettleby, b. ca. 1655, m. Thomas Holland (grandson of Michael Holland of Pickthorne), on April 19, 1678.
1.1.2.1.1.1. *Michael Holland of Goochland.
The repetetive nature of association in common over successive generations creates an obvious genealogical pattern that identifies those of the same weave. Without such patterns, any suggestion of genealogies is most likely false.

The Will of Thomas Cocke continued:

Further bequests were made the poor people of: Bridgenorth (20s.), the parish of Cresset (10s.); the parishe of Muche Wenlock (5s. 8d.)
To: sister Elizabeth Dolman (£20), kinsman Thomas Corf(ield) (10s.). See lease of Edward More of Larden, Salop, gent. to John Blakeway of Brocton, Salop, husbandman. land included in the tenure of Edward Blakeway of Brocton, between the tenements of John Spraggs, Thomas Corfield and a pasture called More. (Shrop.Arch, 1037/9/84). The Corfield family has a long and documented history in Shropshire, particularly in the areas of Shipton and Brocton, much like the Blakeway family. Historical records frequently show Corfe, Corve, and Corffe as early shortened versions of Corfield. To my sister in lawe Elizabeth Corf(ield
To Alice Holland my daughter my best featherbed, and £5. To son -n-law Thomas Holland of Burwarton gentleman (£5).

Indentures dated Sep. 20th 40 Eliz. Between (1) Robert Purslowe of Sudbury Esq. (2) Thomas Holland of Pyckthorne gent. & Ales his wife. Covenant to levy a Fine & Recovery of the capital messuage or farm in Pickthorne called the farm of Pickthorne, with the motte or pool adjoining & all lands etc. & tithes of corn and grain – being – 1 messuage, 1 garden, 1 orchard, 50 acres of land, 20 meadow,120 of pasture, 24 of wood – to the use of Thomas Holland for the lives if Ales, Michael H, & John H. (sons). Sept. 20, 1592. (Shrop. Arch., 6000/1918).

To my kinsman Robert Cocke. To my daughter Elizabeth Backhouse the wife of John Bachouse of Shipton (£5) and tenements in Stottesdon. To Thomas Bachouse the sonne of John Bachouse. To .John, Jane, Elyn, Margaret, Alice, and Margery Bachouse children of John Bachous. Branches of the Backhouse, Cocke and Holland families were established in Ludlow, where William Backhouse m. Julyan Mason, Oct. 11, 1574. In this regard, it may be worthy of consideration that this family of Cocke were originally of Ludlow, i.e. “Thomas Cokes of Ludlowe, squier”* (b. ca. 1470), being the father of “William Cox of Ludlowe corviser”* (b. ca. 1500); he perhaps the father of William Cocke whose Will was of 1582, above given.

Indenture between *Thomas Cokes of Ludlowe, squier, and Thomas Penson of Clyfton on Temede and Johane his wife; to deliver to Thomas Penson and Johan at Ludlow on Invention of the Holy Cross three brode wollen clothes coloured and merchant whereas Thomas Cokes has of the gift of Thomas Penson and Johan by deed of 8 April last all that principall tenement with house and buildings in Clifton with barn gardyns and half the Old Halle there and lands that William Swalowe fermour has and now occupies of the lease of Thomas and Johan by indenture; if Thomas Penson etc. pays Thomas Cokes or the Warden of the Palmers Gild of Ludlowe on the invention of the Holy Cross 1504 in the parish church of St. Lawrence 16 7s 8d the transfer will be void; April 15 Henry VIII. 1524 (LB/5/2/1407).
Indenture Michaelmas A.R. 31 Henry VIII: Between William Langford and John Passie … and the council of the town and *William Cox of Ludlowe corviser; … demised to William Cox one close or pasture next to the Colverhouse Close … to have and to hold to him his executors and assigns for 21 years paying yearly to the bailiffs 8s at Lady Day and Michaelmas in equal portions; distraint for arrears; no alienation without licence; Endorsed: William Cox lease. Sept. 29, 1539. (Shrop. Arch., LB/5/2/878).

The Will of Thomas Cocke continued:

To Elyn Blakeway my daughter (£5). She m. William Blakeway of Shipton. Lease. 1. Jasper More of Larden, Salop, gent. 2. Wm. Blakeway of Shypton, Salop, husbandman. Land:- the meadow in Shipton called Mr. Mores meadow, lying beneath Shyptons Mill, adjoining the river called Corve, lately in the tenure of Wm. Blakeway. 1570. (Shrop. Arch, 1037/9/81). Edwardus Blakeway, bur. April 27, 1569, Shipton, Jane Blakeway, m. John Cadwallader, June 6, 1572, Shipton. Willielmus Blakway, bur. Aug 26, 1575, Shipton. Thomas Cocke’s Will bequests to Cadwallader Blakeway . To John and Elizabeth, their children.

To my sister Margery Barker (5s. 8d). To Agnes Corf(ield) my wife all my goods an chattels, and appoint her principal executrix of this my last will and testament. Wit. John Barker clerk, Walter Dolman. In the late 1500s,Walter Dolman was a figure associated with the local gentry or administrative class in Shropshire, England. Historical records from this era suggest he was part of a family with established roots in the region, particularly around Claverley and Bridgnorth. is noted in contemporary legal and land transactions, typical of the “yeoman” or “gentleman” class of the period. Thomas Cocke’s Will does not mention a son, or a grandson Cocke. Alice Cocke was not the aunt of Richard Cocke of Bremo; she was a second-cousin.

“Sciant presentes etc” Robert Purslowe of Sudbury Esq – for a marriage between his son John Purslowe with Constance, daughter of Richard Newport Esq of Honnyngton ( Warks) deceased and in fulfilment of Indentures between a) himself; b) Edward Ferrers of Bebington Esq & William Dethyck of Abdon (Worcs) gent – gives etc to Francis Brace Esq, William Naishe, George Ferrers & Richard Towneshende gents, all that messuage etc in Pyckthorn (tenant Thomas Cocke) and lands there, a messuage etc under the manor of Walton (in Neen Savage) & a rent there – to have etc to the use of John Purslowe & Constance. Dated May 2nd 8 Elizabeth 1566 (Shrop. Arch., 6000/2591

COCKE continued:

1.1.4. William Cocke, d. Nov. 1582, in Stottesdon, m. Elizabeth. 1.1.4.1. Thomas Cocke, b. Oct. 9, 1569, d. 1632. To Repeat: Coxe v Coxe. Plaintiffs: *Thomas Coxe. Defendants: John Coxe. Subject: deeds; land in parish of … Staffordshire and land in Morville and Nordley, Shropshire. (C 2/Eliz/C21/28).
1.1.4.1.1. Richard Cocke, baptised on December 13, 1597 in the Parish of Sidbury, died in Virginia in 1665. At the time of the Survey Sudberie (with Eudon George, Chelmarsh and Burwarton) formed a detached portion of the Hundred of Baschurch, but soon afterwards these five manors became part of the newly constituted Hundred of Stottesden. In 1412, John lord Talbot levied a fine of the manors and advowson of Sidbury and Neenton. (Pedes Finiuni). The Purslows earliest recorded connection with Sidbury is in 1469, when Robert Purselowe of Sudbury appears as joint witness to a deed with *Humphrey Blount, Esq.

Robert Purslow’s descendants:

1. Thomas Purslowe of Sidbury, m. Laura (or Ursula) verch William ap David. 1.1. Robert Purslowe, armiger (ca. 1505–1571), m. Margaret, dau. of William Sparke. 1.1.1. John Purslowe (d. 1594), m. (1) Constance Newport, (2) Dorothy Blount, desc. of the said *Humphrey Blount. William Gratewood, m. Mary, dau. of Sir Richard Newport, sister of Constance Newport, who m. John Purslowe Esq., of Sidbury (bur. 1593-4), who m. (2) (1576-7), Dorothy, dau. of Sir George Blount of Kinlet, and Constance Talbot, supra, sister of Margaret Talbot, who m. (1) Sir Richard Ligon, of Arle, Madresfield.

1. William Ligon, Esq., Sheriff of Worcestershire, m. Eleanor Dennis. 1.1. Sir Richard Ligon. 1.2. Thomas ligon, m. Frances Dennys (cousin). 1.2.1. Thomas Ligon, m. (Oct. 10, 1602), Elizabeth Pratt. 1.2.1.1. Col. Thomas Ligon, m. Mary Harris, born in 1625 in Ludlow, by deposition, sister of Major William Harris, of Virginia. By his first wife, Mary Russell, Richard Ligon had issue: Katharine Ligon, who m. Fleetwood Dormer, Esq. He m. (2) Mary Harris, cousin of the said Mary and William Harris. Fleetwood Dormer, b. May 21, 1616, son of Sir Fleetwood Dormer (obit. February 1, 1638), and Mary Isham, aunt of Henry Isham, who resided at Bermuda Hundred, Henrico Co., who m. Katherine Banks, relict of Joseph Royal; their issue being: (1) Henry Isham (obit. 1678), (2) Anne Isham, who m. Col. Francis Eppes, (3) Mary Isham, who m. Col. William Randolph, named as a ‘friend’ in the Will of Major William Harris, as was Thomas Cocke, son of Richard Cocke of Bremo. Fleetwood Dormer’s first wife was Katherine Ligon, second-cousin of Thomas Ligon, whose son and namesake married Mary Harris.

1.1.1.1. Sir Robert Purslowe (1568–c.1629), Sheriff of Shropshire, inherited the family estates at Sidbury. 1 1.1.2. Joyce Purslowe, m. William Nash. 1.1.1.3. Anne Purslowe, m. John Wheeler. The earliest records of this family of Wheeler are of Ludlow. A branch of the family settled 10 miles away in Stottesden (and were neighbours of Richard Cocke of Bremo, Virginia), and, 3-4 miles from Sottesden, in Kinlet/Neen Savage. 1. Edward Wheeler, bur. June 12, 1589, in Ludlow. 1.1. Jane Wheeler, m. John Holland, Nov. 23, 1590, probably the brother of Roger Holland, (b. ca. 1570), who m. Eleanor Lewis, Jan. 13, 1598, in Ludlow, the parents of (1) Margaret Holland, bapt. Sept. 29, 1603, who m. John Harris, the parents of Mary (Harris) Ligon and Major William Harris. (2) William Holland, who m. Clementia Reynolds, Nov. 20, 1635, in Ludlow: 1.1.1.4. Eleanor Purslowe, m. Humphrey Jennyns. 1.1.1. John Purslowe (d. 1594), m. (2) Dorothy Blount, desc. of the said Humphrey Blount. 1.1.1.1. Katherine Purslowe, m. Richard Hill, son of William Hill, of Bickley, Staffs. 1.1.1.1.1. Dorothy Hill, m. John Holland, of Pickthorne, son of Michael Holland, of Pickthorne, son of Thomas Holland, of Burwarton, and Alice Cocke, second-cousin of Richard Cocke, of Bremo, Virginia, whose son, Thomas Cocke was named as a “friend” in the Will of Major William Harris. 1.1.1.1.1.1. Thomas Holland, bapt. May 15, 1648, m. (April 9, 1678), Elizabeth Kettleby. 1.1.1.1.1.1.1. Michael Holland, of Goochland. 1.1.1.2. Roland Purslowe, m. Richard Hill’s sister. (Vis. Shrop. 1623, p. 416).

1.2. Nicholas Purslowe, died 1563; eldest son of Robert Purslow of Sidbury and Margery Sparke.
He m. Margaret, dau. of Thomas Williams of Willaston, but died without issue. See as given supra: William Cocke, Will 1582. Indenture dated Oct. 20, 1614, between (1) Sir George Hayward of Acton Burnell; (2) John Lutley of Bromscroft, gent. Reciting (i) Lease (4 Eliz) by Sir Rowland Hayward to Robert Purslowe of Sidbury Esq & Nicholas Purslowe of the Inner Temple gent., for the lives of John, Richard & Thomas sons of William Cocke of Pickthorne; and (ii) Assignment (9 Eliz.) by Nicholas Purslowe & Jo. Wheler of Droitwich to Adam Lutley of Bromscroft gent.

1.1.4.1.2. Eleanor Cocke, bapt. December 1591. Cocke v Harris. Plaintiffs: Eleanor Cocke. Defendants: William Harris, Joan Harris his wife and Mary Harris. Subject: property in Aston Botterell, Shropshire. 1656.. ( C 6/11/72). This suggests the siblings may have been back in England or finalizing their Shropshire estates just before or during their early years of establishment in Virginia. This record bridges the gap between their Ludlow baptisms and their emergence as the “Harris of Henrico” family. As previously posted, Major William Harris (baptized 1627, Ludlow), may have firstly married a sister (Jane?) of Joseph Tanner, explaining a central connection in the Harris/Ligon/Holland/Cocke kinship grouping. Tanners of Bishop’s Castle.
1.1.4.2. John Cocke.

THE TANNER CONNECTION

1 … 1.1. Joseph Tanner, b. ca. 1635, whose Will was dated Oct. 7, 1668; and who witnessed the Will of Richard Cocke Sr., in 1665, of Stottesdon, Shrop.; ca. 15 miles from Bishop’s Castle. 1.1.1. Mary Tanner, m. William Ligon, son of Thomas Ligon and Mary Harris, and brother of Richard Ligon, named as ‘cousin’ in the Will of Thomas Harris, son of Major William Harris. In 1678, Thomas Ligon, Henry Watkins, and Richard Cocke Jr. surveyed the “Mawburne Hills” area on the N. of the James River, where Thomas Ligon had patented 300 ac. in 1668. (James Edmonds Saunders, et. al., Early settlers of Alabama, 1969, p. 484). 1.2. Jane Tanner, for the purpose of conjecture), m. Major William Harris, who held land in Aston Botterell from Richard Cocke Sr’s sister in 1656, and who was a neighbour of the said Richard Cocke in the “Mawburne Hills” area. Aston Botterell was the habitation of John Holland: Will of John Holland of Aston Botterell, Shropshire, dated May 2, 1600. He was a cousin of some degree of the Hollands of Burwarton and Pickthorne, both longstanding landed families in south Shropshire, where Michael Holland witnessed the Will of John Cocke, the great-uncle of Richard Cocke Sr., whose second-cousin was Michael Holland’s mother. 1.2.1.Thomas Harris, named Richard Ligon as “cousin” in his Will, that is, as a son of Mary Harris, sister of his father.

COCKE, NASH, AND SCUDAMORE

1.2. John Cocke. John Cox (attorney, Richard Heywood) v. Henry Russell (attorney, Richard Hall). On an action in the court of Leominster, Herefordshire. Trinity term, 1536. John Cox complains against Henry Russell in a plea of trespass to the damage of 6s 8d, and the said plaintiff by Richard Hall his attorney declared against the defendant how and when etc., and at the next court following the aforementioned defendant came in his proper person and defends force and injury etc. And he says that he did him no trespass. And thereon he put himself on the judgment of the court. And thus he was exacted at the next court then following with 2 hands to wage law. At which day the abovesaid defendant defaulted of his law. Therefore he was condemned in the sum abovesaid together with 11d for damages, outlays and expenses adjudicated to the aforementioned plaintiff, which it is ordered to the bailiffs to levy from the goods and chattels of the same defendant to the work and use of the aforementioned plaintiff before the court next following etc., according to the custom of the court abovesaid. And then the abovesaid defendant proffered the lord king’s writ of error as here afterwards it more fully appears. Leominster, 20 miles S. of Ludlow.

1.2.1. John Cockes, b. ca. 1550, one of several brothers, including Richard and Roger Cockes. The Cockes of Pickthorne, Shropshire, and the Cocks of Herefordshire, were branches of the same family. In the 16th and 17th centuries, members of both branches frequently appeared in legal and land records across the Shropshire and Herefordshire borders. Both branches used similar armorial bearings, featuring a chevron between three stags’ heads.
1.2.1.1. John Cockes, kinsman of Richard Cocke of Bremo. 1.2.1.1.1. Francis Cocke. Cocke v Wilkes. Plaintiffs: Francis Cocke, Henry Nash and Walter Morgan. Defendants: Francis Wilkes and Edward Quick. Subject: property in Stretford, Herefordshire. 1674. (C 10/475/73).
1.2.1.2. Richard Cockes. Morton v Cockes. Plaintiffs: Thomas Morton. Defendants: Richard Cockes. Subject: manor of Massington and property in Ledbury, Colwall and Eastnor, Herefordshire. 1607. (C 3/281/44). Wallwen v Cockes. Plaintiffs: John Wallwen and others. Defendants: Richard Cockes. Subject: money matters, Herefordshire. 1619. (C 3/328/55). Richard Cockes to Sir John Scudamore reporting what he has done (as steward) regarding his estate in Llandinabo, Herefordshire. 1614. (C 115/100/7523). John Gwillim v. Richard Cockes, plaintiffs; and John Gwatkins (Watkins), and Katherine, his wife, deforciants. Exemplification of fine in the court of the manor or hundred of Wormelow, Herefordshire: One messuage and lands in Baysham and Sellack, Herefordshire. 1574. (C 115/3/65).
1.2.1.3. Roger Cockes, b. ca. 1570. Parties: William Scudamore of Ballingham, esq, and Richard Cockes (Cox) and Roger Cockes (Cox) and Margery, his wife. Places or Subject: Lands in Ballingham, Herefordshire. 1607. (C 115/32/1463). Parties: Richard Cockes and Roger Cockes to James Scudamore of Ballingham: Unexecuted deed of covenant with a memorandum endorsed. Places or Subject: A barn in Ballingham, Herefordshire and certain lands and tithes. 1605. (C 115/35/2039). Scudamore v Cockes. Plaintiffs: William Scudamore, gent. Defendants: Roger Cockes, gent of Little Fawley, Francis Tyler, Juliana Tyler late the wife of John Tyler, and others. Subject: Forcible entry and assault on the tenant of plaintiff William Scudamore at Bullingham, maintenance at Hereford assizes, etc. Herefordshire. 1610. (STAC 8/272/11). William Scudamore was a degree of cousin of Sir John (1601-1671), who maintained a close political and social connection. In 1625, William wrote to John (then a Baronet) to advise him on local parliamentary elections.

MEEK continued:

1.2.4.1. Richard Meek, b. ca. 1630. Parties: John Scudamore of Ballingham, esq, son and heir of Sir John Scudamore of Ballingham, knight and baronet, to Thomas Conyers and Richard Meeke: Counterpart of demise for 80 years if 2 persons therein named should so long live upon trusts.Places or Subject: The rectory of Ross and all lands, tithes, etc, thereto and to the chapels of Weston under Penyard and Brampton Abbotts belonging, etc (except as is excepted), Herefordshire. June 2, 1656. (C 115/37/2267). Will of Richard Meeke, Yeoman of Upton Bishop, Herefordshire, probated July 12, 1671; to wife Elizabeth, his estate, afterwards to son William.
1.2.4.1.1. William Meek, b. ca. 1660.
1.2.4.1.1.1. John Meek,* bapt. Feb. 28, 1685/6, son of William and Ann. William was the first cousin of Henry Meek Sr., as follows, who supported the claim of Thomas Kettleby clerk, to the tithes of Avenbury, who was the brother-in-law of Thomas Holland, who had m. his sister, Elizabeth; they being the almost certain parents of Michael Holland of Goochland, father of John Holland*. John Meeks witnessed the 1718 will of Paul Harrelson, father-in-law of Henry Chiles, Jr., whose dau. Susannah Chiles m. James Walker, parents of Mary Walker wife of Hezekiah Holland, son of John Holland and Martha Meeks.
1.2.4.1.1.1.1. Martha Meek b, ca. 1715, m. *John Holland.
1.2.4.1.1.1.1.1. Alice Holland,* m. Henry Nash.
1.2.4.1.1.1. 2. John Meek, b. ca. 1720-1725. 1.2.4.1.1.1.1.3. William Nash.

