Kelston Manor? Henry VIII? Help?
Paul M. Gifford
In article <Pine.GSO.3.92.96102...@luna.cas.usf.edu> "M. Council" <cou...@luna.cas.usf.edu> writes:
>What I've been told:
>John Herrington, a minor Elizabethan poet, married Ethelreada DINGLAY,
>an illegitimate daughter of Henry VIII; because of her relation, they
>had bestowed upon them a manor called Kelston, in Somerset.
>Their grandson, John Herrington, served as High Sheriff of Somerset,a
>nd is said to have installed running water in the manor. The
>family moved to Boston in 1630, and in the same year John [the
>grandson] died, leaving four kids, one of which is my direct
>ancestor.
An interesting story, but is there truth to it? I recall an article in the
New England Historic Genealogical Society Quarterly within the
past 10 years giving the origin of Abraham Errington and his sister
Rebecca, but nothing like this. I'm descended from Benjamin Hearnden/
Herrington of RI, so I'm interested. Curiously, John Herrington is
stated to die in the same year he emigrated, which probably leaves
out any hope of verifying that he was indeed the father of four children.
>This is all on my maternal grandfather's side of the family. My mother
>is planning to go to England in the Spring to see if she can find
>Kelston Manor to photograph the site.
>At the risk of sounding incredibly unlearned in geneaology, could a
>kind soul point me in the direction of some sources where I might
>quietly verify this story before my mother makes a potentially
>offensive move? I can deal with the Boston stuff, but where can I
>verify Ethelreada DINGLAY, and find a period map of Somerset? My local
>map store can't help me, the Somerset Archives people are acting as
>though I live down the street [I live in Florida], and Somerset
>Tourist Board wrote back saying they don't answer these kinds of
>questions...all I'd asked is, "can I find out if the manor ever
>existed and approximately *where*?"
Verify it in a dictionary of English place names, and look for it in
the Victoria County History of Somerset----there may or may not
be a history of that manor. Look in the Complete Peerage to see
whether Henry VIII or VI or any other Henry had an illegitimate
daughter. You might also look in the published Calendar of Inquisitions
Post Mortem for tenants of Kelston in the 14th and 15th centuries.
I recall seeing somewhere that a Sir John Harrington was the father
of Benjamin and that the person who made this claim grouped together
several other people of this name, among them Abraham. A genealogy
of Benjamin's family from 1941 made this claim, but it is totally unverified.
Most of us (although not all) prefer truth in genealogical matters to
wild fiction. This story is interesting, but it sounds a bit on the wild side.
Before your mother goes on a wild goose chase, you might try to look
up the Abraham Errington article mentioned above, and suggest that
your mother go there instead (that is, if Abraham is your ancestor). The
story about the illegitimate daughter of Henry VIII is certainly false.
There may have been a John Herrington who was sheriff of Somerset,
but some ambitious 19th-century "genealogist" could have selected
him from a book and made up the rest. I don't want to disappoint you,
but stories such as these do deserve to be verified.
Paul Gifford
M. Council
What I've been told:
John Herrington, a minor Elizabethan poet, married Ethelreada DINGLAY,
an illegitimate daughter of Henry VIII; because of her relation, they
had bestowed upon them a manor called Kelston, in Somerset.
Their grandson, John Herrington, served as High Sheriff of Somerset,a
nd is said to have installed running water in the manor. The
family moved to Boston in 1630, and in the same year John [the
grandson] died, leaving four kids, one of which is my direct
ancestor.
This is all on my maternal grandfather's side of the family. My mother
is planning to go to England in the Spring to see if she can find
Kelston Manor to photograph the site.
At the risk of sounding incredibly unlearned in geneaology, could a
kind soul point me in the direction of some sources where I might
quietly verify this story before my mother makes a potentially
offensive move? I can deal with the Boston stuff, but where can I
verify Ethelreada DINGLAY, and find a period map of Somerset? My local
map store can't help me, the Somerset Archives people are acting as
though I live down the street [I live in Florida], and Somerset
Tourist Board wrote back saying they don't answer these kinds of
questions...all I'd asked is, "can I find out if the manor ever
existed and approximately *where*?"
