Uncommon Names in the Raney/Rainey Family

Lena Mildred Bass (b. 1908 IN), our 1st cousin, 2x removed, granddaughter of Whitman Hill Dyson

I've been researching on Ancestry for three years now, fascinated by unusual first names in our lineage and in the ascents of others, so  I've decided to compile a baby book of names with a working title, Nontraditional American Baby Names - 1620 to 1925. I might use the photograph of Lena Mildred above for the cover. In that vein, I'll remind you of names our direct ancestors chose for their children, popular at the time, but no longer. 

Our 2nd great-grandfather Rainey was named Everett (b. 1844 KY). His mother's name, given as Millie Roberts (b. c1808 KY) on her marriage license in Pulaski Co., and on most censuses, on one occasion was listed as Milla, which might have been her actual name.  Our 5th great-grandfather Parham was named Ephraim (b. 1723 VA), common in its day. His middle name was Stith, his mother Ann's surname. In those days the mother's or grandmother's surname often passed down as a middle or first name. Ann's father was Drury Stith (b. 1670 VA), our 7th great-grandfather. His mother may have been a Drury. Our 8th great-grandfather was Launcelot Bathurst (b. 1642 England).

Ephraim Parham's wife was our 5th great-grandmother, Lucretia Sturdivant (b. 1743). Not an unusual name for the time, but I've wondered how the name of a daughter of a Borgia pope, who poisoned family enemies, became popular in America in the early 18th century. Lucretia's 2nd great-grandfather, and our 9th, was Hezekiah Bunnill (b. 1623 VA), again, a popular name of its time.

Zachariah Cross tombstone

Turning to the Dougan side, our 5th great-grandfather, was the Revolutionary War soldier, Zachariah Cross (b. 1761 MD). That name had been popular in America since the first English settlers arrived. 

Revolutionary War soldiers who were buried in White County, Illinois

Zachariah's grandmother, our 7th great-grandmother, was Dinah Lane Tracy (1695 MD). Her father's name was Teague Thomas Tracy (b. 1674 England). A 6th great-grandfather named Matthias Gabbardt was born in 1720 in Schwaigern, Baden-Württemberg, so the spelling isn't unusual.
 

Whitman Hill Dyson

On the Dyson side, our 2nd great-grandfather was Whitman Hill Dyson (b.1836 IN). Whitman is the only name that has descended in our family - Frank Whitman Raney (b 1888 IN) and his son Paul Whitman Raney (b. 1913 KS). It would be nice if someone continued that family tradition. Whitman Hill Dyson's grandfather was Bennet Dyson (b. 1768 MD), and his father was Maddox Dyson (b. 1744 MD), our 5th great-grandfather, named for his mother Mary Ann Maddox. Mary Ann's father was Benjamin, and her grandfather, our 8th great-grandfather, was Cornelius Maddox (b. 1661 England). A 9th great-grandmother, born in England about 1640, who came to Maryland, was Hesther Evans. On the Julian side (Alice Julian was Whitman Hill Dyson's mother, our 5th great-grandfather, born in 1754 in North Carolina, was Claiborne Condrey, also his father's name, one of our French Huguenot lines. On Alice's other French Protestant line, Rene and his father Pierre didn't have unusual names, but Pierre's wife was Damaris LeSerur, our 8th great-grandmother, born in France.

Whitman Hill Dyson's wife was Elizabeth "Ella" Turpin (b. 1841 IN).  Her father was Moses Turpin (b. 1812 KY) and his father, our 4th great-grandfather, was Moses Hosea Turpin (b. 1782 VA). Moses Hosea's father was another Moses, and his wife was Magdelene Black (b.1760 VA). The name Magdalene is found in present-day  Catholic families. The young woman who cleans my house is a Magdalene Marie. Our 6th and 7th great-grandfathers were both Solomon Turpins (b. 1723 and 1673 in Maryland), common names of their time. Olive Eaton (b. 1620 England), the older Solomon's grandmother and our 9th  great-grandmother, possessed a name given to both girls and boys in the 17th and 18th centuries. The cartoon Popeye has ruined the name for the present. On the elder Solomon's mother's side, his great-grandfather was Ambrose Dixon (b. 1623 England), who emigrated to Maryland). Still ascending from Ella Turpin is her grandfather Elijah Utterback (b. 1776 VA), our 4th great-grandfather. His father was Jacob and his grandfather Harmon Utterback (b. 1724 VA), an Anglicized Hermann. The Utterback family, originally Otterbach, emigrated from Trupbach, Siegan-Wittgenstein, North Rhine-Westphalia in 1713 to Virginia, part of a group of twelve German families, who established the first German community in America - known as Germantown, of course. And those are our direct line uncommon names so far.
We have collateral relatives with great names, too. An example is
Forest Lynn Elkins (b. 1889 TX) and her sister Kitta Belle Elkins (b. 1888 TX) 2nd cousins 3x removed. Their mother was Ollie Tennessee Rainey, our 1st cousin, 4x removed, daughter of our 3rd great-grandfather James' brother, John Rainey.