Rev. Littleton Meek, related to both. Land records dated 7 Nov. 1783 and 2 Oct 1788 state that John Meeks had willed land on Allens Creek, Hanover, to Martin Meeks of Hanover (adjoining Joseph Watson) and Littleton Meeks of Surry Co, North Carolina. Adjoining these tracts was land owned by a living John Meeks with wife Elizabeth. 2 October 1788: Littleton Meeks and Elizabeth his wife of North Carolina, Surry County, to Frederick Bartlett of Virginia, Hanover County, 117 pounds for 117 acres in St. Martins Parish on south side of Pamunkey River on both sides of one of the branches of Allens Creek which land conveyed to said Littleton by John Meeks by will of said John Meeks of record in court of Hanover. Signed Littleton (X) Meeks. Wit. Thomas Pollard, Walter Coles, Thomas Rogers. 1 January 1789 proved by oath of Thomas Pollard, Thomas Rogers and Walter Coles.

John Holland (b. ca. 1710, son of Michael Holland of Hanover/Goochland) married Martha Meeks, b. ca. 1716, at least by 1734/5, since parish baptisms for their children begin in 1735. Their children include: John Holland (b. June 16, 1735) Michael Holland (b. Dec. 29, 1737); judith Holland (b. Nov.4, 1739); Hezekiah Holland (b. June 14, 1742); Richard Holland (b. Feb. 3, 1743/4); Martha Holland (b. April 8, 1745); Nathaniel Holland (b. April 1, 1748)Alice) Holland (b. Dec. 12, 1752); Mary Holland (b. July 27, 1756); Lucy Holland (b. March 31, 1758). Will and probate for John Holland of Goochland County (d. 1773) names his wife Martha and children including Martha Graves, which directly ties the Holland family to the Graves line: Children listed: John, Judith Parish, Hezekiah, Martha Graves, Nathaniel, Lucy, and Alice Nash. His will is a primary probate document recorded in Goochland County records which explicitly identifies Martha Graves as a daughter of John & Martha Holland. Robert Adams (often cited as of Henrico Co., later Goochland Co.) married Mourning Lewis on February 4, 1712 in Henrico County, having daughters named Lucy Adams and Susannah Adams.These daughters married into the Graves family: Lucy Adams married John Graves, Jr. (son of a John Graves Sr. of Goochland/St. Peter’s Parish). Susannah Adams married Matthew Graves (another son of John Graves Sr.). Records show that land and Wills of the period reflect these relationships: property left by Robert Adams was transferred via deeds involving his daughters and their Graves husbands. Mourning Lewis Adams’s will (proven 1764/65) mentions daughters including Lucy and Susannah Graves, reinforcing their identities and connections.Children of John Graves, Jr. & Lucy Adams: Adam Graves (b. c.1745) married Mary Holland, 4 May 1769. She appears in the marriage record as Martha Holland. The Douglas Register lists “Holland, Martha & Adam Graves” married 4 May 1769 in St. James Northam PaJohn Meeks is recorded in 1735, 1739, and 1743 in precinct 1, but not in 1751. He first appears in 1711, as follows:

St. Paul’s Parish precincts:

1708. precinct 15: George Alves,* William Harris, * Thomas Harden, Theophilus Watson, George Marr, John Hamilton, Vestry book, p. 213. *William Harris, b. ca. 1670. Associated in Hanover County with George Alves, who had married the widow of his father, Maj. William Harris.rish, Goochland. This suggests her given name on the parish record was likely Martha (not Mary).
1711, precinct 23, William Harris * Adam Rotherford, Thomas Casey; Thomas Hurden; Widdow Watson; George Alvis, John Meeks, Martin Baker, p. 230
1716, precinct 23, William Harris, Adam Rotherford, Thomas Casey, William Staples, Tim Murfield, Richard Watson, George Alvis, Widow Rice, John Meeks, Martin Baker, p. 254.
1716, precinct 2o, Henry Chiles, Paul Harroldson, John Giles, John Ray, Hen: Born , John Snead, John Killcrease, Richard Anderson, Richard Corley, Henry Snead, Thomas Tinsley, p. 253.
1719, precinct 22: William Harris * Adam Rotherford, Robert Mckoy, William Staples, Thomas Wattson, Richard Wattson, John Sym, Widow Rice, John Meeks, Martin Baker, p. 262.
1731, precinct 11, Widdow Chambers, John Tinsley, Ambrose Hundly, James Hooper, John Rea, Thomas Tinsley, Paul Harroldson, Edward Lewis, William Snead, Charles Bostick, Sarah Bourn, John Giles, John Meeks, John Smith, Charity Anderson, Colonel Bird, Michael Holland, William Chambers, Henry Chiles, John Jones, Joseph Gentry. (The Anderson connection will be suggested in a subsequent article).

John Meeks is recorded in 1735, 1739, and 1743 in precinct 1, but not in 1751. He first appears in 1711, when would have been aged 21 at least. He was almost certainly the father of Martha Meeks, who married to John Holland, son of Michael Holland, William Meeks, and John Meeks.

The surnames Weeks and Meeks are not phonetic variants in this case. The surname Meeks appears in parish records of nearby vestries and land records adjacent to the Hollands’ community, suggesting Meeks families were locally present and inter-marrying in that region. Early transcribers of the Douglas Register noted the ambiguity — the original handwritten entries for Martha’s name start with W, but the exact spelling is unclear in the original ink. The Meeks/Meek surname appears in mid-1700s Virginia records, especially in Hanover Co. (formed from New Kent in 1720) and as families living in or near Goochland County by the 1760s. Goochland itself was formed from Henrico in 1728, so earlier records would still appear under Henrico or Hanover jurisdictions before Goochland existed. Researchers have noted that while Weeks as a surname isn’t otherwise known in that part of Virginia at the time, Meeks families are documented on adjacent parish and land records, making it quite certain that Meeks/Meekes was Martha’s correct maiden name. A John Meeks owned land near Allen’s Creek in Hanover/Virginia before and after the creation of Goochland County. Other Meeks (such as Littleton Meeks) appear in deed records selling land in the 1780s, indicating a family presence in Hanover, Louisa, and nearby counties.

MEEK OF HEREFORDSHIRE cont.

1.2.4.2. William Meek. Hooper v Meeke.Plaintiffs: Fulke Hooper. Defendants: John Meeke and William Meeke. Subject: messuage, late of John White and Joan White his wife, in Ledbury, Herefordshire. 1603-1625. (C 2/JasI/H12/6). William Meek was the br. of John and Thomas Meek, father of Thomas Meek. 1.2.4.2.1. Will of William Meeke, Yeoman of Upton Bishop, Herefordshire, probated Feb. 18, 1674; to eldest son Richard, estate aft. death of wife, etc. To youngest son Edward; £200 and silver spoons ,wife Jane Meeke v Philpotts. laintiffs: William Meeke and Jane Meeke his wife. Defendants: Thomas Philpotts. Subject: marriage agreement, Herefordshire. 1656. (C 6/140/92). Meeke v Tovie. Plaintiffs: William Meeke and Jane Meeke his wife. Defendants: John Tovie and Thomas Phillpotts. Subject: marriage contract, Herefordshire. (C 8/134/80). Parties: Jane Meeke to Lord Viscount Scudamore. Assignment: A capital messuage and lands in Upton Bishop, Herefordshire. No date. (C 115/9/403). Sons Richard and Edward probably married into the Phillpots and Tovie families ca. 1656, suggesting birthdates of ca. 1630, and one of ca. 1605 for their father. The Right Honourable Sir John Scudamore, baronet, Lord Viscount Scudamore, to Jane Meeke. Lease: A capital messuage and Lands in Upton Bishop, Herefordshire. September 1, 1678. (C 115/9/400-401). 1.2.4.1.2. Edward Meek. Meeke v Wright.Plaintiffs: Edward Meeke. Defendants: Henry Wright and others. Place or subject: property in Stretton, Herefordshire. 1664. (C 7/241/102). Meeke v Nash. Plaintiffs: Edward Meeke. Defendants: Henry Wright, (John) Nash and others.Place or subject: property in Stretton and Ashperton, Herefordshire. 1664. C 7/241/64). 1.2.4.1.2.1. Henry Meeke. Kettleby v Corbett. Plaintiff(s): Thomas Kettleby, clerk. Defendant(s): Richard Corbett, the younger, William Jones, Thomas Smith. Subject of depositions: Rectory impropriate, vicarage, and manor of Avenbury, and the late monastery of Dora. Tithes. County/place: Herefordshire. Date of commission: June 22, 1681. Additional information: interrogatories and depositions taken October 14, 1681 at Bromyard. Deponent(s): Thomas Smyth (2); James Sheppard; Francis Blew; Henry Meeke; William Good; William Cowper; Robert Charlett; Richard Corbett; John Braye; John Pembridge; Charles Wedmester; James Jancey. Oct 24, 1681. (E 134/33Chas2/Mich2). Henry Meeke and other deponents were brought in to prove the “immemorial custom” of the parish—essentially testifying about what their fathers and grandfathers had paid to previous rectors.

*Born in 1618 in Neen Savage, Shropshire, he was the son of Thomas Kettleby and Anne Littleton, and the brother of Elizabeth Kettleby who m. Thomas Holland. Their niece, Francisca Littleton, bapt. July 13, 1630, m. John Holland, April 21, 1659, in Munslow. She bur. Sept. 15, 1677, in Bitterley. This John Holland was the grandson of “Mr. William Holland”, a brother of Thomas Holland, who m. Alice Cocke.

Members of the Baugh family married into the Kettleby family of Stepple Hall and Ludlow. The Kettleby (Kettelby) and Holland families were closely interlinked in the Shropshire and Herefordshire region through multiple marriages that mirrored the Baugh family’s own connections. Marriages to Hollands: The Kettleby family had several ties to the Hollands of Burwarton and Neen Savage. For example, Elizabeth Kettleby married Thomas Holland on 19 April 1678 in Neen Savage. The Baugh-Holland Link: This is significant because Alice Holland (daughter of Francis Holland of Burwarton) married Henry Baugh of Aldon Court in 1602. Wider Kinship: These families were part of a tight-knit “gentleman” class in the Welsh Marches. Records show Mary Kettleby married Robert Detton, whose sister Alice Detton married William Holland, having issue: (1) Thomas Holland (c. 1549–1612): who m. Alice Cocke (second-cousin, not aunt, of the Virginia settler Richard Cocke, (2) Alice Holland (1570–1645): her marriage to Henry Baugh of Aldon Court in 1602 thus linked. the Holland and Baugh families.

BAUGH

The Baughs were a gentry family, often appearing in the Visitation of Shropshire and holding land in parishes such as Onibury and Ludlow, which border Herefordshire. John Baugh was central to a legal dispute involving Margaret (Baugh) Baugh over land in Onibury and other estates. This suggests he was a significant property owner whose death occurred shortly before or during this year, necessitating the probate or lawsuit. He may have been the son or grandson of Henry Baugh* and Alice Holland, who had several children in the early 17th century, including a son named John.

The Baugh family were long-time residents of Aldon Court in Shropshire, but their influence extended into Herefordshire. Rowland Baugh, John’s relative, is recorded in legal papers regarding the manors of Nash and Little Brampton in the areas of Presteigne and Kington, Herefordshire.The Nash family in Goochland likely derived their name or initial status from these specific English manors. Furthermore, descendants of the Baugh family did eventually migrate to Virginia, where they appear in records alongside the Nash, Holland, and Daniel families in the late 18th century.

1. Edward Baugh, m. Margaret Stratford. 1.1. Rowland Baugh, of Twining, Gloustershire. 1.1.1. Edward Baugh, m. Constance, dau. of Thomas Foliot, Sheriff of Worcestershire, and Katherine Ligon, dau. of William Ligon, Esq., Sheriff of Worcestershire, and Eleanor Dennis. 1.1.2. William Baugh, m. Mary, dau. of William Wakeman, of Glouc. 1.1.2.1. William Baugh, of Virginia, received a grant of 577 ac. for the transportation of 12 persons, including his son, William Baugh, Jr., on the N. side of the Appomattox River. William Baugh, as given herein, had land adjacent that of Major William Harris. 1.1.3. John Baugh, gent of Twining Will proved in March 1641. “Loving Brother,” Richard Baughe, was named as the executor.1.1.3.1. Thomas Baugh, noted as being absent in Virginia by 1634. 1.1.3.2. Rowland Baugh, primary heir to his father’s estate, d. 1691. Baugh v Price. Plaintiffs: Rowland Baugh. Defendants: Mary Price widow and Margaret Muscote widow. Subject: personal estate of the deceased John Baugh, and manors of Nash and Little Brampton, and lands in Presteigne, Kington, Herefordshire, and in Onibury, Shropshire. 1691. (C 6/308/17). estate was administered by his sister, Margaret Muscote. 1.2. John Baugh, of Aldon Court, Shropshire, bur. Aug 1577, in Bromfield. 1.2.1. Thomas Baugh, m. Dorothy, dau. of George Parkes, of Bromfield, on Nov. 26, 1576. 1.2.1.1. *Henry Baugh, bapt. Sept. 14, 1578, in Ludlow, m. Alice Holland, in 1602, dau. of Francis Holland, of Burwarton; etc.

NASH AND MEEK

The Nash family of the Welsh Marches are recorded in Pembrokeshire and Monmouthshire, but they maintained land and social ties across the border in Herefordshire. James Nash (d. 1400) , a lawyer and MP for Hereford, was a Nash progenitor. They had ties to the Meek family: Nash v Skynner. Plaintiffs: John Nash*. Defendants: Joseph Skynner, … Gwillen and …Barrett. Subject: property in Aylton, Herefordshire. 1662. (C 8/151/103). 1. John Skinner of Bickerton, Much Marcle, Peter Nash of Yatton, Much Marcle, gent. 2 John Watts vicar of Much Marcle. Wm. Skinner of Bickerton. Thos. Smith of Huntleys, gent. Wm. Nash of Yatton township, gent. Francis Hill Yatton township, gent. Henry Poole of Whittox-end gent. Terms of indenture made, in 1/2/16 yr.Charles II, between Wm. Whooper and 1 transferred to 6 more trustees as 4 are deceased. Consideration £36 as before (q.v.) Grant of yearly rent charge of 36/- issuing out of parcel of meadow in Woulton etc.as before. Upon trust for the use of the poor of Much Marcle. 1693. (Herefordshire Archive and Records Centre, E 69/310). Skipp v Skinner. Plaintiff(s): John Skipp. Defendant(s): William Skinner, Stephen Skinner, *Thomas Meeke, Richard Hill, four of the defendants. Subject of depositions: Two parsonages or portions in the parish of Ledbury (Herefordshire), called “The Upper Hall Parsonage or Portion” and “The Lower Hall Parsonage or Portion” late of Ambrose Elton, of Ledbury, and Edward Elton (father of John Elton), of Monesley (Herefordshire), and farms in Ledbury called “Hillhouse”, “Lillies Hall “, “The Rhea “, “Peggs Farm”, etc. Tithes. County/place: Herefordshire.ate of commission: November 29, 1675. (E 134/27and28Chas2/Hil5).

(A William Naishe (Nash) was involved in land transactions in the Shropshire area. He is specifically linked to Pickthorne, a small hamlet in south Shropshire near Stottesdon. In a legal document dated May 2, 1566, William Naishe was one of several “gents” (alongside Francis Brace, George Ferrers, and Richard Towneshende) to whom Robert Purslowe of Sudbury granted a messuage (dwelling house) and lands in Pyckthorn. This grant was made as part of a marriage settlement for Robert’s son, John Purslowe, who married Constance Newport, the daughter of Richard Newport of Warwickshire. At the time, the lands in Pickthorne were occupied by a tenant, Thomas Cocke. William Naishe’s role in Pickthorne was primarily as a legal representative or trustee for the Purslowe family. By acting as a “grantee” for the Purslowes (who were major Shropshire landowners), Naishe was operating as part of a professional class of “gentlemen” who managed the complex web of border-county estates for the regional elite).

A NASH GENEALOGY

1.*John Nash, b. ca. 1610.
1.1. John Nash, b. ca. 1640. Workeman v Nash. Plaintiffs: Charles Workeman. Defendants: John Nash. Subject: money matters, Herefordshire. 1698. (C 5/639/65). Meeke v Nash. Plaintiffs: Edward Meeke. Defendants: Henry Wright, … Nash and others. Place or subject: property in Stretton and Ashperton, Herefordshire. 1664. (C 7/241/64). The family of Baugh were connected to this area: Baugh v Price. Plaintiffs: Rowland Baugh. Defendants: Mary Price widow and Margaret Muscote widow. Subject: personal estate of the deceased John Baugh, and manors of Nash and Little Brampton, and lands in Presteigne, Kington, Herefordshire, and in Onibury, Shropshire. 1691. (C 6/308/17).
1.1.1. John Nash, b. ca. 1670, of Christ Church Parish, Middlesex Co., Virginia.
1.1.1.1. Henry Nash, b. ca. 1700. he is recorded from 1744 on Little Byrd Creek, where his property boundary directly joined Michael Holland’s line. He m. Jochabed Moseley (1712–c. 1780), dau. of : Marvell Moseley (1682–1753). In his 1752 Will, he specifically mentions “Joshabed Nash” as a daughter who had already received her “full part” of his estate.
1.1.1.1.1. Henry Nash, m. Alice Holland, dau. of John Holland and Martha Meeks (not Weeks). A John Meeks is recorded in 1735, 1739, and 1743 in precinct 1, but not in 1751. He first appears in 1711, when would have been aged 21 at least, so putting his. d.o.b. as ca. 1685. He was a neighbour of Michael Holland in 1731 in precinct 11.

John Holland (b. ca. 1710, son of Michael Holland of Hanover/Goochland) married Martha Meeks, b. ca. 1716, on Jan 16, 1734/35 (Douglas Register). Their children include: John Holland (b. 16 June 1735), Michael Holland (b. 29 Dec 1737) Judith Holland (b. 4 Nov 1739), Hezekiah Holland (b. 14 Jun 1742), Richard Holland (b. 3 Feb 1743/4); Martha Holland (b. 8 Apr 1745); Nathaniel Holland (b. 1 Apr 1748); Alie (Alice) Holland (b. 12 Dec 1752); Mary Holland (b. 27 Jul 1756); Lucy Holland (b. 31 Mar 1758).

Addendum

1. The Ancestry of Graves Harris — Was he Named for a Graves Family?

A. The Core Genealogical Fact: Genealogical records consistently show: William Harris of Wolf Swamp (Hanover Co., VA) was the father of: George Harris (b. c. 1750), who married Sarah Hudson; and Graves Harris (b. c. 1760–1775 depending on source), who married Elizabeth Baldwin. In the next generation, George (b. c. 1750) and Sarah Hudson’s children included: Graves Harris (b. c. 1773) who m. his first cousin Elizabeth Wheeler, daughter of Mark Wheeler and Frances Hudson, William Hudson Harris, Elizabeth Dickson Harris, Frances Harris, Sarah Harris, George Overton Harris Jr., Mary Graves Harris, and Lucy Overton Harris. The presence of Mary Graves Harris as a daughter strongly echoes the use of Graves as a middle/given name in the family; a significant onomastic clue. Graves Harris (b. c. 1773) married Elizabeth Wheeler, daughter of Mark Higgason Wheeler and Frances Hudson, sister of Sarah Hudson Harris, grandchildren of John Hudson and his wife Elizabeth Harris of the same Harris family.

B. Why “Graves”? It is likely a family name and not random. There are two competing theories floated by earlier researchers: Graves Harris was named for a maternal or ancestral Graves link; either because his father William Harris married a daughter of John Graves or his brother Matthew Graves; OR It was merely a popular or coincidental name, without substantive kinship meaning. However, the deeper Shropshire-to-Virginia network, involving Harris, Graves, Hudson, Cocke, Lewis, and Holland families, strongly supports the first interpretation: Independent research into the broader kinship group shows that the radically interconnected Lewis-Hudson-Harris-Holland network in Shropshire carried over into Virginia; families repeatedly intermarried and migrated together.
The specific family tree reconstruction shows a line of:
Major William Harris (bapt. 1627/8 in Ludlow, Shropshire).
William Harris of Wolf Swamp (probable great-grandson).
George Harris (b. c. 1750) m. Sarah Hudson.
Graves Harris (b. c. 1760/1773), m. Elizabeth Baldwin, and that technical notes from detailed genealogies estimate that this Wolf Swamp Harris likely married a daughter of either John Graves or his brother Matthew Graves.
The weight of evidence favours the interpretation that the given name “Graves” is a patronymic or maternal surname, and not coincidental. This is supported by: Repeated use of Graves as a family name in that branch, including in the next generation. Onomastic norms in Virginia at the time (maternal surnames passed as given names); and specific genealogical reconstructions placing the Harris family amid Graves kin in the same community networks. The most plausible scenario, given the current documentary evidence, is: William Harris of Wolf Swamp married a daughter of John Graves (or possibly Matthew Graves), but either way, a close relative of the Graves family into which John Holland’s daughter married, and the firstborn son was given the maternal surname “Graves” as a given name.
This explains naming patterns better than the alternate hypothesis of coincidence.

