In September of this year, Tim and I are planning a trip to England to do genealogy research. (For details of this, see my April 7 post). Our planning has become pretty detailed; we know where we’re staying and what locations we want to visit. The image above is a snip from my detailed planning spreadsheet, showing where we’ll be from September 2 through September 6.
I want to tell you a little about how I planned this trip. I have a lot of ancestors who came to the American colonies in the first half of the 17th century, so the first thing I needed to do was narrow down my list to a manageable number. I first identified people whose lives I could document — even a little — in England. Then I scoured the internet to see who I could learn more about — where they lived, what they did for a living, and where they went to church. The churches in English villages served as community centers, and unless people were public officials or wealthy landowners, their lives were most likely to be documented in parish records — many of which are available online. I continued to narrow down my list. I didn’t want to find myself in a variety of English villages where all I could do was basically stand on the High Street (or equivalent) and say, “Yep, they lived here” before I retired to the local pub for a pint (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I wanted to visit places where I could actually see things related to my ancestors. I found a surprising number of them, and their villages became the focus of this trip. I grouped these villages geographically and then found four places to stay that would serve as a hub for each part of our trip
First of all, we’re staying at a sweet Airbnb in Warwickshire. This is what it looks like from the outside.
Here’s how the owners describe the place:
Welcome to "The Cow Shed"!
A lovely two-bedroom cottage converted from an old calving barn on the site of Cranhill Farmstead - full of original features and restored using reclaimed and authentic materials, The Cow Shed is a lovely little cottage bursting with character.
Close to Stratford-upon-Avon (5 miles) & the Cotswolds (Broadway, 13 miles) this is an ideal location to stay; away from the hustle and bustle of the towns, but close enough to visit lovely shops, theatres and restaurants.
The main living/dining area is a lovely open space with many original features including stonework and beams salvaged from the 200-year-old farm, and a fully equipped kitchen including electric cooker, hob, microwave etc.
Bedrooms are cozy and comfortable with dressing tables and mirrors, and bathroom consists of toilet, sink and cubicle shower (no bath).
Guests will have access to the whole property and private gated patio space outside.
Several of my ancestors lived in villages that we will access from this home base.
Winterbourne, Gloucestershire
The first village we’ll visit is Winterbourne, near Bristol. It’s about 60 miles away from where we’re staying. Google maps tells us it will take about 1¼ hours to drive there, but I’ve been told that the time estimates might be optimistic.
In Winterbourne, we’ll be visiting St. Michael the Archangel Church.
This church, built in the 13th century, is still home to an active congregation. We’ll be there on a Sunday, so we plan to attend a service.
I have three ancestors connected to this village and church: Thomas and Amy Bridges Symes and James Crandall. Here’s a little about them.
Thomas Symes and Amy Bridges
Thomas Symes (1617-1669) and Amy Bridges (1618-1662) are my paternal 9th great-grandparents through my Ellefritz family line.
This plaque dedicated to them is in the chancel of this church:
Here’s a transcription of this plaque:
I am descended from their 7th child, William (1646-1726). William Sims came to the Tidewater area of Virginia sometime before 1665, when he married Mary Sherwood in New Kent County. That county is adjacent to the country where I currently live, James City County. His death and burial were recorded in the register of St. Peter’s church in New Kent, although he is not buried in the cemetery there.
This connection is a little shaky – the records that connect William to Thomas and Amy are questionable. But I want to visit this church anyway. I hope I’ll find information that confirms this connection.
James Crandall
James Crandall (1589-1662) is my paternal 10th great-grandfather through my Arnold family line. He was born in Winterbourne to Nicholas Crandall and his wife Elizabeth. Nicholas (1555-1608) became the vicar of Winterbourne after the death of his father, also named Nicholas, who had been named the incumbent of Winterbourne in 1572. Between 1590 and 1601 Nicholas 1555 was the subject of at least four lawsuits brought against him in the Star Chamber by Robert Bradston of Winterbourne. The end result of this was that Nicholas was suspended from his duties as vicar of Winterbourne on 7 May 1599 and then, a year later, was removed from his incumbency altogether. A new vicar, Richard Bridges, was appointed on 20 Oct 1600. (Richard may have been a member of the family of Amy Bridges (married to Thomas Symes, above) but I don’t know.
