Denise Fitz William

Notes:

Also called Dionis Fitz William.

Denise married Robert d'Eiville before 1229. Robert (son of John d'Eiville and Maud de Percy) was born in of Egmanton, Nottinghamshire, England; died after 1242. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Chief Justice and Keeper of the King's Forest North of Trent. Sheriff of Yorkshire. Constable of York and Scarborough Castles. "Following the defeat of Simon de Montfort, he became one of the most active leaders of the disinherited barons." [Royal Ancestry]

John married Maud before 5 Feb 1276. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Margaret. Margaret died after 10 Oct 1334; was buried in Laxton, Nottinghamshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Joan married Adam de Everingham before 16 May 1332. Adam (son of Adam de Everingham and Clarice) was born about 1307 in of Laxton, Nottinghamshire, England; died on 8 Feb 1388 in Laxton, Nottinghamshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Margaret married Hugh de Hastings before 1355. Hugh (son of Hugh de Hastings and Margery Foliot) was born about 1335 in of Elsing, Norfolk, England; died in Sep 1369 in Kalkwell Hill, near Calais, France; was buried in Friars Preachers, Doncaster, Yorkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Skinningrove, Yorkshire, England

Family/Spouse: Alice de Grey. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Margaret married John Wingfield before 1378. John (son of Thomas Wingfield and Margaret de Bovile) was born in of Letheringham, Suffolk, England; died in 1389; was buried in Letheringham, Suffolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Margaret married John Russell after 1389. John (son of Robert Russell) was born in of Strensham, Worcestershire, England; died in 1405 in Letheringham, Suffolk, England; was buried in Strensham, Worcestershire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Joan married Thomas Morley before 3 Apr 1374. Thomas (son of William de Morley and Cecily Bardolf) was born about 1354 in of Morley, Norfolk, England; died on 24 Sep 1416 in Calais, France; was buried in Austin Friars, Norwich, Norfolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Elsing, Norfolk, England
• Alternate death: 1387

Notes:

"[A] a noted soldier, [he] served on most of the principal campaigns of the 1370s and 1380s, and was a prominent retainer of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster: he died on Gaunt's expedition to Galicia in 1386–7." [Oxford DNB, citation details below.]

Hugh married Anne Despenser before 1 Nov 1376. Anne (daughter of Edward le Despenser and Elizabeth Burghersh) was born about 1363; died on 30 Oct 1426. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Joan married Robert Waterton before Aug 1398. Robert (son of Richard Waterton and Juliana) was born in of Methley, Yorkshire, England; died on 17 Jan 1425 in Methley, Yorkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Elizabeth Russell. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 1416

Notes:

Walter Rye (citation details below) places him as a son of Thomas Morley's second wife Anne Despenser, which is chronologically impossible.

Robert married Isabel Moleyns before Aug 1394. Isabel (daughter of William de Moleyns and Margery Bacon) died before Jun 1409. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1382, of Elsing, Norfolk, England

Notes:

He and Reynold Grey, Lord Grey of Ruthin, contended with one another at the Court of Chivalry over the right to bear the undifferenced arms of Hastings. He lost, and refused to pay the costs of his suit, lest by doing so he might acknowledge the ruling's justice. According to Dugdale, he was then imprisoned in the Marsalsea for the next 16 years, a span of time that may be an exaggeration given that he married his second wife, Margery Clifton, in 1427.

Edward married Muriel Dinham before 20 Feb 1406. Muriel (daughter of John Dinham and Eleanor Montagu) was born about 1385; died before 1420. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Knight of the shire for Hertfordshire, 1449-50.

Robert married Elizabeth Goushill before 1 Dec 1419. Elizabeth (daughter of Robert Goushill and Elizabeth Fitz Alan) was born about 1402. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Privy councillor. De jure Lord Marshal, Marshal of Ireland. Fought at Agincourt. Took part in the sieges of Rouen, Melun, and Meaux. Present at the death of Henry V and bore one of the banners at his funeral.

Summoned to Parliament from 15 Jul 1427 to 5 Jul 1435.

Thomas married Isabel de la Pole before 6 Feb 1403. Isabel (daughter of Michael de la Pole and Katherine Stafford) died on 8 Feb 1467. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1411, of Gressenhall, Norfolk, England

John married Anne Morley about 21 Apr 1434. Anne (daughter of Thomas Morley and Isabel de la Pole) died in 1471; was buried in Gressenhall, Norfolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Margaret married Gilbert Debenham in 1432. Gilbert (son of Gilbert Debenham and Ellen Jernegan) was born about 1402; died on 10 May 1481. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Elizabeth married William Brandon before Jan 1462. William was born about 1425 in of Henham, Suffolk, England; died between 9 Apr 1491 and 17 Nov 1491. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk 1454-55, 1471-72; Privy Councillor 1462; Knight of the shire for Suffolk 1478.

Family/Spouse: Elizabeth fitz Lewis. Elizabeth (daughter of Lewis John and Anne de Montagu) was born about 1436; died between 14 Jul 1497 and 22 Dec 1500; was buried in Letheringham, Suffolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Elizabeth married John Arundell after 25 Apr 1446. John (son of John Arundell and Margaret Burghersh) was born on 9 Jun 1421 in Bideford, Devon, England; died on 12 Nov 1473. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Anne married John Hastings about 21 Apr 1434. John (son of Edward Hastings and Muriel Dinham) was born about 1412 in of Fenwick, Yorkshire, England; died on 9 Apr 1477 in Elsing, Norfolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Elizabeth married Robert Hildyard before 8 Apr 1459. Robert (son of Robert Hildyard and Katherine de la Hay) was born about 1435 in of Winestead, Yorkshire, England; died on 21 May 1501. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Anne Gascoigne. Anne (daughter of William Gascoigne and Margaret Clarell) died after 7 Jun 1488. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Between 5 Dec 1502 and 9 Feb 1503

Notes:

"Elizabeth (Debenham) Brewse was heavily involved in the 1477 negotiations for the marriage of her eldest daughter to John Paston, during which she stressed her own advantageous family connection to 'my nowncle Hastynges' [i.e., John Hastings of Gressenhall (1412-1477)]. Elizabeth was also instrumental in reversing the attainder of her childless brother Sir Gilbert Debenham. She paid £500 in 1501, which helped her eldest son and heir Robert Brewse recover some of the Debenham lands in 1504 and 1507." [Brad Verity, citation details below.]

Elizabeth married Thomas Brewse before 1445. Thomas (son of Robert Brewes and Ela Stapleton) was born about 1406 in of Stinton, Norfolk, England; died on 17 Jun 1482; was buried in Woodbridge Priory, Suffolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Richardson's Royal Ancestry gives her death date as 30 Jun 1480, presumably based on the date recorded by Blomefield as displayed on the brass of John Glemham and his two wives in Little Glemham church.

But as G. Andrews Moriarty (citation details below) pointed out in 1949, the will of Eleanor Brandon's mother, made in 1496 and proved 8 May 1497, appears to clearly say that her daughter Eleanor was then alive. The precise wording is "remainder to Eleanor Glenham, my daughter," which would appear to be unambiguous.

Eleanor married John Glemham after 5 Mar 1466. John (son of John Glemham and Katherine Rochford) was born in of Glemham, Suffolk, England; died about 1499; was buried in Little Glemham, Suffolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Killed at Bosworth Field.

William married Elizabeth Bruyn before 4 Nov 1475. Elizabeth (daughter of Henry Bruyn and Elizabeth Darcy) died on 7 Mar 1484. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster; Privy Counsellor; Lord Deputy of Calais; High Steward of Cambridge University.

He fought against the Cornish rebels in 1497, was present at the siege of Tournai in 1513, attended the king and queen at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520, and held chief command (under the earl of Surrey) of English forces in France in 1522-23.

Richard married Katherine Woodville on 24 Feb 1496. Katherine (daughter of Richard Woodville and Jacquetta of Luxembourg) was born about 1458; died on 18 May 1497. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Richard married Bridget Wiltshire before 1513. Bridget (daughter of John Wiltshire and Margaret) died after Jan 1534. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Anne married James Tyrrell after 23 Mar 1469. James (son of William Tyrrell and Margaret Darcy) was born about 1445 in of Gipping, Suffolk, England; died on 6 May 1502; was buried in Austin Friars, London, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Elizabeth married Robert Hildyard before 8 Apr 1459. Robert (son of Robert Hildyard and Katherine de la Hay) was born about 1435 in of Winestead, Yorkshire, England; died on 21 May 1501. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Anne Gascoigne. Anne (daughter of William Gascoigne and Margaret Clarell) died after 7 Jun 1488. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Piers Hildyard.