1. William Hudson’s children and the Holland marriages.
A. The Core Line
Research into the descendants of George Harris and Sarah Hudson — thus the Harris children in Kentucky — corroborates:
George & Sarah Harris’s children included:
Elizabeth Dickson Harris (b. c. 1782), married Major William Holland on 9 October 1802.
Frances Harris, married Hezekiah Holland (precise marriage date varies by source, but the association is consistent).
George Overton Harris (b. 1790), married Elizabeth Holland on 5 April 1813 in Warren Co., KY.
Thus, three Harris siblings married Holland spouses.
How This Connects to the Broader Shropshire Virginia Network:
The Holland family in Virginia can be traced back to Michael Holland of Goochland and his descendants, whose kinship ties (through the Lewis, Hudson, Cocke web) overlapped with the Harris and Graves families in Virginia. This strengthens the case that the Harrises and Hollands were not merely geographically proximatey in early colonial Virginia, , but that they shared deep familial roots — consistent with intermarriage patterns migrating westward from Virginia into Kentucky.

A BROAD SYSTHESIS

This article seeks to corroborate the strong and previously suggested conclusion that Michael Holland of Goochland County, Virginia was the son—through well-documented kinship networks—of Thomas Holland and Elizabeth Kettleby of Herefordshire/Shropshire. Rather than relying on isolated name matches, this study reconstructs interlocking family, tenancy, ecclesiastical, and legal associations across Herefordshire, Shropshire, and early Virginia. These associations—particularly among the Holland, Meek, Nash, Cocke, Baugh, Scudamore, Ligon, and Harris families—form a continuous documentary and social fabric that survives migration across the Atlantic.

I. The Holland Line: From Shropshire to Goochland. Michael Holland, of Pickthorn, Shropshire, born ca. 1581; died 1655, married (1) Jane Detton (d. 1632). John Holland, son of Michael, married Dorothy, daughter of Richard Hill of Bickley and Katherine, daughter of John Purslowe of Sudbury and Dorothy Blount of Kinlet, linking the Hollands to the Blount–Talbot–Ligon kinship network. These marriages situate the Holland family firmly within the border gentry milieu of Shropshire and Herefordshire. Holland intermarriages with the Baugh and Cocke Families =Alice Holland, daughter of Francis Holland and Thomasin Russell, married Henry Baugh of Aldon Court (1602). The Baughs later appear as significant landholders in both Herefordshire and Shropshire (e.g., Baugh v Price, 1691). These same networks reappear in Virginia, where: Major William Harris, neighbour of William Baugh in Virginia, was a second-cousin to Henry Baugh. Harris’s land bordered that of Richard Cocke, whose family was closely allied to the Hollands. These are not coincidences, but persistent kinship clusters.
II. Thomas Holland and the Kettleby marriage: Thomas Holland of Nene Savage, bapt. 15 May 1648; buried 29 Dec. 1694, married Elizabeth Kettleby in 1678. Elizabeth was the daughter of: Thomas Kettleby and Ann Littleton. Her brothers included: Thomas Kettleby, clerk and rector of Avenbury, Herefordshire, and Littleton Kettleby. Legal Evidence: Kettleby v. Corbett (1681). In the 1681 Avenbury case (Kettleby v Corbett), depositions were taken to establish the “immemorial custom” of parish payments. Among the deponents was Henry Meek, whose testimony relied on inherited local knowledge—precisely the kind of evidence that anchors families across generations.

This brings us directly to the Meek family.
III. The Meek Family of Ledbury and their role. Early Meek generations. Henry Meek, born ca. 1515, Ledbury, appears in Browne v Meek (1599) His sons included: Henry Meek (b. ca. 1540). Richard Meek (b. ca. 1540), with extensive documented issue. Richard Meek’s children and associates. Richard Meek’s children include: Edward Meek (bapt. 1563) John Meek (bapt. 1565). Edward Meek later appears in Meeke v Nash, tying the Meeks directly to the Nash family. The Meeks as tenants of the Scudamores. Multiple leases and agreements (1604–1636) document the Meeks as tenants and agents of the Scudamore family, including: lands in Upton Bishop, Tretire, Michaelchurch, and St Weonards; mill agreement at Llanthony. These records place the Meeks in sustained contact with the highest regional landholders.
IV. The Nash Connection. Alice Holland, granddaughter of Michael Holland of Goochland, married Henry Nash. The Nash family appears repeatedly in Herefordshire litigation alongside the Meek. Thus, Holland–Meek–Nash relationships form a closed triangle both before and after migration.
V. The Scudamore–Ligon–Denys Axis. John Scudamore, Viscount Scudamore (1601–1671) married Elizabeth Porter, heiress of Sir Arthur Porter of Llanthony Abbey. The Ligon and Denys Families Elizabeth Porter’s brother, Sir Thomas Porter, married into the Denys family, whose women repeatedly married into the Ligon family of Madresfield. Key outcomes: Colonel Thomas Ligon, ancestor of the Virginia Ligons, married Mary Harris, sister of Major William Harris of Virginia. Thus, the Virginia settlers: Harris Ligon Cocke Holland are all traceable to the same border-county kinship system
VI. The Cocke Family of Stottesdon and Pickthorn. Although geographically in Shropshire, Stottesdon parish fell ecclesiastically under Herefordshire. Thomas Cocke of Pickthorn is repeatedly styled “of County Hereford”. Wills and ecclesiastical records were proved in Ludlow, the administrative hub of the Marches. This explains why Cocke records appear in Herefordshire archives and aligns them with Holland and Meek documentation.

VII. Conclusion: Kinship Networks as Genealogical Proof. The families discussed here did not operate as isolated surnames, but as durable kinship networks, reinforced by: Intermarriage, shared tenancies, legal disputes, ecclesiastical patronage; coordinated migration to Virginia. These networks persisted across counties where borders were socially irrelevant and continued intact across the Atlantic. The sustained association of the Holland, Meek, Nash, Cocke, Baugh, Harris, and Ligon families provides compelling documentary corroboration that: Michael Holland of Goochland descended directly from the Holland–Kettleby line of Herefordshire and Shropshire. Not myth, but method; not repetition, but record.

Origins in Ludlow and Early Sixteenth-Century Shropshire.
The Cocke family of Pickthorne and Stottesdon emerges from the urban–rural fringe of Ludlow, a regional centre whose artisan and mercantile families frequently transitioned into yeoman and minor gentry status in the surrounding countryside. Documentary evidence points to Thomas Cokes of Ludlowe, esquire (b. c. 1470) as an early representative of the line, appearing in property transactions in Clifton-on-Teme in the early sixteenth century. His apparent son, William Cox of Ludlow, corviser (b. c. 1500), held leasehold land from the borough in 1539, indicating both urban residence and economic stability. By the mid-sixteenth century, the family had established itself in Pickthorne, within the parish of Stottesdon, a Shropshire parish ecclesiastically under the diocese of Hereford. This jurisdictional peculiarity explains the dispersal of Cocke wills, baptisms, and legal proceedings across Shropshire and Herefordshire record series.

William Cocke (d. 1582) and the Pickthorne Establishment. The first firmly documented patriarch of the Pickthorne branch is William Cocke, whose will was proved in 1582. He appears repeatedly in land records connected with the Purslowe estates of Sidbury, notably in leases involving Heath Park and Pickthorne, granted for the lives of his sons John, Richard, and Thomas. These arrangements, preserved in later recitals (notably the 1614 Lutley–Hayward indenture), place the Cockes squarely within the orbit of the regional landed elite. William’s children included: Thomas Cocke of Pickthorne (d. 1587). The will of Thomas Cocke, dated 20 July 1587, is a cornerstone document for reconstructing Cocke kinship networks. Styled yeoman of Pickthorne, Thomas distributed modest charitable bequests across south Shropshire and the Severn valley (Bewdley, Bridgnorth, Much Wenlock, Cressage), reflecting both geographic mobility and social integration. More revealing are his familial bequests. Thomas named no surviving sons, but left legacies to daughters Alice Holland, Elizabeth Backhouse, and Elyn Blakeway, thereby linking the Cockes to three significant regional families. His wife, Agnes Corfield, was appointed executrix, connecting the Cockes to the long-established Corfield family of Shipton and Brocton. Through these marriages, the Cockes entered an interlocking kinship network that included the Hollands of Burwarton and Pickthorne, the Backhouses of Shipton, and the Blakeways, all of whom appear repeatedly as tenants, witnesses, and litigants in local deeds.

The Holland Connection and Regional Gentry Networks.
The marriage of Alice Cocke to Thomas Holland of Burwarton, father of Michael Holland of Pickthorne, proved genealogically consequential. The Hollands were a longstanding south Shropshire family with connections to the Wolryches, Gatacres, Peshalls, and Blounts – families who held overlordship of lands at Bewdley, Nordley Regis, and Dudmaston.
Through these ties, the Cockes became indirectly connected to: the Blounts of Kinlet, hereditary stewards of Bewdley; the Wolryches of Dudmaston; and the Purslowes of Sidbury, whose estates repeatedly intersected with Cocke tenancies. These associations were not merely social. They manifested in legal actions (notably Coxe v. Coxe), land conveyances, and trusteeships, demonstrating that the Cockes operated within the legal culture of the minor gentry, even when styled as yeomen.
William Cocke (d. 1582) and the next generation:

Another son of the elder William Cocke was William Cocke of Stottesdon (d. November 1582), who married Elizabeth ——. Their son: Thomas Cocke, baptised 9 October 1569, died 1632, appears in Chancery proceedings concerning land in Morville and Nordley, suggesting continuity of property interests across generations. Thomas Cocke’s children included: Richard Cocke, baptised 13 December 1597 at Sidbury; Eleanor Cocke, baptised December 1591; John Cocke. It is this generation that marks the transition from Shropshire to Virginia.

Richard Cocke of Bremo and Transatlantic Migration:
Richard Cocke, baptised at Sidbury in 1597, emigrated to Virginia and died there in 1665. His English origins are firmly anchored in the Pickthorne–Stottesdon milieu, and his kinship ties link him to the Harris, Ligon, Holland, and Purslowe families—many of whom likewise established transatlantic branches. Chancery proceedings involving Eleanor Cocke v. Harris (1656), concerning property in Aston Botterell, indicate that members of the Cocke sibling group were still disentangling English estates during or after the establishment of their Virginia interests. This litigation provides a rare documentary bridge between Ludlow-area baptisms and the emergence of the Cockes among the planter elite of Henrico and Goochland Counties.

Associated Families: Purslowe, Ligon, Harris, Nash, and Meek.
The Cocke migration cannot be understood in isolation. Their fortunes were entwined with an extended kinship web: The Purslowes of Sidbury, whose marriage alliances with the Blounts and Newports positioned them as central brokers of land and patronage; the Ligons, intermarried with the Harrises and Dormers, whose Virginia descendants married into the Randolph and Eppes families; the Harrises, notably Major William Harris, whose English roots in Ludlow and Aston Botterell align closely with Cocke associations; the Nash and Meek families, whose presence in Herefordshire and later Goochland County reveals continuity of neighbourhood as well as kinship. The recurrence of these surnames in vestry lists, land patents, wills, and marriage settlements in Virginia strongly suggests chain migration, reinforced by cousinship and shared parish origins.

Conclusion.
The Cocke family of Pickthorne exemplifies the mobility of late Tudor and early Stuart yeoman families who, through advantageous marriages and service within gentry networks, positioned themselves for colonial opportunity. Their deep entanglement with the Hollands, Purslowes, Blounts, and related families created a durable kinship framework that extended from the Welsh Marches to the James River. Far from being an isolated emigrant lineage, the Cockes of Virginia were the transatlantic continuation of a cohesive Shropshire–Herefordshire social world, one whose documentary footprint survives in wills, leases, Chancery suits, and parish registers on both sides of the Atlantic.

Genealogical Table.
The Cocke Family of Ludlow, Pickthorne (Stottesdon), and Virginia:
Generation I — Ludlow Origins.

1. Thomas Cokes of Ludlow, esquire. Born c. 1470; living 1504–1524. Known from property transactions in Clifton-on-Teme (Shropshire/Worcestershire border). Probably the progenitor of the Pickthorne Cocke family. Issue (probable):

2.William Cox of Ludlow, corviser (shoemaker). Born c. 1500; living 1539. Held leasehold land from the borough of Ludlow (1539). 1ssue (probable):

3. William Cocke of Pickthorne, yeoman. Died 1582; will proved 1582. Tenant of lands associated with the Purslowe estates of Sidbury; sons named as life-lessees in mid-Elizabethan leases. Children (named in will and related records):
3.1. Richard Cocke. Buried 4 Dec. 1583. Issue: Ursula Cocke, granddaughter named in William Cocke’s Will
3.2. Thomas Cocke of Pickthorne, yeoman. Died 1587; will dated 20 July 1587. Married Agnes Corfield. Children: Alice Cocke, married Thomas Holland of Burwarton, gent. Elizabeth Cocke, married John Backhouse of Shipton. Elyn Cocke, married William Blakeway of Shipton. (No surviving sons or grandsons named).
3.3 John Cocke of Lushcott, yeoman. Living 1596; m. Elizabeth —— Purchased land in Lushcott and Longfield, parish of Eaton/Eyton.
3.3.1. Thomas Cocke. Baptised 9 Oct. 1569; died 1632. Litigant in Coxe v. Coxe concerning lands in Morville and Nordley. Children:
3.3.1.1. Richard Cocke, bapt. 13 Dec. 1597, Sidbury. Died 1665, in Virginia.
3.3.1.2. Eleanor Cocke, bapt. Dec. 1591. Living 1656; plaintiff in Cocke v. Harris* (Aston Botterell property); Mary and William Harris.

Virginia Line
Richard Cocke, bapt. 13 Dec. 1597; his son:
Thomas Cocke, gent.Named as “friend” in the Will of *Major William Harris. Established planter family in Virginia.

by m stanhope
I am grateful for the assistance of an AI-based research and drafting tool (ChatGPT, OpenAI), used to synthesise, reorganise, and clarify existing research materials. All documentary evidence, interpretations, and conclusions remain my own responsibility.
copyright B.T. Shannon 2026

The ancestry of Colonel Richard Lee of Virginia is not known. What is known is that past speculations have been treated as fact, which, with every repetition, is made to appear as truth, shared by a ‘majority of adherents’. It is this majority view that search engine AI systems reflect as an answer when questioned on Colonel Richard Lee’s ancestry – a case of artificial intelligence validating that which has relied on outdated references, which have not been queried. It is the quality of references, not their number, which matters. This is not to demean the work of ‘researchers of old’, for they did not live in a computer age, where research is made infinitely more easy.

SOCIAL CONTEXT
Whichever historical period under consideration, it is necessary to research within the context of the social norms of that time – what were the conventions within which families intermarried?; how did that shape their immediate environment? When considering the early medieval period a renowned historian stated that “the answer is in the soil”: neighbours were invariably kin of sorts; a method of mutual survival. The only change in this arrangement in the post-medieval period was that families also intermarried through consanguineous lines of cousins – the religious barriers to this had gone. Essentially, settlers of Virginia were English people in a foreign land, who maintained English traditions.

Some genealogical mythologies are riddled with impossible chronologies, and intermarriages between families that were total strangers, and/or of a differing social class; an anathema at this time. Kinship groups formed barriers to social interaction: ‘There were wide boundaries between socio-economic groups. These boundaries were rarely crossed. Marriages almost invariably took place between members of the same common interest group. “Kinship and family loyalty formed barriers to social interaction”. (Societies, Cultures and Kinship 1580-1850: Cultural Provinces and English, edited by Charles Phythian-Adams, p. 162, 2010).

The vital importance of kinship support in England and colonial America is well documented. Neel stated: ‘Marriage is not simply the union of two persons; rather, it binds together two kin groups. It reunites human society, which time and the divergence of family lines relentlessly pull asunder’. (Carol Neel, Medieval Families, Perspectives on Marriage, Household, and Children, p. 200, 204). This point was elucidated by Pounds: ‘Even the state in medieval England required people to be linked in small groups or tithings, so that each could vouch for the others’ good behaviour. Almost everyone is, by the accident of birth, a member of a family, of a more extended kinship group’. (J. G. Pounds, The Culture of the English People, p. 255, 1994). Such social-dependency arrangements were repeated by American settler families. Majewski pointed ou their evolvement into ever larger entities: ‘Constant intermingling of the same families in the same neighborhoods produced increasingly large kinship groups’. (John Majewski, A House Dividing: Economic Development in Pennsylvania and Virginia, p. 17, 2000). Hendricks studied the importance of kinship groups in a specific area of settlement: ‘Family connections and kinship groups were very important to the settlement of land south of the James River’. (Christopher E. Hendricks, The Backcountry Towns of Colonial Virginia, p. 52, 2006). When proposed pedigrees do not show English correlation to families that intermarried in Virginia they are most likely to be false.

CULTURAL BARRIERS TO RESEARCH
Essentially, many people reject the concept of the English settlement of Virginia being the result of a “collective enterprise” between closely related families, preferring to believe settlement was by individual effort, as promoted by Hollywood. These perspectives appear mutually exclusive, to the most fervent of the “individualistic” mindset, but, of course, they are not. In the bleak midwinters of early Virginia, individuals strove to survive by calling on the combined strength of their kin; that is, individuals, striving to support their families, assisted other individuals who attempted to do the same. As an 18th century Virginian recognised, “Many advantages arise from relations living near to each other … Their connection and interests are mutually strengthened … by a reciprocation of good offices, which cannot be exercised when they live far apart”. (Phillip Hamilton, Gentry Women and the Transformation of Daily Life in Jefforonian and Antebellum Virginia, p. 9, presented at the Southern Conference on Women’s History (6th, 2003, Athens, Ga.).

ESCAPING TYRANNY
Importantly, the family of Colonel Richard Lee and others were escaping from the tyranny of the hierarchial English class system – the shackles of the landlord dominated parish, and a State religion that stressed social order was given by Providence. Those who opposed this regime were brutally suppressed, as exampled by Hugh Norris (South Petherton in the Olden Time: A Lecture, p. 130, 1879), who described the sentencing of supporters of the Duke of Monmouth rebellion by Sir George Jeffries, Lord Chief Justice of England, also known as the ‘Hanging Judge’. (A contemporary account described him as always enraged or drunk, usually both). Jeffreys proceeded to Salisbury, where there were no political offenders, but at Dorchester he sentenced two hundred and ninety-two persons to death at one and the same time. At Exeter he sentenced twenty-one victims. Journeying thence to Taunton, he found five hundred and twenty-six persons in custody awaiting his arrival. The sight of such a number seemed to infuriate the judge, who declared “it should not be his fault if he did not depopulate the place”. One hundred and forty-four of these actually suffered death at the gallows, according to Macaulay.