For an appropriate ending, I've picked Ya'll Come, recorded by Bill Munroe in 1954.  HERE

                                        In Memoriam

I've learned that we lost our cousin Sharon Marie "Sherri" Charbonneau from a heart attack on Thursday, December 12, 2019. Daughter of Mary Agnes Raney Charbonneau and Omer "Red" Charbonneau, she was the youngest of the female cousins in the Raney family. This is her senior photo at Gonzaga Prep, Spokane, in 1976.

Christopher & Mary Branch, Jamestown Immigrants - Our 9th Great-grandparents

Old doorway into St. Helen's Church, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England, where our Branch ancestors worshiped and were buried.

I recall visiting London when I was 18, and how thrilled I was to be there . . . and yet, I didn't realize our ancestors had trod those same lanes and byways. In later years I visited other parts of Great Britain, still unaware of my heritage, but feeling a sense of returning to the familiar. Since discovering from whence our ancestors came, I've thought it would be satisfying to visit their specific birthplaces. But didn't they leave those towns and cities, mostly in the 17th century, to begin new lives in Maryland and Virginia? Few made voyages home. "We never returned," most would have said. "Why should you care where we came from?"  

Below is the story of Christopher Branch (c1599-1681) and his wife, MaryAddy/Addie (c1599-1630), who arrived in Jamestown about 1619, our 9th great-grandparents.

Our ascent: Grandfather Frank Whitman Raney (1888 Gibson Co., IN -1969 Spokane, WA); Great-grandfather James Samuel Raney (1868 Pike Co., IN -1954 Spokane, WA);Great-great grandfather Everett Rainey/Raney (1844 Pulaski Co., KY-1899, Blodgett, Scott Co., MO ); 3rd Great-grandfather James Rainey (1814 Pulaski Co., KY-1860/70 Pike Co., IN); 4th Great-grandfather James Rainey (c1778 Sussex Co., VA -1838/40,White Co., TN), who married in 1800 Martha Parham (c1784 Sussex Co., VA-1817-20 Pulaski Co., KY) in Sussex Co., Virginia. Our 4th great-grandmother Martha Parham's father was Ephraim Stith Parham (1732 VA-1793 Sussex Co, VA), who married Lucretia Sturdivant in 1771, widow of a Parham cousin. 5th great-grandfather Ephraim Stith Parham's father was William Parham (1696 Surry Co., VA-1758 Sussex Co., VA), who married in 1723 Anne Stith (1700 VA-after 1758 VA), our 6th great-grandparents. William Parham's father was Thomas Parham (1665 Gloucester Co.,VA-1717 Prince George Co.,VA), who married Elizabeth Branch (c1667 Henrico Co.,VA-1717 Henrico Co.). Elizabeth's father, I believe, might have been George Branch (1630 Henrico Co., VA-1688 near the Blackwater in Isle of Wight Co.), who married Ann England, and were our 8th great-grandparents. George Branch was the 4th son of Christopher and Mary (Addy) Branch, the Immigrants. 

You might think the surname Branch would be common in Colonial Virginia, but most Branches in the southern United States trace their roots to the five sons of Christopher Branch. We have numerous DNA matches to their descendants. 

We also have numerous DNA matches to the descendants of Peter Branch, who died on shipboard in 1636, a second cousin to Christopher Branch, leaving to settle in Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts, his only son John (b1626), who had many descendants. Our mutual ancestor with Peter's descendants was Richard Branch of Abingdon, England (b. c1503) (our 12th great-grandfather). This connection proves that DNA can be traced back 12 generations and more to a mutual ancestor.

St. Helen's parish church in Abingdon and its almshouse would have been a familiar sight to our Branch ancestors. View from across the Thames River

Some claim the name Branch/Braunche is of Norman origin and that the Braunche ancestor was brought to England in the train of a knight in the service of William the Conqueror. 