Peter married Jane de la See between 1480 and 1485. Jane (daughter of Martin de la See and Elizabeth Wentworth) died between 20 Jul 1527 and 7 Apr 1528. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Muriel married Ralph Eure on 18 Jan 1482. Ralph (son of William Eure and Margaret Constable) was born in of Ayton in Pickering Lythe, Yorkshire, England; died on 22 Oct 1539. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Margery married John Paston in Jul 1477. John (son of John Paston and Margaret Mautby) was born in 1444; died on 28 Aug 1504; was buried in Carmelite Friars, Norwich, Norfolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Henry Pagrave. Henry (son of John Pagrave and Margaret Yelverton) was born about 1470 in of Little Palgrave, Norfolk, England; died on 20 Oct 1516; was buried in Barningham Norwood, Norfolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

1st Duke of Suffolk.

Family/Spouse: Mary Tudor. Mary (daughter of Henry VII, King of England and lord of Ireland and Elizabeth of York, Queen Consort of England) was born on 18 Mar 1496 in Richmond Palace, Surrey, England; died on 24 Jun 1533 in Westhorpe, Suffolk, England; was buried on 22 Jul 1533 in Bury St. Edmunds Abbey, Suffolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He was attainted with his father in 1502, pardoned in 1504, and restored to his estates in 1507. He attended the queen at the Field of Cloth of Gold in 1520.

Family/Spouse: Margaret Willoughby. Margaret (daughter of Christopher Willoughby and Margaret Jenney) died after 14 Nov 1526. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Piers Hildyard.

Peter married Jane de la See between 1480 and 1485. Jane (daughter of Martin de la See and Elizabeth Wentworth) died between 20 Jul 1527 and 7 Apr 1528. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Muriel married Ralph Eure on 18 Jan 1482. Ralph (son of William Eure and Margaret Constable) was born in of Ayton in Pickering Lythe, Yorkshire, England; died on 22 Oct 1539. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Isabel married Ralph Legard about 1520. Ralph (son of Robert Legard and Joan Haldenby) was born about 1490 in of Anlaby, Yorkshire, England; died on 30 Jun 1540. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

William married Elizabeth Willoughby about 1503. Elizabeth (daughter of Christopher Willoughby and Margaret Jenney) was born about 1483. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: William Clere. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: John Fyneux. John died on 17 Nov 1525. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"His [Sir John Paston's] financial embarrassment was doubtless eased by the marriage of his son and heir, William, to Sir Henry Heydon's daughter Bridget, whose marriage portion was probably 500 marks. The wedding was already in sight when Sir Henry informed John Paston of the conclusion of the dispute with William Paston: 'How yee and myn ladie, and in what sylk or clooth yee will have these tweyn yong innocentes maried jnne, iff it shuld be purveyed at London to send me word, or ellys at Norwich, as it shall please you and myn ladie ther-affter I shall applie me; for it must bee ordyrd be you in the yong husbondes name.' 1489 seems the year in which to place the end of the controversy and the marriage, as on 10 February 1489 Margery, in writing to John, refers to 'my brodyre Heydon.'" [Colin Richmond,The Paston Family in the Fifteenth Century: The First Phase (1990), quoted by Brad Verity, citation details below.]

Family/Spouse: Bridget Heydon. Bridget (daughter of Henry Heydon and Anne Boleyn) was born about 1480; died before 17 Jan 1554; was buried on 17 Jan 1554 in St. Margaret's, Paston, Norfolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Thomas married Alice Gunton about 1537. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Henry Grey. Henry (son of Thomas Grey and Margaret Wotton) was born on 17 Jan 1517; died on 23 Feb 1554 in Tower Hill, London, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Anne married John Clere before 19 Aug 1529. John (son of Robert Clere and Alice Boleyn) was born about 1511 in of Ormesby St. Margaret, Norfolk, England; died on 21 Aug 1557 in At sea. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Isabel married Ralph Legard about 1520. Ralph (son of Robert Legard and Joan Haldenby) was born about 1490 in of Anlaby, Yorkshire, England; died on 30 Jun 1540. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

William married Elizabeth Willoughby about 1503. Elizabeth (daughter of Christopher Willoughby and Margaret Jenney) was born about 1483. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Joan Ledgard.

Joan married Richard Skepper after 4 Feb 1551. Richard (son of Richard Skepper and Audrey Grynne) was born about 1495 in of East Kirkby, Lincolnshire, England; died after 26 May 1556. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He was slain in the Battle of Ancrum Moor, part of the 1542-51 War of the Rough Wooing.

Ralph married Margery Bowes before 1529. Margery (daughter of Ralph Bowes and Elizabeth Clifford) died after 1566. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

See our entry on her husband Thomas Tyndall for a brief discussion of her death date.

Family/Spouse: Thomas Tyndall. Thomas (son of John Tyndall and Amphyllis Coningsby) was born about 1505 in of Hockwood, Norfolk, England; died about 25 Dec 1583. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Erasmus married Mary Wyndham after 22 Oct 1521. Mary (daughter of Thomas Wyndham and Eleanor Scrope) was born about 1508; died on 1 Jan 1597; was buried in Paston, Norfolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Knight of the shire for Norfolk, 1563.

Clement married Alice Pakington after 1567. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Rector of Barnham Broom, Norfolk.

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Known to history as Lady Jane Grey, the "Nine Days Queen."

Jane married Guildford Dudley on 21 May 1553 in Durham House, London, England. Guildford (son of John Dudley and Jane Guildford) died on 12 Feb 1554 in Tower Hill, London, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Katherine married Henry Herbert on 21 May 1553. Henry (son of William Herbert and Ann Parr) was born after 1537; died on 19 Jan 1601 in Wilton, Wiltshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 3 Jun 1606, London, England

Notes:

Burgess for Thetford 1557-58, 1562-63. Burgess for Grampound 1571. Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk 1567-68. Sheriff of Norfolk 1580-81.

From the History of Parliament (citation details below):

Though a younger son, Clere succeeded to an extensive patrimony on the north-east coast of Norfolk, being licensed to enter his lands on 22 Feb. 1558. In May of that year he purchased further property at Wymondham, and in 1561, on the death of his great-uncle Sir James Boleyn he inherited Blickling, which he made his chief seat. On the death of his father-in-law (Sir) Richard Fulmerston in 1567, Clere and his wife came into possession of most of his extensive estates in and around Thetford as well as inheriting most of his personal property.

Thus, after 1567 Clere was one of the greatest landowners in Norfolk, appearing in 1588 on Lord Burghley’s list of ‘knights of great possessions’ able to support a peerage. He was a second cousin to the Queen and to Lord Hunsdon, and brother-in-law to Walter Haddon, the master of requests. His connexion with the Duke of Norfolk through his father-in-law Fulmerston, the Duke’s servant, caused him to be among those questioned on Norfolk’s arrest in October 1569, and in September 1571 he and others were ordered to take an inventory of the Duke’s goods at Kenninghall. In 1570 he was made collector in Norfolk of the forced loan. This inevitably made him unpopular with his fellow gentry, and gave rise to probably well-founded accusations of fraud and extortion. He was also in conflict with his manorial tenants, and at loggerheads with the Thetford corporation. He had to attend upon the Privy Council for a while after the forced loan episode, but he never lost the Council’s confidence. In 1578 he entertained the Queen during her Norfolk progress, ‘worthily feasted’ her retinue, and was knighted by the Queen at Norwich. In 1583 he signed a petition on behalf of certain puritan ministers and four years later was noted by the bishop of Norwich as a ‘favourer of religion’.

Clere’s election at Thetford to the Parliaments of 1558 and 1563 was due to the local influence of his father-in-law, Fulmerston. Clere succeeded to Fulmerston’s land in 1567 and what made him resort to Grampound for a seat in 1571 is not evident, nor is it clear who was his patron there. Possibly there was a court connexion with the 2nd Earl of Bedford. Clere’s committee work concerned the continuance of statutes (20 Mar. 1563), priests disguised as servants (1 May 1571), and tillage and the navy (25 May 1571). He spoke on the treasons bill (9 Apr. 1571), the anonymous diarist commenting, ‘Mr. Clere of Norfolk, a gentleman of great possessions, made hereupon a staggering speech: his conclusion I did not conceive’. Of another speech, again on a religious topic (11 Apr.), he wrote ‘such was my ill hap I could not understand what reason he made’. D’Ewes records Clere as speaking on the bill for Bristol, also on 11 Apr. In the discussion on Strickland’s case on 20 Apr., he defended the prerogative of the Crown.

