1. John Meriwether. Will of John Meriwether, Yeoman of Great Cheverell, Wiltshire. October 25, 1583. PROB 11/66/70.
1.1. John Meriwether the elder of Worton in Potterne (Wiltshire), yeoman. 30 miles from Wedmore, Somerset; 30 miles from Bristol, Gloucestershire.
1.1.1. Christopher Meriwether, of Cheverell. PROB 11/283/502. November 22, 1658. Lease from Edward Long of Monkton in the parish of Broughton Gifford (d. 1622) to Christopher Merryweather of Great Cheverell of the capital messuage, farm and lands (described) of the portion of the manor of Hilperton known as Hilperton Zouche. 30 miles from Wedmore. (Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, ref. 947/1489/2. 1615). Will of Christopher Meriwether of Hilperton, Wilts, Gent., July 17, 1658: “To the poor of Hilperton 10 shillings. To my son Christopher 20 shillings. To my son William 20 shillings. To my son Edward 20 shillings”. (Will of Edward Meriwether, Haberdasher of London. PROB 11/357/373. 29 August 1678. Short v Merryweather. Plaintiffs: Peter Short. Defendants: Edward Merryweather and Rees Davies. Subject: money, Middlesex. (N.A., ref. C 8/216/106 1677). “To my son John Meriwether 20 shillings. To my son in law Mr William Adlam 20 shillings, and to his wife Jane 30 shillings”.
1.1.1.1. Christopher Meriwether, m. Jane Bridges, daughter of Thomas Bridges, as follows.
1.1.1.1.1. Mary Merryweather.
1.1.1.1.2. Jane Merryweather.
1.1.1.1.3. John Merryweather.
1.1.1.1.4. Richard Merryweather.
1.1.1.1.5. Martha Merryweather.
1.1.1.2. William Meriwether.
1.1.1.3. Edward Meriwether.
1.1.1.4. Jane Meriwether.
1.1.1.5. Bathsheba Meriwether.
1.1.1.6. John Meriwether, the younger of Worton in Potterne (Wiltshire) to Elianor the daughter of Elizabeth Adlam of Crockerton in Deverell Longbridge (Wiltshire), May 31, 1643, sister of William Adlam of Crockerton, clothier.
1.1.1.6.1. John Merewether married Mary Bridges, daughter of Thomas Bridges,  March 25, 1680. Thomas Bridges of Lye under Mandippe (Somerset), gentleman, Mary Bridges his oldest daughter, Thomas Hodges the younger of High Littleton (Somerset), gentleman*; James Tucker of Dowlting (Somerset), gentleman, Cavendish Wooden of Grays Inn (Middlesex), gentleman). Elizabeth, Eleanor, Barthsheba and Mary are sisters of John Merewether. Will of Thomas Bridges, Gentleman of Leigh on Mendip, Somerset. PROB 11/153/550. May 16, 1628. His grandson: Will of Thomas Bridges, Gentleman of Leigh on Mendip, Somerset. PROB 11/489/372.  August 9, 1706. He was buried under the north aisle of St Giles’ church in 1706 aged 72 years: “To my sons in law Richard Franklyn, Christopher Merewether, Thomas Anthony, John Langhorne and their heirs. My manors of Leigh and Coleford to be conveyed to my son Isaac Bridges”, who had his Will proved by his brother, Thomas, in 1670. His Will left bequests to Thomas’s eldest daughter, Mary and to her sisters, Jane and Rebecca; to his mother Jane Bridges and his brother Thomas who was his executor. 1680: Sale of land by Bridges to Horner. Jane Bridges, mother of Thomas and Isaac, left a Will in 1693 naming her grandchildren. Martha Whatley, Sarah, Barbara; Mary & Jane Merewether; Rebecca Anthony; and John, Richard and Martha Merewether.

The Horner family came to Mells from Cloford and Leigh on Mendip. They are recorded as being “of Cloford” at the death of Thomas Horner in 1540. Thomas Horner’s estate went to his brother John, it passing to John, his heir, whose brother, George lived at Leigh on Mendip. The Horner family intermarried with that of Symes.

The ancestry of “Thomas Hodges the younger of High Littleton (Somerset), gentleman” can be viewed through the dispersal of the Rodney estate, a tenant being Thomas Millard, als Hodges. The Millard family intermarried with that of Harris: John Harris, d. 1625, m. Penelope Millard,  on September 9, 1611, in Wedmore; parents of Robert Harris, father of Edward Harris, bapt. 8 Aug. 1624, in Wedmore, “son of Robert”. Robert may have been noted on Lawne’s Creek; 26 October 1646: “James Tooke to Robert Harris, all my right and title to this lease”. John Harris was the br. of Thomas Harris, whose son was Thomas Harris, bapt. 31 Dec. 1637, Cheddar, ‘son of Thomas’. The cousins, Edward and Thomas Harris were nephews of John Harris, who m. Agnes Coomer, and, as such, were kin of the Counsell family of Wedmore, from whece almost certainly arose Hodged Council of Virginia.

