Thomas Astley

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

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Melton Constable, Norfolk, England

Family/Spouse: Ann Cruse. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Anne Wood. Anne (daughter of John Wood) died after 1507. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Possibly a groom of the Privy Chamber to Elizabeth I, although this may represent confusion between him and his much older half-brother John Astley, who married, as her second husband, this Thomas Astley's wife's maternal grandmother.

Thomas married Mary Denny before 1563. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Melton Constable, Norfolk, England
• Alternate death: 1 Aug 1596

Notes:

Master of the Jewel House to Elizabeth I. Gentleman of the Privy Chamber.

MP for Chippenham, Cambridgeshire, in 1547, West Looe, Devon, in March 1553, and St Albans, Hertfordshire, in 1555.

He was the author of the earliest English book about horsemanship, which gloried in the jawbreaking title The Art of Riding, set foorth in a breefe treatise, with a due interpretation of certeine places alledged out of Xenophon, and Gryson, verie expert and excellent Horssemen: Wherein also the true use of the hand by the said Grysons rules and precepts is speciallie touched: and how the Author of this present worke hath put the same in practise, also what profit men maie reape thereby: without the knowledge whereof, all the residu of the order of Riding is but vaine. Lastlie is added a short discourse of the Chaine of Cauezzan, the Trench and the Martingale: written by a Gentleman of great skill and long experience in the said Art. London, 1584.

John married Katherine Carew about 1545. Katherine (daughter of Edmund Carew and Katherine Huddesfield) was born about 1500; died on 18 Jul 1565 in London, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Edward Darcy. Edward (son of Arthur Darcy and Mary Carew) was born about 1543 in of Dartford, Kent, England; died on 28 Oct 1612 in Dartford, Kent, England; was buried in St. Botolph's, Aldgate, London, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 1631

Family/Spouse: Grace Reddish. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1669, London, England

Notes:

Her second husband was the Rev. Sydrach Simpson, Master of Pembroke Hall at the University of Cambridge.

Isabella married John Launce about 1619. John (son of Robert Launce and Susan Tubb) was born about 1597 in of Penair in St. Clement, Cornwall, England; died before 25 Jun 1635; was buried on 25 Jun 1635 in St. Clement, Cornwall, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Newhall, Derbyshire, England

Edward married Elizabeth Stanhope after 1634. Elizabeth (daughter of Philip Stanhope) died about 1683. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

One of AP's two proven gateway ancestors.

Cotton Mather, in Magnalia Christi Americana, called Mary Launce, second wife of the Rev. John Sherman, a "young gentlewoman [...] a Person of good Education, and Reputation, and honorably descended," whose mother was "daughter to the Lord Darcy, who was Earl of Rivers." She certainly was not, and in his pioneering 1860-64 Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, James Savage took delight at exercising his well-known animus against Mather, who "tells of this wife calling her mother daughter of Darcy, Earl Rivers, one of the Popish Counsellors of Charles I who had no daughter that married a Launce." Savage continues: "If [Mary Launce Sherman] did give [her husband] these myths of her noble descent [...] either she was insane, which he had not sanity enough to discover, or she was irreverently playing on his bottomless credulity." It was left to the great Donald Lines Jacobus, founder of the twentieth-century "Jacobus School" of skeptical, fact-based genealogy, to point out, in a 1944 article, "The Family of Rev. John Sherman" (citation details below), that Mary Launce's mother really was a Darcy, albeit one of the Darcy family of Kent. Isabella Darcy of London, daughter of Sir Edward Darcy, a confidant and ally of Elizabeth I, first married John Launce of Cornwall and, secondly, the Rev. Sydrach Simpson, master of Pembroke Hall at Cambridge University. Her 1668 will names, with others, her sons James Launce and Darcy Launce, and her daughter Mary Sherman. In a subsequent article, "The Darcy Ancestry of Mrs. John Sherman" (citation details below), Jacobus put forth further proofs of Mary Launce's parentage, calling it a "perfect chain of evidence" and remarking that "Few English lines of early colonists are so thoroughly proved."

