Peering into the dark of some early Virginia genealogies is like attempting to define shapes by the light of a small candle. We might think we see something, but are only imagining what we expect to see, which in most cases is what desire to see. It is not all hopeless, however, as English colonists of Virginia lived within standard parimeters: the ‘middling’ class of small property owners married into the same class, and mostly within the same kinship group. Marriages were arranged that brought about perceived advantages to both families, the economic consequences of a wrong choice being potentially devastating. Thus, a glimpse captured within these confines is worth persuing.

In other posts, the familial association between the family of Richard Cocke of Bremo and the descendants of John Harris of Cruckton as been given, a brief precis being:

1. John Harris of Cruckton, Pontesbury (bur. Apr. 12, 1614), burgess of Shrewsbury, m. Eleanor Prowde, da. of Thomas Prowde, of Sutton, Shropshire.
1.1. Rowland Harris, m. Jane Langford, 14 Sept. 1595, at St Lawrence, Ludlow. After his death, in 1605, she m. Edward Lewis of Sutton Magna, Shropshire, who had firstly married a daughter of Thomas Blashfield, of him, more anon. By his second wife, Edward Lewis was the father of William Lewis, who married (21 Aug. 1634) Anne Lutley, of Burwarton, Shropshire, daughter of Robert Lutley and Mary Holland, daughter of Francis Holland, b. 1544, in Burwarton, brother of Thomas Holland, who married Alicia, ‘fil. Thomas Cocke of Pickthorne’, the aunt of Richard Cocke of Bremo. Thomas Holland and Alice Cocke had issue, Alice Holland, who m., in 1632, Thomas Harris, Esq., of Prescot, first-cousin of:
1.1.1. Thomas Harris, baptised September 4, 1603, in St. Lawrence, Ludlow.
1.1.1.1. Thomas Harris, recorded in this baptismal record: ‘1627 July 24. Thomas, s. Thomas Harris & Alice’.
1.1.2. John Harris, recorded thus: ‘1604. Mar. 5. John, s. Rowland Harris bapt.’. He married Margaret Baugh, second-cousin of Henry Baugh of Aldencourte, born 14 Sept. 1578, who m. Alice Holland (died 1662), another daughter of the said Francis Holland of Burwarton.
1.1.2.1. Mary Harris, recorded in this baptismal record: ‘Apr. 3. 1625. Mary, d. John Harris & Margaret’. In 1689, Mary (Harris) Ligon gave a deposition stating her age to be 64.
1.1.2.2. William Harris, recorded thus: ‘January 13, 1627, William s. of John Harris and Margaret’. That is, January 1627/8, a date commonly given as the year of birth of Major William Harris. This William Harris does not appear in the burial notices of 1643-1668.
1.2. Arthur Harris, m. Jane Newton, of Prescot, Shropshire.
1.2.1. Thomas Harris, Esq., of Prescot, m. (1632), Alice Holland, as given.
1.3. Richard Harris, died 1631, married Anna Smallman, died 1650, daughter of Thomas Smallman of Wilderhope.
1.3.1. Mary Harris, Lady Dormer. She married (in 1673, as his second wife), Fleetwood Dormer, of Arle Court, who died aged 81, on 27 August 1696. He was the son of Sir Fleetwood Dormer and Mary Isham, the aunt of Henry Isham, who resided at Bermuda Hundred, Henrico Co., who married Katherine Banks, relict of Joseph Royal; their issue being: 1. Henry Isham (died 1678), 2. Anne Isham, who married Col. Francis Eppes, 3. Mary Isham, who married Col. William Randolph, named as a ‘friend’ in the Will of Major William Harris, as was a 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, born 1625.

Is a genuine connection between these Harris and the family of Richard Cocke suggested?, and, if so, can there be a good reason for ignoring it?

John Price would have been well known to both the Cocke family of Pickthorne, and to their kin, the Harris family of St Lawrence, Ludlow; he being baptised in the same parish: ‘1584, Nov. 10. John, s. William Preece’: Muster of the inhabitants of the Corporation of Charles Citee, Feb. 24, 1624. Muster of John Price: John aged 40, ship Starr in May, 1620. John Price m. 1. Elizabeth Matthews: ‘1613 May 30. John Prees & Elizabeth Matthews, widow’; 2. Anne …, who m. 2. Robert Hallom. Members of the Price and Harris families went to Ludlow Grammar School, recorded in 1489, and which was supported by the Langfordian Scholarships from 1607.