1. Thomas Hodges, of Wedmore d. 1583, m. Agatha Rodney, aunt of Dorothy Rodney, as follows.
1.1. George Hodges.
1.1.1. Thomas Hodges, Esq., d. 1649, PROB 11/97/80. “Thomas Hodges, esq., & Mrs. Dulsabell Symes 26 December 1627“. Dulsabell’s sister-in-law, Katherine, m. William Drew Esq., August 9, 1628. The Symes were landlords of the Fulgham and Tooke families.
1.1.2. George Hodges, Esq., d. February 1, 1654, m. Ann Horler.
1.2. Thomas Hodges, Gentleman of Wedmore, Somerset, PROB 11/97/80, February 6, 1601.
1.2.1. Thomas Hodges. The Rodney estate was conveyed, in part, by Rees Davies (who married ist, Dorothy, daughter of Maurice Rodney, Esq.) to John Hippesley, on March 25, 1607, witnessed by Thomas Hodges.
1.2.1.1. Thomas Hodges, bapt. June 21, 1612, at High Littleton.
1.2.1.1.1. Thomas Hodges, may have married a daughter of Thomas Bridges, thus being a brother-in-law of John Meriwether.

1. John Cownsell, bapt. 1573, in Wedmore.
1.1. John Cownsell, bapt 28 Nov. 1601, ‘f. Joannis Counsell’, m. Mary Coomer, 26 Nov 1631; the sister of Agnes Coomer, who m. John Harris in the adj. parish of Cheddar, on February 4, 1635.
1.2. Richard Cownsell, bapt. 3 Sept. 1613 (Blackford vill. par. Wedmore), m. (1) Joan Taylor, 12 Aug. 1640, (2) Elizabeth Hix, 12 Aug. 1647, dau. of William Hix and Grace Morton, m. 23 Jan. 1625, and niece of Margaret Hix, who m. Simon Day, 14 Jan. 1632. Lease: Margery Hodges of Heathhouse, Wedmore, widow, to Richard Counsell of Wedmore, husbandman and Joan his wife. (Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre. ref. 2667/1/36/2. 1648). Sale: 15a. land occ. by Thos. Brooke, 2a. land occ. by Hy. Symes, mess. and ten. and 40a. land occ. by Rich. Council, all in Wedmore, sold by co-heirs of Geo. Hodges to Wm. Prowse of Compton Bishop. (Somerset Heritage Centre, ref. DD\FD/10).
1.2.1. Hodges Council, the very likely son of Richard Council, by either his first or second wife. Richard Counsell was the br.-in-law of Susan Lancaster, and Hodges Counsell may have received his Christian name after her husband, William Hodges, a member of the very influential Hodges family, squires of Wedmore, who was probably his Godfather.

Rees Davies was the son of “Lewis Davies, Alderman”, of Carmarthen, diocese of St Davids, whose Will was made in 1601 (National Library of Wales, ref. SD/1614/16). Rees Davies was the brother of “William Davies gent of Carmarthen” (see Visitation of Somerset, and STAC 8/120/11, November 1606). Rees Davies married (3) Mary Pitt, sister of William Pitt, and widow of Robert Owen of Bristol, merchant. Robert Owen was Robert ap Owen, evidenced in this court case: Rogers v Owen. Plaintiffs: Edward Rogers. Defendants: Robert ap Owen. Subject: property in Abergwili, Carmarthenshire. (N.A., ref. C 3/248/20, 1591-1596). His brothers, George and Griffith, are noted in Abergwili parish records of April 8, 1616.

John Upton’s headright was Christopher Lewis, associated with Luke Mizell and Bartholomew Owen. On July 10, 1643, John Upton held 3289 ac. upon the branches of Pagan Point Creek and New Town Haven adj. Mr. Sparkes, Anthony Jones, Mr. Nevill, Robert Pitt, Mr. Seward, Ambrose Bennett, and Mr. Moone. Robert Pitt was Captain of the Thunder, a merchant ship out of Bristol and a Colonel in the Virginia Militia. His son, John Pitt, married Olive, dau. of John Hardy and Alice Bennett. She married 1. Giles Driver, headright of Thomas Harris, d. 1672. Alice Newman, the second wife of Thomas Harris, was a headright of Ambrose Bennett, in IOW (1641). Ambrose Bennett had in turn been brought over by Richard Bennett in 1635, probably a relative of the Governor’s. Thomas Harris, d. 1672, was almost certainly the cousin of Richard Bennett, whose first wife was Anne, who was Charles Barham’s sister (see Douglas Richardson, ‘Plantagenet Ancestry’).