It's helpful that others have already done my research. From the Abingdon Area Archaeological and Historical Society:

The [Branches] Braunches were a leading family in Abingdon [in Berkshire County until 1973, when it became a part of Oxfordshire] through several generations. A John Branch/Braunche (d. 1488), [our 14th great-grandfather] worked from 1438 as a master carpenter on the building of All Souls College in Oxford. He was responsible for selecting and preparing the timber to be felled, and he may have been the designer of the hammer-beam roof in the chapel. Although his pay was only fractionally above that of the more skilled of the half dozen or so other carpenters employed, he was paid by the week and they by the day, so his income was probably more steady than theirs. [I recommend reading Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, or watch the mini-series, to understand the role of a master carpenter in early England.]

All Souls College, Oxford, where our ancestor, John Bruanche, was a master carpenter.

Note ceiling of All Souls College Chapel, Oxford, designed  by our ancestor John Braunche in the mid-15th century.

He was almost certainly the John Braunche who leased property in 1438 from men whom we can recognize as leaders of the Fraternity or Guild of the Holy Cross, at that time not yet a chartered corporation. In 1440, John Braunche and his wife Avise (died 1490) [our 14th great-grandmother] took a house in West St Helen Street. The family’s connection with the Fraternity continued. Their son John (died 1521) carried on the carpentry business and was a Fraternity member. 

Their grandson Richard Braunche (about 1503−1544), [our 12th great-grandfather], who prospered as a woolen draper [a merchant of wool cloth] was a master of the Guild. [This area  was noted for its wool trade, weaving and the manufacture of clothing, with the Thames available for shipping to London.] Richard was buried in 1544 at St. Helen's church in Abingdon. [His wife was Elizabeth Beauforest, perhaps our 12th great-grandmother, but he'd had two previous wives.] At the time of Amyce’s survey in 1554, Richard’s widow Elizabeth (about 1507−1556) was living in the Bury near the end of Lombard Street and deriving income from three adjoining properties in East St Helen Street, two of which, the present Nos. 55 and 51, still exist.
 

No.55 with its neighbor No.51 (on right) are part of a timber framed row of rental properties built some time around 1500. They belonged to the Braunche family. Photo from 1880s

The same properties owned by our ancestor in 2008 from across the street

You may find Richard's will of interest, including the spelling.

Will of Richard Branch 27 August 1544

In the name off god Amen the 27 daye of August yn the yere off our lorde god 1544 and in the yere of our soveren and most drade [dread] lorde Henry the viij by the grace of god of England fraunce & Irelande kinge of the faithe defensor and in the erthe next under god of the church of England & Ireland supreme hede the xxxvj

y [I] Richarde Branche of Abendon in the dyocese of Sarum wollen draper being hole of mynde and perfyt of memorye (thankes be unto Jhesu) never the lesse sycke in bodye do ordeyne and make this to be my last will and testament as hereafter foloweth that is to saye I bequethe my solle unto almighty god my only Saviour and redemer desirynge my soll to be assosiat and in cumpenye withe the virgyn marye and all thelect [the elect] people of god and my bodye to be buryede in Saynct Elens churche of Abendon in Saynct Kateryns yle [aisle] nyghe unto the bodyes of my late wyves Julyan and Margrett.

Item y bequeth unto the highe awlter in Saynct Elens Churche ijs [2 shillings] to be prayed for.

Item y bequeth unto Thomas Branche my eldest sonne a federbed [featherbed] bolster a coverynge with a myter upon it [edges turned up and doubled] and a peyre [pair] off scheetes and xs [ten shillings] in moneye.

Item y bequethe unto my sonne William Branche [our 11th great-grandfather] my gowne that hadde off [made by] Mastre Wodwarde and xs [10 shillings] in moneye.

Item y bequethe unto Thomas Branche my yongest sonne xxs [20 shillings] in moneye.

Item y bequethe unto my sunne John Branche a black gown lyned with saynct Thomas wolsted [St. Thomas worsted might be a type of warm lining] and xs [10 shillings] in moneye.

Item y bequethe unto Mergerye my dowghter a gyrdell with a dymycent [inlay?] of sylver and gyelt [gilt] a sylverne [silver] spone withall her graunfathers [grandfather's] bequest unto her a great brasse pott a platter a pottenger [bowl] and a sawcer [saucer] of the new fassyon [fashion] a bell candlestycke & xxs [20 shillings] in moneye.