Does the following Richard Pew fit within this circle? Indemnity bond*: Richard Pew, husb., Rowland Rea, yeo., and John Matthews. Shropshire Archives, concerning the borough of Bridgnorth, ref.XBB/G/1/1/7. June 1635. In that year, Richard Pew was transported to Virginia by Willaim Reynolds: ‘William Reynolds, 200 acres in the county of Charles River, beginning at Willson’s Point, and running into the woods southwest, abutting on Hatefield’s creek, and northwest on Queen’s creek. Due for the transportation of four persons: Morris Jones, Richard Pew, John Butterum and Anne Banks. Granted by Harvey, August 15, 1637′(W. G. Stanard, 556). *To raise money for emigration to Virginia?

Did Richard Pew marry a (Matthews) relative of John Price?

Was Richard Pew connected to this William Reynolds? Grant: 1. Thomas Blashfield and Richard Baker, Bailiffs of the Corporation of Ludlow. 2. William Reynolds, Ludlow, Cordwainer. 1-2 ‘All that messuage or tenement and garden …in … Narrow Lane …together with one other little garden adjoining to…Barnaby’s Wall…& also one other messuage or tenement and garden …in Merivale …’ (Shropshire Archives, ref. XLB/4/1/354. 30 Nov 1622). This Thomas Blashfield (Jr.) was the brother of Ann Blashfield, first wife of Edward Lewis, who married, secondly, as given, Jane Langford, relict of Rowland Harris.

Was Richard Pew connected to John Price? The sons of John Price, Daniel and John, sold 150 acres in 1677, land which was originally patented to the first John Price in 1619. Their uncle Matthew patented land on 23 May 1638; land that was on Turkey Island Creek, bounded by Bremo and the lands granted to his late father John Price, and in possession of his mother Ann Hallom, widow. This land was due Mathew in right of his father. A Deed in Henrico Co dated 18 Oct 1681 from Benjamin Hatcher to John Pleasants stated that he was selling a tract of land that had belonged to his father William Hatcher, which William Hatcher had purchased of Daniel & John Price in 1677. This land was known and called by the name of Turkey Island Pointe. A later deed made in Henrico Co in 1691 between John Gundry, son of John Gundry & Ann his wife who was a daughter of Robert Hallum and Ann Price Hallom, reveals Gundry was selling a tract which bounded on Turkey Island Creek, and with the land of John Pleasants, formerly belonging to John Price.

John and Jane (Pew) Price gave a gift of a horse to their daughter Mary on 2 Feb 1690. John Price left bequests to daughter Mary Cannon, son John Price, son Daniel Price, son Pew Price, daughter Eliza. Price. Wife Jane Price to be executrix Signed: 15 Dec 1710. Witnesses: Theoderick Carter, John Atkins, Joseph Pleasants. (Will of John Price: Henrico Records, 1710-1714, p. 79-80. Proved June Court 1711).

On 31 July 1688, Henry Pew deeded land to his daughter Jane. This deed was not recorded, but, on 7 Dec. 1713, Hugh Ligon and Jane, his wife, “relict of John Price, late of Henrico County, planter,” gave with love to John [Jr], eldest son of John and Jane one half of a tract where Henry Pew, father of Jane, formerly lived. Jane Price was the sister of Elizabeth Childers. Hugh Ligon was the son of Thomas Ligon and Mary Harris (born 1625).

On 10 February 1680, Abraham Childers II, son and heir of Abraham Childers, sold to John Pleasants a tract of 548 acres of land on the banks of Four Mile Creek. Abraham Childers II was married to Anne Pew, daughter of Henry and Jane (Womack) Pew. As stated, Anne’s sister, Jane, married John Price and Hugh Ligon. After Abraham died, Anne married Mr. Adkins. Abraham & Ann had issue: Abraham who married (1) Elizabeth Cannon, (2) Lucy Thomas; Henry Childers, who married Lucretia Jones; Philemon Childers, who married Elizabeth Evans, daughter of Griffin Evans of Henrico County.