In 1572 Clere decided to try for the county seat, Sir Thomas Cornwallis reporting just before the election that Clere ‘leaveth no stone untouched that may further his part’, and that ‘a great number of the shire’ were ‘evil affected towards him’. Unsuccessful, he wrote a series of letters to Richard Southwell, whom he had addressed as ‘loving cousin and friend’ when canvassing support beforehand, describing his ‘found falsehood’, and contrasting Southwell’s ‘overt action in so great an assembly’ with his ‘former pretended opinion’.

In October 1586 he and his fellow deputy lieutenant Sir William Heydon were ordered by the Privy Council to ensure that at the new election of knights of the shire ‘fit men may be chosen, known to be well affected to religion and the present estate’, and Clere wrote to his friend, Bassingbourne Gawdy, suggesting that he stand, adding that if he himself were not incapacitated by a rupture, he ‘should be willing to be with you there’. The Norfolk gentry at this time were divided. In the north of the county Clere and Sir William Heydon, after initial quarrels over the rights of Clere’s second wife to the Heydon manor of Saxlingham, had united against Nathaniel Bacon, the Knyvet and Wyndham families and others of their neighbours. Soon after the 1586 election they apparently persuaded the lord lieutenant, Hunsdon, to replace Sir Thomas Knyvet by their friend Sir Arthur Heveningham as a deputy lieutenant, and had several of their opponents turned off the commission of the peace. During the next few years Clere can generally be found on the side of Heveningham in the latter’s quarrels with the Bacon faction over such contentious matters as the organisation of county musters.

Clere’s eldest son Edward, already in 1585 ‘in peril divers ways of imprisonment and shame’, was accused in the next reign of sheltering a seminary priest and from 1606 spent much of his life in prison. Clere therefore did his best to keep his property out of his eldest son’s hands, though he could not break the entail on the Fulmerston estate. By various settlements and by his will, made in April 1605, he divided the rest between the younger sons, Sir Francis and Robert, and his grandson Henry. Most of the land eventually reverted to Henry, who became a baronet in 1620 and died s.p. in 1622. Clere’s will contained bequests to other relatives, and arranged for the foundation of a fellowship and scholarship at St. John’s, Cambridge. Most of the personal property was left to the widow, the sole executrix, who had a life interest in Blickling. One of the two supervisors was his ‘old well tried friend’ Dru Drury. Clere died in London on 3 June 1606, and was buried at Blickling.

Edward married Frances Fulmerston about 16 Dec 1554. Frances (daughter of Richard Fulmerston and Alice Lonzam) died on 20 Mar 1580 in Blickling, Norfolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Joan Ledgard.

Joan married Richard Skepper after 4 Feb 1551. Richard (son of Richard Skepper and Audrey Grynne) was born about 1495 in of East Kirkby, Lincolnshire, England; died after 26 May 1556. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He was slain in the Battle of Ancrum Moor, part of the 1542-51 War of the Rough Wooing.

Ralph married Margery Bowes before 1529. Margery (daughter of Ralph Bowes and Elizabeth Clifford) died after 1566. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Edward married Mary Robinson on 11 Apr 1592 in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. Mary died after 1630. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Lancelot Mansfield. Lancelot was born about 1533 in of Skirpenbeck, Yorkshire, England; died after 20 Sep 1563. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk in 1565-66.

“He played little part in national affairs but took a prominent role in the government and political life of his native county and was known as a careful administrator and a ‘just and painstaking magistrate’ [...] A supporter of Edmund Freake, bishop of Norwich (1575–84), Paston was involved in the bitter conflict between the bishop and the puritans for control of the chancellorship of the diocese in 1578. He was described by Bishop Scrambler as an ‘observer of law’ which has been taken to mean that his religious views were either conformist Church of England or impartial (Smith, 214). In 1597 he moved to the new house which his uncle, Sir Clement Paston, had built at Oxnead. Known for his liberality, hospitality and benefactions, Paston is chiefly remembered for the founding and endowment of North Walsham grammar school (the Paston School), in 1606.” [Oxford DNB, citation details below.]

As he lived through her entire reign, presumably he was aware that queen Elizabeth was his third cousin, both of them being great-great grandchildren of London mayor Geoffrey Boleyn and his wife Anne Hoo.

William married Frances Clere on 5 May 1551 in St. Margaret's, Paston, Norfolk, England. Frances (daughter of Thomas Clere and Ann Gyggs) was born in 1531; died in 1610. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Between 1580 and 1585, of Wymondham, Norfolk, England
• Alternate birth: Abt 1593
• Alternate death: Oct 1651

Notes:

One of TSW's eight proven "gateway ancestors," one of TWK's twelve, and one of DGH's four. Physician. Emigrated in the Winthrop Fleet, 1630.

Richard married Anne Sowgate before 1617. Anne (daughter of William Sowgate and Martha Vincent) was born before 1 Jan 1596; was christened on 1 Jan 1596 in Elsing, Norfolk, England; died on 17 Mar 1669 in Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Anne married William Gilbert on 23 Apr 1578 in Blickling, Norfolk, England. William died before 21 Feb 1608; was buried on 21 Feb 1608 in Mickleover, Derbyshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Anne married Okeover Crompton about 1610. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Edward married Mary Robinson on 11 Apr 1592 in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. Mary died after 1630. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Lancelot Mansfield. Lancelot was born about 1533 in of Skirpenbeck, Yorkshire, England; died after 20 Sep 1563. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Between 1640 and 1650

Notes:

Emigrated to New England in 1639. One of AP's two proven gateway ancestors.

He was admitted a pensioner at Sidney College, Cambridge, 8 Jul 1612. He matriculated 1614, B.A., 1617-18. He was Rector of Thorpe by Wainfleete (Thorpe-in-the-Marsh) in 1630, a parish next to Wainfleet All Saints where his elder sister Mary had married the rector in 1622. He left Thorpe-in-the-Marsh sometime before Dec 1638, when John Watts is recorded as the vicar there, and is next seen in Boston, Lincolnshire, where he married his second wife Sarah Fisher. The exact date of his emigration to New England is unknown but it appears to have taken place in 1639. He did not subsequently live long there, but he is recorded there as having arranged for certain monies to be provided to his four older children.

His descendants include Calvin Coolidge, Roy Rogers (the actor and singer, not the guitarist), Tuesday Weld, and John Kerry.

Rev. William Skepper = Jane (first wife)
Jane Skepper = Abraham Browne
Jane Browne = Henry Lunt
Jane Lunt = Nathaniel Drake
Abraham Drake = Martha Eaton
Martha Drake = John Smith
John Smith = Mary "Polly" Mudgett
Mary Hussey Smith = Jacob Lee Merrill
George David Merrill = Mary Bird
Gertrude May Merrill = Frederick George Sanders
Doris May Sanders = Gordon Arnold Markle
Thomas Wayne Markle = Doria L. Ragland
Rachel Megan Markle (1981- ) = Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex

William married Sarah Fisher on 17 Jan 1639 in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of London, England

Notes:

Burgess (M.P.) for Beverley, Yorkshire. Queen's Surveyor. B.A., Peterhouse College, Cambridge, 1572-3.

He was described as a resident of London in 1582, but the 1587 pedigree attached to the grant of his father's crest called him "of Huton on Derwent", Yorkshire.

From Robert Charles Anderson, John C. Brandon, and Paul C. Reed, "The Ancestry of the Royally-Descended Mansfields of the Massachusetts Bay" (citation details below):

Cotton Mather, in his biography of the Rev. John Wilson, identifies the father of the immigrants as "Sir John Mansfield, master of the Minories, and the Queen's surveyor." This identification has always been troublesome, as it includes some inaccuracies. The immigrants' father was an "esquire," a step below the dignity of knighthood, but above gentleman. Evidence has been found, however, to confirm that John Mansfield was intimately involved with royal mining interests, and was Queen's surveyor -- at least in Yorkshire.