Item y bequethe unto Maryon my dowghter a great brasse potte a brasse pan a peyre [pair] of Jett bedis [beads] with sylver gandes a sylverne spone besydes the spone that Wodwarde gave unto her a platter a potenger a sawcer of the new facyon a bell candlestycke & xxs in moneye.

And yff [if] it shall cum to passe by godes provysyon [God's provision] that anye off my fore named chyldern shall departe this transitorye lyeff [transitory life] before they cum unto yeris [years] of dyscretion then y will that his or their partes of the bequestes above mentioned so discessed shalbe [discussed shall be] indifferently distrybuted amongst my chyldern that then shalbe on lyve.

Item the residew of all mye goodes unbequethed (my detes [debts] payed my funeralls dishcarged and my legaces fulfylled) I geve and bequethe unto Elysabeth Braunche my wyffe she to pay all the dettes that ye owe and to receve all such dettes as be owinge unto me whom also y make my full and sole executrice she to cause my soll to be prayed for as god shall put her in mynd.

Item y do make Humffrey Bostocke and Thomas Erle the overseers of this my last will and testament to be performed in whome y putt my full trust above all other mortall men to se unto the gydynge [guardianship] of my wyffe and my childern untyll the tyme that god provyde for them unto whome also y do geve for the paynes takynge vjs viijd equallye betwyxt them to be devydyd.

Witnesses hereunto Sir William Druet brotherhed preist Richard Mayot Humffreye Bostocke and Thomas Erle with other moe.

The Abingdon Area Archaeological and Historical Society continues: Richard’s elder son Thomas owned the Bull Inn [now demolished] on the corner of Littlebury Street, but he died in 1565 and left it to his brother William (before 1538−1602) [our 11th Great-grandfather, who married Katherine Jennings], a woolen draper like his father, but also a maltster [beer maker]. William continued the family tradition, becoming a governor of Christ’s Hospital, which had been established in 1553 to replace the old Fraternity, which had built the almshouse in 1446. [It appears that when William's daughter Martha married Robert Payne, the Bull Inn was made over to Payne as part of Martha's marriage portion, perhaps at that time only as a lease. This act would plague the Branch family for generations.]

The Christ's Hospital Almshouse, well-known to our ancestors, built in 1446, still used for meetings of this oldest charity in Oxfordshire, which now supports 32 free senior living units, among other good works.

The main obligation of the charity, which was not a hospital, but a hospitiam - a place for giving help to the poor - was to care for the Long Alley [above] almspeople who were to receive 8 pence per week, 1 shilling at Easter and 5 shillings a year for clothing: gown and hoods for the women and gown and hats for the men. In addition, the charity shouldered the maintenance of the town’s bridges, including those constructed by the Fraternity of the Holy Cross – a medieval religious guild. They also maintained the bridge over the River Ock to the west and the medieval arched stone bridge at the confluence of the Thames and Ock known as St. Helen’s Bridge.

Older photo of the almshouse from the front. Note that the ivy and chimneys have been removed.

William was master [similar to a burgess] four times between 1572 and 1593, as well as being mayor of Abingdon four times between 1563 and 1588. He also represented the town in the short-lived parliament of 1593.
It was in William’s time that factional conflict broke out in both the Corporation and in Christ’s Hospital, and he played a major role in it. This resulted in his oldest son Thomas (1557−1603) having his entry to these bodies delayed, so that he never achieved great distinction in them. Another son, Richard (1560−before 1602), became a clergyman and was rector of Hinton Waldrist and Longworth, while a third, Lionel (1566-1605) [our 10th great-grandfather], moved to London [after studying at Magdelene College, Oxford University]. 

In the next generation, the name of Braunche no longer appears among Corporation members and Hospital governors. Their position in Abingdon politics was taken up by a son-in-law, Robert Payne, [who upon marrying Martha Branch, was granted the Bull Inn as part of the marriage settlement]. Lionel’s offspring emigrated to Virginia and started an American branch of the family.

So, ends the account by the Abingdon Area Archaeological and Historical Society, but it's not the end of the English part of our story. William was buried within in St. Helen's Church, as had been Richard. His family paid two shillings for the tolling of the knell with the great Belle at his funeral and six shillings and eight pence for his grave. In recent photos on St. Helen's Facebook page, I see a new floor covers everything, including our ancestors' graves and maybe their flat gravestones.

