Henrie Pattenden 1542 East Peckham,Kent

[magglet]

Can anyone help me with this one?My 10th Great Grandfather was Henrie Pattenden 1542-1593,born and died in East Peckham,Kent.I am unable to find details to confirm his parentage.On several matching sites on Ancestry his parents are named as Richard (de)Clifford and Ann Stafford,but others fail to name his parents.As the surname differs,could it be that perhaps he was born the wrong side of the blanket or could it be some kind of honorary name bestowed upon him? Other children born to the parents named above bear the surname "de Clifford",and there is even a Henry Clifford born of the same parents in 1537,but he has a different spouse(Anne Devereux),whereas my Henrie married 4 times (!) Annis Kenworth in 1572,(2) Margaret Stanford in 1573,(3)Elnor Sutor in 1582 and Faythe Cotchman in 1591.If anyone could solve this mystery I would be so very grateful.

[jim1]

You're at the time Parish Registers were introduced ( 1535 seems to ring a bell ) so for ordinary folk there won't be much if anything re parentage.
If he is from noble or landed gentry then there may be more.
With regard to his name & if there is proof he may have changed it for inheritance purposes at the request of the testator which means there has to be a will somewhere for him to be placed in the de Clifford family.
As you have ( I assume ) traced the family back this far you must know if this is a possibility.

jim

[magglet]

Thank you for that Jim,I will have to try and get hold of a copy of the will.Someone along the line has got this information (regarding parentage) from somewhere,so the answer must be out there!
Regards,Margaret

[bearkat]

The parish records for East Peckham begin in 1558 so you going to have to rely on other sources.

There are some early Pattenden (& variants) wills listed here

http://vulpeculox.net/history/willsp.htm

[jim1]

Looking at the dates the only 2 they could be are the Rochester Pattendens Andrew or Stephen.
They don't look like they would be contemporaries of the de Cliffords.

[magglet]

Thanks...I also wonder whether there a a link to Pattyndenn Manor in Goudhurst and perhaps the title "Pattenden" would have been Lord of the Manor?

[jim1]

More likely as the de Cliffords were well up the pecking order.

[magglet]

I will battle on!!! Thanks to all for their help and if anything comes to light please contact me.
Regards,Margaret

[daniel fowler]

Hi, I am also related to Henrie Pattenden, b 1542 East Peckham, and have also struggled to find and confirm his parents. Several websites and family trees do indeed show his father as being Richard Clifford (de Clifford), which would be exciting as his family is easily traced back to the Norman conquest, BUT I have not been able to find any original source or evidence that backs this up. I fear that many who have made and accepted this parentage link have taken a hopeful shot in the dark, or blindly followed others who have made this association without proof. (Please anyone, prove me wrong).
I recently contacted the Clifford Association, whose patron is the current Lord Clifford of Chudleigh, asking for their help with this, and they confirmed to me that from their official Clifford archives (trees, wills and other documents) they can find no records relating to a Henrie Pattenden. The only Henry they have records for from that time was indeed born to Richard Clifford and Lady Anne Stafford in 1536, but was named Henry Clifford and later married Anne Deveraux.
But he's not our Henry, for whom I have recently found a record stating that his fathers name was also Henry. I am now feeling able to move on, concentrate on MY family tree and surrender any hopes of being related to William the Conquerer.
I hope this helps. D