When Mather used the word "Minories," he must have intended the word "mineries," or mining operations. The 3rd Earl of Huntingdon held mines and lands in Dorsetshire, having purchased various mining interests from James, Lord Mountjoy. John Mansfield was the Earl's "servant, and at one stage his lessee of the Canford mines, near Poole, Dorset. Lord Mountjoy was heavily indebted to creditors, and various interrogatories were taken in May 1582 concerning his sale to Huntingdon. "John Mansfield, and W[illia]m Bird, all of London," were among men examined on behalf of the Earl on May 17, 21, 24, and 31, and June 1, 1582. "John Mansfield of London" was also examined on 14 or 15 June.

John Mansfeild, Clement Draper, and Richard Laycolte received lands, rents and liberties in Brownsea Island, Dorset, with the advowson, by permission of license dated 1 April 1581. John Mansfelde, Richard Laicolte, Clement Draper, and Edward Mead complained to the Privy Council on 4 January 1581 that Edward Lane [of Blackfriars, London, 1582], John Lane, and others had "wrongfullie dispossessed them of two their workehouses for allum and coppres, called Allam Chyne and Okemans in the countie of Dorset." The various examinations "touching matters in conroversie betwene John and Edward Lanes and John Mansfelde" were delivered to the servant of the Earl of Huntingdon on 27 May 1582. On 12 September 1592, Clement Draper wrote to the Queen, pleading that he had "been detained in prison 12 years against all right, by practice of the Earl of Huntingdon, John Mansfield, his deputy, and Richard Laycolt, who have taken away his goods, which, with other losses, amount to 10,000l; his good name, dearer to him than his life, is rooted out by their false reports." He further claimed that "Mansfield, for 4l., got a protection under the Great Seal to defraud him and others of their goods....The Earl, the better to defend his own quarrel against Lord Mountjoy, has got into his hands...the writer's [Draper's] deeds and writings concerning his estate in the mines, and detains them. The Earl, in May 1583, covenanted that the mines should be maintained and set to work." John Mansfeld/Mansfyeld, with Clement Draper, had brought suit against others in the Court of Star Chamber, but later John sued Clement Draper in Chancery.

John Mansfield's career in politics reached its pinacle in 1593, when he represented Beverley, Yorkshire, in Parliament. He is not known to have had personal connections at Beverley, so the seat was likely procured through the influence of his lord the Earl of Huntingdon or cousin Lord Eure. As one of the burgesses for Yorkshire boroughs, he was appointed to a committee on cloth 23 March and to another concerning weirs 28 March 1593. In 1597, by which time he was serving as a Justice of the Peace for the North Riding of Yorkshire, John Mansfield offered himself for election to Parliament at Scarborough, but though he was recommended to the bailiffs and burgesses by the Archbishop of York, and had the support of his prospective fellow burgess, Sir Thomas Posthumous Hoby, his nomination was not accepted by the borough authorities.

Queen Elizabeth I on 8 February 1597/8 granted John Mansfield "the office of collector of the rents and revenues of the dissolved monastery of St. Mary's, York," and more importantly, "the surveyorship of the Queen's lands in the North Riding of Yorkshire." The Crown had extensive honours and holdings in Yorkshire. John Mansfield set about to prove his proficiency by making an unusually thorough and careful survey of the manor of Settington, Yorkshire, compiled between 17 and 21 March 1599/1600. Mansfield obviously took great pains in producing this detailed document, probably an attempt to demonstrate abilities superior to those of a rival who had received many benefits for little effort. John alluded to this in his plea to the Lord Treasurer in his introductory remarks to one copy of the survey:

It is my hard fortune whilest other men receyue great rewardes for small deserts I must hold my selfe happy not to be disgraced after good seruyce done. Good my Lord excuse me for thus writyng. I haue chosen to depend on your lordship onelye. When your lordship shall please to gyue me over I wilbegone as forsaken by all. I will equall my selfe to all in this[,] never any did nor shall performe more honest dutyes to your Lordship then I will.

The manor of Settrington had been granted to Matthew, Earl of Lenox, and his wife Margaret, in 1544, but was later returned to the Crown. John Mansfield, "Crown Surveyor," was ordered to make a survey of the manors of the late Margaret, Countess of Lennox. These documents are dated February 1600/1 to July 1601, when Mansfield died. He made the surveys as part of a northern tour, likely drawing up the results after his return to London.

Family/Spouse: Mary Hobson. Mary (daughter of William Hobson and Mary) died between 1587 and 3 Feb 1592. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Elizabeth before 3 Feb 1592. Elizabeth died before 10 Feb 1634; was buried on 10 Feb 1634 in St. Michael Cornhill, London, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Anne married Anthony Cope on 7 Apr 1600. Anthony (son of Edward Cope and Elizabeth Mohun) was born between 1548 and 1550; died on 6 Jul 1614. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Between 1618 and 1619

Mary married Roger Wellington before 1638. Roger was born about 1609 in England; died on 11 Mar 1698 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Her second husband was William Hopkins. Administration on the estate of Temperance Hopkins who died overseas was granted to him on 6 Nov 1648 by the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. For this reason it is believed that she emigrated to New England with her daughter.

Temperance married John Alsop on 1 May 1617 in Mickleover, Derbyshire, England. John (son of Anthony Alsop and Jane Smith) was born about 1596 in of Alsop-le-Dale, Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England; died between 28 Mar 1631 and 8 Jun 1631. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Between 1640 and 1650

Notes:

Emigrated to New England in 1639. One of AP's two proven gateway ancestors.

He was admitted a pensioner at Sidney College, Cambridge, 8 Jul 1612. He matriculated 1614, B.A., 1617-18. He was Rector of Thorpe by Wainfleete (Thorpe-in-the-Marsh) in 1630, a parish next to Wainfleet All Saints where his elder sister Mary had married the rector in 1622. He left Thorpe-in-the-Marsh sometime before Dec 1638, when John Watts is recorded as the vicar there, and is next seen in Boston, Lincolnshire, where he married his second wife Sarah Fisher. The exact date of his emigration to New England is unknown but it appears to have taken place in 1639. He did not subsequently live long there, but he is recorded there as having arranged for certain monies to be provided to his four older children.

His descendants include Calvin Coolidge, Roy Rogers (the actor and singer, not the guitarist), Tuesday Weld, and John Kerry.

Rev. William Skepper = Jane (first wife)
Jane Skepper = Abraham Browne
Jane Browne = Henry Lunt
Jane Lunt = Nathaniel Drake
Abraham Drake = Martha Eaton
Martha Drake = John Smith
John Smith = Mary "Polly" Mudgett
Mary Hussey Smith = Jacob Lee Merrill
George David Merrill = Mary Bird
Gertrude May Merrill = Frederick George Sanders
Doris May Sanders = Gordon Arnold Markle
Thomas Wayne Markle = Doria L. Ragland
Rachel Megan Markle (1981- ) = Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex

William married Sarah Fisher on 17 Jan 1639 in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of London, England

Notes:

Burgess (M.P.) for Beverley, Yorkshire. Queen's Surveyor. B.A., Peterhouse College, Cambridge, 1572-3.

He was described as a resident of London in 1582, but the 1587 pedigree attached to the grant of his father's crest called him "of Huton on Derwent", Yorkshire.

From Robert Charles Anderson, John C. Brandon, and Paul C. Reed, "The Ancestry of the Royally-Descended Mansfields of the Massachusetts Bay" (citation details below):

Cotton Mather, in his biography of the Rev. John Wilson, identifies the father of the immigrants as "Sir John Mansfield, master of the Minories, and the Queen's surveyor." This identification has always been troublesome, as it includes some inaccuracies. The immigrants' father was an "esquire," a step below the dignity of knighthood, but above gentleman. Evidence has been found, however, to confirm that John Mansfield was intimately involved with royal mining interests, and was Queen's surveyor -- at least in Yorkshire.

When Mather used the word "Minories," he must have intended the word "mineries," or mining operations. The 3rd Earl of Huntingdon held mines and lands in Dorsetshire, having purchased various mining interests from James, Lord Mountjoy. John Mansfield was the Earl's "servant, and at one stage his lessee of the Canford mines, near Poole, Dorset. Lord Mountjoy was heavily indebted to creditors, and various interrogatories were taken in May 1582 concerning his sale to Huntingdon. "John Mansfield, and W[illia]m Bird, all of London," were among men examined on behalf of the Earl on May 17, 21, 24, and 31, and June 1, 1582. "John Mansfield of London" was also examined on 14 or 15 June.