Follow the zigzagging River Thames up from center bottom and Abingdon is located where the River Ock joins the Thames. Wool and clothing was shipped from the town to London.

Lionel (b. 1568 in Abingdon), our 10th great-grandfather, was the seventh child, third son of William and Katherine (Jennings) Branch (1532-1597). On 02 Jul 1585 he matriculated at Magdalen College of Oxford University as a 17 year-old commoner and graduated on 11 Feb 1590; afterwhich, he was able to place the title "gentleman" after his name.

Magdelene College, Oxford University, attended by our 10th great-grandfather, Lionel Branch.

Lionel and his wife, Valentina Sparke, were married on 08 July 1596 at St. Martin, Ludgate, in the city of London (destroyed in the Great London Fire in 1666). ["Leonell Branch of London gent. and Valentia Sparke of St. Martin Ludgate said city, spinster, daughter of "__?__" Sparke late of said city, draper, deceased, gen. lic., 7 Jul 1596."]  Valentina Sparke was born circa 1575 in London and died in 1600 of unspecified causes, shortly after only child Christopher's birth.

St. Margaret's, Westminster, Greater London, built from 1486 to 1523, where our 10th great-grandparents, Lionel and Valentina Branch are buried.

Our 10th great-grandmother, Valentina, was buried on 04 Aug 1600 at St. Margaret’s Church, Westminster, London. Lionel  died intestate in London in 1605, and was buried at St. Margaret's, also. We don't know who reared our 9th great-grandfather, Christopher Branch (b.1699), but since Lionel had four sisters, possibly one of them had his care, or perhaps by Valentina's family. Was he reared up in Abingdon or in London? We don't know.

It appears that Lionel was the "black sheep" of the family. Called "my unthrifty and disobedient son" in his father's [William Branch (1524-1601)] will and bequeathed merely "my black gown." No love was lost between Lionel and his older brother, Thomas, either. When Thomas made his will in 1603, he bequeathed nothing to Lionel, but willed the valuable Bull Inn property of Abingdon to his brother-in-law, Robert Payne, which had earlier been settled on his sister Martha as part of her marriage settlement. Whatever revision in it that had passed down from the father William to Thomas, now was bequeathed to Payne.  William Branch, the younger brother of Lionel, still at Oxford University, must have felt the natural male heirs of their father, William Branch, should inherit the Bull Inn and accordingly brought suit to upset the will, the cause being decided in favor of Robert Payne in February of 1603-4. We will hear more of the Bull Inn later.

But now we arrive at our 9th great-grandfather, Christopher Branche, gentleman (1599-1682), who married Mary Addie (1602-1630) in 1619 at St. Peter's, Westcheap, London, which burned in the Great London fire of 1666.

Marriage bonds of "Xtofer Braunche" and "Marie Addie", daughter of Francis Addie, 2 September 1619

 She was the daughter of Francis Addie of Darton, Yorkshire, supposedly a husbandman, which seems a rather lowly occupation for Christopher to marry into. But, if his father had been a wastrel, and both grandfathers dead, he may not have had much to offer a bride. Of course, there's the possiblility Francis Addie was a prosperous merchant, dealing in Yorkshire cattle and sheep for the London market, else how did Mary end up in London?

Darton Church, Yorkshire, was built in 1150. Our ancestor Mary Addie and her own ancestors attended services there.

Christopher and Mary voyaged four months to Virginia on the ship London Merchant, a 300 ton vessel, with 198 other passengers, mostly men, sent by the Virginia Company, arriving in the summer of 1620, with the loss of only one soul. It must have been a miserable journey, leaving them weak and malnourished.

London Merchant may have resembled this replica of the original ship that brought colonists to Jamestown in 1609, although probably larger.

Living on what was called the College Land, half of the sale of its produce intended  to "educate the infidel," they were among a scant 60 settlers there who survived the Indian massacre of 1622, which nearly ended Virginia Colony. By 1623 they were living in Henrico County with their nine-month old son Thomas, the only Henrico County born child at that time. Besides Thomas, they had William, Christopher, John, and George Branch, and one of those sons was our 8th great-grandfather. For the moment, I'm going with George, born 1630.

