Some Venables of England and America And Brief Accounts of Families Into Which Certain Venables Married

Transcription

1 Some Venables of England and America And Brief Accounts of Families Into Which Certain Venables Married Henrietta Brady Brown Kinderton Press Cincinnati, Ohio 1961 Copyright 1961 by Henrietta Brady Brown All rights reserved Kinderton Press. 636 Dixie Terminal Building, Cincinnati, Ohio Note on this digital edition: In the process of scanning the original printed text the original pagination has been lost. While this makes the original Table of Contents and Index less useful, it makes the book suitable for electronic text search. At this time, this scan has not been fully proof-read or polished for format. Digital Edition 2008 by Wallace Venable

2 To all those whose graciously-given help has made this genealogical collection possible, but especially to Dorothy Venable Thompson and Emerson Venable

3 FOREWORD In the spring of 1954, I visited my uncle, Mayo Venable, in Pittsburgh. Conversations with him and with my cousin, Emerson Venable, aroused my interest in family history; and resulted in the publication at Christmas time of that year of The Ancestors and Descendants of William Henry Venable, a collection of biographical and autobiographical sketches of William Henry Venable and Mary Vater Venable, and of their children and grandchildren. The book was written particularly for members of this family; that it has interested others is a gratifying, if unforeseen, by-product. The brief chapters on the ancestors of William Henry Venable were based almost entirely on data collected in the early 1900's by my uncle, Colonel Russell V. Venable, and the later genealogical investigations of Emerson Venable. The following year, intending only to correct some errors, I began a little genealogical investigation on my own. Never having done anything of the kind, I had to learn by trial and error. One authority referred to others, one correspondent suggested someone else who might have the requested data, one problem resolved left others unsolved. Soon I was engaged in fullscale genealogical research. It has been a fascinating and satisfying adventure, following where documented facts led, whether (or not!) to a general or to a bondsman, to a Norman baron or to a political idealist who sailed away from the land of his birth just ahead of the royal police. Naturally, I was most interested in establishing the descent of Venables of my own branch of the family. After the chapters in this book on "The Venables of Normandy and England" and "The Venables in the New World," the intensive research was on those families of that branch in the direct line of descent from Thomas Venable of New Jersey, who married Sarah Wallis in Their son, Thomas Venable, married Esther Borradail; their grandson, William Venable, married Rachel Croshaw; their great-grandson, William Venable, married Hannah Baird; and their great-great-grandson and my grandfather, William Henry Venable, married Mary Vater. Also considered in more or less detail are the families into which these Venables married: the Wallises, the Borradails, the Croshaws, the Bairds, and the Vaters. I soon became aware that if I waited until all the evidence was in I should be hopelessly confused; so I began to write as facts were found, and then wrote and rewrote seemingly endlessly as additional facts were added. This method will be evident in the format of the chapters. In the course of these investigations there was accumulated from many sources a great deal of information on Venables and allied families other than that which applied to the particular families with which this book is concerned. This information has been transcribed and is presented in the appendices in the hope and conviction that it will be of value to other genealogists. Too many amateur family histories are carelessly or not at all documented. In the text of Some Venables of England and America quotations are in-dented, and the source of each is identified. When a conclusion is reached which is not proved, it is so stated. In spite of countless checkings and re-checkings of sources and of the manuscript, and careful proof reading of the printed pages, I cannot be sure that slips have not occurred. If they have, I can only hope that the error is a bad one and so obvious that it will be immediately noticed and checked by the reader. But for certain actual and apparent errors I am not responsible. All quoted material from whatever source is given as printed, typed, or written. There are not only many variations in

4 spelling, but disagreements in recorded facts and dates. My mother, Harriet Venable Brady, after reading the account of the Venable family which her brother Mayo was preparing for his children and grand-children, wrote him in 1940: "I do think that whenever there is anything picturesque to record about anyone, the inclusion of such anecdotes makes far more interesting reading than just a record of names and dates." Her point of view is one with which I heartily agree. Our ancestors were living people, not just names and dates. Whenever I have found, or been told, something about a person which helps to make him or her an individual, I have included the reference. It may be unorthodox genealogy, but it certainly "makes far more interesting reading," and I permit myself to hope that this genealogy may be read as well as consulted. Early in my work I read the essay on "English Pedigrees" by Mr. L. G. Pine which prefaces the 1952 edition of Burke's Landed Gentry. Mr. Pine observed: "Genealogy is the study of family history, and family history is by the nature of things a part of national and racial history. For the history of nations sets the conditions for the history of the family." This stimulated me to review certain periods of English and American history, for the chronicles of the Venables span nine hundred years. Also, I had to acquire at least a superficial knowledge of geography and maps, mediaeval taxes and land measures, derivations and definitions of words, and heraldic and legal terminology to understand and interpret references of whose meaning I was completely ignorant. I am aware that much of the general explanatory background material which I have included is a twice-told tale to experienced genealogists. I make no apologies, for perhaps there will be those among my readers who are as innocent as was I of the many paths down which one is led in a genealogical study. Genealogy as a leisure-time pursuit has been both exciting and frustrating. It is exciting suddenly to realize that you are the present, living representative of all the countless past generations, and a small part of the unfinished tapestry of life; exciting to learn new things and to make the acquaintance of kinspeople, alive and dead, you never knew you had; exciting to follow a slight clue to the solution of a complex relationship. It is frustrating to realize that no amount of research will ever resolve all the problems; frustrating to be sure that there will always be, somewhere, one other place you might have searched, or one other authority you might have consulted; frustrating because irretrievably lost documents and records, dimming memories for past events, and ignored letters leave always unanswered questions. Exciting and frustrating, maddening and exhilarating, there is no puzzle more engrossing than genealogy. o My requests for information and assistance have been numerous and insistent. In the appropriate sections of the text I have named all the many people who so kindly shared information with me, and I thank them all. Colonel Russell V. Venable presented his genealogical material to his daughter, Florence Venable Weiffenbach, who allowed me to study the original manuscripts. Letters in the collection led to correspondence with other branches of the Venable family. Emerson Venable placed at my disposal all the data on Venables he had collected. He has answered my questions and discussed by letter and in conversation various points which came up, and, with Dorothy Venable Thompson, read certain chapters before publication. Collaboration with Dorothy Venable Thompson has been particularly fortunate and rewarding. She has devoted weeks to extensive research among old records in county court