John Seward Sr., merchant of Bristol, held land on the Blackwater, adj. to which Thomas Harris, who died in 1688, settled: 27 April 1686, Matthew Tomlin 1227 acres, lower par. Isle of Wight co. on borders of Blackwater, 781 acres being part of 1200 acres granted to Mr. John Seward 16 April 1648l 448 acres being waste adj.; beg. at a br. dividing land of John Turner and his daughter Marie’s, by William Westray, adj. Mary Turner, and Thomas Harris, to the bottom of Pig Neck; transp. of 9 persons. (B 7, p. 510). His sons were (1) James Seward. Deed of James Seward, of Bristol, to idem. Power of Joan Gould, of Bristol, widow and admx. of Thomas Gould, to William Bressie of Va., 2 Dec. 1672. Land belonging to Capt. John Upton mentioned as escheated for want of legal heirs. Joan Gould of Bristol, widow and admrs. of Thomas Gould appts. Wm. Bressie her atty. to collect debts due her. 9 June, 1670. (2) John Seaward, neighbour of Robert Pitt, as given, April 1, 1665, 1500 acres Upon a branch of the lower bay called Seaward Creek, 1300 acs. part thereof formerly granted to his father, April 1st, 1641. His son was William Seward, whose son, John Seward, predeceased his father, dying without a Will in 1699. His estate was returned December 21, 1699 by Mary Seward, p. 188. Her Securities were Wm. Newsum and Mrs. Elizabeth Ruffin, widow of the Geo. Watkins. Wm. Seward (son of John) to Nicholas Meriweather, James City Island in Virginia, 300 acres in Surry Co., May 3, 1666, p. 270. Bartholomew Owen granted a power of attorney to Nicholas Meriweather on Oct. 8, 1677.

Mary Seward, next married William Gray, Will probated June 16, 1736. Witnesses: Timothy Thorpe, Sampson Wilson, Nath’l Gibbs. John Seward Sr’s dau., Margaret (Seward) Edwards, m. John Edwards, 28 January 1633, Temple church, Bristol. Alice Edwards, was a headright of John Seward in 1648 (IOW). The Will of Mary Pitt “of the parish of St. Thomas within the city of Bristol, widow”, mother of Robert Pitt, aformentioned, proved November 25, 1634, bequested to her grandchild, the said “John Edwards a silver beer bowl”. (His br., William Edwards, also received a bequest). March 2, 1661: Thomas Alcocke acknowledged receipt of 2,000 lbs of tobacco from Luke Mizell, due by a bill to Wm. Edwards in 1660, who assigned the note to Alcocke, which is “claime to bee lost otherwise the sd. Mizell should have it delivered in” (B. 1, p. 184). William Seward’s grandson, William Seward, whose Will was probated on March 16, 1702, gifted his son, James Seward, land from White Marsh Swamp to Robert Barham’s woods; a witness being William Gray, the son of Thomas Gray Sr., the brother of John Gray, d. 1683, who was ordered to pay William Tooke 500 lbs of tobacco according to the will of William Ridley: Mr. Charles Barham Ex., Thomas Harris (d. 1672) and Thomas Tuke overseers, were officers of the will of William Ridley, who was the br. of Elizabeth Ridley, Charles Barham’s wife. Robert Barham was the son of Charles Barham. Thomas Gray Sr. is known as an adversary of Bartholomew Owen.

1. Owen ap … (may have married Gwenlliane Owen, Widow Will. Inventory. Bond. Diocese: St David’s Parish: Llangyndeyrn, Carmarthenshire. (SD/1595/42. 1595). Llangyndeyrn is 6 miles from Abergwili.
1.1. Robert ap Owen (Robert Owen), of Abergwili, and “of the city of Bristol, merchant, now bound on a voyage into the parts beyond the seas”, his Will proved February 16, 1615. He married Mary Pitt, sister of William Pitt, as follows. Rees Davies m., thirdly, Mary Pitt, widow of Robert Owen. His first wife was Dorothy, da. of Maurice Rodney, Esq., and sister of Sir George Rodney; thus, his family were of familial association with the Hodges of Wedmore; whose tenants were the Counsell family (see N.A., ref. C 1/1126/37), from which stock almost certainly came Hodges Council of Virginia, guardian of an orphan of Thomas Harris, d. 1688.
1.1.1. Robert Owen, named in his father’s Will, probably the first-cousin of Robert Pitt, as follows.
1.1.1.1. Bartholomew Owen, I conjecture, but, if considered through the prism of the continuation of associations, the immutable principle on which kinship networks were maintained at this time, such is most likely to be fact.
1.1.2. Mary Owen, m. Richard Davis, Esq, of Tickenham, bapt. November 8, 1587 (nephew of Rees Davis), and granfather of John Davis, bapt. April 17, 1637 (to whom the estate of Edward Harris, d. 1677, owed money); father of Sarah Davis, d. January 6, 1720, who m. Nicholas Fulgham, of a Somerset family intermarried with that of Thomas Harris, d. 1688.
1.2. Mary Owen, m. William Pitt, aforesaid.
1.2.1. Robert Pitt, Captain of the Thunder, a merchant ship out of Bristol, a neighbour of John Upton, whose headright was Christopher Lewis, Godfather of Bartholomew Owen’s daughter.