In 1619, the Great Charter gave the colony self-governance, which led to the establishment of a Council of State, appointed by the Governor, an elected General Assembly ( House of Burgesses), and provided that the colony would no longer be financed by shares, but by the commodity of tobacco, which had established itself as profitable.The birth of representative government in the United States can be traced from this “Great Charter.” And Christopher Branch would participate in America's infancy of self-governing. He patented 100 acres in 1634 north of the James River at a place called Arrowhattocks. His wife Mary had died in 1630, probably after giving birth to George, and in 1632 he had returned to England.

 His purpose in going back to Abingdon, in retrospect, doesn't seem worth the candle. He began a lawsuit in an attempt to gain ownership of the Bull Inn in Abingdon after the deaths of his aunt Martha and her husband, Robert Payne, who had died about 1628. Having lost his wife, Christopher must have been discontented living in Virginia and believed the Bull Inn belonged to him by right of promigentitor (descent down the surviving male line), and viewed the inn as having a lucrative income. It indicates, too, that there was an ongoing correspondence between Christopher and members of his Branch family, that he would discover Robert Payne's death. He lost the lawsuit to Robert Payne's son.

Chesterfield County

Christopher returned to Virginia and in 1634 and patented that 100 acres called Arrowhattocks north of the James River. In 1636 he patented 350 acres south of the James River, opposite Arrowhattocks,  in what was then Henrico County, but would eventually become Chesterfield County. He named his plantation Kingsland. In 1639 he was a tobacco inspector, responsible for determining the quality of the tobacco from certain plantations before shipment to England. In 1640 he represented Henrico County in the House of Burgesses. That year they dealt with an over-supply of tobacco by ordering the burning of all the bad tobacco and half the good, thus containing production to 1½ million pounds. By 1650 he was a justice in Henrico County. He continued to accumulate land - about 1250 acres in all. A man who lived longer than most, he prudently made his will in 1678, but it wasn't probated until February, 1681/2, shortly after he died. 

By his death, two sons, William (1625-1666) and Christopher (1628-1665) had passed on. Christopher Jr's sons remained living at Kingsland, and so were the main concern in Christopher Sr.'s will. We must assume he had made earlier arrangements for sons John and George.

Christopher the Immigant was rich only in land it seems. The inventory of his estate contained the bare necessities of life. Three books, two being Bibles, two cows, two oxen, two bulls, a yearling calf, five barrows (gelded pigs), 2 sows, a boar, "a parcel of pyggs", tobacco and one slave.

Will of Christopher Branch 20 June 1678

In the name of God Amen. The twentieth of June 1678. I Christopher Branch, of Kingsland, in the County of Henrico being in years and memory, praised be to God, do make this my Last Will and Testament as follows:

Item. I give my body unto the Earth from whence it came and my Soul unto my Savior Jesus Christ, who has bought it with his most precious blood.

Item. I give unto my son Thomas Branch [1623-1693] my great copper kettle and a book called Ursinis Catucis and I do confirm the two hundred and forty acres of land that I have given him by deed gift formerly.

Item. I give unto my grandson Christopher Branch [oldest son of deceased Christopher, Jr.] all the land between the river and the long slash, beginning at Proctors Creek mouth, and run upward on the river to the pine tree that parts my land and my son Thomas, and from Proctors Creek at the lower end of long slash on the inside of the slash [waste land] running upward to my son Thomas’ land unto him and his heirs male forever, provided that he shall help to build for his brother, Samuel Branch [son of deceased Christopher, Jr.] a house [with] four lengths of board every length to be five foot with help of the Negro and Job [an indentured servant]. If they live until Samuel be of ability to help and to seat it, and to help him to clear a cornfield sufficiently fenced to keep out hogs and cattle.

Item. I give unto my grandson Samuel Branch [son of deceased Christopher, Jr.] all the land that lies between the long slash and the bottom called by the name Jacks Bottom, beginning at Proctors Creek and running upwards to my son Thomas’ land to him and his heirs male forever provided that he, with the help of Christopher and the Negro and Job, if it pleased God they live, do build Benjamin one house of four lengths of board every length of board to be five foot long, clear and fence him a cornfield so much as they do for Samuel, with his help when he shall be able to seat it.