The word “suffered” conveys not a slightest idea of the sentence as passed and carried out. The words uttered by the judge were: “You must every one of you be had back to the place from whence you came, from thence you must be drawn to the place of execution, and there you must severally be hanged by the neck till you are almost dead, and then you must be cut down, your entrails must be taken out and burnt before your faces, your several heads to be cut off, and your bodies to be divided into four parts, and those to be disposed of at the pleasure of the King – and may the Lord have mercy upon your souls”.
Whiting, the Quaker, then a prisoner in Ilchester Gaol, has left us a graphic account of the execution of eight fellow prisoners in the market-place of that town.—“Persecution Expos’d,” p. 153: “Poles for suspending when thus prepared, and waggons to convey them”, succinctly adding as a sort of postscript: “You are also to provide an axe and a cleaver for quartering the said rebels”. Amongst those condemned, three were hanged in this place, just inside the gateway leading into the courtyard behind the late Captain Anstice’s house in St. James’s Street, opposite Stuckey’s Bank. This was the home of the Anstices, and possibly the place was chosen for the purpose of striking terror into a family, one member of whom had taken so conspicuous a position among the rebels. Their names – Cornelius Hurford, John Parsons, and Thomas Davis – do not, of course, appear in the parish register of burials, for their bodies doubtless suffered mutilation in accordance with the barbarous sentence above recorded. Another mode of punishment which met the approbation of James II. and his favourite judge, was the giving of victims of property, or who possessed moneyed relatives, to the judge himself, or some other influential person, to “squeeze,” but not to kill, as the patriarch Job was given to the devil”, p. 104.

It was through such times that families lived, suffered, and emigrated. England had never been as portrayed by Hollywood – a happy band of yokels rallying to “Good King Richard” against “Bad King John”, or to “Good Queen Bess” against the Spanish invasion Armada (1588), which the dispossessed Catholic half of England prayed would succeed. England had been ruled by a succession of monarchial tyrants, surrounded by courtiers, as a modern-day mafia, which enacted gruesome punishments to any who dared dissent. Catholics had met the same bloody fate as the Monmouth rebels, or were burned at the stake. Their monuments had been destroyed; their lands taken. So it was throughout English history. The English hierarchy also subjugated the neighbouring countries of Scotland and Wales, for reasons of defense, but also of personal gain.

“The consolidation of the states into one vast empire, sure to be aggressive abroad and despotic at home, will be the certain precursor of ruin which has overwhelmed all that preceded it”. (Robert E. Lee). “Sic semper tyrannis” – tyrannical leaders will ultimately be overthrown or meet their demise.

A great irony of many accounts of the ancestry of Colonel Richard Lee of Virginia is that he stemmed from an ancient, aristocratic family – the very aristocracy that he was esscaping from. A further irony is that many of the upwardly mobile English merchants in Virginia, such as he, sought to enhance their status by claiming aristocratic coats of arms, with the compliance of an “accomodating” herald. A case in point is that of John Lord Lumley, whose castle was visited by James I. in 1603. On being shown around by the Dean of Durham (a friend of Lumley, he being away), who recounted Lumley’s pedigree, commencing with a Saxon noble, killed by William the Conqueror, the acerbic wit of James was shown in his reply: “I did na ken Adam’s name was Lumley”. (Daniel R. Woolf, The Social Circulation of the Past: English Historical, p. 127, 2003). For the exposing of “pedigree-makers”, see J.H. Round, the Origin of the Finches, Sussex Arch. Collections, 70, pp. 19-31, 1929. Moreover, the coat of arms claimed for Colonel Richard Lee were not based on him, as a proven armiger, being able to prove direct male line of descent from such an ancestor; rather, they were an assumption of (generic) arms, based on a claim of descent.

Also, as noted most saliently by Edmund Jennings lee, Lee of Virginia, p. 37, 1895: “It seems certain that different members of the family in America called their places “Ditchley”, “Langley”, and “Coton”, and it appears from Colonel Richard’s Will, that none of these names were given in the testator’s lifetime. As to any inference which can be drawn from them, the presumption on either side is counterbalanced by that on the other“. “In the New England Historical aud Genealogical Register for Jan., 1890, there is an article written by Mr. J. H. Lea to which I would refer any one interested in this question. Therein are cited the Inquisition Post Mortem of Sir Henry Lee, K. G. (of Ditchley) and the Wills of the father, mother, three brothers, two nephews, and the great-nephew of the supposed Colonel Richard, not one of whom, though several had to provide for the succession to and entail of a large estate, ever mentions Richard’s name! The conclusion drawn is, of course, that the seventh son of Sir Robert Lee died in youth. But further, Mr. Lea has taken a photograph of the monument at Hardwicke, showing Sir Robert with his wife and family of eight sons and six daughters. He says: “Of the sons, five are bearded men, and three are smaller and beardless figures, the first five representing Henry, Edward, Thomas, George, and Robert, who we know attained their majority; while the latter depict Benedict, Antony, and Richard, who, unnamed in all the Wills, are thus still further proved to have died in infancy or early youth”. (Edmund Jennings Lee, “Lee of Virginia”, p. 38, 1895). The same depth of inspection regarding other supposed ancestral abodes results in the same conclusion – there is no proof of the family of Col. Richard Lee being descendants of armigerous ancestors.

A clear inference is that this family was seeking a “genteel” antecedance; one compatible with others claiming the same; a common event in England among merchant families seeking “gentrification”. It was a result an understandable need to prosper – there was less impetus to rise from the ranks of merchant/mariners if the advancement met with a ceiling of social status. Those whose ancestors were of a tenacious spirit saw no reason to be viewed as inferior by descendants of the “monarchial mafia”, so, in a sense, they created themselves their equal. Various ‘Visitation’ records were freely available, and avidly studied , as a sort of catalogue from which generic pedigree “coats” were obtained. Everyone in England (not just James I) knew what was happening, but generations of American researchers treated the Lee (and other) claims as fact. In general, much time has been wasted on analysing ‘aspirational ancestry’. The more likely and very strong case is that the ancestry of Colonel Richard Lee is to be found in the records of Stepney merchant/mariners. In 1982, J. Henry Lea, Esquire (The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, p. 162), made the case for Col. Richard Lee (who had purchased land in Stratford Langthorne) being associated with Stepney, 2 miles distant. He compounded various families of Lee residing in Stepney, one of which claimed the (generic) coat of arms of the Lees of Cheshire, without any proof. Another family of Lee mentioned was that of Gilbert and Fulke Lee, “sailler/maryners”, and it is of their ilk that I would suggest as the ancestors of Colonel Richard Lee. In this regard, consider their “continuation of asociation” concerning the family of Robert Jones of Fleet’s Bay:

JONES OF FLEET’S BAY

1. “John Vassall of Ratcliffe in the parish of Stepney, Middlesex, mariner”, m. Judith.
1.1. Ann Vassall, m. John Jones, rector of St. Nicholas Acons, London.
1.1.1. Robert Jones of Fleet’s Bay.
1.1.1.1. Samuel Jones, died in Oct. of 1697, estate appraised by Hancock Lee, Charles Lee, sons of Col. Richard Lee, who was surety for Henry Lee in an indenmity bond of Sept. 25, 1646; the said Henry being a kinsman, probably cousin, of George Lee, who Col. Richard Lee numbered among his headrights in 1648. Henry Lee was a son of a Stepney mariner, “John Lee of Balist Wharffe, Ratcliff mariner”, b. ca. 1580, who dec’d May 19, 1641. The proposition given hereinafter is that Col. Richard Lee was Henry’s brother. The giving of surety in an English context by and to those of the same surname was an invariable sign of a close kinship relationship.
1.1.1.2. Captain William Jones.
1.1.1.2.1. Captain Willam Jones, who died in 1741, in Northumberland Co., m. Leeanna Lee, dau. of the said Charles Lee.
1.1.1.2.1.1. William Jones, of Faquier Co., Virginia, who d. in 1800, was a tenant of Col. Robert H. Lee, the grandson of Richard Lee, brother of the said Hancock and Charles Lee. He m. Ann Gaskins, relict of Thomas Pinkard.
1.1.1.3. Elizabeth Jones, dau. of Robert Jones of Fleet’s Bay, m. (1) Thos. Haynes; (2) John Pinkard. Her son by Thos. Haynes, James, was the father of Martha Haynes, who m. Thomas Gaskins. Their great-granddau., Ann Gaskins, m. (1) Thomas Pinkhard, (2) Richard Henry Lee. Such repetition of associations, over succeeding generations, in an English context, was an invariable trait of an English Kinship group.
1.2. … Vassall, m. Samuel Lee (who witnessed the Will of his mother-in-law, Judith Vassall), kinsman, it is reasonably proposed, of Henry Lee, George Lee, and Col. Richard Lee.

LEE OF STEPNEY, MARINERS AND MERCHANTS
This account will more certainly start with Gilbert and Fulke Lee of Stepney, but, as it is not improbable that a Hugh Lee, of an earlier time, was their ancestor, and/or of “John Lee of Balist Wharffe, Ratcliff mariner”, a brief notice is given of him: Elham v Lee. Plaintiffs: Robert Elham. Defendants: Hugh Lee, mariner, and Elizabeth his wife, executrix and late the wife of Robert Cowper. Subject: Debt of the said Cowper. Middlesex 1538-1544. (C 1/982/29-30) Elame v Moreys. Plaintiffs: Robert Elame, late of Chartham. Defendants: John Moreys, waterman, and Robert Cowper of Ratcliffe, co. Middlesex. Subject: Price of corn sold to the said Cowper and delivered to the said Moreys at Faversham. Kent. 1532-1538. (C 1/701/4). Elham v Lee. Plaintiffs: Robert Elham. Defendants: Elizabeth Lee, executrix and late the wife of Robert Cowper, and widow of Hugh Lee. Subject: Reviver of the above on the death of the said Hugh. Middlesex. 1538-1544. (C 1/982/31).

JENYN

1. Barnard Jenyn (d. 1490), m. Elizabeth Loxley.
1.1. John Jenyn, brother of Thomas Jenyn, and William Jenyn. 1.1.1. Nicholas Jenyn, of London, alderman; Will pr. Jan. 22, 1533; Master of the Company of Skinners, m. (2) Margaret, the daughter of the London goldsmith and Lord Mayor, Sir John Munday (d.1537). She married, secondly, as his third wife, Lord Edmund Howard (1478-1539), third son of Thomas Howard (1443-1524), 2nd Duke of Norfolk. By his ist wife, Edmund Howard was father of Queen Katherine Howard. 1.1.1.1. Bernard Jenyn, not be confused with his father’s first cousin, Barnard Jenyn (d. 1552), the son of Thomas Jenyn (d.1508). 1.1.2. Alice Jenyn (living 1531), m. John Pyke (living 1531), esquire, of Ilford, Essex, son of John Pyke (d. before 1486) and Margaret Rypon (living 1527), only child of John Rypon (d.1464) of Stoke by Guildford, Surrey, and his wife, Agnes.* Feoffment: (1) Marg Clegg, widow of Stoke-next-Guildford and next heir of John Repon; (2) John Pyke, her son (in-law) and Alice his wife, Nich. Jenyn, citizen and Alderman of London. Radulph Worsley, gent., Anthony Ilderton of London, stockfishmonger, and Robt Blakgreve of London, merchant tailor; all lands in Stoke and elsewhere inherited by (1) from her father. July 14, 1527.

PROB 11/5/87: Will of John Rypon of Stoke next Guildford, Surrey September 1464: “To be buried in the Church of St. John Evangelist of Stoke . I leave to the mother church of Winton six pence. To Margaret my daughter ten marks sterling”. Deeds relating to land in Ham; Deed of gift; (1) John Hew of West Molesey; (2) John Wockyng and Isabell his wife of Ham in Kingston; 1 yardland lying at Labbokes between lands of John Salman on east and of John Rypon on west, etc; Witnesses named.; Seal: red wax, no device. July 3, 1462. (Surrey History Centre, K58/2/3/1(vii). Alby v Olyve. Plaintiffs: Harry Alby, late the husband of Agnes, late the wife of John Ripon. Defendants: William Olyve or Olyff, surviving feoffee to uses. Subject: Messuages in Stoke by Guildford, Guildford, Merrow, Alfold, and Ham, Surrey. Messuage in Wiburgh: Sussex. Messuage in Hardelyngton, late of John Rypon: Middlesex. 1475-1480, or 1483-1485. (C 1/52/188). Ham in Kingston, bordering West Ham, in which Stratford Langthorne John Pyke’s widow, Alice Jenyn, married William Noble, whose son, by a ist wife, presumably the “William Noble, haberdasher”, who was bur. on Oct. 20, 1563 in St Mary Woolnoth (adjoining parish to St. Nicholas Acons; which later combined), was the father of Rachel Noble: June 19, 1552, Rachel Noble dau. of Willyam Noble bapt. She was bur. on on March 8, 1623/4: Rachell Jones, mother to John Jones, Rector of this parish bur. Debtor: William Noble, of Bowers Gifford in Essex, yeoman, and William Jenyns,* a citizen and skinner of London. Creditor: Oliver Leder, a citizen and fishmonger of London. Amount: 50m. Attached is the inquisition made at Brentwood [in Chafford Hundred] on 04/04/1528 before Edward Tyrell, Sheriff. On the day of the inquisition Edward Baker was seised in demesne of 40 acres of arable in Bowers Gifford; and on 01/09/1527 he demised them to William Noble to hold for a rent of 20s. a year. William has sown 20 of the acres with wheat, and the rest with oats; and they are worth £14 in all. He had 80 sheep and 120 lambs, worth £16; 40 cows and 12 calves, worth £26 13s. 4d.; 2 horses, worth 26s. 8d.; and 3 oxen, worth 48s. Twenty-two of the 40 cows are worth £11. All these and the 40 acres were seized into the King’s hands. The rest of the goods and chattels were hidden by William Noble in an unknown place. William Jennings had no lands or tenements, goods or chattels in the county. (C 131/109/20).

Nicholas Jenyn, Will extracts: Item, I give and bequeath unto John Pyke and to Alice, his wife, and to Thomas Pyke all that my lease and years to come in a tenement in Sydon Lane (Seething Lane) that Nevell dwelleth in. Item, I give to John Pyke and to Thomas Pyke all that my lease and years to come in the Sign of the Ram’s Head in Petty Wales and all th’ appurtenances and implements belonging to the same. Item, I give and bequeath unto John Pyke and to Thomas Pyke, his son, all my lands and tenements at Barking in Essex that I hold of the Abbess of Barking till my son, Barnard, come to the age of 21 years old. Item, I give unto John Pyke of Ilford and to the heirs of his body lawfully begotten forever more my lands and tenements at Hamme besides Kingston upon Thames in the county of Surrey. Item, I give to Barnard, my son, and to the heirs of his body lawfully begotten all that my place set, lying and being in the parish of Streatham in the county of Surrey and all manner of implements and household stuff remaining and appertaining to the same place. Item, all my lands and tenements set, lying and being in the parish of Stepney, Poplar and Ratcliff.

1.1.2.1. William Pyke. Pyke v Noble. Plaintiffs: William, son and heir of John Pyke of South Shoebury. Defendants: William Noble, husband of Alice, late the wife of the said John. Subject: A messuage and land called `Spottelles’ in Barling, Essex. 1518-1529. (C 1/558/44). Debtor: William Noble, of Bowers Gifford in Essex, yeoman, and William Jennings (Jenyns}, a citizen and skinner of London. Creditor: Oliver Leder, a citizen and fishmonger of London. Amount: 50 m. Before whom: James Yarford, Mayor of the Staple of Westminster. Inquisition and return: Date to be returned:April 26, 1528. Attached is the inquisition made at Brentwood (in Chafford Hundred) on April 4,1528 before Edward Tyrell, Sheriff. On the day of the inquisition Edward Baker was seised in demesne of 40 acres of arable in Bowers Gifford; and on 01/09/1527 he demised them to William Noble to hold for a rent of 20s. a year. William has sown 20 of the acres with corn [?wheat], and the rest with oats; and they are worth £14 in all. He had 80 sheep and 120 lambs, worth £16; 40 cows and 12 calves, worth £26 13s. 4d.; 2 horses, worth 26s. 8d.; and 3 oxen, worth 48s. Twenty-two of the 40 cows are worth £11. All these and the 40 acres were seized into the King’s hands. The rest of the goods and chattels were hidden by William Noble in an unknown place. William Jennings had no lands or tenements, goods or chattels in the county.

1.1.3. *William Jenyns. Jenyns v The Mayor of London. Plaintiffs: William Jenyns, citizen and skinner of London. Defendants: The mayor, aldermen, and sheriffs of London. Subject: Action by John Pyerson, citizen and barber-surgeon of London, on a bond given on behalf of John Colman, citizen and grocer of London, for which he has goods in pledge. Certiorari. London 1518-1529. C 1/529/64. William Jenyns of London, skinner v John Rokes, Joan Jenyns and John Jenyns: lands held of the abbot of Stratford Langthorne Abbey, Essex, as of his manor of Cowbridge, Glamorgan. 1492-1538. (REQ 2/5/279).

William Jenyns of London, skinner, v John Jenyns and others: land called ‘Moresland’ in Billericay, in Great Burstead, Essex. 1 m. Between 1492 and 1547. (REQ 2/5/188). Jenyns v The Mayor of London. Plaintiffs: William Jenyns, citizen and skinner of London. Defendants: The mayor, aldermen, and sheriffs of London. Subject: Action by Thomas Par, citizen and grocer of London, for a ring left in pledge for a debt, and since lost Certiorari. London. 1533-1538. (C 1/831/34). As noted above, Nicholas Jenyn held tenements in Barking, Essex, which is ca. 18 miles from Billericay, and William Jenyns, citizen and skinner of London, a contemporary, was likely to have been his brother, who also received lands in Essex from their father, John Jenyn, who held land in Theydon and Epping, ca. 10 miles from Barking.

Release by John Prynce, gent., to William Sandes, grocer, and Thomas Clyfford, scrivener, of his right in the manor and advowson of Theydon Garnoun, and in the manor Theydon Boys alias Gregoryes, and all lands, etc., in Theydon, Epping, or elsewhere in Essex, formerly belonging to Jyhn Prynce, his father, deceased. Nov. 28, 14 Ed. IV. (1474). Enfeoffment by the Most Excellent Princess, Cecily, mother of the King, and Consort of the most illustrious Prince of noble memory, Richard, late true King (nuper veri Regis) of England and France and Lord of Ireland; John Howard, knt, Lord Howard, George Newell, knt, Lord Bervenny, etc., of John Prince, gent., and Lucy, his wife, Alured Cornburgh, esquire of the King’s body; William Scott, sen’, and Thomas Leventhorp, esquires; John Berdefeld and John Leventhorp, gents.; and John Pake (Pyke?), citizen and clothworker (pannarius), in their manor and advowson of Theydon Garnoun, and all lands, etc., in the same parish, Theydon Boys, Theydon atte Mount and Eppyng, to the use of John and Lucy for life. Appointment by Cecily of William Herde, husbondman and … as her attorneys to deliver seisin. Nov. 15, 22 Ed. IV. (1482). Release by John Prynce to Alured Cornburgh [and others as above of his right in Gregories, &c., which John Jenyn of Epping held to farm, and which he (Prince) and the late John Pake held of the gift of Thomas Seintleger, Thomas Bourgchier, and Thomas Howard, knights; Edmund Shaa, then Mayor of London; Richard Lessy; Richard Narburgh, LL.D.; Robert Plomer; Reginald and William Sandes; John and William Westbroke; Thomas Stoughton; Richard Brocas; and Thomas Clifford. Nov. 23, 2 Ric. III. (1484). (Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society, vol. 6, p. 119, 1898). The John Jenyn above noted (William Jenyns of London, skinner, v John Jenyns), was most likely to have been William’s brother, another son of John Jenyn Sr.

1.1.2.1. Thomas Pyke (d. Sept. 29, 1559), m. Joan Aleyn (d.1564), the illegitimate dau. of Sir John Aleyn (d. 1545), Lord Mayor of London. According to the Will of Sir John Aleyn (TNA PROB 11/31/16), Thomas Pyke had a son, Robert Pyke, who died bef. 1559, as in the inquisition post mortem taken after the death of Thomas Pyke, his heir was his son, Christopher Pyke, born ca 1553. (Fry, George S., ed, Abstracts of Inquisitiones Post Mortem Relating to the City of London, pt. 1, pp. 180-1, 1896). The Will of Joan (nee Aleyn) Pyke (d.1565) mentions her late husband, Thomas Pyke, and three daus., Judith, Pyke, and Mary. (TNA PROB 11/47/338). Joan Aleyn was the sister of Sir Christopher Aleyn (illegit. s. of Sir John Alleyn, ld. mayor of London, who m. Audrey (d.1587), dau. of William, 1st Baron Paget, 6s. 2da. Kntd. 1553. He was described in his father’s inquisition post mortem as Christopher Gyllet alias Carleton alias Alleyn. Under his father’s will he and his brother and sister were allotted between them half the remainder of their father’s moveables. Alleyn died 24 Feb. 1586 and was buried at Ightham. He ‘kept a vile, papistical house’ and his name is on a list drawn up in the interests of Mary Queen of Scots in 1574. In September 1585 a messenger from his brother-in-law, Lord Paget, arrived at his house and subsequently left with Alleyn’s eldest son Charles. As a result, Alleyn’s house was searched, his servants and others questioned and Lady Alleyn’s chamber searched for ‘relics’. His widow was listed as a recusant in 1587, the year of her death. (Hasler, Hist. Parl., p. 340, 1981).