5 houses, churches, and libraries in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Her many contributions of source material, her acute analysis of obscure points, and her accurate interpretation of complex relationships add immeasurably, to the genealogical value of this book. Though we cannot work out the degree of our double cousinship, we have established a firm friendship. Miss Marie Dickore, member of the National Genealogical Society, set me right on a number of genealogical points, as well as passing on to me Venable references she came upon in her own professional research. Mrs. Mabel Richter Schell of the History and Literature Department of the Public Library of Cincinnati advised me on the indexing of the book in accordance with accepted practice. Mrs. Alice Palo Hook made available to me the resources of the library of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio, and answered perplexing questions. Mrs. Hazel Spencer Phillips, under whose direction the Warren County Historical Society has accumulated invaluable data on the early history and residents of the county, supplemented this material in long and informative personal conversations. Several years ago my friend, Helen Abigail Stanley, read and criticized the first rough draft of the manuscript. Thanks to her advice and suggestions, the organization and form was much improved. It was her observation that people do not live their lives in a vacuum, untouched by world events, which prompted me to include the brief historical backgrounds of times and places. And it was she who urged a summation of the Venables; perhaps she regretted her insistence after reading a number of abortive attempts before " " passed her critical standards. In the past year, Miss Stanley has read and criticized each chapter before it was submitted to the printer, and thereafter worked with me on the important task of final proof reading. I am deeply indebted to her, and very grateful. And I am very grateful, too, to James Eggleston Allan, distinguished Cincinnati architect and my good friend. He generously insisted on taking time from his busy practice to see to it that maps and certain illustrations were given the necessary professional finish for successful reproduction. Again I must thank my husband, Allen Brown. He has helped me with the meticulous but not very interesting job of first proof-reading, patiently allowed me to try out on him the phrasing of innumerable paragraphs, and for six years understandingly accepted my preoccupation with Venables, even when my "leisure-time pursuit" left me no leisure time! HBB December 31, East Fourth Street Cincinnati, Ohio

6 CONTENTS I.The Venables of Normandy and England 1 II.The Venables in the New World III.The Venable Wallis Family IV.The Wallises V.The Venable Borradail Family VI.The Borradails VII.The Venable Croshaw Family VIII.The Croshaws IX.The Venable Baird Family X.The Bairds XI.The Venable Vater Family XII.The Vaters Addenda and Notes Appendix A: English Sources Appendix B: Pennsylvania and New Jersey Sources 399 Appendix C: Ohio Sources Index Illustrations and maps follow page.192

7 Some Venables of England And America The Venables of Normandy and England This book is primarily concerned with the ancestors and descendants of Thomas Venable of Burlington County, New Jersey, who married Sarah Wallis in 1729; and more specifically with the descendants of his grandson, William Venable, who emigrated to Warren County, Ohio, in Research on Thomas Venable of New Jersey was begun in the early part of By the spring of 1958, much had been learned of him and of his descendants, but very little of his ancestry, or indeed of the ancestry of any early American Venables/Venable immigrant to America, though the Venables family was known to have been established in England since When Evelyn Sherwood Pyne (Mrs. Roland R. Pyne), member of the National Genealogical Society, and Mr. Pyne, of Washington, D. C., went to England that spring, Mrs. Pyne graciously offered to include the Venables in her own researches in English genealogical records. Her offer was enthusiastically accepted, and grateful acknowledgment is made to Mr. and Mrs. Pyne for the immense amount of time and patience they devoted to Venables searchings. While at the National Library of Ireland in Dublin, Mrs. Pyne had photostats made of the pedigree charts of the Venables barons of Kinderton in The History of the County Palatinate and City of Chester by Sir George Ormerod, 1882 edition. This edition, and the original 1819 edition, neither of which is in Cincinnati libraries, were further consulted that fall by Henrietta Brady Brown in the Boston Public Library and the New York Public Library. With the Ormerod pedigrees as a guide, it was possible to correlate references to individual Venables already found in publications in the Public Library of Cincinnati, the University of Cincinnati Library, the library of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio, and the University of Florida Library, and to set down a chronological history of the English family. Acknowledgment must also be made to others who assembled data on the Venables of England: J. P. Brooke-Little, Esquire, Bluemantle Pursuivant of Arms of The College of Arms; Miss E. E. Beazley, Assistant Archivist, Chester Record Office, The Castle, Chester; F. W. Bennett, Esquire, Secretary of The Society of Genealogists; and Mrs. M. A. J. Langford and Miss M. E. Cohen, genealogists, Brighton, Sussex, England. Brief explanations may assist the reader in references made in the text to those sources most frequently quoted. The History of the County Palatinate and City of Chester, Sir George Ormerod, London, editions of 1819 and 1882, was the basic source of this chapter. The title is abbreviated in the text to The History of Cheshire, followed by volume and page numbers, and the date of the edition. The title of The Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage, founded in 1826 by John Burke and Sir Bernard Burke, C. B., is shortened to the customarily used Burke's Peerage, followed by the page number and year of the edition. Similarly, The Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, founded in 1836 by John Burke and Sir Bernard Burke, C. B., Ll.D., is shortened to Burke's Landed Gentry, followed by page number and year of the edition. Page 7