(The association between the Womack and Childers families seems to stem from the vicinity of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, evidenced here: Childers v Mounteney. Plaintiffs: Hugh Childers* (a banker, of Cantley, Doncaster), mayor of Doncaster and the aldermen and burgesses of Doncaster. Defendants: Thomas Mounteney esq of Wheatley (Doncaster), JP, John Goddar, William Fixbie, Dorothy Fixbie his wife, Thomas Rawson, and others. Subject: Assaults on inhabitants of Doncaster taking turf from Doncaster moor. Yorkshire. STAC 8/111/8. 1612. *His grandson, Leonard Childers, Esq., bred at this place the fleetest racehorse ever known in England, the renowned bay, Flying Childers. (See footnote).

Indenture: Settlement (Charity). (1) Thos. Wormeley of Cusworth (Doncaster), Yorks., gent. (2) Edmund Yerburgh of Balnehall, Thos.Vincent of Warmsworth (Doncaster) & Heny.Lee of Dunscroft, esq., Thos.Bassville of Warmsworth, gent., Nich.Yerburgh, s. & h. of E.Y., John Vincent, s. & h. of T.V., Richd. Winter of Sprotboro’ (Doncaster), clerk, John Drape of Stainforth (Doncaster) gent., John West, snr. & jnr., John Cooke, Robt. Beaumont, & Thos. Bargh of Hatefield (nr. Doncaster), Wm. Woodcocke, Chas. Womacke* of Hatefield Woodhouse, yeos. feoffees in trust. (1) to (2) messuages or farms in Kirkhouse Green, Bramwith & Mosse, als. Mosseley, Campsall etc. DD/N/196/10. 1627.

*He was probably: ‘Charles Womack and Susan Mawe, of Hatfield — at Hatfield'(Paver’s Marriage Licenses for the year 1625). He may have been the Charles Womack, who, with his son, William, came to Virginia about 1630, and settled in Henrico County. Both father and son owned land on the James River and very likely became tobacco planters. The Womacks were Quakers and members of the first Quaker Meeting in the Colony of Virginia.

Womack v Fayram. Plaintiffs: Thomas Womack. Defendants: John Fayram. Subject: property in Doncaster, Yorkshire. C 3/468/98. 1647.

The said Hugh Childers was the father of Francis Childers (Dedimus Potestatem: Thomas Lee, et al., oath of Francis, son and heir of Hugh Childers, C 202/15/3), a leasor and backer of Sir John Lister: ‘John Lister, knight, and Francis Childers, gentleman, plaintiffs, v. Richard Marriott, gentleman, and Barbara, his wife, John Chester, William Chester and Anne, his wife, deforciants. 18 acres of land, etc. in Bawtrey and Cantley (Doncaster). CM/1783. 27 May 1634. ‘Lister was the son of John Lister, a lead merchant of Hull who was mayor and MP for the town. By far the wealthiest merchant in Hull, Lister’s business had a turnover in excess of £10,000 in 1623. From 1633, he leased the manor of Bawtry, where most of the Derbyshire lead in which he dealt was traded and loaded on to barges for shipment to Hull. His initial concern in 1621 was the delivery of the town’s election indenture, in which he was partnered with Maurice Abbot, then abroad on a trade mission to the Netherlands. The corporation was worried about electing an absentee, but Archbishop Abbot, high steward of Hull, who had nominated his brother Maurice, advised Lister to file the return, assuring him that Maurice would arrive ‘in good time’. Lister also suggested that Sir Dudley Digges*, Abbot’s companion on the mission, was likely to be able to avert censure as ‘an ancient and well respected Parliament man’. (Hist Parl. Trust). *He married Mary Kempe, daughter and co-heir of Sir Thomas Kempe of Olantigh, Kent. Digges’s son Edward was among the “planters,” who emigrated in the 1640s and became Governor of Virginia.

It is likely that the Virginia families of Womack and Childers were of the aforementioned stock, and sponsored by merchant venturer associates, with a pertinent line of enquiry being the true origins of Phillip Childers:

‘Richard Womack, 15 Mar 1672, Land Patent 460 acres in Henrico Co.: To all st: Whereas st: Now know yee that I ye sd Sir Will Berkeley knt. st: give and graunt unto Richard Womack foure hundred and fivety acres three rood eight po: of land on ye North side of Appomatock River in Henrico Cout extending as ffolloweth … 60 po: to Mr. Baugh his line … No: No: We: 15 po: to Major Harris his cornor’. James Akin and Richard Womack, 16 May 1673, Land Patent 335 acres in Henrico Co. ‘To all &c whereas &c now know yee that I ye sd Sr Wm Berkeley Knt &c give & grant unto James Akin & Richd. Womack 335 acres of land in Henrico Coty. on ye north side of Appamattock River beginning at a wt. oake being a corner … 250 acres of ye sd land being formerly granted to ye sd James Akin by Patt. dated 20th of Octobr 1665 the remainder being 85 acres due to ye sd James Akin, & Richd. Womack by & for ye transortacon of 2 psons into this Collonny to have & to hold &c to be held &c yielding &c provided & Dated this 26th of May 1673’. One transportee was Phillip Childers.