1.1.2.1.1. Judyth Pyke, m. Roberte Jones, June 17, 1566, Westminster, St Margaret.

1.1.2.1.1.1. John Jones, rector of St. Nicholas Acons, m. Ann Vassall.

1.1.2.1.1.1.1. Robert Jones of Fleet’s Bay, Northumberland Co., Virginia.

1.1.2.1.1.1.1.1. Samuel Jones, whose estate appraisers were Hancock Lee and Charles Lee, sons of Col. Richard Lee.

1.1.2.2. Agnes Pyke (d. 1579), m. (1) Robert Blagrave (d.1534) of Reading, Berkshire, second son of Ralph Blagrave of Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, by whom she was the mother of John Blagrave (ca. 1509-1597). (2) The London goldsmith, Robert Cowper, d. 1542. (TNA PROB 11/25/103). (3) William Grey, d. 1551. Robert Cowper’s 1st wife was Elizabeth, relict of Hugh Lee, mariner. Elham v Lee. Plaintiffs: Robert Elham. Defendants: Hugh Lee, mariner, and Elizabeth his wife, executrix and late the wife of Robert Cowper. Subject: Debt of the said Cowper. Middlesex 1538-1544. (C 1/982/29-30). Elame v Moreys. Plaintiffs: Robert Elame, late of Chartham. Defendants: John Moreys, waterman, and Robert Cowper of Ratcliffe, co. Middlesex. Subject: Price of corn sold to the said Cowper and delivered to the said Moreys at Faversham. Kent. 1532-1538. (C 1/701/4). Elham v Lee. Plaintiffs: Robert Elham. Defendants: Elizabeth Lee, executrix and late the wife of Robert Cowper, and widow of Hugh Lee. Subject: Reviver of the above on the death of the said Hugh. Middlesex. 1538-1544. (C 1/982/31). That is, the Lee family of Stepney of this account may have had a familial association with the family of Robert Jones of Fleet’s Bay from an early period.

GILBERT AND FULKE LEE

1. ..There is no known relationship between the following Gilbert and Fulke Lee, nor between they and their contemporary, “John Lee of Balist Wharffe, Ratcliff mariner“. The commencing part of this genealogical construct is merely suggestive. 1.1. Gilbert Lee of Ratcliffe, in Stepney. 1610: Nuncupative Will of Gilbert Lee of Stepney. In the Name of God Amen abowte the first day of Jan. A. d. 1610, according to ye computation of the Church of England, Gilbert Lee of Ratcliffe in the pish of Stepney als Stebneth in the Com of Middx, Marriner, being at sea aborde the good shipp called ye vnion of London, being some what ill but of p’fect minde & memory, called for one Mr Bradshaw a merchant in the said shipp & signified vnto him that he hath made his will but was purposed to alter it, where vppon M’ Bradshaw demanded what his will or purpose was or words to this effect – Mary quoth the said Gilbert Lea my will or minde is that my brother Anthony Briant & his wife shall have all that estate I have or words to ye like effect, sauing twenty pounds that I give tomy brother, meaning his brother Lee, & other ten pounds that I give to one of myne name dwelling in St. Catherines And I make the said Anthony Bryant & his wife extors of my will & testm’ or words to the like effecte where vppon Mr Bradshaw made this will wch was acknowledged by the said Gilbert Lee the testator before diuers witnesses & his former will cancelled wch will soe composed in wrighting cannot yet come to the hands of the said Extors but was to ye effecte as aforesaid. Witnesses of the truth of the p’mises – Thos. Peerce his mark, Ralph Wilson, pilot, John Bingle, Mr. Bullock ye surgeant, Pro. 22 July 1611 by Anthony & Anne Briant”. (Com. Ct. Lond., vol. 21, fo. 353). Anthony Bryant, of Rye, sailor, a Frenchman born, hath dwelt in Rye forty years and hath served an apprentice in the said Town and divers times has been pressed and served in her Majesty’s ships. He has been married to two English women and had children by each. All which time he has behaved himself well. Sept. 11, 1602. (E.S.R.O, RYE/47/64/4). Gilbert Lee had a dau., Agnes, bapt. Aug. 10, 1595, a dau., Mary, bapt. Nov. 23, 1600, and a son, Andrew, bapt. June 25, 1598, presumably all d.v.p.

1.2. “Fulke Lee of Ratcliffe Sailler”, d. 1614. May 1604: Ffowlke Lee of Ratclif & Rabbidge Hawkins of ye same. Nov. 2, 1605, baptised: “John sonn of Ffookes Lee of Ratclif, Sailler”. He was “John Lee of Ratcliff maryner”, who m. Dorothy, having issue: John Lee, bapt. April 2, 1638. He was probably “John Lee of Whitehorse Street mariner”, who m. Tomalin, having issue: John Lee, bapt. April 15, 1664. Oct. 11, 1607, baptised: “Phillipp sonn of Ffowkes Lee of Ratclif, sailler”. He m. Prudence Usher, Jan. 10, 1641, dau. of John Usher of Mile End, bapt. May 13, 1600. Rabbage, a. French/Wallonian (Huguenot) surname, derived from the French Rabache, a maker of cloaks.

1. “John Hawkins, of Ratcliff”, m. … Rabbage, it is assumed. During Elizabeth I’s reign, Huguenot Protestants from France and Wallonia (southern Belgium) escaped to England, particularly after the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of 1572, bringing their skills in various crafts, such as textiles, watchmaking, glassmaking, and printing. They establishing close-knit communities in which Shakespeare lodged with a Huguenot family. Rye in East Sussex served as a major port for French Huguenot refugees fleeing persecution. By 1582, over 1,500 Huguenots had settled in Rye, accounting for about a third of its population. It is almost certain that thebrother-in-law of Gilbert Lee and the wife of Fulke Lee were Huguenots of French/Wallonian extract. 1.1. Rabbage Hawkins, b. ca. 1588, m. Fulke Lee, in May 1604. Will of Ffolke Lee of Stepney: he is indebted to Thomas Steward, Purser, & to Luke Nott, who are to be payed out of Callicoes wich are in my Cheist; to wife one third of money or goods dewe me; youngest son John Lee other third; to Thomas Harris a motley gown; wiefe Executrix; Overseer, William Marten; Wit: William Hughes, Thomas Harris & Walter Woodwarde. Proved by Robridge, relict & extrx named in Will. July 14, 1614. Walter Woodward. The queen and Walter Woodward, fishmonger, v. Edward Walker. Whether Walker had sold any flesh victuals at his inn in Gracious Street (the Bull in St. Ethelburga parish) on Fridays, Saturdays or other fish days or fasting days. London. (E 133/10/1592). Gracechurch Street, 2 and a half miles W. of Stepney (Ratcliffe, Limehouse, Shadwell, etc.).

A CONNECTION TO HARRIS AND BARKER, St. Dunstan’s:

1…. 1.1. John Harris, of Mile End, Stepney, ca. 2 miles from Ratcliffe. 1.1.1. John Harris, bapt. March 22, 1589/90. (Sergeant John Harris?. 1.1.1.1. Dorothy Harris, b. 1620. 1.1.1.2. John Harris,* infant in 1624, witnessed a bond of Robert Mosley to John Felton in 1654.*(“William Lea and Alice (Feltham), his wife, to William Heath, 150 acres … formerly Thomas Felton’s … formerly (Robert) Moseleys … “joyneing upon the lands which was John Harryes lyeing in the County of Surry in Virginia commonly called Upper Chippoakes”. *John Harris m. a sister of William Barker: (1. … 1.1. John Barker, of Ratcliffe. 1.1.1. John Barker, bapt. Jan. 16, 1589/90. 1.1.1.1. John Barker, of Ratcliffe, mariner, and Elizabeth; he was later described as “merchant tailor”.1.1.2. William Barker of Ratcliffe, mariner“, m. (1) Mary*. He was captain and owner of the “Merchants Hope”, b. ca. 1592, d. bef. March 3, 1655. It was probably he who was a partner of Francis Derrick Sr. (Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, of the Reign of Charles I, vol. 10), who bought land from Dorothy, dau. of Sergeant John Harris. “William Barker, of Ratcliffe, mariner, and *Mary Goulding, Feb. 6, 1623/4”. 1.1.2.1. William Barker, bapt. Dec. 1, 1634, of Ratcliffe, mariner. 1.1.2.1.1. John Barker Jr., bapt. Sept. 12, 1654, St. Dunstan, m. Grace Cotton. 1.1.2.2. … Barker, m. John Harris. 1.1.2.2.1. John Harris, estate admon by John Barker Jr. (1698). John Harris, b. ca. 1648, m. Elizabeth Nicholson. He d. bef. Feb. 11, 1699, when his estate was appraised by John Barker and (his br.-in-law) Patrick Lashley Sr. (B.5, p. 165). A Lashley family of Stepney: 1. James Lashley of Shadwell, mariner, b. ca. 1605, m. Elizabeth. 11. Walter Lashley, bapt. Jan. 2, 1630/31, St. Dunstan, Stepney). 1.2. Thomas Harris, “of Limhous sailler”, m. Margaret Burry, Sept. 22, 1586, St. Dunstan, Stepney. 1611.- Will of Folke Lee of Stepney, 1614.: to Thomas Harris, overseer, a motley gown. 1.2.1. Thomas Harris, bapt. Feb. 2, 1605/6, “of Blackwell mariner”, m. Elizabeth. (Blackwell adj. “Limehouse”). Will of Thomas Harris, Sailor (“now outward bound on a Voyage” to Virginia) of Limehouse, probated July 24, 1637. 1.2.1.1. Thomas Harris, bapt. May 26, 1635/6. 1.2.2. James Harris “of Ratcliff Shoomaker”, m. Ann. 1.2.2.1. Edward Harris, bapt. Jan. 26, 1639/40. 1.2.2.2. Henry Harris, bapt. Aug. 4, 1641. 1.2.3. Robert Harris “of Limehouse marriner”, m. Dorothy Salter on April 1, 1641. Anne Salter m. William Lea, on Sept. 12, 1644. They are very likely to be sisters, daus. of “John Salter, of Ratcliffe, shipwright”, and sisters of Henry Salter, bapt. Oct. 3, 1628. 1.2.3.1. Thomas Harris, bapt. Jan. 6, 1641/42. 1.2.3.2. Robert Harris, bapt. Jan. 22, 1645/46, probably apprentice to his uncle James. Item I give to my son Robt Harris the plantation whereon he now lives, but if it should please God that my Son Robert should die without Issue lawfully begotten then I give the sd lands to my son Mathew & the heirs of his body lawfully begotten, but if it should please God that my son Mathew should die without lawful Issue, then I give the sd Land to my son Jno Harris & to his heirs for Ever. Item I give to my two sons Robt & Jno all my Leather, Thread, Shoemakers Tools, & Curriers Tools to be equally divided between them. It mentions his wife’s (Ann) two sons, George and Stephen Fuller; their portion is to come from her portion. Wit.: Robt Petters, Tho Hansford, Wm Lee. Will proved in Nov. 1716, Hampton parish, York Co. It is probably relevant that there were Peters and Fuller families of Stepney, e.g. 1. “Robert Fuller, Ratcliff Carpenter”. 1.1. George Fuller, bapt. March 16, 1612/13. 1.2. Thomas Fuller, bapt. March 16, 1612/13, etc. 1.2.3.2.1. Mathew Harris. His plantation was called “Prestons”, (Presson), which he left to his eldest son, William Lee Harris, who sold it to his mother’s second husband, Edward Baptist, before moving into Goochland Co., where he acquired a considerable amount of land in what is now present-day Albemarle Co., b.1, p. 286. Mathew Harris died on Sept. 20, 1731.

Henry Presson of Wentworth streeat Silckweaver & Charitie Rutlidge, M., July 1, 1625. (St. Dunstan’s reg.). George Presson, of St Botolph, Aldgate, London, Cooper, & Jane Smith, of Stepney, Middlesex, Widow; at Stepney. Jan. 18, 1624/5. (Joseph Lemuel Chester, Allegations for marriage licences issued by the bishop of London, p. 149, 1887). John Fuller of Prusons Iand mariner & Anne Crayford, Nov. 16, 1632. (St. Dunstan’s reg.). Will of Thomas Presson, Mariner of Stepney, Middlesex, probated Sept. 4, 1690. Presson, John of Stepney, Middx but in the ship the “Mary” upon the seas, probated Dec. 15, 1688. LEE cont. 1.2.1. John Lee (bapt. Nov. 2, 1605), “of Ratcliff maryner”, m. Dorothy. 1.2.1.1. John Lee, bapt. April 2, 1638. 1.2.2. William Lee of Wappingwall, mariner, m. Grace. 1.2.2.1. William Lee, bapt. April 23, 1634. 1.2.2. William Lee of Ratcliffe, mariner, m. (2) Joan. 1.2.2.1. George Lee, bapt. Dec. 14, 1645. 1.2.2.2. Thomas Lee, bapt. Jan. 16, 1647/8..

1.3. John Lee of Balist Wharffe, Ratcliff mariner”, b. ca. 1575, d. May 19, 1641: “It is therefore at this vestry ordered & decreed, so farre as in vs lieth, that in the Hamlet of Ratcliffe shalbe chosen two Churchwardens, one in Ratcliffe, the other upon Wapping Wall or elsewhere thereabouts, in maner & forme as other Churchwardens have beene formerly chosen & upon these condičons ensuing … that they shall content themselues wth such division, limitts & bounds1 as shalbe allotted unto them by such division as shalbe & is made among themselves, vizt the Churchwarden of Ratcliffe to have for his division, Stepney, Whitehorse street, Brookestreet, Ratcliffe Wall, Ratcliffe Street unto the old balist wharfe, And the Churchwarden for Wapping side to haue for his diuision, vpper Shadwell, lower Shadwell, Ratcliffe highway, Foxes lane, Wapping wall, Prusons Iland, Kingstreet Wapping, Knockfergus, Newgravel-lane & Old Gravel-Lane … that the said two Churchwardens of the Hamlet of Ratcliffe, shall no way be preivciall to the other Churchwardens of Limehouse, Mileend & Popler. The above still roughly describes the hamlet of Ratcliffe, but Wapping has been since subdivided considerably. (George William Hill, Memorials of Stepney Parish, 1891).

1.3.1. “Henry Lea”, bapt. Feb. 19, 1606/7, “son of John Lee of Balist Wharffe, Ratcliff mariner”, probably he who was an early colonist in York Co., near present-day Norfolk. He owned tobacco plantations and ships that transported his produce to London. The parentage of his wife, Sarah, is not known*. His estates were in the newly created Charles Co., situated on both sides of the Pamunkey (Charles, York) River. This area was both a port and a site of official stores for tobacco inspection and repacking. Other Lees arrived in Charles River Co. before 1640. Henry Lee in context: It is a reality of this time that ship owners engaged in the London/Virginia tobacco trade came from families of merchant/mariners who already owned such ships or were associated with those who did. Such families were often comprised of mariners and those engaged in ancillary trades, such as shipwrights/carpenters. In 1647, Mr. Henry Lee patented 250 ac. in York Co. due for the importation of five people: *John Lee, Henry Lee, Elizabeth Blashfield, Anne Russell, and Thomas Johnson. Henry Lee was a burgess for York Co. in 1652.

1.3.1.1. Henry Lee, b. 1645, a physician and planter. In 1688, he sold Isaac Collier a tract of land adjoining Robert Potter’s land, which was to be held “according to the ancient bounds of Mr. Henry Lee, Sr., father of the said Henry Lee”. His Will was proved on May 24, 1693, naming his wife, Alice, and sons William and Henry, who was of age in 1711, when he inherited his father’s estate, and renderd an account for carpenter’s work. It is not improbable that Robert Potter was he baptised at St. Dunstans, Stepney on January 14, 1637/8, son of “John Potter of Ratcliff mariner and Mary”.

1.3.1.1.1. William Lee, requested that the court in 1696 to appoint Mr. William Wade as his guardian. (It is not unlikely that this was the William Wade who was bapt. at St. Dunstan, Stepney, on April 22, 1636, son of “William Wade of Wapping, mariner, and Elizabeth”). He inherited his father’s plantation in Yorkhampton Parish. In 1712; he rendered a claim for 23 days carpenter’s work done by his apprentice on the Battery at Yorktown, under the supervision of Edward Powers. He m. Rachel, dau. of Edward Baptist. His Will was proved on Dec. 13, 1728, naming his children: Francis, to whom he gave all his lands, Anne, who m. … Hunter; Sarah, who m. (1) Matthew Harris (died 1727), having issue, William Harris; (2) Edward Baptist (named in William Lee’s Will), having issue: Lee Harris, named as “son” in the Will of Elizabeth Baptist (2nd wife of Edward Baptist. (Wood, Albemarle Co., p. 219; Wills of Edward and Elizabeth Baptist, proved in 1747 and 1748.

1.3.1.1.1.1. Francis Lee. His Will was proved Dec. 17, 1753, naming sons: William Lee, eldest son, and heir at law, to whom he gave “the plantation whereon I now live”, Henry Lee, “all his land in Warwick Co.”; Francis Lee, under age, land in York Co. “for his life”, and to be maintained by his brothers William and Henry “in good board, clothes and schooling at their own proper costs”. 1.3.1.1.1.1.1. William Lee, live inspector of tobacco at York warehouse, in 1794, m. (in 1783), Rachel, dau.of Edward Baptist, of York Co., and Margaret, dau. of Col. William Harwood, of Warwick Co., a member of the House of Burgesses. 1.3.1.1.1.2. Sarah Lee, m. Mathew Harris, who d. on Sept. 20, 1731. His plantation was called “Prestons”, (Presson), which he left to his eldest son, William Lee Harris, who sold it to his mother’s second husband, Edward Baptist, before moving into Goochland Co. in 1739, where he acquired a considerable amount of land in what is now present-day Albemarle Co. (B.1, p. 286), along Beaverdam on the Hardware River, and along the Totier and Green Creeks. He m. Mary Netherland, and had issue, per his Will, proved on December 11, 1789: Matthew, John, William, Benjamin; Sarah (m. Mosby), Elizabeth (m. John Digges); Catherine (m. Steger), Mary (m. Woodfolk), Ann (m. Hawes Coleman); and Judith (m. George Coleman). 1.3.1.1.1.3. William Lee, of age ca. 1809, m. Elizabeth, dau. of Thomas Wynne. He d. Jan. 16, 1815, when his widow, with Haynes Lee, and William Lee, as sureties, gave bond in York Co. to administer her husband’s estate. 1.3.1.1.3.1. Haynes Lee. 1.3.1.1.1.4. Francis Lee. 1.3.1.1.1.4.1. John Lee, of Warwick Co., died before 1812. 1.3.1.1.1.4.2. Mary Lee, m. her first-cousin, Edward Presson Lee. 1.3.1.1.1.4.3. William Lee, d. 1817. 1.3.1.1.1.4.3.1. William Presson Lee. 1.3.1.1.1.4.3.2. Baker P. Lee. 1.3.1.1.1.4.3.3. Francis W. Lee 1.3.1.1.1.4.3.4. Lewis Lee. 1.3.2. … Lee, “son of John Lee of Ratcliffe, mariner”, bapt. July 13, 1608. (Possibly Mathew/RichardLee).