8 The Battle Abbey Roll, with Some Account of the Norman Lineages, published by the Duchess of Cleveland, London, 1889, includes an account of the Venables of Normandy and England. Mr. William M. Shankland, genealogist, of St. Louis, Missouri, transcribed these references, as well as others in the 1819 edition of The History of Cheshire, and gathered together Venables/Venable information in other source books of the admirable genealogical collection of the St. Louis Public Library. The Dictionary of National Biography is abbreviated to DNB. The edition used was published in London in The Chetham Society Publications, Manchester, England, supplied important data. Volumes quoted are numbers 75, 83, 97, and 110, and Volume 28, new series. References from these give the title and number of the volume, page number, and year of publication, followed by CSP. The Domesday Survey of Cheshire, Volume 75, not available in Cincinnati, was consulted by Mary Helen Stanley Kennedy (Mrs. Ashley Kennedy III) at the Newberry Library in Chicago and by Paul Venable Turner and Harry W. Langworthy in the New York State Library at Albany. Other authorities and sources are noted in the text and in Appendix A. o All authorities appear to agree that the first English Venables was Gilbert de Venables, who was seated in the County Palatinate of Chester prior to From this Gilbert de Venables all English and American Venables claim descent. The County Palatinate of Chester The present maritime county of Cheshire (Plate 1), an area of square miles, lies between Lancashire on the north, Yorkshire and Derbyshire on the northeast, Staffordshire on the southwest, Shropshire on the south, and the Welsh counties of Denbyshire and Flintshire and the. Irish Sea on the northwest. Chester, the largest city, is on the the Dee River, fifteen miles southeast of Liverpool in Lancashire. Chester was important in Roman times: Its principal city, called Deva, or Devanna, by the Romans, Caerlegion by the early Britons, and Leageacester (hence the later Chester) by the Saxons, was one of the important outposts of empire for the nearly three hundred years of Roman occupation until 380, when the last Roman soldier left Britain. Chester was the camp site of the famous XXth Roman Legion. Its Roman walls, still standing, are just short of two miles in circumference, and form the most nearly perfect specimen of a Roman camp that now exists in Europe, since while the superstructure of the walls has often been rebuilt, it has always been on the old foundations. From Chester, Roman roads branched out. One led to the camp at Kinderton... Lancashire and Cheshire, Past and Present, summarized from Vol. I, Thomas Baines and Sir William Fairbairn, London, Cheshire, which did not fully surrender to The Conqueror until 1070, was equally important after the Conquest: Immediately after the Norman Conquest, the County of Cheshire [which at that time included large parts of what is now the County of Lancashire] was formed into an earldom under great military chiefs.... The first Norman Earl of Chester Page 8

9 was named Gherbod, and was a Fleming by nationality.... He was appointed two or three years after the Battle of Hastings,... but never succeeded in establishing his authority. Ibid., Vol. I, pp. 320-l. Hugh Lupus, Hugh the Wolf, as he was called from his ferocity, and Hugue d ' Avranches from his birthplace in Normandy, is supposed to have been appointed Earl of Chester about the year Moreover, the king gave to Hugh Lupus the right to hold the earldom of Chester by the sword, as freely as the king himself held the kingdom of England by the Crown. He thus rendered Cheshire a county palatinate, within which the earl was legally entitled to exercise an authority very little, if at all, inferior to the king himself.... Ibid., Vol. I, pp From 1070, until Chester reverted to the Crown in 1238, the Cheshire barons made up a Barons Council with the Earl, and administered justice. All individual barons had their own courts of pleas and the power of life and death over their followers. The population of early Britain was startlingly small: England and Wales had in 1307 a population precariously estimated at 3,000,000 a slow increase from a supposed 2,500,000 in The Reformation, Will Durant, p. 37, New York, 1957, quoted from The Black Death, G. C. Coulton, p. 68, New York, 1930; Mediaeval Panorama, G. C. Coulton, p. 89, New York, Twenty years after the Conquest, the population of Cheshire was correspondingly sparse: Allowing for wives and families, we may estimate the population of Cheshire in 1086 at about 9000, and add 1500 to 2000 more to this as the number of priests and people in the city of Chester itself. Mediaeval Cheshire, H. J. Hewitt, p. 144, Manchester University Press, 1929, quoted from " Cheshire in the Domesday Book, " J. Brownhill, Lancashire and Cheshire Historic Society Publications, Vol. XV, p. 6, In mediaeval times, Cheshire occupied a unique place among the English counties: The sole justification for the enormous powers given to the Earl of the Cheshire palatinate lay in the need for constant warfare, offensive and defensive, against the Welsh. The line of the earls of Chester became extinct in 1237, and the great fief escheated to the king [Henry III]. In 1253, he bestowed it upon his son, Edward I, and from that date the earldom of Cheshire, a region of about a thousand square miles, remained in royal hands. Ibid., pp. 2, 3. The earldom of Chester was distinguished clearly from the kingdom of England..... Men felt it stood between Wales and England, being part of neither. " He and his army returned to England, " wrote a Welsh chronicler, of the departure of Henry II from Cheshire.... Even after being granted to Edward by Henry III, it was not yet merged into England. Throughout the Middle Ages, it retained much of its distinct system of government. The men of Cheshire fought in Scotland, the knights and men of Cheshire fought in France, but the original purpose of the palatinate was not forgotten. Military service was still defined in terms of wars in Wales, and Cheshire knights were under no obligation to serve " Beyond the Lyme, " roughly translated as the eastern boundary of Cheshire. Ibid., p. 7. Page 9

