Abrahalls of Herefordshire

[Dd Pk]

Two common pleas suits of 1528 feature a Hugh Abrehale – I'm trying to figure out how he fits into the Abrahall pedigree.

Both CP suits (Henry VIII, 1528: CP40no1057) are cited on the AALT site here: http://aalt.law.uh.edu/Indices/CP40Indices/CP40no1057/CP40no1057Pl.htm

Suit 1. Hugh Abrahale and Fulk Abrahale are plaintiffs against defendant William Grey, of Upton Bishop, Gent in a complaint of trespass and taking.

Suit 2. John Abrehale esq is plaintiff versus defendants Hugh Abrehale, of Canon Frome, gent; and Fulk Abrehale, of Mighelchurche, Urchynfeld, gent – also trespass and taking.

In suit 1, I believe William Grey must be the husband of Jane Abrahall (1467), daughter of William Abrahall (1437) and Elizabeth ap Howell, and brother of John and Fulk (1469), who I further suppose must be the Fulk mentioned in this suit. (as outlined in the Abrahall pedigree described in Chas. Robinson, ‘A history of the mansions and manors of Herefordshire’ available here: https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_History_of_the_Mansions_and_Manors_of/0eaa9h_IPFkC?hl=en&gbpv=0)

In suit 2, I’m speculating that this is the same Fulk as in suit 1, and that John Abrehale is his brother (per the Robinson pedigree, cited above). Likewise, I’m assuming it’s the same Hugh in both cases.


The fact that Hugh is from Canon Frome raises a question of why he was involved with Fulk, who is from Michaelchurch, quite a different part of the county (and the epicentre of the senior Abrahall line).

There is a Hugh Abrahall in Stretton Grandison, which is near to Canon Frome (Hugh d.1614; m. (1) Eliz m. (2) Jane Lovell in 1606). This Hugh may have been the son of John Abrahall of Stretton, whose 1556 will (https://willsdb.gukutils.org.uk/HEF/WillsA.html) mentions a son, Hugh (as well as a daughter, Julyan and a brother, Thomas Abrahale of Stretton). Could the Hugh from the 1528 suits be the link to the families in Stretton?

The only other Hugh Abrahall I can find is Hugh (b.c.1480) m. Alice Rudhall, parents of Joan Abrahall who married Thomas Kyrle in the early 1500s. In his 1968 pedigree for the Abrahalls, Vernon Norr describes Hugh as ‘unplaced’ (‘Some early English pedigrees’, available here: https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/277483-redirection)

I’m sure the full text of the two suits in question would be revealing, but my latin and paleography skills aren’t up to the task. I’m not even sure I’ve got the right images, but assume these to be the ones:
http://aalt.law.uh.edu/H8/CP40no1057/aCP40no1057fronts/IMG_6280.htm
http://aalt.law.uh.edu/H8/CP40no1057/bCP40no1057dorses/IMG_7535.htm


This is all highly speculative, I know.

Any thoughts?

[Stewart Baldwin]

On Tuesday, July 26, 2022 at 9:51:08 AM UTC-5, baytr...@gmail.com wrote:

> I’m sure the full text of the two suits in question would be revealing, but my latin and paleography skills aren’t up to the task. I’m not even sure I’ve got the right images, but assume these to be the ones:
> http://aalt.law.uh.edu/H8/CP40no1057/aCP40no1057fronts/IMG_6280.htm
> http://aalt.law.uh.edu/H8/CP40no1057/bCP40no1057dorses/IMG_7535.htm

Unfortunately, most Common Pleas cases don't contain all that much in the way of genealogical information. These two cases are no exception:

Hugh Abrahale and Fulk Abrahale, plaintiffs, vs. William Grey of Upton Bishop, gent., accusing him of taking three cows and three mares belonging to the said Hugh and Fulk, valued at 4 pounds, at Iverston in the parish of Lenwarne in the said county [Hereford].

John Abrehale, armiger, plaintiff vs. Hugh Abrehale, late of Canon Frome in the aforesaid county [Hereford], gent., and Fulk Abrehale, late of Mighelchurche under (infra) the lordship of Urchynfeld in the aforesaid county, gent., accusing them of taking goods & chattels worth 14 pounds at Iverston.

Iverston is apparently the manor of Evaston in Llanwarne, co. Hereford.

Even in the typical cases where there is no specific genealogical information, the Common Pleas records can help to determine the time periods during which various members of a family were active. And every once in a while, you might come across a nugget containing valuable genealogical information, sometimes even giving several generations. These really lucky ones usually involve disputes over land, advowsons, guardianships, etc. However, even types of cases which are usually less useful genealogically (debts, trespass, assault, etc.) can surprise you with useful tidbits. Women are often identified as the wife, widow, or daughter of somebody, and a case involving two individuals with the same name will usually have some kind of information to distinguish them from one another, often involving a genealogical relationship. As I mentioned before, one of the biggest obstacles is that so few of these Common Pleas records are indexed, so a lot of haystacks would need to be searched to find the needles that may or may not be there.

Stewart Baldwin

[Dd Pk]

Thanks Stewart, it's kind of you to translate these

[Girl57]

On Tuesday, July 26, 2022 at 1:06:35 PM UTC-4, baytr...@gmail.com wrote:
> Thanks Stewart, it's kind of you to translate these

baytr, good luck with Abrahalls, and Stewart, thanks to you for the great insight about Common Pleas. I'm new at this, and the shared knowledge of members here is so valuable.