RootsChat.Com
England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Devon => Topic started by: IJDisney on Friday 16 March 18 16:12 GMT (UK)
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One of my ancestor’s was John Woolton (1535-1594), who was Bishop of Exeter in 1579-1594. I’m looking for information on his first wife and her parents. I do not know her name, or have any dates except that their eldest son was born in 1565. I know where John Woolton was in the years 1563-94, and have checked the relevant registers, but can find no marriage or burials that might fit his wife. I do have bits of information about her father’s job and position, but I do not know his name or any clear dates or locations.
What I know is that in April 1585 certain charges were brought against John Woolton, Bishop of Exeter, including accusations of nepotism. The details of the father-in-law in the accusation were;
1. He was the father of John Woolton’s first wife
2. He was made a minister by Woolton after John married his daughter
3. He was cater to the Duke of Somerset
4. He was unlearned
5. He did not understand Latin
John Woolton wrote a reply to all the accusations on 29th April 1585,in which he wrote about his father-in-law;
1. He did not get his benefice from John Woolton
2. He became a minister 10 years before John Woolton became a Bishop
3. His parish is not under the Bishop of Exeter’s jurisdiction
4. He has a good character, and is “a grave, honest, and godly old man.”
From these statements I can work out these things about John Woolton’s father-in-law;
1. His daughter was John Woolton’s first wife (married bef. 1565)
2. He is still alive in April 1585
3. He is an old man, from John’s point of view
4. He probably didn’t receive a high level of education
5. He was cater to the Duke of Somerset (the cater was in charge of the household food supplies and hospitality. The Duke of Somerset was either Henry Fitzroy, the illegitimate son of Henry VII who was Duke of Richmond and Somerset in 1525-1536, or more probably Edward Seymour, Lord Protector of England, who was made Duke in 1547 and was executed in 1553, with the title falling into abeyance until 1613).
6. He became a minister in about 1569 (John Woolton became Bishop in 1579)
7. He is still a practising minister in April 1585
8. His current parish is not within the jurisdiction of Exeter, but might be close enough to it for people to think it could be
Does anyone have any suggestion about how I could find out who this man was? Are there household records for the Duke of Somerset that might reveal his name? Or lists of ministers who were ordained in certain years? Where do I go from here?
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As his mother came from a noble family one line of enquiry may be the Heraldic Visitations of 1564.
Not in Devon.
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01lra/
Lancashire seems to be a dead end as well.
1630:
https://archive.org/stream/visitationofcoun00sainrich#page/66/mode/2up/search/nowell
1567:
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01lrb/
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Sorry I can't help you with your quest, but!
4. He was unlearned
5. He did not understand Latin
4. He probably didn’t receive a high level of education
Not quite sure how an unlearned man, who did not understand Latin could become a minister at that time (unless I've got it completely wrong). :-\ ::)
And, if he was cater to the Duke of Somerset, he possibly didn't come from a well-to-do family, who might have bought his ministerial role for him :-\
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Have you checked the Exeter Cathedral Library?
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As his mother came from a noble family one line of enquiry may be the Heraldic Visitations of 1564.
Not in Devon.
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01lra/
Lancashire seems to be a dead end as well.
1630:
https://archive.org/stream/visitationofcoun00sainrich#page/66/mode/2up/search/nowell
1567:
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01lrb/
Thanks for the suggestion, and the useful links. John was born in Lancashire and his mother's family, the Nowells, are quite well recorded. But unfortunately not so far as to include John Woolton's wife.
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The other place to enquire IJ is the Devonshire Institution also on Cathedral Green.
Barb
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Duplicate post
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=789877.msg6456617#msg6456617
Yes. I put it in the Common Room, and then thought it would be better suited in the Devon Research section, since it is about the Bishop of Exeter.
Topics merged , posts edited.
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Sorry I can't help you with your quest, but!
4. He was unlearned
5. He did not understand Latin
4. He probably didn’t receive a high level of education
Not quite sure how an unlearned man, who did not understand Latin could become a minister at that time (unless I've got it completely wrong). :-\ ::)
And, if he was cater to the Duke of Somerset, he possibly didn't come from a well-to-do family, who might have bought his ministerial role for him :-\
The first two points are the allegations. That does not mean they are correct. The third point is my guess, because John does not counter the allegation with any mention of a university or other kind of study. So I assume his silence suggests that there was indeed some truth in the allegation. But this is my guesswork. Maybe he knew enough to preach and minister, but was not a formally trained scholar. Until I know his name, I can't start to research him.
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As a cator to the household, he would have needed to be able to read and write, manage figures, and be quite astute in dealing with suppliers, markets, staff and guests. He would have been educated to some standard, but not theologically. Maybe that is what unlearned in Latin meant?
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Have you checked the Exeter Cathedral Library?
The other place to enquire IJ is the Devonshire Institution also on Cathedral Green.
Barb
Thank you both for those two suggestions. What would I be asking for - document-wise? My query at the moment is that I don't know what sort of documents to be looking for. I was hoping to narrow down the focus to something known.
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I suggest you email both, they may be able to source the information within their archive.
Barb ,of course you could visit our beautiful city.
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I suggest you email both, they may be able to source the information within their archive.
Barb ,of course you could visit our beautiful city.
I will do that. Thanks.
My mother was born in Topsham, and my father was born in St.Thomas'. But its always nice to visit again.