10 There was in mediaeval Cheshire an element of violence as is natural in a country where the rule of law is not fully established, or cannot always be fully vindicated. It is, therefore, the more significant that at such a time the men of Cheshire should acquire a reputation for turbulence and violence. Such a reputation is attributed to them when the Lord Edward received the earldom. It follows them throughout the fourteenth century, and it comes to a climax in the outbursts of the Chroniclers of Richard II. [Footnote: The lawlessness was continued in the reign of Henry IV, and was complicated by opposition to the Lancastrian rule.] Ibid., p the reputation [for lawlessness] was broadly just. Ibid., p In succeeding centuries Cheshire participated in political events of England: Chester was the headquarters in 1403 for Harry Percy, " Hotspur, " against Henry IV, and during the fratricidal Wars of the Roses, the Cheshire gentry were deeply involved on both sides. During the Parliamentary Wars, Chester was the headquarters for Royalist uprisings, and Nantwich was garrisoned for the Parliament. Until the middle 1660 ' s, the population of Cheshire and Lancashire remained almost static. The same family names recur for nearly six hundred years. But the Elizabethan Age had opened the seas to English ships, and world commerce had begun. The London Fire of 1666 and the ensuing plague caused many Londoners engaged in commerce to remove to Chester, Manchester, and Liverpool. As trade increased, there began an influx of population from all over England. Gentlemen ' s sons were put as apprentices in the Cheshire and Lancashire towns, and many settled there permanently, intermarrying with the native-born of the counties. In spite of this activity in trade, emigration from Cheshire was greater than immigration to Cheshire. The American colonies were becoming firmly established, and many men looked across the seas for relief from the exceedingly harsh laws against Protestant Non-Conformists, or hoped to better their condition in the New World. Lancashire and Cheshire, Past and Present, summarized from Vol. I. An important natural resource of Cheshire was salt: Below the surface of the county lie large deposits of saline rock, the presence of which may well have been known to the Romans... In the Middle Ages, the saltproducing towns were called, collectively, the Wiches, Nantwich, Middlewich, Northwich. Mediaeval Cheshire, pp Large areas of salt lands were owned by abbeys and clerics, but: Lay owners of salt houses, where salt pans filled with salt water were boiled, were even more numerous and diverse in status.... Among the proprietors of salt houses, land, or messuages in the Wiches were Venables... [and many other Cheshire families]. Ibid., p Page 10

11 Cheshire Place Names The names of Cheshire towns derive from Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Old French, Old English, and Old Welsh. Those places associated with Venables have been selected for discussion: The Romans called Chester, site of their fortress "Valeria Victrix, " by the British name of the river by which it stood, the Deva, meaning " goddess, or holy one. " Cheshire Place Names, Simeon Potter, reprinted from Vol. 106 of the Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, p. 1, London, In Cheshire, as in other counties, [Anglo-Saxon] village names consist of a personal name followed immediately by a general term denoting either a habitation... or a geographical feature, natural or constructed. Thus Kinderton is Cynred tun, "tun " meaning farm or enclosure, therefore: the farm of Cynred. Ibid., p. 9. Old English derivations are numerous: Astbury, eastre byrig east manor; Bradwall, brad waelle broad stream; Brereton, brer tun a farm or enclosure where the briars meet; Hooton, farm in a hough, or projecting ridge; Hartford, stag ford; Hope, side valley; Tarporley, torr per leah - pear glade by the hill; Darnhall, dierne halh hidden nook; Moston, near Middlewich, mos tun farm in a moss or peat bog. Ibid., pp Antrobus: This derivation is probably Old French. Mr. Potter observes that "I can shed only an uncertain and flickering light on Antrobus, venturing to suggest, on the tenuous evidence of the Domesday Book, that this is just conceivably a genuine entre-name, and so may come from êntre bris, between thickets. Ibid., p. 21. Another name of French derivation is Vernon: " The Vernons from Vernon, Normandy, 'little alder ' in Eure, bestowed that distinction on Minshull Vernon. " Ibid., p. 22. The " wich " ending of Northwich, Middlewich, Nantwich, is Old Welsh, gwic, meaning village. Northwich, located at the confluence of the Weaver and Dane Rivers, bore also the Romano-British name of Condate, meaning confluency. Ibid., p. 14. Latin appears in the " port " ending of names such as Stokport, and is from the Latin portus, meaning gate, hence a village or a country seat. Ibid., p. 14. Ormerod's "The History of Cheshire" The acknowledged authority on the history of the county of Cheshire from early times is Sir George Ormerod ( ), who, in the three folio volumes of The History of the County Palatinate and City of Chester published in London in 1819, collected and collated documentary and other material from a variety of sources. These included original evidence in public record offices, Harleian and Cotton manuscripts, private muniments, and unpublished manuscripts of Page 11