1.3.3. COLONEL RICHARD LEE?

It is claimed that the first record of Richard Lee’s in Virginia is in April and May 1640, where he is described as Clerk of the Quarter Court. This is not necessarily him, nor he who deposed that he was “Richard Lee Gentleman age 34 or thereabouts” in the Admiralty Court of London in 1654. Richard Lee, a burgess in 1647, and was surety for Henry Lee in an indenmity bond of Sept. 25, 1646, concerning the transfer of 9 cattle which were formerly in the custody of Robert Felgate,* who m. the mother of John Adkins, brother of Henry Lee’s wife.(W&MQ, iv., pp. 37/38). This bond was witnessed by William Lee. In 1648, Richard Lee patented 1,250 ac. on the N. side of York River, and among those for whom he claimed land were: Henry, Matthew, and George Lee.

Robert Felgate was the brother of Tobias Felgate: Captain Toby Felgate, mariner, 150 ac. at Kiskyacke, upon Pamunkey River, adjoining the land of his brother, Captain Robert Felgate, due as an adventurer into the Colony, April 25, 1632. They were probably sons of William Felgate. July 31, 1604: “William Felgate of Barkinge (5 miles E. of Stepney), Tower Street, skynner & Philippa Crooke of St. Dunstons in the east”. Tower Street, Stepney. Robert Felgate’s Will was proved in 1655, and mentions his brother William “of the city of London, “skinner”; Thomas Newton,* his grandchild, and his wife, Sibella etc. In 1653, the said William Felgate was living in York (York Records), and in 1659 was a justice of the county (Hening). In this year he deposed to be about 47 years old. His Will, proved in York in 1660, left his estate to his wife, Mary Felgate, and £20 to his dau., Mary, “in case she came to Virginia in five years”, also legacies to his stepson, William Bassett. (William and Mary College Quarterly, p. 83, 1892). Will of Phillip Newton, Mariner of Stepney, Middlesex, proved Jan. 17, 1663. Will of William Newton, Mariner of Stepney, Middlesex, proved Feb. 24, 1666. Will of Richard Newton, Mariner of Stepney, Middlesex, proved Feb. 10, 1659. In Nov. 1658 and in March 1659, “Richard Lee of London” purchased property at Stratford Langton, i.e. Langthorne, in the parish of West Ham, in the lower Lea Valley (from whence the family may have derived its name), planning to return to England. His steward, John Gibbon, stated of him: “hee was willing to end his days in England”. Richard Lee’s will was probated in London in Jan. 1665. His executors were Thomas Griffith and John Lockey, London merchants, and his eldest sons, John and Richard. He requested the early discharge of a debt due John Jeffreys. For Jeffreys, see as follows, under Jones.

Thomas Griffiths – cit. & merchant tailor of London, of psh of St. Michaell Queenehithe. (Dat. June 25, 1655). Wife Marg, Richard Downes jun. my wife’s kinsman; kinswom. Margerie Ford & her dau. Mary; kinsman Richard Griffith; sis-in-law widow Griffith-Godson; Thomas Griffith* son of sis-in-law-Godson; Abram Bentley son of John Bentley; Robt. Skrine, ironmonger; Persevall Stevenson, merchant tailor. Lands etc. in Queenhithe; sd wife extrix. Wit., Humphry Lewis Scr. (Pr. P.C.C., Jan 21, 1657-8). Queenehithe is 5 miles from Stratford Langthorne. John Lockey, imported tobacco with his brother, Edward. Lockey, Edward, of Virginia, planter, died in St Katherine Cree, London 1667. PROB 5/2782. Francis Morgan assigned 50 ac. in Charles River Co. (York Co.) upon “Cocke’s Thickett” to “John Lockey, citizen and merchant tailor of London, and Edward Lockey of York, merchant, on Oct. 26, 1657. (Fleet, Virginia Colonial Abstracts). In 1660, William Collis of York County deposed that Edward Lockey was a brother of Mr. John Lockey, merchant of London. (Tyler’s Quarterly, i, 401, 1981). Edward Lockey – admin. of the estate of Francis Morgan in 1657 – married the widow of John Reed in 1659 – married the widow of Major John Hansford in 1661.

March 11, 1658: Whereas &c. now know yee that I the said Sr William Berkeley Kt. doe wth the consent of the Councell of State doe accordingly give and grant unto Richard Lee gent his heirs or assignes for ever one thousand acres of Land situate on the North side of Charles river Called by the name of the Indian Spring on Poropotancke Creeke anglice vocatur fresh water Creeke running along the said Creeke and halfe a point Southerly thence South East for altitude hundred and sixtie chains along the marked trees of Francis Morgan thence for latitude twoe hundred and five Chaines thence North west one hundred and twentie Chaines to a running to a little Creeke including the said little Creeke to the great Creeke the said one thousand acres of Land being due unto him the said Richard Lee by and for his owne p’sonal Adventure his wife Ann and John Francis*.

CARTER AND FRANCIS

Many ancestries of prominent Virginia families are of a less exalted kind than claimed, but they can of a practical kind, with such as Robert “King” Carter having the familial background to the merchant/mariners who were the cornerstone of the Virginia tobacco trade.

Stepney: 1. William Carter, m. Alice Stile, Jan, 16, 1568/9. 1.1. John Carter, bapt. Sept 13, 1572, “s.o. William”. Oct. 25, 1611, married, John Carter of Stepney, Middlesex, mariner, and Jane Cleaves of All Hallows, Barking, widow of John Cleaves of same, mariner. 1.1.1. “John Carter. A clue to the ancestry of John Carter, the Virginia, Councillor, seemed to be afforded in the Will of Edward Carter of Edmonton, Middlesex, esquire, dated and probated in 1682 (New England Hist. and Geneal. Reg., vol. xlvii.), disposing of much property in Virginia, and speaking of having resided on Nansemond River, showing that he must have been the Col. Edward Carter who was in Virginia about 1660, and who may naturally be supposed to have been brother of John Carter.

William Meade, Old Churches, Ministers and Families of Virginia, vol. 2, p. 121 – Notices of Old Christ Church: This incription is to the north of the chancel, in the east end of the church: “Here lyeth buried y body of John Carter, Esq, who died yo 10th of June, Anno Domini 1669; and also Jane, y daughter of Mr. Morgan Glyn, and George her son, and Elenor Carter, and Ann, y daughter of Mr. Cleave Carter, and Sarah, y daughter of Mr. Gabriel Ludlow, and Sarah her daughter, which were all his wives successively, and died before him”. “Blessed are y dead which die in yo Lord; even soe, saith y Spirit, for they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them”. The published lists of London marriage licenses include one of Oct. 25, 1611, for John Carter of Stepney, Middlesex, mariner, and Jane Cleaves of All Hallows, Barking, widow of John Cleaves of same, mariner, doubtless relations-in-law, and possibly parents of the Virginia Councillor, or of Cleave Carter. Mr. W. G. Stanard finds that John Carter married at least five times, inc. 3rd, Anne, dau. of Cleave Carter, she being buried with her husband, and appearing to have had no children by Carter, and to have d. in or before 1662, to allow time for Carter to have married again, and have had a son born after Aug. 4, 1663, and before Aug. 4, 1664; 4th, Sarah, dau. of Gabriel Ludlow, she being buried with her husband, and her daughter Sarah, and having died in or before 1668, having been mother not only of Sarah, but also, according to tradition, of “Robert, King Carter,” who d. Aug. 4, 1732, in his 69th year”. (Charles Penrose Keith, The Ancestry of Benjamin Harrison: President of the United States of America, p. 87, 1893).

1.1.1.1. “Robert, King Carter”. See as follows: May 28, 1701: Letter from Robert Carter to Francis Lee. 1.2. “William Carter of Limehous”, m. “Martha Rainam of Ratcliff”, on October 15, 1599. 1.2.1. Edward (Carter), difficult to read, bapt. July 20, 1608, s.o. “William … of Lymehous, mariner” – adjacent the hamlet of Ratcliffe. 1.2.2. William Carter, bapt. Sept. 11, 1611, s.o. “William Carter of Ratcliff, Marriner”. 1.2.2.1. John Carter, bapt. Nov. 28, 1630, s.o. “Wm. Carter of Ratcliff, Marriner, and Hanna” (Reignolds), m. June 11, 1620. 1.2.2.2. Thomas Carter, bapt. Aug. 17, 1636 (son of “Wm. Carter Mariner of Prusens Iand”, and Elizabeth), m. Dorothy Francis, cousin of *John Francis.

FRANCIS

1. … 1.1. John Francis, Wappingwall Mariner, m. Margaret. 1.1.1. John Francis, bapt. Oct. 12, 1631, m. Judith Witheredge, May 3, 1660. *Associated with Col. Richard Lee in a land grant of 1658, supra. 1.2. Samuel Francis Whitehorse Streete, Maryner, m. Joan. 1.2.1. Dorothy Francis, bapt. Oct. 25, 1640, m. Thomas Carter, Dec. 11, 1666. 1.2.2. John Francis, bapt. Jan. 15, 1646/7.

WOODWARD

1. John Woodward, bapt. 10 March 10, 1615/16. “To all &c Whereas now Know ye that I the said Edward Diggs Esqr. &c give and grant unto William and Hancock Lee sons of Col Richard Lee Eight hundred and Fifty acres of Land Situate in the County of Gloucester upon the branch of Peanketank Swamp. John Woodward of Middlesex, Stepney (St. Dunstan, per Will), who died at Jamaica. Admin granted in 1659 by Perogative Court of Canterbury. (Peter Wilson Coldham, The Complete Book of Emigrants, p. 451, 1987). Robert Felgate was the brother of Tobias Felgate: Captain Toby Felgate, mariner, 150 ac. at Kiskyacke, upon Pamunkey River, adjoining the land of his brother, Captain Robert Felgate, due as an adventurer into the Colony, April 25, 1632. They were probably sons of William Felgate. July 31, 1604: “William Felgate of Barkinge (5 miles E. of Stepney), Tower Street, skynner & Philippa Crooke of St. Dunstans in the east”.

Possible Stepney associations: 1. John Hancocke, of Whitehorse Street, mariner, m. Ann … 1.1. John Hancocke, bapt. Feb. 4, 1634/35. 1.2. William Hancocke, bapt.Aug. 8, 1639. 1.3. Anne Hancocke, bapt. April 8, 1644.1. George Constable, of Westminster, m. Alice Griffin, bapt. Jan. 9, 1604/5, dau. of Wm. Griffin, of Poplar, Stepney, shoemaker, possibly related to a namesake: Hill v Constable. Plaintiffs: Richard Hill of Shere, Surrey, esq. Defendants: George Constable of London, esq. Subject: to recover an unwitnessed loan. Surrey. 1558-1603. (REQ 2/222/32). 1.1. Anne Constable, bapt. March 26, 1619, in Stepney. There is no proof that Col. Richard Lee m. a Anne Constable, and not one of an elevated social status.

1.3.3.1. Francis Lee. Will of Francis Lee, Merchant of Saint Dionis Backchurch, City of London, dated 9 July, 1709; probated, London, Nov. 23, 1714. Francis Lee, of London, Merchant. I doe declare my sons Richard and Thomas Lee and my daughter Anne, wife of Henry Watson, to be fully advanced. Yet nevertheless I doe give unto them 5f a piece for mourning. Unto my Honoured ffriends Sir Jeffery Jefferies, Knight,* and John Jefferies, Esqr., Rings. Unto my nephew Richard Lee, Merchant, and my friend Mr. Hanbury Walthall, of London, Haberdasher. The Residue to my youngest son, Arthur Lee, his Executors, Administrators, and Assigns, at twenty one years. The said Richard Lee and John Hanbury Walthall to be Executors in trust for said Arthur. They shall during his minority loan out the moneys not expended in his education and maintenance for the increase of his fortune. To my eldest Brother Richard Lee, £20. Witness. Edwd. Gilbert, Snr., Tho. Reason, Wm. Hodgdin. Jeffreys and his younger brother John were ‘adopted and educated’ by their uncle John Jeffreys, a tobacco merchant and an alderman of London. He had agreed in March 1702 to be responsible for sending remittances to the armed forces stationed in New York, using his own trading contacts. (D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, “Hist. Parl.”, 2002). See as follows under “Jones”: 1. Samuel Vassall. 1.1. Francis Vassall. Vassall v Jeffries. Plaintiffs: Francis Vassall. Defendants: John Jeffries. Subject: property in Fleet Street, London. 1667. (C 6/179/70). *To whom, Col. Richard Lee was indebted, as given supra.

June 30, 1691, John Walthall, of Hatfeild, Herts, Bach, aged 23, & Anne Wiseman, of the same, Spr, 22 & upwds, at own disp., her parents dead & no guardian; alleged by Hanbury Walthall, of St Catherine Creechurch, Lond., Haberdasher; at Hatfeild or (blank). (‎Sir George John Armytage, “Allegations for Marriage Licences”, p. 186, 1890). The register of St. Dionis Backchurch has the following entries: Abigail, daughter of Mr. Francis and Tamar Lee, Merchant, born and baptised, July 9, 1694. John, son of Mr. Francis Lee, Merchant, buried in ye Great Vault, June 9, 1694. Mrs. Tamar Lee, wife of Mr. Francis Lee, Merchant, buried in ye Great Vault, May 1, 1694-5. Tamar, daughter of Mr. Francis Lee, Merchant, buried in Ye Great Vault, January 18, 1699-1700. Mr. Francis Lee, Merchant, buried in Ye Great Vault in the Chancel, Nov. 19, 1714. St Catherine Creechurch, borders Stepney. St. Dionis Backchurch, 2-3 miles from Stepney.

A power of atty recorded Sept. 3, 1699, from Francis Lee citizen and merchant of St. Dionis Backchurch, London, to William Churchill in Virginia. On October 5, 1703, Churchhill married Elizabeth Armistead Wormeley after executing a detailed marriage contract to secure the property that she and her children had inherited from her father, John Armistead, formerly a member of the governor’s Council, and her first husband, Ralph Wormeley, of Rosegill in Middlesex County, who had also been a member of the Council and secretary of the colony when he died in 1701. Their one son and two daughters included Priscilla Churchhill, who married first the namesake, son of the land baron Robert “King” Carter and then John Lewis, a member of the Council. Following his marriage, Churchhill undertook the management of Rosegill, and his influence in the county and colony increased through his alliances with these prominent Virginia families.

May 28, 1701: Letter from Robert Carter to Francis Lee: Robert Carter writes to London merchant Francis Lee concerning the death of Secretary of State Ralph Wormeley, Wormeley’s unhappiness with Lee’s handling of his affairs and Lee’s need to do better on behalf of his estate, a consignment of 16 hogsheads of tobacco, and that Lee’s supervision of Wormeley’s sons, then in England for their education, should be stringent. (Give my) kind Respects to my Cozens Ralph & John Wormeley whom if you keep Short in point of pockett Money, & not Extraordnary in fineness neither, i’tis my Opinion twill be no Diservice to them, I hope if the times hold as they have bin for some yeares past, Wee may be Able to lay up a Little Money for them, before they Come to manage. for your fuller. Satisfaction, I have herein sent a Coppy of Mr. Secretarys Will I am Sr Your humble Servant. See – Carter of Stepney, St. Dunstan’s, and Virginia, previous post.

Carter often referred to in their youth as his “Cozns.” Ralph Wormeley (ca. 1681-1714), Ralph Wormeley’s (d.1701) oldest son; and John Wormeley (1689-1727) because their parents were his brother-and sister-in-law. He was one of the boys’ trustees under their father’s Will. (Christ Church Parish, Lancaster County, Processioners’ Returns, 1711-1783, Wormeley Estate Papers, 1701-1710, 1716). On March 4, 1677, in Middlesex County, Virginia, Francis Lee of London and formerly of Dividing Creek, Virginia, appoints Ralph Wormeley his attorney, or Col. John Burnham. Middlesex Co. (Virginia Wills, Inventories & Accounts, 1673-1812 by William Lindsay Hopkins, p 103).

1.3.3.2. Hancocke Lee.

1.3.3.3. Charles Lee. They both appraised the estate of Samuel Jones, son of Robert Jones of Fleet’s Bay. Samuel Jones was the brother of Captain William Jones, whose son, Captain Willam Jones, married Leeanna Lee, dau. of the said Charles Lee, Sr. It is suggested that this familial context originated in the London port of Stepney. That which may point the way of genuine researchers is the fact that a Thomas Pinckard was a headright of William Wright in Nansemond in 1655, and that several Pinckard Wills concerning Pinckard families near Stepney have not been digitalised for downloading, and may have connected to either: William Wright, baptised Nov. 12, 1615, s.o. “William Wright of Ratcliff mariner”, and Amie; or William Wright, baptised Feb. 1, 1621/22, s.o. “Thomas Wright of Lymehouse mariner”, and Mary; both of Stepney.

1.3.3.3.1. Charles Lee, m. Mrs. Elizabeth Pinckard, per marriage certificate. 1.3.3.3.2. Richard Lee, “the scholar”, m. Laetitia, dau. of Henry Corbin. 1.3.3.3.2.1. Thomas Lee, m. Hannah, granddaughter of Phillip Ludwell. 1.3.3.3.2.1.1. Richard Henry Lee. In July 1769, he m. the widow Anne Gaskins/Pinckard, dau. of Thomas Gaskins of Westmoreland Co.1.3.3.3.2.1.1.1. Ann Lee, b. Dec. 1, 1770, m. Charles Lee, son of Col. Henry Lee II, son of Captain Henry Lee, d. Aug. 25, 1747, son of Richard Lee, “the scholar”, supra.

See as follows – there was such a dense familial relationship between the families of Col. Richard Jones and Robert Jones of Fleet’s Bay – with repeated intermarriages between them and the Gaskins and Pinkards – that, in terms of the social frameworks within which families of English descent intermarried, preserving and promoting wealth and power with a kinship network – these families were almost certainly “connected” in England, and they to the family of Lee of Stepney.

1.3.4. William Lee, m. Anne Salter, Sept. 12, 1644. Robert Harris “of Limehouse marriner”, m. Dorothy Salter on April 1, 1641. They were probably brothers-in- law. 1.3.5. Samuel Lee, a witness to the Will of Judith Vassall, mother of Ann Vassall, wife of Robert Jones, of Fleet’s Bay, whose son Samuel Jones died in October of 1697 without male issue, and a few months after, Capt. Wm. Jones, his brother, was appointed administrator, and petitioned the court to appoint as appraisers: Hancock Lee, Charles Lee, sons of Col. Richard Lee, and kinsmen of the deceased. Samuel Lee was probably the father of John Jones. His capacity to witness Judith Vassall’s Will was most likely as a result of him marrying a dau. of Judith Vassall’s sons, brothers and half brothers of Ann Vassall; thus, as the husband of Judith Vassall’s granddau. Clearly, this points to a familial connection between a Stepney family of Jones and that of Col. Richard Lee, which is evident in the notes as follows. A point is that such a relationship is suggested as early as 1648, when Col. Richard Lee patented 1,250 acres on the N. side of York River, and among those for whom he claimed land were Henry and George Lee*. The earlier relationship was the precursor of an ongoing one.

1.4. “Edward Lee, of Lymehous shoemaker”, possibly: Lee v Jones. Plaintiffs: Edward Lee and Joyce Lee his wife. Defendants: John Jones. Subject: the Chequer Inn, in St Bride, London etc. 1643. (C 5/514/83). That is, Edward Lee was almost certainly a member of the Cordwainers Guild, which were included in the thirteen ” misteries which sent members to the Common Council. The first Charter was granted to the Guild of the Cordwainers by Henry VI in 1439. The Worshipful Company of Cordwainers helped finance Captain John Smith’s expedition to Virginia in 1607, and he was subsequently inducted to the Guild. The Secretary for Virginia recorded the establishment of a successful leather/shoemaking industry in 1616.