John Mansfeild, Clement Draper, and Richard Laycolte received lands, rents and liberties in Brownsea Island, Dorset, with the advowson, by permission of license dated 1 April 1581. John Mansfelde, Richard Laicolte, Clement Draper, and Edward Mead complained to the Privy Council on 4 January 1581 that Edward Lane [of Blackfriars, London, 1582], John Lane, and others had "wrongfullie dispossessed them of two their workehouses for allum and coppres, called Allam Chyne and Okemans in the countie of Dorset." The various examinations "touching matters in conroversie betwene John and Edward Lanes and John Mansfelde" were delivered to the servant of the Earl of Huntingdon on 27 May 1582. On 12 September 1592, Clement Draper wrote to the Queen, pleading that he had "been detained in prison 12 years against all right, by practice of the Earl of Huntingdon, John Mansfield, his deputy, and Richard Laycolt, who have taken away his goods, which, with other losses, amount to 10,000l; his good name, dearer to him than his life, is rooted out by their false reports." He further claimed that "Mansfield, for 4l., got a protection under the Great Seal to defraud him and others of their goods....The Earl, the better to defend his own quarrel against Lord Mountjoy, has got into his hands...the writer's [Draper's] deeds and writings concerning his estate in the mines, and detains them. The Earl, in May 1583, covenanted that the mines should be maintained and set to work." John Mansfeld/Mansfyeld, with Clement Draper, had brought suit against others in the Court of Star Chamber, but later John sued Clement Draper in Chancery.

John Mansfield's career in politics reached its pinacle in 1593, when he represented Beverley, Yorkshire, in Parliament. He is not known to have had personal connections at Beverley, so the seat was likely procured through the influence of his lord the Earl of Huntingdon or cousin Lord Eure. As one of the burgesses for Yorkshire boroughs, he was appointed to a committee on cloth 23 March and to another concerning weirs 28 March 1593. In 1597, by which time he was serving as a Justice of the Peace for the North Riding of Yorkshire, John Mansfield offered himself for election to Parliament at Scarborough, but though he was recommended to the bailiffs and burgesses by the Archbishop of York, and had the support of his prospective fellow burgess, Sir Thomas Posthumous Hoby, his nomination was not accepted by the borough authorities.

Queen Elizabeth I on 8 February 1597/8 granted John Mansfield "the office of collector of the rents and revenues of the dissolved monastery of St. Mary's, York," and more importantly, "the surveyorship of the Queen's lands in the North Riding of Yorkshire." The Crown had extensive honours and holdings in Yorkshire. John Mansfield set about to prove his proficiency by making an unusually thorough and careful survey of the manor of Settington, Yorkshire, compiled between 17 and 21 March 1599/1600. Mansfield obviously took great pains in producing this detailed document, probably an attempt to demonstrate abilities superior to those of a rival who had received many benefits for little effort. John alluded to this in his plea to the Lord Treasurer in his introductory remarks to one copy of the survey:

It is my hard fortune whilest other men receyue great rewardes for small deserts I must hold my selfe happy not to be disgraced after good seruyce done. Good my Lord excuse me for thus writyng. I haue chosen to depend on your lordship onelye. When your lordship shall please to gyue me over I wilbegone as forsaken by all. I will equall my selfe to all in this[,] never any did nor shall performe more honest dutyes to your Lordship then I will.

The manor of Settrington had been granted to Matthew, Earl of Lenox, and his wife Margaret, in 1544, but was later returned to the Crown. John Mansfield, "Crown Surveyor," was ordered to make a survey of the manors of the late Margaret, Countess of Lennox. These documents are dated February 1600/1 to July 1601, when Mansfield died. He made the surveys as part of a northern tour, likely drawing up the results after his return to London.

Family/Spouse: Mary Hobson. Mary (daughter of William Hobson and Mary) died between 1587 and 3 Feb 1592. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Elizabeth before 3 Feb 1592. Elizabeth died before 10 Feb 1634; was buried on 10 Feb 1634 in St. Michael Cornhill, London, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 18 Dec 1710, Wenham, Essex, Massachusetts

Notes:

Probably born in Lynn, Massachusetts.

Sarah married Walter Fairfield on 28 Dec 1654 in Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Walter (son of John Fairfield and Elizabeth) was born in 1631 in England; died on 20 Jul 1723 in Wenham, Essex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Gateway ancestor, one of LD's five (so far).

From Robert Charles Anderson, John C. Brandon, and Paul C. Reed, "The Ancestry of the Royally-Descended Mansfields of the Massachusetts Bay" (citation details below):

Of Elizabeth (Mansfield) Wilson, not much is known. She was very unwilling to come to New England; as Mather writes, she had to be "perswaded over into the difficulties of an American desart," arriving two years after her husband. In May 1631, Margaret (Tyndal) Winthrop told how Mr. Wilson "can not yet perswad his wife to goe, for all he hath taken this paynes to come and fetch hir. I maruiell [marvel] what mettell she is made on. shure she will yeald at last, or elce we shal want him excedingly in new england." Later the same month, Mrs. Winthrop again mentioned Elizabeth's distaste for the trip; she was "more auerce [averse] then euer she was." Mrs. Wilson finally arrived in Massachusetts in 1632. Her dislike of the voyage to New England, and her unhappiness at hearing of the death of her eldest son, whom she did not long survive, are almost all that we know of her character and life.

Elizabeth married Rev. John Wilson before 1617. Rev. (son of Rev. William Wilson and Elizabeth Woodhall) was born about 1591; died on 7 Aug 1667 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Anne married Robert Keayne on 18 Jun 1617. Robert (son of John Keayne) was born about 1594; died on 23 Mar 1656 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Mary married John Coolidge on 16 Sep 1679 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts. John (son of John Coolidge and Mary Ravens) was born about 1630 in England; died on 8 Feb 1691 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Benjamin married Elizabeth Sweetman on 7 Dec 1671. Elizabeth (daughter of Thomas Sweetman and Isabel) was born on 16 Jan 1646 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut

Notes:

One of DDB's six proven "gateway ancestors."

Elizabeth married Richard Baldwin after 5 Feb 1643 in Milford, New Haven, Connecticut. Richard (son of Sylvester Baldwin and Sarah) was born before 25 Aug 1622; was christened on 25 Aug 1622 in Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire, England; died on 23 Jul 1665 in Milford, New Haven, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 18 Dec 1710, Wenham, Essex, Massachusetts

Notes:

Probably born in Lynn, Massachusetts.

Sarah married Walter Fairfield on 28 Dec 1654 in Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Walter (son of John Fairfield and Elizabeth) was born in 1631 in England; died on 20 Jul 1723 in Wenham, Essex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Gateway ancestor, one of LD's five (so far).

From Robert Charles Anderson, John C. Brandon, and Paul C. Reed, "The Ancestry of the Royally-Descended Mansfields of the Massachusetts Bay" (citation details below):

Of Elizabeth (Mansfield) Wilson, not much is known. She was very unwilling to come to New England; as Mather writes, she had to be "perswaded over into the difficulties of an American desart," arriving two years after her husband. In May 1631, Margaret (Tyndal) Winthrop told how Mr. Wilson "can not yet perswad his wife to goe, for all he hath taken this paynes to come and fetch hir. I maruiell [marvel] what mettell she is made on. shure she will yeald at last, or elce we shal want him excedingly in new england." Later the same month, Mrs. Winthrop again mentioned Elizabeth's distaste for the trip; she was "more auerce [averse] then euer she was." Mrs. Wilson finally arrived in Massachusetts in 1632. Her dislike of the voyage to New England, and her unhappiness at hearing of the death of her eldest son, whom she did not long survive, are almost all that we know of her character and life.