Many thanks for even reading this far,
-Maggie Council Di Pietra
followups to: cou...@luna.cas.usf.edu
M. Council
On Thu, 24 Oct 1996, Paul M. Gifford wrote:
> In article <Pine.GSO.3.92.96102...@luna.cas.usf.edu> "M. Council" <cou...@luna.cas.usf.edu> writes:
>
> >What I've been told:
[snipped for brevity]
>
> An interesting story, but is there truth to it? I recall an article in the
> New England Historic Genealogical Society Quarterly within the
> past 10 years giving the origin of Abraham Errington and his sister
> Rebecca, but nothing like this. I'm descended from Benjamin Hearnden/
> Herrington of RI, so I'm interested.
Then you and i are related.
Curiously, John Herrington is
> stated to die in the same year he emigrated, which probably leaves
> out any hope of verifying that he was indeed the father of four children.
>
I have the birthdates of the four children, all pre-1630, which is
the year of immigration that I ahve. The eldest son, Robert, did not
emigrate at the same time as the others, but arrived a few years
later. I don't have them on hand at the moment [they're at home, where
i have no computer], but if you are interested, I can dig them up.
> Verify it in a dictionary of English place names, and look for it in
> the Victoria County History of Somerset----there may or may not
> be a history of that manor. Look in the Complete Peerage to see
> whether Henry VIII or VI or any other Henry had an illegitimate
> daughter. You might also look in the published Calendar of Inquisitions
> Post Mortem for tenants of Kelston in the 14th and 15th centuries.
>
Thank you for the reference ideas!
> I recall seeing somewhere that a Sir John Harrington was the father
> of Benjamin and that the person who made this claim grouped together
> several other people of this name, among them Abraham. A genealogy
> of Benjamin's family from 1941 made this claim, but it is totally unverified.
> Most of us (although not all) prefer truth in genealogical matters to
> wild fiction. This story is interesting, but it sounds a bit on the wild side.
> Before your mother goes on a wild goose chase, you might try to look
> up the Abraham Errington article mentioned above, and suggest that
> your mother go there instead (that is, if Abraham is your ancestor). The
> story about the illegitimate daughter of Henry VIII is certainly false.
> There may have been a John Herrington who was sheriff of Somerset,
> but some ambitious 19th-century "genealogist" could have selected
> him from a book and made up the rest. I don't want to disappoint you,
> but stories such as these do deserve to be verified.
>
I agree!
I am hardly disappointed. I encounter people all the time who have
alleged Native American roots --only they're all
descended from "princesses."
I work in the Department of Anthropology at University of South
Florida, and serve as the committee chair for Native American
Awareness events. I can say with some authority that Native peoples
did not have royalty as Westerners know it, and such claims are
invariably false. Some behavioral scientists have written about this
phemnomenon as a psychological issue.
My mother is no slouch at this stuff, Paul, being trained as a
librarian and a historian. She's been doing it for over 25 years,
despite my father's rolling eyes and joking claims that she's more
interested in her dead relatives than the living ones!
Our Herringtons ended up in Burke County, Georgia. Nancy Herrington
married a man named BARGERON; their daughter Ada Lavinia is my
great-grandmother.
> Paul Gifford
>
>
Nice to meet you, "cuz!"
-maggie council di pietra, program assistant
graduate programs in applied anthropology
university of south florida
cou...@luna.cas.usf.edu
William L. "Toby" Dills
Unfortunately the primary records do not support the immigration of
one John Harrington in 1630 or 1631.
The story as best I can find it (there are several slightly variant
versions):
"John Harrington (described variously as a descendant of John
Harrington of Kelston and his wife Mary Rogers OR more recently as a
descendant of a Harrington family in Bourne or Witham-on-the-Hill in
ENG also with Noble connections) and his wife Ann [or Elizabeth or
Susan], daughter of the Earl of Lincoln, and children Robert,
Benjamin, Abraham and Rebecca came to Boston abt. 1630. John drownded
in Boston Harbor. Benjamin of the children became a Baptist and moved
to Providence after a brief stay with an uncle named as Charles
Fines."
I am descended from both Robert Harrington of Watertown and Benjamin
Herendeen (i.e. Harrington) of Providence and would love to find some
truth to this story. Unfortunately the reliable secondary sources so
far have not yet produced one shred of evidence to support any of this
claimed line and there are a number of parts of it that have been
shown to be incorrect:
1. Robert Harrington of Watertown and Abraham and Rebecca Errington
of Charlestown have been clearly shown to be children in other
families. Widow Ann Errington is in fact the parent of the latter two
but her husband was named William and they are unrelated in any
traceable waty to any of the Harrington Noble lines.
> Weis, F.L. "Early Generations of the Family of Robert Harrington
of Watertown Massachusetts, 1634, and Some of His Descendants"
pp.10-11.