12 successive Cheshire antiquarians, as well as a personal survey of every township in the county. Ormerod found in Chester Castle a large collection of original manuscripts and documents, and was lent others by Hugh Cholmondeley, Dean of Chester. He was given access to libraries of old monasteries, and Cheshire families allowed him to inspect manuscripts and chartularies in their possession. Incorporated in the History was a re-publication of King's Vale Royal and of Cheshire Antiquities, by the Chester antiquarian, Sir Peter Leycester, a two volume work of great research and accuracy, published in Ormerod dedicated his monumental work to His Royal Highness, The Prince Regent. The Ormerod family was of the landed gentry, and Ormerod s chief interest was in this class. His method of procedure was described by Thomas Helsby, who published the second edition of The History of Cheshire. It consisted in " confining his accounts to the manorial estates, and for variety and colour, giving such additional particulars of some of the lesser estates and families as the circumstances of the case warranted. In addition to this, he introduced short biographical notices of the most distinguished and prominent characters of the county.... Sir George also published Additions and Index to Miscellanae Palatina, Genealogical Essays Illustrative of Cheshire and Lancashire Families, and a Memoir of the Cheshire Domesday Roll Compiled from Original Sources, London, Indexed Venables names have been scrutinized, but found to be only casual references, and/or duplicate information in The History of Cheshire. From 1819 until his death in 1873 at the age of eight-eight, Ormerod continued to collect new material and correct old, planning a revised edition. He died before accomplishing the task. His notes and papers are still in the possession of a member of the family, who has not permitted public use of them. In 1890, Ormerod ' s son, Henry M. Ormerod, presented to the Bodleian Library the author's copy of The History of Cheshire, bound in ten folio volumes, with numerous extra illustrations, many original drawings, water colours by DeWint, and some additions to the text. A second edition of The History of Cheshire, revised and enlarged by Thomas Helsby, Esquire, of Lincoln ' s Inn, Barrister-at-law, wholly independent of Ormerod ' s family, was published in London in parts during Helsby, too, was given aid in bringing lines of descent of various families down to the time of publication by heads of great Cheshire families. His edition was dedicated to His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales. While the Ormerod material in this chapter is from both the 1819 and the 1882 editions, it is the latter which has been more valuable for the purposes of this book. Sources and Symbols Two sources in public record offices were important in establishing names and dates. The Plea and Recognition Rolls were proceedings of the courts of equity, and gave information on the transfer of real property. Another tax record was genealogically important, the Inquisitiones post mortem. On the death of a tenant in capite (in chief, holding direct from the feudal lord), a tax called a "relief" was due the King. The King ' s Escheator (the officer responsible for the reversion of the lands to the lord of the fee upon failure of heirs capable of inheriting under the original grant) assembled a jury to enquire what lands the person died seized of, by what rents and services the same was held, who was his next heir, and of what age the said heir then was. Before the heir could take possession, he was bound not only to pay the tax but to perform homage. Inquisition returns began in the reign of Henry III, , and continued until the fifth Page 12

13 year of the reign of Charles I, Helsby inclosed in brackets and inserted in the original Ormerod 1819 text his own later information and corrections. Certain words and phrases are abbreviated: " Inq. p. m. " means " Inquisitiones post mortem"; " ob. s. p.", or sometimes " o. s. p. " or " s. p. ", means " Obit sine prole " died without issue; " Qy." is evidently an abbreviation for " Query " and suggests a question as to the statement which follows. Broken lines (... ) in the chart mean that documentation is incomplete. The " H" of the footnotes is, of course, Helsby. Neither Ormerod nor Helsby capitalizes the " s " of " sir " when it precedes a name, and this convention has been followed throughout the discussion of the Ormerod material. Presentation of Ormerod Material Since it was obviously impossible to duplicate the Ormerod pedigree charts of the Venables barons of Kinderton as set forth on a page nine and a half inches wide by sixteen inches long, it was necessary to devise a method of presentation which would incorporate as clearly as possible the succession, the marriages, and the children. In the charts which follow, the name of each Venables baron of Kinderton is preceded on the left by a number, 1, 2, 3, etc., and this same number in parenthesis at the right of the name distinguishes him whenever he is referred to thereafter. Children of the various marriages are paragraphed. The broken lines of the chart are indicated by the word "probably. " In some cases, it has been found advisable to use brackets within Helsby ' s brackets, to explain a relationship, to supply a word or date, or to clarify a meaning. But such cases are few and usually obvious. Time periods have been translated from the old usage of a certain year in the reign of a sovereign into the modern usage of the year in four figures. Thus " 20 William I " is Except for these interpolations, clarifying brackets, " probably " for broken lines, the use of numbers to distinguish the Venables barons, and the modern use of the year in figures, the Ormerod-Helsby material is quoted exactly in wording, spelling, and punctuation. The section headed " Venables and the Venables-Vernon of Kinderton " begins with a statement of the source of these pedigrees: The following pedigree down to the extinction of the male line is transcribed from an MS. pedigree by sir Peter Leycester, which has been collated and corrected from Inquisitions, p. m. [the Plea and Recognition Rolls,] and the Venables chartulary; the continuation was communicated by Edward Braband, esq., under the direction of Lord Vernon, [1817, and the descendants are brought down to the present time [1882] from information of the family.] The History of Cheshire, Vol. III, p. 198, Immediately following is a description of the arms of the Venables of Kinderton. A glossary of heraldic terms used in this book is given in Appendix A. Arms: two barrs Argent. Crest: on a wreath, a wyvern Argent pierced with an arrow, headed Or and feathered Argent, devouring a child proper, crined Or, and standing on a weir Argent, banded Azure.* *Footnote: This singular crest is emblazoned here, as exemplified in Dalton ' s patent to sir T. Venables 1560, of which an abstract is given in the account of Moston following. In some cases, (Har. MSS, 1535, et alibi) it is emblazoned as given in the pedigree of the Venables of Bradwall, and other differences occur in the bearings of the Venables of Agden, Vol. I, p. Page 13