Here’s what the church records say about Nicholas Crandall (or Crondall):
1572: Nicholas Croundall (or Crondall). Suspended for ecclesiastical causes in 1599.
Correction to church records: There were two Crondalls (Crundalls), father and son, both named Nicholas. Nicholas (senior) was the incumbent from 29 November 1572 until his death in 1589 (granted under the patronage of Margery Bradston, widow of Robert Bradston.) She also conveyed the advowson to Nicholas and it was inherited by his eldest son James who subsequently installed his younger brother, Nicholas (junior) as incumbent. So one Nicholas was rector from 1572 to 1589 and the second from 1589 to 1599.
James was still a young boy when his father was removed from his position in the church. This circumstance may have been what led James to relocate to Rhode Island in the 1630s.
Bengeworth, Evesham, Worcestershire
This village is about 10 miles (20 minutes) west of the place we’re staying.
In this village we’re going to visit St. Peters Church.
John Washburn
John Washburn (1566-1624) is my paternal 12th great-grandfather on my Arnold family line. His family’s association with this church goes back at least to the beginning of the 15th century; John’s grandfather, John Washbourne (1478-1548), moved to Bengeworth from Waterford (about 25 miles away, still in Worcestershire County) in 1538, apparently because of some family disagreement (it may have been because he was overlooked in his father’s will in 1517, seeing his father’s estate being left in the hands of his younger brother and a nephew). A coat of arms of the Washbourne family was in a window of the chancel of the old St. Peter’s Church; the window honored two benefactors of the church, “John Washbourne and Richard Cowie.” I don’t know what happened to that window when the old church was demolished, but I hope I’ll be able to learn something about it during this visit.
I don’t know much about the John Washbourne who lived from 1544 to 1593, other than that he lived his entire life in Bengeworth, where he married twice and had six children, including one son (the John Washburn I mentioned at the beginning of this section). I’ll call him John 1566.
John 1566 occupied a position of some prominence in Bengeworth. He was one of the 12 Capital Burgesses mentioned in the Charter of Incorporation granted by King James I in 1605 to the borough of Evesham, which included the parish of Bengeworth. He continued on the Council until 1614, when he resigned (probably because of poor health). He died in 1624 at about the age of 73; before his death, he was described as “old and blind.”
John had seven children with his two wives; his 4th child, also named John, was his oldest surviving son and thus his heir. I descend from this John Washburn (1597-1630). I’ll call him John 1597.
John 1597 seems to have followed in his father’s community-minded ways. In 1625-1626, he was appointed Churchwarden of St. Peter’s Parish. However, by 1632 he had emigrated to the colony of Plymouth, Massachusetts, although he soon relocated to Duxbury. His family, including two sons (one of them was also named John Washbourne (1620-1686), followed him two years later. There is some evidence that he went back to England in 1634 to arrange their passage and accompany them on the trip.
John 1620 married Elizabeth Mitchell in 1645; Elizabeth’s mother was Jane Cooke (1604-1640), whose father, Francis Cooke (1583-1663) was a passenger on the Mayflower. Elizabeth’s father was Experience Mitchell (1602-1685); both Jane Cooke and Experience Mitchell had arrived in Plymouth in 1623 on the ship Ann, the third ship to travel to the Plymouth colony.
Walsgrave on Sowe, Warwickshire
This village is about 27 miles (45 minutes) northeast of the place we’re staying.
This is the church we’ll be visiting.