Elizabeth married Rev. John Wilson before 1617. Rev. (son of Rev. William Wilson and Elizabeth Woodhall) was born about 1591; died on 7 Aug 1667 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Anne married Robert Keayne on 18 Jun 1617. Robert (son of John Keayne) was born about 1594; died on 23 Mar 1656 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 24 Dec 1655, Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts

Sarah married Thomas Abbe on 16 Dec 1683 in Marblehead, Essex, Massachusetts. Thomas (son of John Abbe and Mary) was born between 1650 and 1656; died on 17 May 1728 in Enfield, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Rev. married Sarah Hooker before 1649. Sarah (daughter of Rev. Thomas Hooker and Susannah Garbrand) was born before 21 Feb 1630; was christened on 21 Feb 1630 in Broomfield, Essex, England; died on 20 Aug 1725 in Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Mary married Rev. Samuel Danforth on 5 Nov 1651. Rev. (son of Nicholas Danforth and Elizabeth Barber) was born in Sep 1626 in Framlingham, Suffolk, England; was christened on 17 Oct 1626 in Framlingham, Suffolk, England; died on 19 Nov 1674 in Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

According to Robert Charles Anderson, John C. Brandon, and Paul C. Reed (citation details below), he and Sarah Dudley ultimately divorced "because of Sarah's increasing religious fanaticism".

From The Great Migration Begins (citation details below):

Some considerable pain entered Gov. Dudley's last years as his daughter Sarah and her husband Benjamin Keayne necessitated one of the colony's earliest divorces. Stephen Winthrop says "My she Cosin Keane is growne a great preacher" in a letter from London 27 March 1646. In a letter dated London 18 March 1646/7, Benjamin Keayne writes to Thomas Dudley:

Honored Sir, That you and myself are made sorry by your daughter's enormous and continued crimes, is the greatest cause of grief that ever befell me, and the more because her obstinate continuance in them is now to me by her own letter made as certain...I never gave her the least just cause or occasion to provoke her to them...she has not left me any room or way of reconciliation. And therefore as you desire, I do plainly declare my resolution never again to live with her as a husband. What maintenance yourself expects I know not. This I know (to my cost and danger) she has unwived herself and how she or you can expect a wife's maintenance is to me a wonder...

Ezekiel Rogers passed some of the gossip on to John Winthrop in a letter dated Rowley 8 November 1647:

...I thought myself bound to acquaint you that there is not a little discourse raised, and by some, offence taken, at the late divorce granted by the Court. How weighty a business that is, as I need not tell you, so I would humbly desire that some course may be taken so as to clear the court's proceeding, as that rumors might be stopped, and letters of mistake into England prevented...

The news from England in the words of Brampton Gurdon Sr. put another light on things, as he wrote from Assington 6 June 1649 to John Winthrop:

...Here goes some speech of a N.E. couple that lately came from thence the husband first, and then the wife followed after with what goods she could get together but we heat all her goods miscarried and she escaped only with her life. The man was Cane's son a cloak seller in Birching Lane, whose mother was Mr. Willson's sister. The woman is returned to N.E. and resolves there to take another husband. I hope your laws will not tolerate such wicked actions.

Benjamin married Sarah Dudley before 1639, and was divorced in 1647. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

She died four days after the birth of her daughter Mary, of complications of childbirth.

Mary married Daniel Livermore on 28 May 1697 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Daniel (son of Samuel Livermore and Anna Bridge) was born on 3 Feb 1675 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts; died on 16 Nov 1720 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Elizabeth married John Fay on 1 Dec 1690. John (son of John Fay and Mary Brigham) was born on 30 Nov 1669 in Marlborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts; died in 1747. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Mehetabel married William Sherman on 13 Sep 1715 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts. William (son of Joseph Sherman and Elizabeth Winship) was born on 28 Jun 1692 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts; died on 20 Mar 1741 in Stoughton, Norfolk, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 14 May 1714, Derby, New Haven, Connecticut

Sarah married Samuel Riggs on 14 Jun 1667 in Milford, New Haven, Connecticut. Samuel (son of Edward Riggs and Elizabeth) was born about 1642; died in 1734 in Derby, New Haven, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 24 Dec 1655, Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts

Sarah married Thomas Abbe on 16 Dec 1683 in Marblehead, Essex, Massachusetts. Thomas (son of John Abbe and Mary) was born between 1650 and 1656; died on 17 May 1728 in Enfield, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Rev. married Sarah Hooker before 1649. Sarah (daughter of Rev. Thomas Hooker and Susannah Garbrand) was born before 21 Feb 1630; was christened on 21 Feb 1630 in Broomfield, Essex, England; died on 20 Aug 1725 in Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Mary married Rev. Samuel Danforth on 5 Nov 1651. Rev. (son of Nicholas Danforth and Elizabeth Barber) was born in Sep 1626 in Framlingham, Suffolk, England; was christened on 17 Oct 1626 in Framlingham, Suffolk, England; died on 19 Nov 1674 in Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

According to Robert Charles Anderson, John C. Brandon, and Paul C. Reed (citation details below), he and Sarah Dudley ultimately divorced "because of Sarah's increasing religious fanaticism".

From The Great Migration Begins (citation details below):

Some considerable pain entered Gov. Dudley's last years as his daughter Sarah and her husband Benjamin Keayne necessitated one of the colony's earliest divorces. Stephen Winthrop says "My she Cosin Keane is growne a great preacher" in a letter from London 27 March 1646. In a letter dated London 18 March 1646/7, Benjamin Keayne writes to Thomas Dudley:

Honored Sir, That you and myself are made sorry by your daughter's enormous and continued crimes, is the greatest cause of grief that ever befell me, and the more because her obstinate continuance in them is now to me by her own letter made as certain...I never gave her the least just cause or occasion to provoke her to them...she has not left me any room or way of reconciliation. And therefore as you desire, I do plainly declare my resolution never again to live with her as a husband. What maintenance yourself expects I know not. This I know (to my cost and danger) she has unwived herself and how she or you can expect a wife's maintenance is to me a wonder...

Ezekiel Rogers passed some of the gossip on to John Winthrop in a letter dated Rowley 8 November 1647:

...I thought myself bound to acquaint you that there is not a little discourse raised, and by some, offence taken, at the late divorce granted by the Court. How weighty a business that is, as I need not tell you, so I would humbly desire that some course may be taken so as to clear the court's proceeding, as that rumors might be stopped, and letters of mistake into England prevented...

The news from England in the words of Brampton Gurdon Sr. put another light on things, as he wrote from Assington 6 June 1649 to John Winthrop:

...Here goes some speech of a N.E. couple that lately came from thence the husband first, and then the wife followed after with what goods she could get together but we heat all her goods miscarried and she escaped only with her life. The man was Cane's son a cloak seller in Birching Lane, whose mother was Mr. Willson's sister. The woman is returned to N.E. and resolves there to take another husband. I hope your laws will not tolerate such wicked actions.

Benjamin married Sarah Dudley before 1639, and was divorced in 1647. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Hannah Boardman. Hannah (daughter of Daniel Boardman and Hannah Wright) was born on 18 Dec 1693 in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He was ordained pastor of the Taunton church in 1688. He also practiced medicine and law.

Rev. married Hannah Allen on 4 Oct 1688. Hannah (daughter of Rev. James Allen and Elizabeth Houchin) was born on 22 Jul 1668; died on 3 Dec 1761; was buried in Riverview Cemetery, Groveland, Essex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Mary married Nathaniel Sherman on 31 Mar 1726 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Nathaniel (son of Joseph Sherman and Elizabeth Winship) was born on 19 Sep 1696 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Hannah Child in 1721. Hannah (daughter of John Child and Hannah French) was born about 1700; died in 1788. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"Sherman is especially notable in United States history for being the only person to sign all four great state papers of the United States: the United States Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Association, the Articles of Confederation, and the United States Constitution. Robert Morris, who did not sign the Articles of Association, signed the other three." [Wikipedia]

1745-1752 Surveyor New Haven County
1752-1758 Surveyor Litchfield County
1754 February Admitted to the Bar of Litchfield County
1755-1759 Justice of the Peace Litchfield County
1755-1756 1758-1761 Deputy for New Milford to General Assembly
1759-1761 Justice of Quorum County Court for County
1759 Commissary of Supplies for Connecticut at Albany NY
1760-1772 In mercantile business in New Haven
1765-1776 Treasurer of Yale College
1764-1766 Deputy for New Haven to General Assembly
1765 May Justice of the Peace, New Haven County
1765 October Justice of the Quorum, New Haven County
1766-1789 Judge of Superior Court of Connecticut
1768 Received degree of Master of Arts from Yale College
1774-1781 and 1784 Delegate to Continental Congress
1774 Signed Articles of Association
1774 Signed Address to the King
1776 Signed Declaration of Independence
1777 Delegate to Currency and Anti Monopoly Conventions at Springfield Mass
1777-1779 and 1782 Member of Council of Safety of Connecticut
1778 Signed Articles of Confederation
1778 Delegate to Convention on regulation of prices at New Haven
1783 Revised the Connecticut Laws with Judge Richard Law
1784-1793 First Mayor of New Haven
1787 Delegate to Constitutional Convention
1787 Signed the Constitution of The United States
1788 Delegate from New Haven to Convention of Connecticut which ratified the Constitution of the United States
1789-1791 Representative for Connecticut in Congress of the United States
1791 June until death July 23 1793 United States Senator for Connecticut