14 409 [now 539,] and Venables of Antrobus, Ibid., p. 487, [now 658.] H. The arms of the Venables are more fully discussed later in this chapter. The coat of arms illustrated by Plate 2 is that which appears on page 198 of the third volume of The History of Cheshire, There follows a description of the arms of the Venables-Vernon family (Plate 3) which will be described later, and below are large, handsome engravings of the coats of arms of the Venables of Kinderton and the Venables-Vernons side by side. It will be noticed that above each coat of arms is a coronet showing four balls, the conventional heraldic symbol of the six-balled coronet of a baron. The Venables barons of Kinderton held the title as annexed to the land, and were not of the peerage; the Venables- Vernons were not elevated to the peerage until Beneath the engravings begin the charts of the Venables pedigree from Gilbert de Venables (l) on pages of the third volume of The History of Cheshire, Gilbert de Venables, [alias Venator, *] supposed to be [of Venables in Normandy, and younger brother of Stephen earl of Blois, [son of Eudo earl of Blois, (according to a pedigree roll of Legh of Adlington,)] living *See note to account of Grosvenor of Holme as to the probability of his being also ancestor of that family, as he undoubtedly was of so many others bearing various names. H de Venables, son of Gilbert de Venables (1), married Gilbert de Venables, son of... de Venables (2), baron of Kynderton, died in the reign of king Henry the Second, He married Margery, daughter of Walthew, [als. Waltheof,] son of Wolfric [lord of Hatton, in pedigree roll of Legh of Adlington.] Children of Gilbert de Venables (3) and Margery: a. Sir William de Venables (4). b. Hamon de Venables, grantee of lands in Wincham, and of his brother Michael's lands in Marston, apparently the same with Hamon, ancestor of Leigh of West-Hall. c. Gilbert de Venables. d. Michael de Venables of Marston, witness to the grants from sir William de Venables (4) to Amabil about 1156, and to his brother Hugh, e. R... de Venables, witness to the latter grant. f. Hugh de Venables, parson of Eccleston, Astbury, and Rosthorne. g. Maud de Venables, married first Ralph, son of Roger, and secondly, Hugh de Brixis. Children of Maud Venables and Ralph: Maud de Shireburne, wife of Nicholas de Elets, [or Letres]; and Emma, wife of Robert Brant. Page 14

15 h. Amabil, wife of Richard de Davenport, [lord] of Davenport, to whom her brother gave the half of Merton aforesaid. 4. Sir William de Venables, son of Gilbert de Venables (3), baron of Kynderton, 1188, survived to 12 Henry 3, He married.... Children of sir William de Venables (4) and.... a. Hugh de Venables (5). b. Robert, parson of the church of Rosthorne, obiit 44 Henry 3, c... parent of William de la Mere. See Vol. I, 362, [now 466]. d. William de Venables, jun Children of William de Venables, jun. and... Lattice, elder daughter and coheiress, married first, Philip de Bamvyle, secondly, Richard de Wilbraham, and thirdly, Robert de Crosslegh; and Beatrix, younger daughter and coheiress, wife of Ralph Wasteneys of Tyxale, e. Hamon, brother of William Venables the younger. 5. Hugh de Venables, son of sir William de Venables (4) and...., baron of Kinderton in the time of Roger, abbot of Chester, , married first Wentilien, whom he divorced, and secondly, Agnes, daughter of Ranulph de Oxton. Children of Hugh de Venables (5) and Agnes: a. Sir Roger de Venables (6). b. Elizabeth, daughter of Hugh, 42 Henry 3, 1258, aunt of sir William Venables (7) 51 Henry 3, c. Beatrix, wife of Roger de Toft, [lord] of Toft, [circ. 51 Henry 3, 1267.] 6. Sir Roger de Venables, baron of Kinderton, son and heir of Hugh de Venables (5) 1240, died in or about He married Alice, daughter of Alan de Peninton, of Peninton-hall, co. Lancashire, about Children of sir Roger de Venables (6) and Alice: a. Sir William de Venables (7). b. Rose*. wife of Alexander de Bamvyle. *Who, there can be very little doubt, was the widow of the baron of Stokport, and whose second husband, Alexander, was the son of Thomas Bamvyle. H. c. Probably Roger de Venables, parson of Rosthorne, temp. Edward I, d. [Probably Amy, wife of Hugh de Hatton. (Pedigree roll of Legh of Adlington.)] Page 15

16 7. Sir William de Venables, knight, baron of Kinderton, son and heir of Roger de Venables (6) [occurs 1267,] obit 20 Edward I, 1292, married first... and secondly, Margaret, daughter of sir Thomas de Dutton, 2 [lord] of Dutton, knight, 38 Henry 3,1254, widow 21 Edward I, Child of sir William de Venables (7) and... ; a. Cecily, [qy. daughter of first wife,] wife of Adam, the clerk of Allehulme, near Brereton. Had Issue. Children of sir William de Venables (7) and Margaret: a. Sir Hugh de Venables (8). b. Sir William de Venables, knight, to whom his father gave all his lands in Bradwall, [between 1284 and 1287.] This sir William married first Agnes de Legh, daughter and heiress of Richard de Legh of West-Hall in High Legh. widow of Richard de Lymme. Had issue. See High Lee and Booths. He married secondly, Katherine, widow of sir [Randle, not] Piers, de Thornton, daughter of sir Urian de St. Pierre, by whom he had two sons, William Venables of Bradwall, 17 Edward 3, 1344, and Hugh Venables of Hope. 8. Sir Hugh de Venables, son and heir of sir William de Venables (7) and Margaret, baron of Kinderton, obiit 4 Edward 2, He married Agatha, daughter of sir Ralph de Vernon, baron of Shipbrook, 23 Edward I, [She married secondly, David de Hulgreve, in, or ante, 6 Edward 2, 1313, and survived her grandson, William, son of sir Hugh de Venables (9).] Children of sir Hugh de Venables (8) and Agatha: a. Sir Hugh de Venables (9). b. Reginald de Venables, to whom his father gave the fourth part of Hope, [in Bradwall.] Had issue. c. Roger, d. John, e. William Venables, 1336, [but qy. the same who was son and heir and died in, or ante, 6 Edward 2, 1313, and to whom Hugh (9) his brother was heir.] f. Ellen, wife of John, son and heir of sir John Arderne, I Edward 2, g. Isabel, wife of David de Egerton. h. Anilla, wife of sir William Brereton of Brereton. [She must have been daughter, (not sister) of this sir Hugh. See Brereton pedigree.] i. Elizabeth, wife of Richard Done of Utkinton. Page 16