1. Lewis Davis, of Carmarthenshire.
1.1. Rees Davis, Esquire, of Tickenham, Somerset.
1.2. William Davies, of Carmarthenshire.
1.2.1. Richard Davis, Esq, of Tickenham, bapt. November 8, 1587, m. Mary Owen, da. of Robert Owen, of Bristol and Carmarthanshire.
1.2.1.1. Robert Davis (involved in various litigations concerning the Owen estate).
1.2.1.1.1. John Davis, bapt. April 17, 1637; d. bef. June 28, 1714, m. Mary Green. The Will of John Davis of the Upper Parish, dated Dec. 31, 1712, names da. Mary the wife of William Murray, brother William Green, friends Nathaniel Ridley (associated with Thomas Harris, d. 1672), and James Day to make the division of my estate. Thomas Harris (d. 1672) 40 acres, 14 Aug. 1652. At the head of one of the branches of the Pagan Cr., bounded with his own land on N.E. Fran. Smith on S.W., Thomas Prichard on S.E. and John Davis on N.W. for trans. Peter Bell. The estate of Edward Harris, d. 1677, owed money to John Davies.
1.3.1.1.1.1. Sarah Davis, d. January 6, 1720, m. Nicholas Fulgham, son of Anthony Fulgham and Martha Green.
1.3.1.1.1.1.1. Nicholas Fulgham, m. Martha Pitt. The Fulghams, tenants of the Symes family in Somerset, intermarried with the family of Thomas Harris, d. 1688, who occupied land adjacent that held by John Seward, merchant of Bristol and Somerset, on April 16, 1648. (B. 7, p. 150).

1.1.6.1. John Merewether of Bristol, merchant, only son of John Merewether, late of Wharton in Potterne (Wiltshire), gentleman, deceased, by Mary his wife, heretofore Mary Bridges; Christopher Merewether of London, haberdasher. 24 April 24, 1704.
1.1.1.7. Geoffrey Meriwether. Symes v Merewether. Plaintiffs: Richard Symes. Defendants: Geoffrey Merewether. Subject: money matters, Wiltshire. (N.A., ref. C 5/20/100. 1654). Certificate of residence showing Richard Symes (or the variant surname: Simes) to be liable for taxation in Somerset, and not in the hundred of Heytesbury, etc, Wiltshire, the previous area of tax liability.
1.1.2. Francis Meriwether. Letters patent: licence of alienation from George Worthe, gent., and Isabella his daughter, tenants in chief to Francis Meriwether. Manor of Bulkington and specified lands in Bulkington, Keevil and Littleton. (Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, ref. 12/4. 1624). Francis Merewether of Worton in Potterne (Wiltshire), gentleman; Christopher Merewether of Market Lavington (Wiltshire), gentleman; discharge of trust to John Merewether their brother. PROB 11/333/231 Will of France Merewether or Meriwether, Gentleman of Bishops Lavington, Wiltshire. PROB 11/333/231. June 25, 1670.
1.1.2.1. Francis Meriwether, of Bulkington in Keevil, Wilts, gent. PROB 4/10841. October 24, 1689.
1.1.2.1.1. Francis Meriwether. Settlement before the marriage of Francis Merewether of Devizes and Hannah Leigh of London, concerning the Manor of Bulkington, Worths or Bulkington Farm and Week Farm. (Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, ref. 2106/90. 1697).
1.1.3. Peter Meriwether, of Hilperton, gentleman,
1.1.4. Richard Meriwether.
1.1.4.1. Richard Meriwether. Ravenscroft v Merewether. Plaintiffs: Samuel Ravenscroft. Defendants: John Merryweather, Richard Merryweather and Mary Merryweather his wife. Subject: property in Moreton in the Marsh, Gloucestershire and Blockley, Worcestershire. (N.A., ref. C 8/84/21. 1639).
1.1.5. Peter Meriwether of Hilperton, gentleman.

These Meriwethers were of the gentry, and well educated, any one of which would have been more than capable of being clerk of the Quarter Court and Governor’s Council for the Colony in Jamestown.

They were children of the Bristol Estuary.

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