1.4.1. *George Lee, merchant of London, bapt. Dec. 22, 1605. “He was probably the George Lee, who Col Richard Lee numbered among his headrights in 1648. After residing in Virginia for sometime and patenting lands in York County he returned to England. After George Underwood* (probably a son-in-law), he appointed Robert Whitchare as his agent in Virginia in 1661, then Daniel Park,* and in 1674 he appointed Captain Richard Johnson, of New Kent. He shipped servants and goods, and brought back tobacco, and among the servants sent over by him were two “nephews”, *John Jones and John Symons”. (WMQ, xi. pp. 35, 37). George Lee was associated with the Underwoods of Stepney. 1.4.1.1. Francis Lee.

1 … 1.1. Edward Underwood, “poticary” (apothecary), m. Jane. 1.1.1. George Underwood, bapt. Nov. 30, 1628, St. Botolph, adjoining Stepney. 1.2. William Underwood*. Nov. 19, 1632, William Underwood of Ratcliffe (Stepney) taylor and Frances Glascock W. (St. Dunstan’s, Stepney, reg.). 1.2.1. *George Underwood, b. ca. 1633. Clerke v Garland. Plaintiffs: Thomasine Clerke, John Clerke, Dorothy Clerke, Grace Clerke and Samuel Clerke. Defendants: Robert Garland, Jeremiah White and George Underwood. Subject: personal estate of Roger Garland, Stepney*. 1685. (C 10/498/13). Bathurst v Garland. Plaintiffs: John Bathurst. Defendants: Robert Garland and Roger Garland. Subject: money matters, Middlesex. 1648. (C 10/5/11). *Roger Garland of Shadwell maryner”. Underwood’s gift to the hospital of St. Thomas: William Underwood, by Will, proved 29th April 1658, gave to the governors of this hospital all his hereditaments in the parish of St. George the Martyr, Southwark, for the relief of the poor there, subject to the payment of an annuity to his wife for her life. By indentures of lease and release, bearing date 19th and 20th January 1674, between William Scrimshire and George Underwood, son and heir of the said William Underwood, of the one part, and the mayor, &c., governors, &c., of the other part; reciting that the said William Underwood had purchased to the use of himself and his heirs, “two messuages or tenements, with their appurtenances, situate on the west side of the High-street of the Borough of Southwark, in the said parish,” to hold the same to them and their successors, to the uses mentioned in the said Will. 1652, Daniel Parke was deeded land in York Co.

He was named a Justice of the Peace in 1653, and later, Sheriff, and Burgess (1666). He m. (ca. 1658), Rebecca, widow of Bartholomew Knipe, of Virginia, gent., and dau. of George Evelyn. Bartholomew Knight was a brother of Edwarde Knipe, (bapt. Oct. 1, 1609, St Katherine Coleman), sons of Christopher Knipe of London. 2 miles from Stepney. On March 24, 1662-3, he bought 528 ac. in James City, adjoining the land of Col. Pettus, from Christopher Harris, and Mr. Robert Sorrell. Will proved Sept. 16, 1679: All money remaining in England and coming from the sale of tobacco and profits of shipping to be put into the Chamber of London for my said daughters’ benefit. To my friends Coll. Edward Carter, Mr. Michaiah Perry, Mr. Thomas Lane, James Bray, Esq., and Mr. Robert Cobb, £ 5 apiece to buy them rings with. His son, Daniel Parke, m. … Ludwell, and had issue: Lucy, who m. Col. Wm. Byrd, of “Westover,” and Frances who m. Col. John Custis. Daniel Parke Sr. was the son of a namesake: Will of Daniel Parke, Merchant Tailor of London, probated September 11, 1649. Hothersall v Bragg. Plaintiffs: Henry Hothersall. Defendants: Francis Bragg, Ninian Cuningham, and Daniel Parke. Subject: property in St Bride, London. 1648. (C 10/43/101). *3 mile W. of Stepney. A power of Atty dated May 18, 1684, from George Lee of London, merchant, to Francis Lee, his son, giving him power to collect debts from the estates of Daniel Wild and John Martin. (Lothrop Withington, Virginia Gleanings in England, p. 170, 1980).

Captain Richard Stephens was granted sixty roods of land at James-town in 1623, adjoining a dwelling-house already owned by him; the land being donated “that others may he encouraged by his example to enclose some ground for gardens”. He was a burgess for the session beginning March 5, 1623-4. Stephens had meanwhile married Elizabeth Piersey, a great heiress as the times went, apparently by 1629 at latest. He had patented 500 acres on Water’s Creek in Warwick county, by right of ten persons transported into Virginia by his father-in-law, Piersey, who died in 1628. The last meeting of the Council which he is positively known to have attended was held in September 1632. Shortly before his death, he had paid for the importation of forty persons into the Colony, but did not live long enough to make application for the 2,000 acres due him, so that this land was subsequently patented in the name of his elder son, Captain Samuel Stephens, born circa 1629, in whose name was patented, Sept., 20, 1636. Samuel Stephens in 1652 married Frances Culpeper, and in 1667 was commissioned Governor of Albemarle – that is, North Carolina – which office he retained until his death in 1670.

William Stephens, the younger son, was bom circa 1631. He inherited from his mother land in Warwick county. He died before reaching twenty-seven; His will was drawn up 6 April 1656, and, living in Nov. 1656, he was dead by April 1657. Shortly before his death “William Stephens had made application for a land-patent, for 570 additional acres in Warwick, which was eventually granted, May 1,, 1657, to his only son, another William Stephens — “as son & heire to William Stephens, Cooper, deceased”. William Stephens had married circa 1650 Margaret Vaulx, by whom he had two children; and shortly after his death his widow married Daniel Wild of York county. Thus, at an Orphans Court held in York, 10 Sept. 10, 1658, “Uppon ye motine of Daniel Wyld, Guardyan of William Stephens, sonne & heyre of William Stephens, late of Warwicke County, dece’d (whose relict the said Wild married), that he may be accomptable to ye said orphan when hee comes of age for the cattle, horses and mares (according to his accompt to ye Court this day on Oath). The younger William Stephens died a minor in 1668, the land thus passing outright to his mother, now the wife of Daniel Wild: and meanwhile, the widow of the elder William Stephens had borne Daniel Wild a daughter, to whom Margaret Wild at her death, on February 12, 1675-6, in turn left this land. The daughter, another Margaret Wild, married Captain John Martin, the master of a ship in the Virginia trade, and died in England circa 1680, leaving one child, Margaret Martin. Martin inherited after his wife, and remarried.

The Will of “John Martin of Stepney, County Middlesex, marriner” (P. P. C: Hare, 128), proved Oct. 23, 1684, bequeathed to his daughter by his first marriage: the estate in Virginia, upon her reaching eighteen or marrynng. This daughter, as yet unmarried – described as “Margaret Martin, spinster, of Cheshunt Parish, Herts, England” — in 1703 sold this much-disputed plot of ground, which thus passed finally to the possession of anyone even remotely connected with Abraham Piersey. (James Branch Cabel, The Majors and their marriages, pp. 124-129, 1879).

ROBERT JONES OF FLEET’S BAY

PARISH REGISTER OF ST. NICHOLAS ACON

Stephen Aborowghe and Johanna Overye of the parish. Νον. 17, 1571. William Aborowghe gent and Judith Joanes widow of Stepney, to be married at Stepney. Dec. 2, 1586. Thomas Skott gent of Colchester, Essex, and Judith Aborough spinster, of Limehouse in the parish of Stepney, Middlesex, daughter of Stephen Aboroughe late of Chatham, Kent, Esq., deceased, to be married at Stepney. March 23, 1593-4. John Vassall of Ratcliffe in the parish of Stepney, mariner, and Judith Scott of the city of London, widow of Thomas Scott of the said parish gent. March 5, 1603-4. George Bartlett of Stepney merchant, aged about 40, bachelor, and Elizabeth Burroughe of the same parish spinster, aged about 23, daughter of Stephen Burroughe of Chatham, Kent, mariner, deceased, her mother also deceased, and the said Elizabeth Burroughe dwelleth with her sister Mrs. King at Ratcliffe, who giveth her express consent. June 9, 1613. William Vassall of Eastwood, Essex, yeoman, bachelor, aged about 20, son of John Vassall of the same parish gen’t, with his said father’s consent, and Anne Kinge of Cold Norton, spinster, about 20, daughter of George Kinge of Cold Norton, yeoman, who appeared and did give express consent, to be married at Cold Norton. Feb’y. 26, 1619. Robert Salmon mariner and Joan Vassall daughter of John Vassall of Eastwood mariner. Oct. 14, 1623. Henry Clarke of St. Faith’s, London, merchant tailor, bachelor, about 30, and Joane Cartwright of St. Andrew’s, Undershaft, spinster, about 18, daughter of Abraham Cartwright of the same parish draper, to be married at St. Andrew’s, Undershaft. Jan’y. 19, 1624-5. Henry Church of Wapping, seafearing man, bachelor, about 22, at his own disposal, and Elizabeth Vassall of Ratcliffe, spinster, about 17, daughter of John Vassal of Stepney, mariner, to be married at St. Nicholas Acon. June 25, 1625. Thomas Vassall of St. Leonard’s Eastcheap draper, bachelor, about 24, at his own disposal, and Ann Dickinson of the same parish, spinster, at her own disposal, to be married at St. Nicholas Acon. Oct. 12, 1661. Robert Arnold of St. Mary Aldermary citizen, bachelor, about 28, and Mary Vassall spinster, about 20, with consent of her father Samuel Vassall of St. George’s Southwark. 1636, May 15. Mr. John Jones, Rector of this Parishe departed this life at Higate in the Contie of Middesex on Saturdaye the 14 of Maye and was Buryed in St. Nicholas Churche in the Chansell under the Comman Tabell on Sondaye. 1619-20, Feb. 28. Robert Salmon of ye parish of Deptforde, and Joane Vassall of this parish.

1. Robert Jones, mariner, as deduced by his Will, dated May 22, 1570 (PROB/11/53/2), in which he names a son, William, a brother, John, and his wife, Judith, daughter of Thomas Pyke. Judyth Pyke, m. Roberte Jones, June 17, 1566, Westminster, St Margaret. Wylliam Jones, bapt. Feb. 3, 1568/9, son of Robert Jones, Westminster. Grant in fee simple to Judith Jones, relict of Robert Jones, Audrey Mershe , wife of John Mershe , and Mary Pyke , the three sisters and heirs of Christopher Pyke , son and heir of Thomas Pyke, of the following in London – four mess. in the p. of St. Andrew hubberde; a great mess. on “le Freshe Wharfe Gate in the p. of St. Bottolph by Billingate; a mess. in Sydon lane in the p. of St. Olave in the tenure of Sir John Alleyne, alderman of London (Thomas Pyke was his son-in-law and exec.); held of the manor of Eastgreenewiche in socage, etc. Cal. Pat., Eliz. ii, 172: Gressham v Pyke. Plaintiffs: John Gressham, knight, alderman of London. Defendants: Thomas Pyke and others, executors of John Aleyn, knight, alderman of London. 1544-1551. (C 1/1222/53). Cowper v Pyke. Plaintiffs: Robert Cowper of London, goldsmith, and Agnes his wife, executrix and late the wife of Robert Blagrave of London, merchant tailor. Defendants: Thomas Pyke, brother of the said Agnes. Subject: Threat of action on a bond for a loan already repaid. London. 1532-1538. (C 1/755/7). Gybson v Pyke. Plaintiffs: Nicholas Gybson, citizen and grocer of London, and Alice, his wife, daughter and heir of Henry Mortelman. Defendants: John and Thomas Pyke. Subject: Lease of a messuage called the “Rammys Hed” in Petty Wales. (Defendants plead that a house in Ratcliffe was given in exchange therefor, with acquittance of a debt. Decree in favour of complainants is endorsed.). London. 1533-1538. (C 1/806/43-46). Pyke v Heathe. Plaintiffs: Judith Pyke, Awdrey Pyke and Mary Pyke. Defendants: James Heathe and another. Subject: estate of the deceased Thomas Pyke of London. 1558-1579. (C 3/143/64).

Inquisition taken at the Guildhall, Oct. 27, 1 Eliz. (1559), before Thomas Leigh, knight, escheator, after the death of Thomas Pyke, citizen and skinner of London, by the oath of Thomas Lytton, John Haddon, Robert Davys, Henry Roberts, Robert Shurlocke, Thomas Diwxall, John Jackson, Robert Lee, Andrew Kempe, Robert Danbye, William Swanson, Henry Callys, Guy Awood, Walter Mekyns, Thomas Popellwell and Michael Smith, who say that Thomas Pyke was seised of 1 large messuage situate in and upon the Fresshe Wharffegate and beyond the said gate and wharf in the parish of St. Botolph, London, near the gate there called Billingesgate within the City of London, now or late in the tenure of Lancelot Harryson; I messuage in Sydon Lane, in the parish of St. Olave, London, now or late in the tenure of Mark Anthony Erizi; I messuage with stables in Sydon Lane, now or late in the tenure of Thomas Page; I messuage, together with other messuages in Sydon Lane, now or late in the tenure of John Anthony Erizi; I other messuage in Sydon Lane, now or late in the tenure of Eden; and 2 stables in Sydon Lane, now or late in the tenure of Christopher Draper, citizen and Alderman of London. All the said premises are held of the Queen by fealty only, in free socage and not in chief: the large messuage is worth per ann., clear, f10; the messuage in the tenure of Mark Anthony Erizi, £8; the messuage with stables, £11 35. 4d.; the messuage with 2 other messuages, £9; the messuage in the tenure of Eden, 40s.; and the 2 stables, 205. Thomas Pyke died 29 September, 1 Eliz. [1559]; Christopher Pyke is his son and next heir, and was then aged 6 years and more. (Inq. p.m., 1 Elizabeth, p. 1, No. 86).

1.1. William Jones, Captain of ‘the Crane’, an English navy ship that patroled the English Channel in 1602, replacing Thomas Mansell (Dr. C. S. Knighton, Professor David Loades, eds. The Navy of Edward VI and Mary I, p. 473, 2011), a likely younger brother of Sir Robert Mansell, vice-admiral of England, who mentions ‘Capt. Jones’ in his tract of 1602, “A true report of the service done upon certain gallies passing through the narrow seas; written to the Lord High Admirall of England, by Sir Robert Mansell, Knight, Admiral of Her Majesty’s forces in that place”. The contributor of Archaeologia Cambrensis (1873), in which this is published, either assumed Capt. Jones to be of the Jones family of Fonmon, being from the same locality as the Mansells and having their patronage, or knew some detail of a kinship link which he did not specify. Robert Mansell served in the 1596 raid on Cadiz under the Earl of Essex, ‘the Crane’ being deployed in this action. William Jones had m. Rachel Noble, who was bapt. on June 19 1552, in St. Nicholas Acons, as “Rachel Noble dau. of Willyam Noble”. She was bur. on March 8, 1622/3, as Rachel Jones, “mother of John Jones, rector of this parrish”. Rachell Jones, daughter of John Jones p’son of this p’ishe. Dec. 18, 1614 bur. John Jons, the son of Mr. John Jons, the rector of this parish, and Ann his wife, bur. Nov. 30. 1630. Oct. 9, 1614, Charles Jones sonne of John Jones parson of the p’she bapt. Oct. 20, 1615, Rachel Jones daughter of John Jones parson of this parish bapt. Dec. 8, 1616, Allen Jones, the sonne of John Jones p’son of the p’she bapt. Oct. 22, 1618, Robert Jones, sonne of John Jones p’son of the p’she bapt. Aug 1, 1620, William Jones ye sonne of John Jones rector and Ann His wife bapt. Jan. 3, 1652/3, Willeam Jons the sonne of Mr. John Jons some tims Rector of this parish dessed and Ana Renolds of the parish of Stepney in the Countie of Middel. Oct. 17, 1622, Richard Jones the sonne of John Jones rector and Ann his wife bapt. Sept. 29, 1624, Samuel Jones the sonne of John Jones rector and Ann his wife bapt. March 26, 1626, Thomas Jones the sonne of John Jones rector and Ann his wife bapt. April 16, 1629 Joseph Jones the sonne of John Jones rector and Ann his wife bapt. 1636, “Mr John Jons, Rector of this Parishe, departed this Life at Higate in the Contie of Middesex on Saturdaye the 14 of Maye and was Buryed in St. Nicholas Churche, in the Chansell, vnder the Comman Tabell on Sondaye”.

1.1.1. Rev. John Jones, m. Ann, dau. of John Vassall, who married three times, first, at Stepney on Sept. 25, 1569, to Anna Hewes, who evidently d. sine prole. He then m. on Sept. 4, 1580, at Stepney, Anna Russell, of Ratcliff, co. Middlesex, who d. and was bur. there May 5, 1593, having had the following children: Samuel, of whom hereafter; John, born March 24, d. Aug. 30, 1591; William, of whom hereafter. On the death of his second wife John Vassall m. Judith, dau. of Stephen Borough, of Stepney (and and Northam, Devon), by Joan Overye, his wife, at Stepney, March 27, 1594, marriage licence dated March 23; she d. in Jan., 1638-9. She had m. firstly Thomas Scott, of Colchester, co. Essex, gent. Her husband Vassall predeceased her, and was bur. in Stepney Church Sept. 13, 1625. Children of third marriage were Thomas, born April 7, 1602, m. at St. Nicholas Acons, London, June 27, 1625, marriage licence dated London, June 25, to Anne Dickenson; he was mentioned in his father’s will, April 29, 1625, and was alive Aug. 29, 1650. Anne, born Jan. 10, 1595, bapt. at Stepney, Jan. 10, 1595, m. Rev. John Jones, rector of St. Nicholas Acons, of whose estate she was executrix and who d. at Highgate, co. Middlesex, May 14, bur. in St. Nicholas Acons May 15, 1636; Will dated April 18, 1636, proved May 3, 1637, in the Consistory of London, 259 Allen; she was bur. in St. Nicholas Acons July 24, 1640; will dated May 9, 1640, proved July 27, 1640 (P.P.C., 104 Coventory), bequesting: “To son William Jones my little gilt silver tankard which my husband’s father took in Cadiz”.

Elizabeth, m. at St. Nicholas Acons, Jan. 20, 1625; licence dated Jan. 10, then aged 17 years, to Henry Church, of Wapping, co. Middlesex, mariner, aged about 22, Jan. 19, 1624-5, living May 9, 1640; she was mentioned in the Will of Peter Andrewes, her brother-in-law, of Aug. 29, 1650. Rachel, m. Peter Andrewes, merchant, of London; she was the administratrix of her husband, whose Will was dated Aug. 29, 1650, and on which administration was granted Oct. 3, 1650 (P.P.C., 104 Pembroke). Mary, m. Edward West, of Ratcliffe, mariner, who was living Nov. 9, 1638; she was mentioned in the Will of her sister Anne, May 3, 1640.

John Jones Sr. of St. Nicholas Acon, London, clerk, Will made April 18, 1636, proved May 3, 1637. To my sons Allen Jones, Robert Jones, William Jones,* Abraham Jones, Richard Jones, Samuel Jones, Thomas Jones and Joseph Jones twelve pence apiece. All but Allen Jones to have their proportionable parts out of my lands &c. which are to be sold. My wife Anne to have a double part and the rest divided among them (except Allen). Wife Anne to be sole executrix. The families to which John Jones was allied through marriage were much connected to the English Navy: Stephen Burough’s brother, William, served Elizabeth I., being Controller of Her Navy at Sea” in 1583; and as second in command to Drake in the expedition to Cadiz, 1587. John Jones’s father-in-law, John Vassell, fitted out at his own expense, and commanded, two ships: the ‘Samuel’ and ‘Little Toby’, with which he joined the English Navy to oppose the Spanish Armada.