The church was originally built in 1300, with additions made in the medieval period and in the 19th and 20th centuries. The tower was added in the 15th century. No visible trace of the original church building can be seen in the current structure, and it is possible that the church was completely rebuilt later in the 13th or 14th centuries.
Thomas Ligon (Lygon)
Thomas Ligon (or Lygon) (1623-1675) is my paternal 10th great-grandfather on my Ellefritz family line. If the lineage societies are to be believed, he is my Magna Carta Gateway Ancestor; he is a descendant of Baron Henry de Bohun, a signer of the 1215 Magna Carta. He is also descended from the Plantagenets – the royal family that ruled England from the time of King Henry II (1154-1189) through King Richard III (1483-1485). Thomas’s family did not have a long-term connection with this church, but I have seen a marriage record that indicates this is where his parents were married. I’m hoping I can find more information about this family while I’m there.
There is another nearby location where I expected to be able to find more information about this family – their family’s ancestral home, Madresfield Court in Malvern, Worcestershire, England. This is to the west of the route we’ll take from our Airbnb to Winterbourne (see above), so we’ll probably veer in that direction the day we make that trip. This house has remained in the same family for 28 generations — some 1,000 years.
My plan was to visit this house and its gardens while I learned more about my Lygon ancestors. However, the Madresfield Court website now has a bold-faced announcement at the top of the page:
I’m hoping we can still drive by and maybe visit local sites that include information about this home.
Thomas Lygon is interesting to me because he emigrated to Virginia around 1640. He was the grandson of a second son of the owner of his family’s estate, and unlikely to inherit anything. His cousin, William Berkeley, had just been appointed royal governor of Virginia, so this is probably what led him to make this move. Because he had connections, he was a member of the House of Burgesses in Virginia and held other public offices.
Badby, Northamptonshire
The fourth village we’ll visit during this part of our tour is Badby, in Northamptonshire County. It is about 35 miles (50 minutes) due east of the place where we’re staying.
This is the church we’ll be visiting there:
John Root
John Root (1608-1684) is my paternal 10th great-grandfather on my Ellefritz family line. Although there are numerous records documenting the Root family in this location, the Badby village website states “there are no monuments, gravestones, nor descendants of the family that we can identify in Badby village today. Records are housed at the Northamptonshire Records Office and Archives.” We’ll go to the village and then to the church, but I’ll consult the archives first.
As I was researching the Root (or Roote) family, I came across a first-person account of a descendant of the Root family (Joe Jansen) who made the trip to Badby in 2018. Joe is descended from my ancestor’s brother, Thomas Root. Here are a few things he wrote:
The Romans, the Saxons, and the Normans all had their times of domination in the land around Badby. On nearby Arbury Hill, ne can still find an entrenchment said to be the remains of a Roman camp.
The Rootes are believed to have come to Badby from the Normandy region of France in the early 1500s, when they joined an exodus of Protestant Huguenots fleeing Catholic persecution. [There is other research that calls this connection into question.]
Thomas [along with my ancestor, his brother John] would cross the ocean in 1637 aboard a ship called the “Increase.”
St. Mary’s has stood for nearly 700 years. While the roof was raised in the 15th century, some stained glass added or replaced, and pews changed out in the late 18th century, the pillars and the walls are original to the 1340s. Built of Marlstone Rock, this place was already 260 years old when Thomas was baptized here in 1605 [and 263 years old when my ancestor John was baptized here in 1608].
This is another place where I’m not sure what I’ll be looking at or for. I was drawn to this village by Joe’s first-hand account. I’m looking forward to a similar visit.
We may extend our time with the Root family by driving another 15 miles (30 minutes) to Milton Malsor, the village where John’s grandfather Thomas Root was born and where the family lived for a few years at the beginning of the 17th century.
John Root and his family moved to New England in 1637, and after a short time in Boston they relocated to Farmington, Connecticut.
How exciting! Sounds like an awesome trip and it seems like you've got everything covered! Love the Airbnb!
Sounds like a fantastic trip! Shout if you need anything.