Descendants of the Rev. John Sherman and Mary Launce include Norman Rockwell, Declaration of Independence signer Robert Treat Paine, and the 68th governor of Massachusetts, William Weld.

Regarding the date of her death, the Early New England Families Study Project (citation details below) states only that she "[d]ied probably at Watertown between 15 October 1705 and 24 December 1712. She was living on 20 October 1704, when she acknowledged a deed." But Watertown records (citation details below) clearly state "m^s Mary Sherman (widow of mr. John Sherman Late: R^d: pastor of the church in watertown) deceas^t march : 9 : 1709/10".

Mary married Rev. John Sherman about 1647. John (son of Edmund Sherman and Grace Makin) was born on 26 Dec 1613 in Dedham, Essex, England; was christened on 4 Jan 1614 in Dedham, Essex, England; died on 8 Aug 1685 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts; was buried in East Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Katherine married Erasmus Phillips about 1 Sep 1660. Erasmus (son of Richard Phillips and Elizabeth Dryden) was born in of Picton Castle, Pembrokeshire, Wales; died on 18 Jan 1697. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1645

Notes:

Minister at Sudbury, Massachusetts, Elizabethtown, New Jersey, and Salem, Massachusetts.

James married Mary Walker on 13 May 1680 in Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Mary (daughter of Thomas Walker and Mary Stone) was born on 9 Aug 1661 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts; died after 11 Mar 1709. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: John Shorter. John (son of John Shorter, Lord Mayor of London) was born in of Bybrook, Kent, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He and his wife Abigail Stone "settled in Springfield, Mass., where he was a schoolmaster and physician; but about 1722 they removed to the region which in 1731 became the town of Brimfield, where he was a physician, town clerk for thirty successive years, representative three years, and captain of militia." They were married for nearly seventy years.

John married Abigail Stone on 9 Nov 1703 in Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Abigail (daughter of Daniel Stone and Mary Moore) was born on 13 Feb 1681 in Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts; died on 9 Mar 1772 in Brimfield, Hampden, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Catherine married Robert Walpole on 30 Jul 1700 in Knightsbridge Chapel, London, England. Robert (son of Robert Walpole and Mary Burwell) was born on 26 Aug 1676 in Houghton, Norfolk, England; died on 18 Mar 1745 in London, England; was buried on 25 Mar 1745 in Houghton, Norfolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 31 Mar 1703, Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts

Bezaleel married Abigail Graves on 4 Feb 1732 in Brimfield, Hampden, Massachusetts. Abigail (daughter of Ebenezer Graves and Mary Colton) was born on 18 Feb 1707 in Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Christened Horatio Walpole, he was an antiquarian, an art historian, the author of the first Gothic novel The Castle of Otranto, and of letters of great social and historical interest, which have been published in 48 volumes by Yale University Press.

MP for Callington, Cornwall, 1741-1754; for Castle Rising, Norfolk, 1754-1757; and for King's Lynn, Norfolk, 1757-1768. Earl of Orford from 1791 to his death.

Abigail married Joseph Thompson on 19 Feb 1754 in Brimfield, Hampden, Massachusetts. Joseph (son of James Thompson and Mary) was born on 25 Mar 1733 in Brimfield, Hampden, Massachusetts; died in 1795 in Virginia, Coshocton, Ohio; was buried in Virginia, Coshocton, Ohio. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He appears to have been served in the Revolution for nine months beginning in July 1779, under Captain Reuben Lilly.

Family/Spouse: Sarah Clark. Sarah was born in 1767; died on 15 Jan 1852; was buried in Peru Center Cemetery, Peru, Berkshire, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 3 Jul 1788, Hampshire County, Massachusetts

Notes:

Also called Sarah Thompson.

