The earliest mention of someone named Proctor connected to the Taunton area of Somerset concerns a John Proctor, who was obviously a person of some eminence:

Tripartite Indenture. (1) Thomas Oueray, clerk, Precentor of Cathedral Church of Wells, Richard Warre esq, John Porter, John Portman, William Godde, clerk … et al. (2) John Bysshopp, William Payne, vicar of parish church of Pytmystre … et al. John Bysshopp lately founded a chantry in honour of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and the Apostles Peter and Paul, James, Andrew and Thomas, and SS. Giles and Botolph, confessors, and SS. Mary Magdalen, Katherine and Margaret, at the altar of St. Nicholas, Bishop, Taunton, in memory of William Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester, John Bysshopp, John Proctor, and the feoffees, and for the souls of Henry, Cardinal, late Bishop of Winchester … et al. October 9, 1476. (E 328/180).

Although it is possible to speculate as to his immediate descendants, the first recorded Proctor of the same area is probably this William:

1. William Proctor, b. ca. 1585, in Wilton (1 and a half miles from Taunton; 1 mile from Pitminster).
1.1. George Proctor, b. ca. 1610, m. (1) Edith .. In 1672, he witnessed a deed of Richard Harris, which granted land, in the lower par. of Surry Co., to his son-in-law, Walter Taylor, which he and Richard Drew had formerly patented, p. 25. In 1673, he witnessed a land transaction between Arthur Jordan and Thomas Swann, with Nathaniel Knight. ditto. The Will of Nathaniel Knight, “Chirugeon”, named his Goddaughter, Mary Proctor, dau. of “Mr. George Proctor”; Godsons Nathaniel Phillips and Samuel Briggs, son to Henry Briggs; John Allen; sister, Abigail Brooks, in England; his father, Samuel Knight, in “Stroodwater”,* Gloucestershire, England. Feb. 18, 1677, Surry Co. (Davis, pp. 86-87).

The *Stroud to Taunton road, along the bank of the Bristol Estuary, passes equidistantly (30 miles) through Bristol, and would have been a major trade route used by merchants. A familial relationship between Nathaniel knight and the wife of William Owen, as follows, may reasonably be assumed.

1.1.1. George Proctor, bapt. April 14, 1634, Pitminster; 10 miles from Wiveliscombe; 25 miles from Wedmore, where Thomas Pittman* was baptised.
1.1.1.1. Joshua Proctor, b. ca. 1658, m. Katherine Owen, dau. of Bartholomew Owen.

(1. …
1.1. Thomas Brooke/s. Rodney v Claxton. Sir Edward Rodney, Francis Trenchard and Rice Davies. Defendants: William Claxton, Thomas Brooke, John Lytheat and Sybil Reeve. Subject: tenements in Draycott and Wedmore, parcel of the manor of Rodney Stoke, Somerset. 1603-1625. (C 2/JasI/R14/18).
1.2. John Brooke, m. Edith Vowles, Nov. 28, 1583, in Wedmore.
1.2.1. Joan Brooke, m. William Pittman, Aug. 5, 1611, in Wedmore.
1.2.1.1. *Thomas Pittman, bapt. Dec. 24, 1613, in Wedmore. Probably he who deposed to be 63 Years of age on March 5, 1677, in Surry Co. He m. “Lidie” Gray; a da. of Thomas Gray Sr., the relict of Samuel Judkins. Thomas Pittman had first m. the relict of Thomas Atkinson, the father of John Atkinson, who m. Ann Holliman. Their da. Hanna Atkinson m. Reuben Cooke, who d. bef. August 1, 1751 in IOW Co., grandson of William Cooke, born March 27, 1613, in Bristol, d. bef. Nov. 10, 1679 in Surry Co. “Lidie” Gray was Thomas Pittman’s third wife; he had m. (1) Frances; (2) Martha Gwaltney, a widow, of Bristol. (Gwathney). Thomas Pittman …”being at the house of Mr. Geo. Proctor upon the 1st day of March about 8 o’clock in the morning … Mr Proctor was drinking of burnt sack and did finde that Mr. Proctor had drank to much” … etc. (Court Case Against George Proctor in May 1675).