17 9. Sir Hugh de Venables, son of sir Hugh de Venables (8) and Agatha, of Kinderton. [a minor 4 Edward 2, 1311] and heir [of William his brother, obiit [and Inq.] 41 Edward 3, He married first Elizabeth, daughter of William, and coheiress of sir Ralph de Modburlegh, [lord] of Mobburlegh, and secondly, Katherine, daughter of Richard de Houghton, [lord] of Houghton, co. Lancaster; according to others, [erroneously,] of Stephen de Moreton; [a widow 41 Edward 3, 1368.] Children of sir Hugh de Venables (9) and Elizabeth: a. William de Venables, 1344, died before his father in 1350, leaving issue Maude and Katherine, who died s. p. in the life of their grandfather. [See Bradwall.] This William married first Agnes, daughter of sir Peter de Dutton of Warburton, 3 Edward 2, 1310, o. s. p.; and secondly, Maud, daughter of Richard de Vernon of Shipbrook, 16 Edward 3, 1343, a widow 24 Edward 3, 1351, [end qy. married secondly, Philip de Eggerton, and living 28 Edward 3, 1355.] b. [John de Venables, married Isabel, daughter of Philip de Eggerton, and had issue, William, who, with his father, died in the lifetime of sir Hugh, s. p.] Children of sir Hugh de Venables (9) and Katherine: a. Hugh de Venables (10). b. Roger de Venables, married Elizabeth, [widow of sir Randle le Roter of Kingsley, knight, (obiit Edward 3, 1364/65,) and] daughter and heiress of sir William Golborne, of Golborne David, who was [again a] widow, II Richard 2, 1388, and had issue Hugh de Venables, who married Emma, daughter of Nicholas Warren of Poynton and Emma his wife, but dying s. p. settled his estates on William de Venables (12) of Kinderton, 10 Henry 5, c. Thomas de Venables, 41 Edward 3, 1368, [qy. whether monk of Vale Royal, 1344.] d. Richard do Venables, married Joane, daughter and heiress of Hamon Fitton of Bollin, co Cest. Had issue. e. Joane, wife of sir Thomas de Lathom, [lord] of Lathom, co. Lancaster, mother of Isabell, wife of sir John de Stanley of Lathom. 10. Hugh de Venables, son of sir Hugh de Venables (9) and Katherine, succeeded his father as baron of Kinderton, [and was then of age,] sheriff 2 Richard 2, 1378, obiit [6, not] 3, Richard 2, 1383, Inq. p. m. 6, 7, and [14, not] 20, Richard 2, , and He married first Ellen, [daughter of Robert de Huslegh, and qy, widow of... ] de Brooke, had issue William and Richard, [who both ob. s. p.]; and secondly, Margery, only daughter of Hugh de Cotton, [and sister of Hugh de Coton of Rudheth, a widow II Richard 2, 1388, and 1398.] Children of Hugh de Venables (10) and Margery: a. Margery, wife of Richard Bulkeley of Chedle in Cheshire; after to Randle Mainwaring of Peover, living 3 Henry 4, b. Sir Richard de Venables (II). Page 17

18 c. Thomas de Venables of Horton in Hartford, 2 Richard 2, 1379, ancestor of Venables of Agdon. d. William de Venables (12). II. Sir Richard de Venables, son of Hugh de Venables (10) and Margery, baron of Kinderton, aet. 18, 6 Richard 2, 1383,] taken prisoner at the battle of Shrewsbury and beheaded afterwards 4 Henry 4, 1403 (Walsingham); sheriff of Cheshire 1386, Inq. p. m. 4 Henry 4, He married Isabel, daughter of Rawlin de Langton, [baron] of Newton, and [of] Walton, co. Lancaster, [8 Richard 2, 1385.] Children of sir Richard de Venables (II) and Isabel: a. Jonet, wife of sir Thomas Grosvenor of Holme in Allostock, ob. 8 Henry 6, 1429, afterwards Jonet married sir Thomas Bothe of Barton. b. Hugh de Venables (13). c. Henry de Venables (16). 12. William de Venables, son of Hugh de Venables (10) and Margery, constable of the Castle of Chester, 5 Henry 4, 1404, had [a grant of the fee of] Golborne, [6 Henry 5, 1419, which was] entailed on him 10 Henry 5, 1422, and Moston, 13 Henry 4, 1412, [was baron of Kynderton by grant of king Henry 4, on his brother's attainder, but settled the barony on his nephew Hugh (13), son of sir Richard de Venables (II). Was with Henry 4 in South Wales during Glendower's invasion.] He married Blanche, daughter of..., [and widow of sir Hugh Browe, knight.] Children of William de Venables (12) and Blanche: a. Thomas de Venables, [of Chester,] son and heir, 16 Henry 6, 1438, who married Margery, daughter of sir William Stanley of Hooton, co. Cest., 16 Henry 6, Children of Thomas de Venables and Margery: William de Venables of Golborne, [and Kynderton, esq. (17)], and [probably Peter Venables, Edward 4, 1473.] b. William Venables [of Ridley, 5-6, and Henry 6, and ] c. Piers, [10-11 Henry 6, ] d. John. 13. Hugh de Venables, son of sir Richard de Venables (II), baron of Kinderton, obiit 3 Henry 5, 1416, Inq. p. m. 3 Henry 5, He married Cecily, daughter of..., remarried to sir Ralph Radclyf, Inq. p. m. 14 Henry 6, Children of Hugh de Venables (13) and Cecily: a. Joane, wife of Richard de Coton [of Coton and] of Ridware Hampstall, co. Stafford. Their son, Richard de Coton, married [qy. Margaret Clerk, in 1455,] found heir to his Page 18