Roger married Elizabeth Hartwell on 17 Nov 1749. Elizabeth (daughter of Deacon Joseph Hartwell and Mary Rice) was born on 31 Aug 1726; died on 19 Oct 1760 in New Milford, Litchfield, Connecticut; was buried in Center Cemetery, New Milford, Litchfield, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Roger married Rebecca Prescott on 12 May 1763 in Danvers, Essex, Massachusetts. Rebecca (daughter of Benjamin Prescott and Rebecca Minot) was born on 20 May 1742 in Danvers, Essex, Massachusetts; died on 19 Apr 1813 in New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Josiah married Martha Minot on 24 Jan 1757. Martha (daughter of Col. James Minot and Elizabeth Wilder) died about 1820 in Durham, Greene, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 13 Jan 1668, Milford, New Haven, Connecticut

Elizabeth married Robert Bassett about 1687. Robert (son of Robert Bassett and Mary) died on 5 Aug 1710 in Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Hannah Boardman. Hannah (daughter of Daniel Boardman and Hannah Wright) was born on 18 Dec 1693 in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He was ordained pastor of the Taunton church in 1688. He also practiced medicine and law.

Rev. married Hannah Allen on 4 Oct 1688. Hannah (daughter of Rev. James Allen and Elizabeth Houchin) was born on 22 Jul 1668; died on 3 Dec 1761; was buried in Riverview Cemetery, Groveland, Essex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Sarah married John Burroughs on 9 Jan 1740 in Enfield, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Thomas married Sarah Leonard on 11 Jun 1730. Sarah (daughter of James Leonard and Hannah Walley) died on 22 May 1742. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"A cousin of the celebrated Roger Sherman of Connecticut." [Genealogy of the Brownings in America, citation details below]

He served in the Revolution as a lieutenant in Colonel Ward's Massachusetts regiment.

Asaph married Lucy Whitney in 1762 in Shrewsbury, Worcester, Massachusetts. Lucy (daughter of Samuel Whitney and Elizabeth Hastings) was born on 27 Aug 1744 in Massachusetts; died on 13 Aug 1809 in Barre, Washington, Vermont; was buried in Wilson Cemetery, Barre, Washington, Vermont. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Jonathan married Joanna Phillips on 25 Jun 1746. Joanna (daughter of Ebenezer Phillips and Mary Smith) was born on 17 May 1729 in Stoneham, Middlesex, Massachusetts; died on 10 Jun 1788 in Westborough, Worcester, Massachusetts; was buried in Memorial Cemetery, Westborough, Worcester, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Shortly after the Revolution, he spent two weeks visiting George Washington at Mount Vernon.

On 31 Jan 1794, with his uncle Benjamin Prescott, he formed the firm of Prescott & Sherman, trading in dry goods, groceries, navigation, shoemaking, and tanning.

Representative for New Haven in the Connecticut General Assembly, May and October 1810 and May 1811.

Roger married Susanna Staples on 7 Jan 1801 in Canterbury, Windham, Connecticut. Susanna (daughter of Rev. John Staples and Susanna Perkins) was born on 20 Aug 1778 in Canterbury, Windham, Connecticut; died on 22 Nov 1855 in New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Came to Derby in 1716-17 to occupy the farm given to him by his father. Held many responsible offices, but his death dates is unknown.

Samuel married Deborah Bennett on 5 Jan 1719 in Derby, New Haven, Connecticut. Deborah (daughter of Thomas Bennett and Mary Booth) was born on 28 Feb 1696; died in Jul 1773 in Derby, New Haven, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Sarah married John Burroughs on 9 Jan 1740 in Enfield, Hartford, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Thomas married Sarah Leonard on 11 Jun 1730. Sarah (daughter of James Leonard and Hannah Walley) died on 22 May 1742. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"John Burroughs, Jr., went to New Hampshire with his father in 1765 and removed his family there in 1767; was living in Alstead in 1826. He volunteered under Captain Webber of Walpole in 1777 to go to Bennington, Vermont, and was engaged in battle there; from there he proceeded against Burgoyne at Still Water and returned safely in the fall. He later held a commission as Captain." [Abbe-Abbey Genealogy, citation details below]

Family/Spouse: Mehitable Carlton. Mehitable was born in of Tolland, Tolland, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

A DAR lineage says that he "was a private in Capt. Seth Gilbert's company, Col. John Daggett's, regiment, which marched in the Lexington Alarm of 1775."

Elijah married Susanna Copeland on 1 Oct 1761. Susanna (daughter of Deacon Benjamin Copeland and Sarah Allen) was born on 1 Apr 1740 in Norton, Bristol, Massachusetts; died on 12 Mar 1816. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Joseph Browning. Joseph (son of James Browning and Rebecca Scott) was born on 21 Nov 1760 in Rutland, Worcester, Massachusetts; died on 26 Dec 1831 in Barre, Washington, Vermont; was buried in Wilson Cemetery, Barre, Washington, Vermont. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Member of the Massachusetts legislature, 1792-96.

Jonathan married Lucy Prescott on 6 Dec 1776 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Lucy (daughter of Dr. Abel Prescott and Abigail Brigham) was born on 24 Apr 1757 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts; died on 10 Oct 1792 in Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts; was buried in Old Hill Burying Ground, Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Nordhoff, California was renamed Ojai during World War I.

Elizabeth married Thomas Anthony Thacher on 1 Aug 1860 in New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut. Thomas (son of Peter Thacher and Ann Parks) was born on 11 Jan 1815 in Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut; died on 7 Apr 1886 in New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Benjamin married Molly Hinman on 29 Jul 1771 in Southbury, New Haven, Connecticut. Molly (daughter of Eleazer Hinman and Hannah Scovill) was born in 1744 in of Southbury, New Haven, Connecticut; was christened in 1744. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"John Burroughs, Jr., went to New Hampshire with his father in 1765 and removed his family there in 1767; was living in Alstead in 1826. He volunteered under Captain Webber of Walpole in 1777 to go to Bennington, Vermont, and was engaged in battle there; from there he proceeded against Burgoyne at Still Water and returned safely in the fall. He later held a commission as Captain." [Abbe-Abbey Genealogy, citation details below]

Family/Spouse: Mehitable Carlton. Mehitable was born in of Tolland, Tolland, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

A DAR lineage says that he "was a private in Capt. Seth Gilbert's company, Col. John Daggett's, regiment, which marched in the Lexington Alarm of 1775."

Elijah married Susanna Copeland on 1 Oct 1761. Susanna (daughter of Deacon Benjamin Copeland and Sarah Allen) was born on 1 Apr 1740 in Norton, Bristol, Massachusetts; died on 12 Mar 1816. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Rhoda married Smith EmeryAlstead, Cheshire, New Hampshire. Smith (son of Joshua Emery and Rachel Currier) was born on 16 Aug 1771 in Haverhill, Essex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Asa married Hannah Walker on 27 Nov 1806. Hannah (daughter of Eleazar Walker and Catherine "Caty" Carpenter) was born on 12 Jun 1785 in Norton, Bristol, Massachusetts; died on 3 Jun 1823. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Lucy married Enos Towne in 1814. Enos (son of Enos Towne and Elizabeth Moore) was born on 20 Jun 1786 in Barre, Washington, Vermont; died in Jun 1836. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 18 May 1856, Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts

Notes:

Member of the Massachusetts Governor's Council, 1818-19. Overseer of Harvard College, 1824-52. Judge of probate, 1821-56.

Ancestors of American Presidents (citation details below) has him dying in Concord, but his tombstone (viewable on his Find a Grave page, citation details below) says he died in Cambridge. So does a newspaper obituary shown on the same Find a Grave page; unfortunately, no information is given as to what newspaper the obituary came from.