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You might find something in the Clergy Database:
http://www.theclergydatabase.org.uk/
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You might find something in the Clergy Database:
http://www.theclergydatabase.org.uk/
Thank you. That looks like a good resource. Best roll my sleeves up - this could be long slog!!
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Are you aware that both the Bishop and his son John have Prerogative Court of Canterbury wills?
I have glanced (I stress glanced) through the two wills.
If it were my research I would take a hard look at the name LEVERMORE.
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Are you aware that both the Bishop and his son John have Prerogative Court of Canterbury wills?
I have glanced (I stress glanced) through the two wills.
If it were my research I would take a hard look at the name LEVERMORE.
No I wasn't aware of that! Thank you. You sound like the images are scanned on line somewhere. How can I see them?
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The main two ways are:
1) With a subscription to Ancestry.
The first two wills under a search for Woolton in the collection called All England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858 are for your family. There may be more (I didn't look further).
2) They can be purchased and downloaded individually (at a cost of 3.50 GPB each) from The National Archives.
These are the wills:
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_aq=John%20Woolton&_ep=will%20of&_dss=range&_sd=1580&_ed=1630&_ro=any&_st=adv
You may find a short term subscription to Ancestry cheaper overall. They look like the sort of people who left plenty of PCC wills.
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horselydown86, thank you very much.
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Not quite sure how an unlearned man, who did not understand Latin could become a minister at that time (unless I've got it completely wrong). :-\ ::)
Simple answer (I suspect): money. At least in France at that time if a rich and powerful person wanted you to be a bishop then you became a bishop (or even a cardinal). I doubt whether it was very different in England.
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I took a slightly different tack on this. What if he attended university (Oxford or Cambridge), graduated and then west to work for the Duke of Somerset. Later in life the Duke mislays his head on Tower Hill and the household disperses. Our man then looks for work and as he is a graduate he is automatically qualified as a vicar. I am not sure how it worked but you became a vicar at graduation. You could repudiate it and/or not apply for a parish but it was a part of graduation back then. He then gets a parish and later still starts to suffer with dementia and can no longer recall his Latin. If he is a priest in a parish he owns the freehold and cannot be ousted; I then would see the attempt to get the Bishop charged with nepotism as a means of trying to get him to take responsibility for him and to pay for a pension. As nepotism was then part of the way of life-it ensured you got loyal people working for you-it is not a charge involving a hint of corruption, just bad judgement by the person appointing to the post and a blow to their reputation.
It would mean that he may well have operated as an effective cator for the Duke of Somerset. I would also see if records exist for the Dukedom/Seymour family back then. They may have been destroyed as I understand Berry Pomeroy castle was burnt in the Civil War, but you never know. Then when yo have a name you could see if here is a record at the universities.
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I suggest you email both, they may be able to source the information within their archive.
Barb ,of course you could visit our beautiful city.
I will do that. Thanks.
My mother was born in Topsham, and my father was born in St.Thomas'. But its always nice to visit again.
They were very kind and sent me some scanned information on John Woolton's tomb in Exeter Cathedral. But they did not think they had suitable material for family history - the documents relate to church mangement. But they offered to welcome me if I chose to see them in person if I had any ideas on what to look for.
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Are you aware that both the Bishop and his son John have Prerogative Court of Canterbury wills?
I have glanced (I stress glanced) through the two wills.
If it were my research I would take a hard look at the name LEVERMORE.
I got the two wills, but no help in finding the elusive father-in-law//wife. The names are either children, siblings or trusted friends (who I can trace and see no family connection to).
Back to square one!
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I got the two wills, but no help in finding the elusive father-in-law//wife. The names are either children, siblings or trusted friends (who I can trace and see no family connection to).
In my quick scan through the wills, I noticed that John LEVERMORE was called brother-in-law in the son's will, but LEVERMORE was not included in the list of married daughters in the father's will. (John LEVERMORE was a witness to the father's will.)
I thought it possible that he was a child of the son's mother by a previous husband. In the convention of the time, this relationship could also be described as brother-in-law.
(Obviously, he could also have been the husband of a deceased daughter of the father.)
Were you able to identify how John LEVERMORE fits into the family?
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I got the two wills, but no help in finding the elusive father-in-law//wife. The names are either children, siblings or trusted friends (who I can trace and see no family connection to).
In my quick scan through the wills, I noticed that John LEVERMORE was called brother-in-law in the son's will, but LEVERMORE was not included in the list of married daughters in the father's will. (John LEVERMORE was a witness to the father's will.)
I thought it possible that he was a child of the son's mother by a previous husband. In the convention of the time, this relationship could also be described as brother-in-law.
(Obviously, he could also have been the husband of a deceased daughter of the father.)
Were you able to identify how John LEVERMORE fits into the family?
The John Levermore who signed the 1594 will was either ;
(1) John Levermore, the son of Maurice Levermore (Maurice was Mayor of Exeter in 1564; John was Mayor himself in 1596).
Or
(2) John Levermore his son, whose sister Elizabeth married John Woolton jnr, and is also therefore the brother-in-law mentioned in the will of 1614.
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Thanks IJD, so a dead end then.
Have you checked for wills for the several married daughters (and/or their husbands) as mentioned in the Bishop's will? If you are lucky they might mention a maternal aunt or uncle, or something else which could provide a lead to the mother.
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Thanks IJD, so a dead end then.
Have you checked for wills for the several married daughters (and/or their husbands) as mentioned in the Bishop's will? If you are lucky they might mention a maternal aunt or uncle, or something else which could provide a lead to the mother.
In hand. No luck so far.