19 cousin Hugh Venables (15), along w i th Ralph Bostook, [and aet. 28,] 38 Henry 6, 1460, [ob. I and] Inq. p. m. [2 Edward 4, 1461 and 1462, had issue Richard Coton, who married Joan, daughter of sir William Brereton, of Brereton, knight, and was aet. 3, 2 Edward 4, 1464, Inq. p. m. 19 Henry 7, 1504.] Children of Richard Coton and Joan: Elinor. daughter [of Richard, son of Richard, son of Joan,] and coheiress [of her brother Thomas, aet. 28, 9 Henry 8, 1518,] who was the first wife of sir William Venables (19); Katherine, wife of Richard Grosvenor of Eaton, co. Cest.; Isabel, wife of John Bradbourne of Hough; Maud, wife of sir Anthony Fitz-Herbert, chief justice; Richard, s. p.; Thomas Cotton, son and heir by Inq. p. m. 19 Henry 7, 1504, Inq. p. m. 21 Henry 7, 1506, who had issue Elizabeth, [daughter and heir,] who died s. p. b. Hugh de Venables (14). c. Richard do Venables, 2nd son, married [16 Henry 6, 1438,] Elizabeth, daughter of sir John do Redclyf, [lord] of Ordeshale, co. Lancs., near Manchester, [who qy. married secondly, Geoffrey Starkey (of Northwich?) in, or ante, 29 Henry 6, 1451.] Child of Richard de Venables and Elizabeth: Sir Hugh de Venables (15). d. Elizabeth, wife of Adam de Bostok, [lord] of Bostok. Child of Elizabeth and Adam de Bostok: Ralph de Bostok, found heir to Hugh Venables (15) along with Richard Coton [and aet. 20,] 38 Henry 6, 1460, [and whose daughter and heir, Ann, married sir John Savage of Clifton, knight, living temp. Henry 7, ] 14. Hugh de Venables, esq., son of Hugh de Venables (13) and Cecily, "the impotent baron of Kinderton," [aet. 9, 2 Henry 5, 1415,] occurs as Hugo de Venables de Kyndarton gentilmon, 7 Henry 6, 1429, obiit 28 Henry 6, 1450, married [I Henry 5, Parnell, daughter of sir Piers Dutton of Dutton, remarried to Richard Botha, 1451, o.s.p. 15. Sir Hugh de Venables, knight, son of Richard de Venables, and grandson of Hugh de Venables (13), baron of Kinderton, [heir to his uncle Hugh (14), and aet. 12, 28 Henry 6, 1450] married Elizabeth*, daughter of William Troutbeck, esq. *This Elizabeth perhaps died before her husband, as another Elizabeth occurs in the Plea Rolls 29 Henry VI, 1451, as wife of Geoffrey Starkey (probably of Northwich) and "late wife of Hugh Venables of Kinderton:" No other Hugh could possibly have been her husband. H. Sir Hugh de Venables (15) anno 38 Henry 6, 1460, was slain at the battle of Bloreheath, serving under the lord Audley, on the part of Henry 6, o. s. p. Inq. 38 Henry 6, Henry de Venables, son of sir Richard de Venables (II), and brother of Hugh de Venables (13), after the death of his grandnephew, sir Hugh de Venables (15), was baron of Kinderton, I Edward 4, 1461; settled his estate on William de Venables (17). son and heir of Thomas de Venables of Chester, 3 Edward 4, 1464, [living 8-9 Edward 4, ] Page 19

20 17. William de Venables, son and heir of Thomas de Venables [of Chester,] and grandson of William de Venables (12), of Golborne [and Kinderton, esq.,] had the lands of the barony of Kinderton settled on him by Henry de Venables (16), 3 Edward 4, 1464, [a prisoner in Chester Castle, 1-2 Edward 4, , ob. 8 Henry 7, 1493,] Inq. p. m. 10 Henry 7, He married first Petronill, [or Parnell,] daughter and heiress of sir Piers Ceverswall, and secondly, [Katherine, daughter and coheiress of Robert Grosvenor of Holme, esq., and widow of Richard Wynynton of Wynynton, esq., 5 Henry 7, 1490, Inq. p. m. 22 Henry 7, 1507.] No children by second marriage. Child of William de Venables (17) and Petronill: a. Thomas Venables (18). 18. Thomas Venables of Golburne, and Kinderton, [esq., aet. 26, 10 Henry 7, 1495,] Henry 8, 1509, son [and heir] of William (17), slain at the battle of Floddon Field, 1513, Inq. p. m. 5 Henry 8, He married Cicely, daughter of John Stanley of Weever. [In 1514, she, and William (19), her son, granted to sir Richard Grosvenor the office of seneschal [i. e., bailiff, steward, major-domo of the mediaeval lord in the management of his estate] of Kinderton.] Children of Thomas Venables (18) and Cicely: a. Isabel Venables married Geoffrey, son and heir of Peter Shakerley of Hulme and Allostock, co. Cest., esq., 8 Henry 8, 1517, and secondly, Thomas Lyversiche of Whelok, gentleman.] b. Sir William Venables (19). 19. Sir William Venables, son and heir of Thomas Venables (18), baron of Kinderton, and Cicely, sheriff of Cheshire 1526, aged 22 years 5 Henry 8, 1514, obiit 32 Henry 8, 1541, Inq. p. or. 32 Henry 8, He married first Elinor, daughter [of Richard [Coton,] son of Richard [Coton,] son of Joane, who was the daughter of Hugh de Venables (13),] and coheiress [of her brother Thomas Cotton, aet. 28, 9 Henry 8, 1518.] He married secondly, Katherine, daughter of Robert Grosvenor, and widow of Thomas Hough of Leighton in Wirral, Inq. p. m. 4 et 5, Philip et Mary, Children of sir William Venables (19) and Elinor: a. Sir Thomas Venables (20). b. John Venables, [gentleman, ob. 6, and Inq. 7 Edward 6, 1552 and 1553, leaving a son and heir, Thomas, aet. 7, temp. Inq ] c. Hugh. d. Robert. e. William. f. Cecily, wife of... Talbot. Page 20