The Proctor and Fulgham family (of Angersleigh, Pitminster) would have been well acquainted:

1.2. William Proctor, bapt. Jan. 13, 1613, Wilton.
1.3. Robert Proctor, bapt. June 16, 1616, d. May 12, 1684, per inscript. Angersleigh Rectory, Somerset. Lawrence Musgrave. Resignation of Joseph Barker, MA. Roger Gale, mercer, of Taunton, and Robert Proctor, merchant. Endorsed entered june 26, 1655. (Lambeth Palace Library, COMM/2/20). Deeds of manor and advowson of Angersleigh als. Knightsleigh. Quitclaimed by Edw. Soll of Sondon, grocer, to Sir Giles Capell (1529), settled by Arthur Lord Capell, baron of Hadham (1642), and sold by him to Roger Gale of Taunton St. Mary and Robert Proctor of Ruishton, merchants (1654). Roger Gale sold his moiety to Proctor (1667). (Somerset Heritage Centre, DD\DP/90/1). Roger Gale m. Elizabeth Knight, March 18, 1632, in Taunton, sister of Hannah Knight, who m. Thomas Bennett, July 1, 1641, in Taunton.
1.3.1. John Proctor, bapt. April 11, 1647, Pitminster.
1.3.1.1. Mary Proctor, m. Thomas Knight, April 8, 1691, Taunton.
1.3.1.2. Robert Proctor, m. Alice Pope, Sept. 5, 1595, Taunton.
1.3.2. Henry Proctor, b. 1655, d. March 10, 1696 (aet. 41 per inscript). Messuages and lands in the manor and parish of Angersleigh, held on lease by the Blake family in the 18th century; according to endorsements these included properties called Streets and Fuljames. Lessor: Henry Proctor, 1690. (Somerset Heritage Centre, DD\CT/4).
1.3.2.1. John Proctor, bapt. March 3, 1689.

“Angersleigh was formally called Lega, Lege, Leigh Milites, or Knights Leigh, and derives its first name from tho Auger family, who formerly had possessions in this parish. John Anger was Lord of this Manor in 18th Edward II. in 1427, Richard Cheddar was the owner; from thence it passed to the Newtons, the Capels, the Proctors, the Gales, and the Tuckers. This parish is pleasantly situated in a pretty country, under the slope of the Blackdowns. The land abounds with brown, red and yellow flint, some black jasper, and a few fossils”. (Edward Jeboult, A General Account of West Somerset, p. 22, 1873).

The kinship context within which Bartholomew Owen appears is that of Bennett:

(1. Berde (standardised spelling); alias Burd, Byrd, etc.
1.1. Alice Berde, m. Thomas Knight, of Milverton, May 13, 1563, in Wiveliscombe.
1.1.1. William Knight, bapt. Oct. 27 1570.
1.1.1.1. Elizabeth Knight, m. William Owen, Nov. 17, 1619. (Robert Owen. d. 1616, in Bristol; his relict, Mary, sister of William Pitt (and aunt of Robert Pitt, of Virginia), m. (2), as his third wife, Rice Davis, Esquire (son of Lewis Davis, of Carmarthenshire), of Tickenham, Somerset. His nephew, Richard Davis, m. Mary Owen, da. of Mary Pitt and Robert Owen. The Will of Robert Owen, merchant of Bristol, named brothers, George and Griffith (a son of either, William, was party to the disputes between the claimants to his estate).
1.1.1.1.1. Bartholomew Owen.
1.2. John Berde
1.2.1. Thomas Berde, bapt. March 20, 1580.
1.2.1.1. Agnes Berde, m. Thomas Bennett, June 17, 1623; br. of Governor Richard Bennett, bapt. Aug. 6, 1609, d. 1675, in Virginia, father of Ann Bennett, who m. (2) Theoderick Bland, br. of John Bland, trading partner (in tobacco) of Thomas Harris, d. 1677, in Virginia. Thomas and Richard Bennett were second-cousins of Richard Bennett, d. 1709. His first wife was (circumstantially) Anne, who was Charles Barham’s sister (see Douglas Richardson, ‘Plantagenet Ancestry’). Their grandson, William Bennett, m. Mary Hardy, dau. of George Hardy, and sister of Martha Hardy, wife of Edward Harris, d. 1677. Thomas and Richard Bennett were nephews of Eleanor Bennett:

1. Richard Harris, m. Eleanor Bennett, Oct. 8, 1594, in Wiveliscombe; the sister of Edward Bennett, business partner of Edward Robins (whose attorney was Thomas Joyner, whose son was the guardian of an orphan of Thomas Harris, d. 1688, and father of Silvestra Bennett, who m. Nicholas Hill, who (with Edward Brantley) witnessed the Will of Thomas Harris, d. 1672.
1.1. Thomas Harris, m. Judith Blake, Nov. 20, 1623, in Wivelscombe.
1.1.1. Thomas Harris, d. 1672.
1.1.1.1. John Harris, m. (April 13, 1689), Elizabeth Church.
1.1.1.1.1. Isabella Harris, b. April 17, 1695, m. Nicholas Fulgham, son of Nicholas Fulgham, d. 1736, and Martha Pitt. (Of the family interm. with that of Robert Owen, merchant of Bristol).
1.2. Edward Harris of St. Dunstan in the East, London, merchant, aged 45, named in the Hubberday v. Penniston court case of 1641, which stated he received tobacco from Virginia with Captain Thomas Cornwallis, associate of Richard Bennett. Edward held land patented by his cousin, Richard Bennett, on Nov. 4, 1642. This was adj. land held by Wm. Newsome, April 6, 1653, p. 51.
1.2.1. Edward Harris, d. 1677, m. Martha Hardy. (No proof of issue).
1.2.2. Thomas Harris, d. 1677, tobacco associate of kinsman, John Bland, br. of Theoderick Bland, husband of Ann Bennett, great-niece of Elenor Bennett. “At a Court at Westover, Feb. 7, 1789: “Mrs. Sarah Bland proves her letter of atty. from her husband, Mr. Jno. Bland of London. John Hardeway John Ekoll on behalf of the orphans of Thos. Harris, dec’d., agst. Mr. Jno. Bland for 700 lbs. tob. owed for an ox which debt Mrs. Sarah Bland (aforementioned) confesses to. Maj. Jno. Stith, Guardian. At a Court at Westover, Oct. 15, 1679: ‘Admin, granted Jno. Hardeway (almost certainly of Bristol) on the estate of Ebbett Harris dec’d’. Ebbett was not an uncommon West Country name. (There are no proven children of this Thomas. He was not the son of “the Sergeant”.
1.3. Richard Harris. His deed of land of 1672 was witnessed by George Proctor).

The usual accounts of the Proctors seem to amalgamate several seperate families. Those connected to Bartholomew Owen shared the same West Country associations, and the same unique dialect: “Uur du kracukee aul dhu dai laung, bud kaa n zee muuch dhu maad’r wai ur” – she croaks of her ailments all the day long, but (one) cannot see much the matter with her.

Early Virginia was composed of “linguistic islands”, peopled by families who had in some instances been kin for centuries; and who continued to intermarry as a means of preservation and furtherence. The usual accounts of many English families in early Virginia are plucked from the pages of Burke, and have people from widely different areas and cultures marry as a result of being thrown together in a Virginia “melting pot” – a randomness that would have been a dangerous anathema at this time. People were neighbours because they were kin – the “wolf at the door” was not a welcome prospect.

To gain insight into early Virginia genealogies depends on understanding the subject matter.

Many of this account understood cattle and horses, and were used to the dangers of swamps and floods – a hardy breed.

copyright m stanhope 2019