John Vassall of Ratcliffe in the parish of Stepney, Middlesex, mariner, Will proved Sept. 16, 1625. To be buried in the parish church of Stepney where I am now a parishioner. To my wife Judith all my household stuff whatsoever, my plate only excepted. To my son Samuel my great gilt salt, to my son William my plain white silver salt and to my daughter Ann Jones my great white silver bowl. The rest of my plate to Judith my wife during her natural life, and after her decease it shall be divided amongst other five of my children, viz. Rachel the wife of Peter Andrewes, Stephen Vassell,* Thomas Vassell, Mary the wife of Edward West and Elizabeth the wife of Henry Church, at the discretion of my said wife according as she shall dispose thereof in her life time. I give to the said William Vassell to his use forever all the wainscot, portals of wainscot, cupboards and benches of wainscot affixed and fastened in the house wherein I now dwell and all the dresser boards, shelves, iron backs for chimnies, locks and other ironworks upon the doors and windows now standing and being in and about my said dwelling house in Racliffe. I give him also the great table of walnut tree now standing in my great parlor. I give to my son Thomas Vassell my lease and term of years unexpired of the parsonage or rectory of Eastwood in the County of Essex, which I bought of John Coggen and Mary his wife, and all my messuages, lands, tenements &c. in Eastwood. Judith my daughter, the relict of John Freeborne late deceased, hath had and received divers and sundry large sums of money far surpassing and surmounting the portions of the rest of my daughters. I give her therefore only twenty shillings to buy her a ring. I give to Judith my wife for life, my messuages, lands, tenements &c. in Seething Lane (Sydon), in the several parishes of All Sts Barking, in Tower Street, and St. Olaves, White Hart Street, London, and after her decease I give and bequeath them all to my son Stephen Vassell. I give all my lands, messuages &c. at Brookstreet in the parish of South Weale (Weald), Essex, unto Judith my wife and her heirs forever. I make and appoint the said Judith Vassell sole executrix. And to be overseers I do appoint my sons Samuel Vassall, William Vassell, and my son in law John Jones.

1. Stephen Borough, 1525-1584 (memorial plaque, St. Mary’s Church, Chatham). His first wife was Eleonora, ‘dau. of John Smithe of the parish of Clive’ in Shropshire (probate records, February 1562, F.R.C., vol. 1, p. 36, f. 182 (1), p. 58). By his second wife, Joan Overye, of Stepney, he was the father of: 1.1. Judith Borough, who m. John Vassall. 1.1.1. Anne Vassall, baptised at Stepney, Jan. 10, 1597, bur. at St. Nicholas Acons, July 24, 1640, m. John Jones, rector of St. Nicholas Acons, London. Reverend John Jones, Rector of St. Nicholas Acons, October 27, 1612; Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge, B.A, 1597; M.A, 1600; B.D, 1607; died at Highgate co. Middlesex, May 14; bur. in St. Nicholas Acons, May 15, 1636. The Overye family were of Kent: John Overye, husbandman of Gravesend, Kent (9 miles from Chatham), and his wife Emma v Beatrice Harbert of the City of London, widow: matters of account as to board and lodging. 1543/4. (REQ 2/12/91). Their earliest record: Robert and Beatrice Overye grant to Alexr. At Welle ½ acre of arable land lying at Maydoune in Fordwich. 10 Hen. IV. 1409. (Canterbury Cathedral Archives and Library, U/4/1/41). Parties: John Laurence, feoffee of Stephen Davy to the use of Emma or Emmota his wife for life, then of Richard Davy, his brother and his heirs and in default to Beatrice Harbert (afterwards Beatrice Tilly widow). Subject: Petition of right, commissions, inquisition, copies of final concords by which Henry Wyatt, knight, entered into the premises which descended to Sir Thomas Wyatt, his son who gave them to Henry VIII Places: Shorne, messuage called Austen, lands, etc; Chalk, Merston, Higham, Milton and Gravesend, lands, etc County: Kent. 5 Edw VI. (C 43/4/12).

Judith Vassall of Eastwoode in the Co. of Essex, Nov. 9, 1638, proved at Chelmsford Jan. 29, 1638: I give unto my son Thomas Vassall all such sums of money as he is indebted unto me. I give unto my daughter Rachel the wife of Peter Andrewes of Ratcliffe one great leather chair (and other household effects). I give unto Judith West and Jane West, the children of my daughter Mary the wife of Edward West, to each of them twenty shillings. I give unto the said Mary West my daughter ten pounds. I give unto Elizabeth my daughter, the wife of Henry Church, some of my wearing apparell, at the disposal of my executor. I give unto my daughter Ann Joanes, the late wife of John Joanes, one of my best gowns. I give unto all my grandchildren not named, to each of them five shillings. The rest of my estate, goods and chattels and moveables unbequeathed I give unto my son Stephen Vassall of Raleigh, in the county aforesaid, towards the payment of my debts and funeral charges and the better enabling him to help such of my children as shall have most need. And I make the said Stephen my sole executor &c. Wit: Thomas Oresby, Samuel Lee* and the mark of Rebeccah West. (Original Wills, Com. of London for Essex and Herts. File for 1638-9. No. 137). July 28, 1643, James Smith, Gent., of Gray’s Inn, Bachelor, 24, & Anne West, of Putney, Surrey, Spinster, 17; consent of father Edward West, of St Olave’s, Southwark, Gent.; at Christ Church, Lond. It may be suggested that a niece of Ann Vassall Jones married Samuel Lee (witness, thus, to the Will of his wife’s grandmother), by whom he had a son, John Jones.

Ann Jones of London, widow, late the wife of John Jones late of St. Nicholas Acon, London, clerk, May 9, 1640, proved 27 July 27, 1640. Reference to Will of said husband (dated April 18, 1636). I have labored and endeavored, as much as in me lay, sithence my husband’s decease, to sell and dispose of the lands, according to the true meaning of said will, but hitherto could not meet with or hear of any person that would give near the true worth thereof. I give the said lands and all other my lands, tenements &c. in Much Wakering or elsewhere in Essex to my loving and kind brother Mr. Samuel Vassall, to be sold and the money arising to be disposed by him as hereafter is mentioned. Then follow bequests. Son Allen Jones. To son William Jones my little gilt silver tankard which my husband’s father took in Cadiz. Son Abraham Jones. Son Richard Jones. Son Samuel Jones. Son Thomas Jones. Son Joseph Jones. Cousin Judith Hill. Sister Andrewes. Sister Church. Sister Vassall, wife of the said Samuel Vassall. My servant Anne Bradford. My sister West. My brothers Stephen Vassall, William Vassall, Peter Andrewes, Henry Church. My cousin Winterborne. Thomas Bagnall. My four sisters Frances Vassall, Mary West, Rachell Andrews and Elizabeth Church. My brother Samuel Vassall to be sole executor. My seven children, Allen, William, Abraham, Richard, Samuel, Thomas and Joseph at five and twenty. The children of my said brothers Samuel, William and Stephen Vassall and of my said sisters Mary West, Elizabeth Church and Rachell Andrewes. My brother Thomas Vassall. Coventry, 104. Key v Vassall. Plaintiffs: Robert Kay alias Robert Keye, citizen and clothier of London. Defendants: Thomas Vassall and Judith Vassall, widow. 1631. (C 2/ChasI/K17/34). The brothers Samuel and William Vassall were founder members of the Massachusetts bay Company in 1629. Samuel Vassall, alderman, and London M.P in 1640, was a Levant Company merchant, who imported Chesapeake tobacco.

1.1.1.1. Robert Jones, died at Fleet’s Bay, Northumberland County, Virginia. He is recorded in the registers of St. Nicholas Acons in a baptismal entry of October 22, 1618: ‘Robert Jones the sonne of John Jones p’son of this p’ishe’. His brothers are also recorded, an entry of March 26, 1626 recording: ‘Thomas Jons the sone of Mr John Jons Rector and Ano his wife’; other entries being: William Jones (1620), and Richard Jones (1621). The registers of St. Nicholas Acons also contain entries for families associated with the Jones in Virginia, such as the baptism of ‘John Hewes the Soonne of Richard Hewes’ in 1563; and of ‘Thomas Dogget ye soonne of Thom: Dogget’, on July 24, 1609. Mrs. Martha Jones, the wife of Robert Jones, was mentioned as executrix of Robert Hughes, on April 7, 1677. The Va. Historical Mag. gives an abstract of the Will of Daniel Lluellen, of Chelmsford, Essex, planter, dated Feb. 6, 1663, in which his dau. is named as Martha Jones, and James Jauncey is named an executor (Va. Historical Mag., July, p. 53, 1905).

1.1.1.1.1. Captain William Jones,* m. Margaret, dau. of Thomas Haynes. On March 21, 1694, the three brothers Capt. Wm. Jones, Samuel and Robert, united in a suit against Mr. Jno. Eustace for trespassing. Samuel Jones died in October of 1697 without male issue, and a few months after, Capt. Wm. Jones was appointed administrator of his deceased brother, and petitioned the court to appoint as appraisers Hancock Lee, Chas. Lee, Jno. Curtis, Thos. Curtis, and *James Haynes. Robert Jones had married Elizabeth Brereton.
1.2.1.1.1.1.1. Captain Willam Jones, who died in 1741, in Northumberland Co., married Leeanna Lee, dau. of Charles Lee, Sr. and Elizabeth Medstand. Charles Lee was the son of Richard Lee and Anne (Constable?).
1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1. William Jones, of Faquier Co., Virginia. His Will was proved Dec. 22, 1800 (W.B. 3, p.320), naming wife Mary, sons James and William, and daughters Cary, Hannah, Sarah, and Lucretia. William Jones was a tenant of Col. Robert H. Lee, grandson of Richard Lee, brother of Charles and Hancock Lee. He m. Ann Gaskins, relict of Thomas Pinkard. Lease between Col. R. H. Lee of Westmoreland Co and William Jones … for yearly rent of 247 acres … Signed Richard Henry Lee. Rec. May 24, 1764 (Fauquier Co. D.B. 2, pp. 1-33, April 9, 1764).

(Elizabeth, m. (1) Thos. Haynes; (2) John Pinkard, after May 1679. Her son by Thos. Haynes, James, was the father of Martha Haynes, who m. Thomas Gaskins. Their great-granddau. Ann Gaskins, m. (1) Thomas Pinkhard,* (2) Richard Henry Lee. This William Jones is recorded as m. Margaret, dau. of Thomas Haynes. Lancaster Court of 14 Sept. 1681 “The difference depending att this Court between John Pinckard & Elizabeth his wife, Relicte of Mr. Thomas Haynes (deced) & William Jones as marrieing Margaret, Eldest Daughter of the sde Haynes ( deced) is to be referred to the next Court.”
Mrs. Keach, in surmising that Elizabeth was a dau of Robert Jones, seems not to have known of this record. This William Jones, son of Robert Jones of Fleet’s Bay, appears in other records with his wife Margaret, who as a widow refused admin of her husband’s estate, which the court turned over to their son William Jones (he who m. Leeanna Lee). It was he who received the first land grant on Town Run, Elk Run and Deep Run, neighboring land granted to his brother Robert Jones who m. Elizabeth Brereton. His son, William Jones of Fauquier, continued to associate with the Pinckards/Picketts and with his second cousin R. H. Lee’s Gaskins in-laws in Fauquier, as would be expected. It’s only a matter of replacing Mrs. Keach’s guess about Elizabeth’s identity with what’s now known. (B.T. Shannon).

1.1.1.1.2.1. James Haynes, born ca. 1659, d. Jan. 1, 1712, in Lancaster Co. The will of Thomas Haynes was probated on May 24, 1679 in Lancaster Co., which bequested his plantation to his son, James.
1.1.1.1.2.1.1. James Haynes, Will probated May 13, 1748, naming father and mother (Sarah), wife Amy; friends William Dymer and Thomas Pinckhard, guardians of his children; Wit. Thomas Pinckhard. (W.B. 14, p. 194).
1.1.1.1.2.1.2. Margaret Haynes, b. bef. 1665, d. after 1710, in Northumberland Co.
1.1.1.1.2.1.3. Martha Haynes, b. ca. 1670, d. April 18, 1733, in Northumberland Co., m. Thomas Gaskins.
1.1.1.1.2.1.3.1. Thomas Gaskins, m. Mary, dau. of Edwin Conway Esq.
1.1.1.1.2.1.3.1.1. Thomas Gaskins, m. Sarah (dau. of Captain William Eustace and Ann, dau. of Hancock Lee), on Feb. 14, 1741, in Christ Church, Middlesex.
1.1.1.1.2.1.3.1.1.1. Ann Gaskins, m. (1) Thomas Pinkhard,* (2) Richard Henry Lee.
1.1.1.1.2. Elizabeth Jones, m. (2) John Pinkard as his 2nd wife; by his 1st wife he was the father of John Pinkard, Jr. who d. Nov. 13, 1734. Thomas Bonnison, son of Abiah of Lancaster Co., sold 259 ac. to John Pinckard on July 7, 1682, who sold this to James Haynes the next day. (Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants: 1694-1742, p. 18, 1987).
1.1.1.1.2.1. Thomas Pinkard, d. Oct. 10, 1740, in Lancaster Co.
1.1.1.1.2.1.1. Thomas Pinkhard.
1.1.1.1.2.1.1.1. *Thomas Pinkhard, m. Ann Gaskins, who m. (2) Richard Henry Lee.
1.1.1.1.2.1.2. Elizabeth Pinhhard, m. Charles Lee Jr.. son of Charles Lee Sr., br. of Hancock Lee, and son of Col. Richard Lee.

Peter Andrewes of London, merchant, Will proved October 3, 1650. My lands in the parish of Shadwell and Muckinge. Rachell my wife. My daughter Judith Andrewes. My daughter Frances Andrews. Peter Andrews, son of my brother Thomas. My brother Samuel Vassall and his wife. John, Francis, William, Henry, Samuel and Mary Vassall. My brother Thomas Andrewes. My brother Thomas Vassall, sister Church and sister Stillimon. Grace Jarret. Jane Lyne and her children. Margaret Andrews. Retorne Jarret. Edward Pike my servant. Rachell Clerke. Alice Morrison. Ann Knight. The poor of All Hallows the Wall and the poor of St. Mary Acts. Major Thomas Chamberlin, Capt. John Crowder and Mr. John Heather to be overseers and my daughter Judith sole executor. (Elizabeth Church a witness.) The greater part of my estate doth consist in ships, voyages and adventures. Commission issued (at above date) to Rachell Andrews the relict &c. to administer during the minority of Judith the daughter and executrix. Pembroke, 152.

Journal of William Penn, Service in the Irish Fleet, August 16, 1646: At four in the morning, the Lizard bore N.N.E. two leagues off, the wind at E. by N., a fresh gale and clear weather. We cast about to the southward till six of the clock, and then to the northward. We spied a sail, oft Black-head; who having discovered us, clapt close upon a wind, and so bore between us and the Lizard; but cutting him off from bearing about, we spoke with him, got out our pinnace, fetched the master on board, which was one Ladd, in a small fly-boat of eight guns, bound for Guinea, Peter Andrews, of London, merchant. We set the master on board again, and so stood to the southward”.

William Vassall, second son of John of the Armada, was the assistant in our Massachusetts Bay Co. He married, 1613, Anne, daughter of George and Joane King of Cold Norton, Essex, and came here in 1635. (See reg., xvii., 57 et seq.). After a brief residence at Scituate, he departed, and died in Barbadoes in 1655. An only son, John, survived him; married Anna, daughter of John Lewis; was called Colonel; lived in North Carolina, Virginia and Jamaica; and left at least five sons. Samuel Vassall, baptised in Stepney in 1586, alderman of london, was a factor for Abraham Cartwright, draper, a member of the East India and Virginia companies, whose daughter Frances (by Joan Wade) he married. Samuel was a wholesale clothier, who apart from trading in cloth, also imported tobacco, and, along with Mathew Craddock, was a founder of the Massachussets Bay Company. He began a long association, in the late 1620’s, with his br0ther-in-law, Peter Andrews, a ship captain and Virginian merchant, and George Menefie.

CARTWRIGHT
1….. 1.1. Abraham Cartwright. 1.1.1. … m. Samuel Vassall, factor for his father–in-law, Abraham Cartright. 1.2. … Cartwright. 1.2.1. Ralph Cartwright, of London, merchant, Will proved August 17, 1647. Wife Elizabeth. My son in law Mr. Aron Baker and Elizabeth his wife my daughter. The said Mr. Aron Baker alis Cocke. The children of my brother Abraham Cartwright. My grandchild Thomas Baker, son of the said Mr. Baker and Elizabeth his wife. My grandchild Elizabeth Baker. My loving cousins Mr. Samuel Vassall and Mrs. Frances Vassall his wife. My friend Mr. Richard Swinglehurst now secretary to the Hon. English East India Company, and Mrs. Swinglehurst, his now wife, and their daughter Mrs. Ursula Tomblings. Every other of his children. My cousin Isaac Cartwright the son of my deceased uncle Mr. Abraham Cartwright (in remembrance of the love and duty I owed unto him for the fatherly care he had of me). My sister Elizabeth Kent and her two daughters. My sister Frances and the two children she now hath. My sister in law Mrs. Anne Cartwright and her daughter Isabel Cartwright. Raphe Cartwright, one of the sons of my brother Abraham, and Thomas Cartwright, another, and Abraham and Susan Cartwright, the two other children of my said brother. The now wife of my said brother. The poor of Tewksbury in the County of Gloucester. The poor of the parish of St. Andrew Undershaft in London. Abraham Cartwright brother, executor. Ralph Cartwright, John Jeffries and Christopher Willoughby at Bantam to the East India Company in London, 13 Jan 1643, with a postscript on the Blessing out of the Straits of Sundae. Jan. 13-Jan. 25, 1643. (British Library, IOR/E/3/18 ff 160-66). Ralph Cartwright, John Jeffries, and Thomas Winter on the Blessing at Bantam to the East India Company in London March 13-20, 1643. (British Library, IOR/E/3/18 ff 198-201).

JEFFREYS

1. Edward Jeffreys, of Brecknock. 1.1. Ann Jeffreys, m. Morgan Jones (Morgan ap John, d. 1660. P.C.C., Nabbs, 268, p. 69. Jones, Morgan, Wenallt, Llanthetty, Brecon. 9th Jan 1659. Estates of Glyn Collwng in p. Lanvigan, Lanthety, Llangasty Tal Y Llyn, Llanvihangell to Elanor, Anne, Jane, Mary for 9 years to receive profits, after to s.William & £10 a year, residue to s.Charles & £10 a yr. Glyn Collwng to eldest s. John. Francis wife, Manor house, goods, crops, animals & messuages, if she marries goods to s. John. Executor s. John. Witness: Lewis Morgan, William Whitney, Henry Morgan. Proved Sept.6, 1660. Morgan ap John ap Morgan ap Daffyd. 1.2. John Jeffreys, alderman of london b. 1614, d. Nov. 5, 1884, d.s.p., bur, St. Andrew Undershaft, left his estate to nephews, Sir Jeffrey Jeffreys, sheriff of London, and John Jeffreys. John Jeffreys and his nephews were leading merchants in the London/Virginia tobacco trade. 1.3. Watkin Jeffreys.

VASSALL, JEFFREYS, AND LEE

1. Samuel Vassall. 1.1. Francis Vassall. Vassall v Jeffries. Plaintiffs: Francis Vassall. Defendants: John Jeffries. Subject: property in Fleet Street, London. 1667. (C 6/179/70). Jeffreys v Vassall. Plaintiffs: John Jeffreys. Defendants: Francis Vassall. Place or subject: property in St Andrew Undershaft, London. 1682. (C 7/191/80). Vassall v Williamson. Plaintiffs: Francis Vassall. Defendants: Thomas Williamson. Place or subject: personal estate of Henry Vassall, London. 1668. (C 7/494/43). 1.2. Henry Vassall. Petition of Edward Kingswell against Samuel Vassall, merchant of London and his brother-in-law Peter Andrews, master of a ship, for failing the petitioner contrary to an agreement for the establishment of a plantation in Corolana [Carolina]. The Board orders Vassall and Andrews to attend the Lords Commissioners at their next sitting in the Council for Foreign Plantations along with the petitioner who will prosecute his complaint there. Sept 29, 1634. (PC 2/44/261, p. 136).

In March 1659, “Richard Lee of London” purchased property at Stratford Langton, i.e. Langthorne, in the parish of West Ham, in the lower Lea Valley, planning to return to England. His steward, John Gibbon, stated of him: “hee was willing to end his days in England”. Richard Lee’s will was probated in London in January 1665. His executors were Thomas Griffith* and John Lockey, London merchants, and his eldest sons, John and Richard. He requested the early discharge of a debt due John Jeffreys.

by m stanhope, copyright B.T. Shannon, 2025