Samuel Phillips Prescott Fay (1778-1856) = Harriet Howard (1782-1847)
Samuel Howard Fay (1804-1847) = Susan Montfort Shellman (1808-1887)
Harriet Eleanor Fay (1829-1924) = James Smith Bush (1825-1889)
Samuel Prescott Bush (1883-1894) = Flora Sheldon (1872-1920)
Sen. Prescott Sheldon Bush (1895-1972) = Dorothy Wear Walker (1901-1992)
George Herbert Walker Bush (1924-2018) = Barbara Pierce (1925-2018)
George Walker Bush (1946- )

Samuel married Harriet Howard after 31 Jul 1803 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Harriet (daughter of Samuel Howard and Anna Lillie) was born on 27 Mar 1782 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; died on 27 Jul 1847 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts; was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

From www.ywcasf-marin.org/marin-womens-hall-fame/honorees/elizabeth-thacher-kent:

Elizabeth Thacher Kent, a matriarch in the founding family of Kentfield, is one of the few Marin County women to be elected posthumously to the Marin Women's Hall of Fame. Kent was a distinguished proponent of women's rights and international peace and was instrumental in securing women's right to vote.

Kent took up permanent residence in Marin in 1907 and immediately became a vocal activist in support of women's' suffrage. When her husband, William, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, Kent leveraged her position as a Congressman's wife to support the national suffrage movement. She was a featured speaker at the 1913 and 1914 conventions of the National American Women's Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and shortly thereafter assumed leadership of their Congressional Committee. By 1915, she helped form the Congressional Union (later re-named the Women's Party), which picketed the White House in support of suffrage. Kent was arrested twice for her suffrage demonstrating. However, her cause prevailed and in August 1920 the Susan B. Anthony Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed guaranteeing American women the right to vote.

In addition to supporting suffrage, Elizabeth Kent was committed to the cause of world peace. In the 1930's, she provided leadership to the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. She and her husband were also early supporters of the fledging conservation movement. They donated a large tract of land to the U.S. Government to preserve old-growth redwoods. Their gift, the Muir Woods National Monument, provides a lasting testimony to the Kents' exemplary lives of public service.

Elizabeth married Rep. William Kent on 26 Feb 1890 in Nordhoff, California. Rep. (son of Albert Emmet Kent and Adaline Elizabeth Dutton) was born on 29 Mar 1864 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois; died on 13 Mar 1928 in Kentfield, Marin, California. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Nancy Atwater Lee in Oct 1809. Nancy (daughter of Dr. Daniel Lee and Lydia Ann Eliot) was born on 30 Apr 1787 in Lyme, New London, Connecticut; died on 12 Apr 1846; was buried in New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Rhoda married Smith EmeryAlstead, Cheshire, New Hampshire. Smith (son of Joshua Emery and Rachel Currier) was born on 16 Aug 1771 in Haverhill, Essex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Asa married Hannah Walker on 27 Nov 1806. Hannah (daughter of Eleazar Walker and Catherine "Caty" Carpenter) was born on 12 Jun 1785 in Norton, Bristol, Massachusetts; died on 3 Jun 1823. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Laury. Laury was born about 1790; died about Jan 1829 in Reading, Vermont. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Asa married Catherine Ariana Rupert on 25 Feb 1839 in Pekin, Tazewell, Illinois. Catherine (daughter of Henry S. Rupert and Naomi Henkel) was born on 3 Dec 1819 in Point Pleasant, Macon, Virginia; died on 4 Feb 1901 in Washington, Tazewell, Illinois; was buried in Glendale Cemetery, Washington, Tazewell, Illinois. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 5 Sep 1815, Barre, Washington, Vermont

Warren married Sarah E. Hemingway on 15 Nov 1840 in Framingham, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Sarah (daughter of Luther Hemingway and Betsy Cummings) was born in 1818 in Marlborough, Cheshire, New Hampshire; died on 6 Jan 1907 in Keene, Cheshire, New Hampshire; was buried in Woodland Cemetery, Keene, Cheshire, New Hampshire. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"The Rev. Charles Fay, D.D., of Vermont, was born in Cambridge, Mass., July 21, 1808. He was graduated from Harvard College with honor 1829; in 1832 he became assistant teacher in the school established by Bishop Hopkins at Burlington, Vt., and was ordained Deacon in 1833. He organized St. Paul's Church, Vergennes, Vt., in 1838; he took charge of St John's, Highgate; in 1841, established a school for young ladies near Macon, Ga.; thence he removed in 1844 to Louisiana, and engaged in missionary work at Bayou Goula, then at New Orleans. In 1848, he was called to St Luke's, at St Albans, Vt. From 1857 to 1870, he was in charge of St. Paul's Church at Marquette, when he returned to Vermont, making his home at Grand Isle. He died in New York on the 6th of November, 1888, at the age of eighty." ["The Report on the Committee on Memorials of Deceased Members", citation details below.]

Family/Spouse: Charlotte Emily Hopkins. Charlotte (daughter of Bishop John Henry Hopkins and Melusina Müller) was born on 4 May 1817 in Ligonier, Westmoreland, Pennsylvania; died on 23 Sep 1856 in St. Albans, Franklin, Vermont. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Elizabeth married George Stanleigh Arnold on 26 Feb 1915 in Washington, D.C.. George (son of George Sumner Arnold and Evelyn Greenwood Thompson) was born on 3 Apr 1881 in New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut; died on 18 Jan 1942 in Marin, California. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Jane married Rev. Charles Wells Clapp on 16 Aug 1849. Charles (son of Russell Clapp and Louisa Strong) was born on 22 Jan 1817 in Southampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts; died on 12 Aug 1884; was buried in Godfrey Cemetery, Godfrey, Madison, Illinois. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Laury. Laury was born about 1790; died about Jan 1829 in Reading, Vermont. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Asa married Catherine Ariana Rupert on 25 Feb 1839 in Pekin, Tazewell, Illinois. Catherine (daughter of Henry S. Rupert and Naomi Henkel) was born on 3 Dec 1819 in Point Pleasant, Macon, Virginia; died on 4 Feb 1901 in Washington, Tazewell, Illinois; was buried in Glendale Cemetery, Washington, Tazewell, Illinois. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Janette married John Abiel Fellows on 7 Oct 1845 in Essex, Chittenden, Vermont. John (son of Silas Fellows and Mary "Polly" Sherwood) was born on 7 Jan 1810 in Sandy Hill, Washington, New York; died on 13 Mar 1890 in Sandstone, Jackson, Michigan; was buried in Dearing Cemetery, Sandstone, Jackson, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

From his Find a Grave page (citation details below): "Henry attended Lombard College in Galesburg, IL. Along with his uncle, George W. Danforth, they built the town of Danforth, IL. and had a banking business there. He built the Danforth Bank and Danforth Hotel in Washington and also had a lumber company here. Besides being a successful businessman he also served as the Mayor of Washington."

Note that the Wikipedia page for Danforth, Illinois calls the town's founder "George M. Danforth", citing Henry Gannett's 1905 The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States, which also calls him "George M. Danforth." From the evidence of Find a Grave, and also the town records of Norton, Massachusetts, this is an error both in Gannett's book and on Wikipedia. At https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/40947601/george-walker-danforth, we find a page for an uncle of Henry Rupert Danforth whose gravestone at Glendale Cemetery in Washington, Illinois clearly reads "GEORGE W. DANFORTH 1807-1882". The page states that his middle initial W stood for "Walker". and that he was born 5 Sep 1807 in Norton, Bristol, Massachusetts, a son of Asa Danforth and Hannah Walker. And indeed the town records of Norton show a George Walker Danforth born 5 Sep 1807, "ch. Asa and Hannah".

Henry married Mary Elizabeth Wenger on 2 Nov 1865. Mary (daughter of Dr. Elias Wenger and Eliza Jane Smith) was born on 15 Nov 1843; died on 11 Jan 1930; was buried in Glendale Cemetery, Washington, Tazewell, Illinois. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

The 1880 and 1900 US census both say that her father was born in Vermont and her mother in New Hampshire. As of the 1900 census she was a widow.

Sophronia married Henry Harrison Hartwell on 5 Feb 1869. Henry (son of Haskell F. Hartwell and Sarah Ann Ellis) was born on 18 Nov 1849 in Springfield, Windsor, Vermont; died on 21 Feb 1898 in Mansfield, Bristol, Massachusetts; was buried in Spring Brook Cemetery, Mansfield, Bristol, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]