>Bate, K.W. (1978) English Origins of the Errington Family" New
England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. 132, pp44-50.
2. John, son of John of Kelston married Dionysse Legh and remained in
England>
>Herrington, B.M. "The Ancestory and Descendants of William
Harrington or Herrington" LDS FHS Microfilm 1033751#3
3. The daughters of the Earl of Lincoln either married other people
besides Harringtons (Susan and Elizabeth) or died young. None of them
are available to be mother of Benjamin Herendeen.
>Cokayne, G.E. "The Complete Peerage" "Lincoln" Vol. VII,
pp.695-696.
>Brydges, E. "Collins's Peerage of England" Vol. II,
p209.
4. No Harringtons are reported in New England at all before 1633.
>Anderson, R.C. "The Great Migration Begins" pp.35-39.
The earliest source for this story that I have thus far located
appears to be
"Harrington Family in America: by Eugene F Harrington"
which I have ordered to see if there are ANY primary references for it
at all or if it is one of the manufactured Royal genealogies so
popular 50 to 100 years ago. I hope not, but I have NO evidence to
support this line.
Best regards,
Toby Dills :<)
John V Addis-Smith
"M. Council" <cou...@luna.cas.usf.edu> wrote:
>What I've been told:
>
--------------
I make no comment on the alleged American connection to the Kelveston
(or Kelweston) Somerset Haringtons, but suggest you look at the entry
for Kelveston in John Collinson's History of Somerset, 1791, in volume
1 pages 127-131.
It is too long to quote in full here, and my modern reprint folio
sized copy is too large and delicate to carry around and put on a
photocopier, but it starts as follows:
After the dissolution of religious houses, king Henry VIII. in the
thirty-eighth year of his reign, granted upon this manor [Kelveston]
with those of Bath-Easton and Katherine, and the capital messuage
called Katherine's-court, to John Malte and Etheldred Malte, alias
Dyngley, the king's natural daughter, begotton upon the body of Joanna
Dyngley, alias Dobson. Which Etheldred was committed to the care of
the said Malte, who was the king's taylor, for education: and the
king, having special love and regard for her, granted these estates
for her use and benefit; but she always passed for Malte's natural
daughter. She was shortly after married to John Harington, esq; a
confidential servant of the king, who thus obtained the several
estates above-mentioned. The said John Harington was the progenitor of
a very respectable family, of whom were several persons of learning
and erudition; particularly his son sir John Harington, knight, the
celebrated translator of Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, who lived in the
reign of queen Elizabeth. [This suggests that the poet was the son of
the John H who married Etheldred Dyngley]. The chief residence of the
family was Kelweston, and the manor continued in their possession til
sold of late years to Caesar Hawkins, esq; created a baronet of
Great-Britain July 25, 1776; whose grandson sir Caesar Hawkins,
baronet, is the present possessor.
- - - - - - -
There is more on the Hawkins family branches.
- - - - - - -
The old manor-house stood near the church, and was erected in 1587 by
Sir John Harington, after a plan of that celebrated architect James
Barozzi, of Vignola. This house sir Caesar Hawkins pulled down, and
about twenty years since {ie. in about 1771, or a little earlier,
since Collinson wrote some of this work in 1784] erected an elegant
mansion southward of it, on an eminance commanding a most beautiful
varied prospect of the surreounding country, the Avon, and the city of
Bath.
- - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
Collinson refers to Dugdale's Baronage stating that Queen Elizabeth
visited her godson at the old Kelweston manor house 'in her way to
Oxford in 1591'.
There is no mention by Collinson of an American connection for the
Haringtons. He does mention several Haringtom memorials in the church,
though they may not all be there still, 200 years later.
Finally, Collinson has included a fine 1788 engraving of Kelveston.
The manor house is not visible, but the surrounding wall and gatehouse
are.
I hope this helps.
Regards, John
--
John Addis-Smith - Thurleigh, Bedford, England MK44 2EE
ste...@baldar.abs.net
My National Trust Atlas shows a tiny place called Kelston just
northwest of Bath. By all means, your Mom should go have a look-
but if you can come up with some Welsh ancestors, she'll have a
better time.
Judith
thefirst...@gmail.com
My name is Mark Herrington and I seemed to have traced my direct lineage from John Herrington who married Nancy Rosanna Reid (1862-1915) in 1881. They lived in Jones County Mississippi. I am away from all of my information but research Lord Oswulf de Haverington (1151-????) he died at an unknown date within Haverington, Cumberland, England.