The Childers family of Doncaster were of several branches: Bargain and sale by William Childers (son and heir of William Childers late of Doncaster, co. York, gentleman, deceased, to Ralph Rowbothom, clerk, and Richard Rowbothom, yeoman, both of Messingham, of land in Messingham’. 14 & 15 Chas 1. (See footnote).

Was there a connection between Richard Pew and John Price?

There can not be an answer. The candle of enquiry is too small, and the darkness into which we peer is too deep.

Yet, the possibility that he may have been falls clearly within the perimeters of class and kinship association of particular families of Shropshire, those of Cocke, Harris, and Price, et al.

Once early settlers of Virginia have been correctly accounted for, those associated with them are easily found, and the need for strained and fanciful narratives is dispensed with; yet not by those who claim descendency (usually falsely) from an ‘ancient planter’, their genealogical badge of one-upmanship.
copyright m stanhope 2016

‘Flying Childers is considered the first truly great racehorse in the history of the Thoroughbred. In this, he followed his maternal grandsire (Old) Careless, who was said to be the best racehorse since his own sire, Spanker, who raced during the time of Charles II.

Flying Childers was bred by Colonel Leonard Childers of Cantley Hall, Doncaster in Yorkshire, sired by Richard Darley’s Arabian, imported from Aleppo, Syria around 1704. Darley kept his bay Arabian primarily as a private stallion at Aldby Park in Yorkshire but accepted a few outside mares, including Childer’s mare Betty Leedes.

In 1714 Betty Leedes gave birth to a bright bay colt, even flashier than his blazed-faced sire, with a blaze and four white stockings. He matured to about 15.2 hands, which was upstanding for his time, although about the same size as his own sire. Carrying the name of his breeder, “Childers” was sold to the Duke of Devonshire, for whom he raced and alternately became known as Devonshire Childers or Flying Childers.

Flying Childers came to the races at the age of six, competing in three races, winning all of them. The first was on April 26, 1721, a race at Newmarket in which he defeated Speedwell. The second, also at Newmarket was in October. He scared off all comers and won in a walk over. In the third, he defeated the older horse Almanzor, also by the Darley Arabian, and a mare, Brown Betty, in a three-horse match.

The following year, Flying Childers started only once, winning a race at Newmarket on October 22, defeating Chaunter. In a more notable effort that year, he defeated the celebrated runner Fox in a trial at York by a quarter mile. In 1723, as an eight-year-old, he made his final two starts, walking over for an event at the April Newmarket meeting, and walking over again in November for a match with a horse named Bobsey, which paid a forfeit.

The Duke of Devonshire was given many a lucrative offer for the horse, including one reputedly of the horse’s weight in gold crowns, which was refused. He retired unbeaten and untested. Flying Childers stood at Devonshire’s famous stud at the great estate of Chatsworth, in Derbyshire, and was used there as a private stallion. He died at Chatsworth at age 26 in 1741.

Flying Childers was a successful sire. His best included Plaistow, Blacklegs, Second, Snip, Commoner, Blaze, Spanking Roger, Roundhead, Fleec’em, and Steady. Both Blacklegs and Blaze were leading sires, and in fact, Blaze’s male line survives to this day, although through non-Thoroughbred descendants Messenger (in Standardbreds) and Shales (in Hackneys). Blaze is also the dam’s sire of the great foundation sire Herod. Snip was the sire of the important sire Snap, one of the great early broodmare sires’ (Thoroughbred Heritage).

Hugh Childers of East Retford, Co. Notts., m. Maude. d. 14 Aug. 1571, b. in Church of East Retford. Had issue:
1. Hugh Childers, of Doncaster, d. 23 Jan. 1631. (Had issue: Francis Childers).
2. William Childers, m. Ann Webster, d. 8 Feb. 1646. (Had issue: William Childers, probably the ancestor of the Childers family of Virginia).
3. Elizabeth Childers.
4. Jane Childers.
5. Dorothy Childers.