Sarah married Elisha Branch on 3 Oct 1810 in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. Elisha (son of Nathan Branch and Elizabeth "Polly" Woodward) was born on 9 Apr 1787 in Worthington, Hampshire, Massachusetts; died on 14 Nov 1856 in York, Medina, Ohio; was buried in Branch Cemetery, Medina, Medina, Ohio. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1813
• Alternate death: 13 Dec 1914, Lansing, Ingham, Michigan

Notes:

History of Medina County and Ohio (citation details below), naming her as a daughter of Elisha Branch and Sallie Thompson of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, calls her "Mrs. Albert Mead, in Michigan".

From Edythe Alma (Pearsall) Palmer (citation details below):

Sarah Branch Mead moved from a New York county to the Lansing area with her brood of six, lived in a log cabin and taught her children (plus the neighbors') how to read from newspapers on the walls, before she was able to add a real book to her copy of the Bible and one by Charles Dickens. I have a photo (circa 1903) of her at least 90, wearing her black bombazine highnecked shirtwaist, wearing her gold wedding ring, and reading the Bible. (I don't believe that many women could read at all at that time.) Of course, it paid off. Grandpa Mead became a proofreader for the Detroit Free Press, a Shakespeare scholar and a "reader" in the Christian Science church! He loved to laugh and tell funny stories. I remember the one about the witches in Macbeth.

Sarah married Albert Cyrus Mead on 7 Jan 1847. Albert was born in Dec 1825 in New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Nathan married Mary C. Egan on 12 Oct 1921 in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan. Mary (daughter of William Egan and Margaret Livingston) was born about 1857 in Canada. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

According to his obituary in the Detroit Free Press, he was a compositor for them (1880-1890), not a proofreader as reported in his granddaughter Edythe Alma (Pearsall) Palmer's undated letter quoted in our entry on his mother. From 1890 until his retirement in 1926, he was a customs officer in Detroit. According to Edythe Alma (Pearsall) Palmer, he was also an amateur Shakespeare scholar. He must have been well-liked; obituary notices appeared for him in newspapers in Detroit, Lansing, and Battle Creek.

Edwin married Carolyn Green on 22 Jan 1873 in Lansing, Ingham, Michigan. Carolyn (daughter of Capt. John Green) was born on 22 Jan 1852 in Lansing, Ingham, Michigan; died on 22 Jun 1932 in Albion, Calhoun, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Myron married Katherine Kappeller on 16 Oct 1878 in Ingham County, Michigan. Katherine was born on 17 Feb 1859 in Elba, Genesee, New York; died on 16 Jan 1934 in Mason, Ingham, Michigan; was buried in Maple Grove Cemetery, Mason, Ingham, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Ella A. Holmes on 5 Jul 1881 in Washtenaw County, Michigan. Ella was born about 1862; died after 5 Feb 1922. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Emma married Lucius R. Williams on 14 Nov 1887 in Lorain County, Ohio. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1862, Michigan

Family/Spouse: John B. Hanson. John died after 19 Dec 1932. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Alma married George E. Newell on 12 Nov 1885 in Lorain County, Ohio. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Lois married Charles A. Quay on 6 Oct 1896 in Lansing, Ingham, Michigan. Charles (son of Sanford Quay and Margery Thompson) was born about 1863 in Green County, Indiana; died after 9 Jul 1938. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Eva J.. Eva died before 18 Mar 1933. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: E. Viola Andress. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1884, Michigan
• Alternate birth: Abt 1885, Michigan

Angeline married Arthur Hamilton Pearsall on 3 Jun 1906 in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan. Arthur (son of William Augustus Pearsall and Angeline Quigley) was born on 11 Dec 1883 in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan; died in Apr 1974. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1922, Michigan

Edythe married William Ellsworth Palmer on 15 Feb 1951 in Cook County, Illinois. William (son of Claude Hutchinson Palmer and Grace Elizabeth Howell) was born on 24 Oct 1922 in Indianapolis, Marion, Indiana; died on 11 Mar 2005; was buried in Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery, Elwood, Will, Illinois. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: (Private). [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]