Edward de St. John

Family/Spouse: Anastasia de Aton. Anastasia (daughter of William de Aton and Isabel Percy) died after 22 Jul 1389. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Margaret married Thomas Bromflete between 1387 and 7 Mar 1389. Thomas was born in of Londesborough, Yorkshire, England; died on 31 Dec 1430; was buried in Wymington, Bedfordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Harry Bromflete. Esquire of the King's Chamber. Joint ambassador to France. Sheriff of Yorkshire, 1432-33. He accompanied Henry V to France in July 1417, and was knighted before 25 Jan 1419. Honorary member of London's Guild of Merchant Taylors. He was one of the ambassadors to the General Council of the Pope at Basle in 1434. As a Lancastrian, he supported Henry VI, but he made his peace with Edward IV.

Family/Spouse: Eleanor Fitz Hugh. Eleanor (daughter of Henry Fitz Hugh and Elizabeth Grey) died on 30 Sep 1457 in Newington, Middlesex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Henry married Joan Holand between 29 Sep 1415 and 27 Apr 1416. Joan (daughter of Thomas de Holland and Alice Fitz Alan) died on 12 Apr 1434. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: John Clifford. John (son of Thomas Clifford and Joan Dacre) was born on 8 Apr 1435 in Conisbrough Castle, Yorkshire, England; died on 28 Mar 1461 in Ferrybridge, Yorkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Harry Clifford.

From Wikipedia (accessed 2 Jan 2024):

Henry Clifford, 10th Baron Clifford KB [...] was an English nobleman. His father, John Clifford, 9th Baron Clifford, was killed in the Wars of the Roses fighting for the House of Lancaster when Henry was around five years old. A local legend later developed that -- on account of John Clifford having killed one of the House of York's royal princes in battle, and the new Yorkist King Edward IV seeking revenge -- Henry was spirited away by his mother. As a result, it was said, he grew up ill-educated, living a pastoral life in the care of a shepherd family. Thus, ran the story, Clifford was known as the "shepherd lord". More recently, historians have questioned this narrative, noting that for a supposedly ill-educated man, he was signing charters only a few years after his father's death, and that in any case, Clifford was officially pardoned by King Edward in 1472. It may be that he deliberately avoided attracting Yorkist attention in his early years, although probably not to the extent portrayed in the local mythology.

The Yorkist regime came to an end in 1485 with the invasion of Henry Tudor, who defeated Edward's brother, Richard III, at the Battle of Bosworth Field. Henry's victory meant that he needed men to control the North of England for him, and Clifford's career as a loyal Tudor servant began. Soon after Bosworth, the King gave him responsibility for crushing the last remnants of rebellion in the north. Clifford was not always successful in this, and his actions were not always popular. On more than one occasion, he found himself at loggerheads with the city of York, the civic leadership of which was particularly independently minded. When another Yorkist rebellion broke out in 1487, Clifford suffered an embarrassing military defeat by the rebels outside the city walls. Generally, however, royal service was extremely profitable for him: King Henry needed trustworthy men in the region and was willing to build up their authority in order to protect his own.

Although Clifford's later years were devoted to service in the north and fighting the Scots (he took part in the decisive English victory at Flodden in 1513) he fell out with the King on numerous occasions. Clifford was not an easy-going personality; his abrasiveness caused trouble with his neighbours, occasionally breaking out in violent feuds. This was not the behaviour the King expected from his lords. Furthermore, Clifford had married a cousin of the King, yet Clifford's infidelity to her was notorious among his contemporaries. This also drew the King's ire, to the extent that the couple's separation was mooted. Clifford's first wife had died by 1511, and Clifford remarried. This was also a tempestuous match, and on one occasion he and his wife ended up in court accusing each other of adultery. Clifford's relations with his eldest son and heir, the eventual Henry Clifford, 1st Earl of Cumberland, were equally turbulent. Clifford rarely attended the royal court himself, but sent his son to be raised with the King's heir, Prince Arthur. Clifford later complained that young Henry not only lived above his station, he consorted with men of bad influence; Clifford also accused his son of regularly beating up his father's servants on his return to Yorkshire.

Clifford outlived the King and attended the coronation of Henry VIII in 1509. While continuing to serve as the King's man in the north, Clifford carried on his feuds with the local gentry. He also indulged his interests in astronomy, for which he built a small castle for observation purposes. Clifford grew ill in 1522 and died in April of the following year; his widow later remarried. Young Henry inherited the title as 11th Baron Clifford as well as a large fortune and estate, the result of his father's policy of frugality and avoiding the royal court for most of his life.

Family/Spouse: Anne St. John. Anne (daughter of John St. John and Alice Bradschagh) died after 12 May 1506; was buried in Skipton-in-Craven, Yorkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Ralph Bowes. Ralph (son of Ralph Bowes and Margery Conyers) was born in of Streatlam, Durham, England; died in Apr 1516. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Margery married Ralph Eure before 1529. Ralph (son of William Eure and Elizabeth Willoughby) was born about 1510 in of Foulbridge in Brompton, Yorkshire, England; died on 6 Mar 1545 in near Jedburgh, Roxburghshire, Scotland; was buried in Melrose Abbey, Roxburghshire, Scotland. [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 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]

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]

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:

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]

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 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]

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]

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]

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]

Herman married Louise W. Leonard on 18 Oct 1905 in Pekin, Tazewell, Illinois. Louise (daughter of Frederick Leonard and Mary Lou Turner) was born in 1883 in Illinois; died in 1959 in Illinois; was buried in Glendale Cemetery, Washington, Tazewell, Illinois. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Lieutenant (JG), US Naval Reserve, WWII.

His ashes were scattered at sea by the US Navy.

Herman married Ruth Marie Gelpi in Nov 1944 in New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana. Ruth (daughter of Dr. Maurice Joseph Gelpi and Ruth Marie de Grange) was born on 10 Jan 1926 in New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana; died on 16 Dec 2000 in Scottsdale, Maricopa, Arizona. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]