Item. I give unto my grandson Benjamin Branch [another son of Christopher, Jr.] all the land that lies between Jacks Bottom and Proctors Creek beginning at Proctors Creek and running upwards to my son Thomas’ land to him and his heirs male forever. It is my will that Christopher do give unto Samuel and Benjamin six locust posts and two elm posts a piece when they shall build them their dwelling houses if they can find none on their own ground. It is my will that any of these—Christopher, Samuel, or Benjamin—do die before they come to the age of one and twenty years then their land shall return to the next brother and the goods that they shall have out of my estate after my decease. It is my will that after my decease, my son Thomas shall pay unto Christopher the rent that shall be due unto his Majesty yearly for his two hundred and forty acres of land when it shall be demanded. Likewise, Mr. Gower [Abell Gower married son William Branch's widow], Samuel, and Benjamin when they shall seat their land.

Item. It is my will that neither Samuel nor Benjamin go off the plantation but to live with Christopher and to have housing and ground and to work together until they be able to seat their own land unless they be willing to go off themselves. It is my will that my part of my Job’s labor, so long as he has to serve, shall go to maintain Samuel, Benjamin, and Sarah [their sister], and the half of the Negro’s labor go to maintain them.

Item. It is my will that the cart way be not stopped up nor altered that now is to go into the woods for timber or for firewood but to have a clear passage. It is my will that William and John Branch [sons of the deceased son William] shall have liberty to fish or fowl in the creeks or swamp. If Christopher shall refuse to help to build and clear for Samuel and Benjamin as I have set down in this my will, then he shall pay to Benjamin six hundred pounds of tobacco.

Item: I give unto Thomas Jefferson [1629-1697] [who married deceased son Christopher's daughter Mary in 1678] one hogshead of tobacco of four hundred pounds weight whom I make[,] with my grandson Christopher Branch[,] my full and sole executors of this my last will and testament and I desire them to see my will truly performed, my debts and legacies being paid and burial discharged, all the rest of my estate I give unto my grandson Christopher Branch and Samuel and Benjamin and Sarah and Mary Branch, the wife of Thomas Jefferson to be equally divided among them [they apparently were the total of Christopher Jr.'s children]. Witness my hand and seal the day and year above written.

Christopher Branch

Witnessed: Abel Gower Richard Ward

My research on Christopher's granddaughter Elizabeth Branch (c1666-1717), our 7th great-grandmother, is ongoing in establishing which of Christopher's sons was her father - Thomas, William, Christopher or George? We have the most DNA matches with Thomas and George, but that only means their descendants are interested in their lineage, too.  Elizabeth Branch married Thomas Parham (1765-1713)  about 1685 . . . and the rest is our family history, which I'll get to at a future date.
You may find this of interest:  Christopher Branch's lineage is proven to Charlemagne, by a female ancestor, through King William I (the Conqueror) and his descendants qualify for membership in the "Jamestowne Society" and the "Order of the Crown of Charlemagne in the United States of America." Christopher and Mary (Addie) Branch were the 3rd great-grandparents of Thomas Jefferson through their son Christopher, Jr., which makes him our distant cousin through two of our family lines. 

Cousin Thomas Jefferson by Rembrandt Peale

Our Bathurst Line: From Medieval Merchant to Baron

Old engraving of the earls Bathurst coat of arms from 18th century

If you knew our grandfather, Frank Whitman Raney, you'll recall that he had good table manners, unusual for an Indiana farmboy. Did he instinctively suspect he was descended from English gentry?

I originally intended to trace our family's lines only to our ancestors' arrivals in the New World, but I found the Bathursts of particular interest, so I expanded my Ancestry subscription to include research outside the U.S., in order to delve deeper into Bathurst roots, but find myself researching more in the U.K. National Archives.

The motto over the Bathurst coat of arms is "Have Faith." There are seven variations of the Bathurst coat of arms, which was granted to an individual, not to a family line.

Here's our ascent to Lancelot/Launcelot Bathurst (Lancelot was a fairly common gentry name in 16th and 17th century England.) Grandfather: Frank Whitman Raney (1888 Gibson Co., IN -1969 Spokane, WA); Great-grandfather James Samuel Raney (1868 Pike Co., IN -1954 Spokane, WA);Great-great grandfather Everett Rainey/Raney (1844 Pulaski Co., KY-1899, Blodgett, Scott Co., MO ); 3rd Great-grandfather James Rainey (1814 Pulaski Co., KY-1860/70 Pike Co., IN); 4th Great-grandfather James Rainey (c1778 Sussex Co., VA -1838/40,White Co., TN), who married in 1800 Martha Parham (c1784 Sussex Co., VA-1817-20 Pulaski Co., KY) in Sussex Co., Virginia. Our 4th great-grandmother Martha Parham's father was Ephraim Stith Parham (1732 VA-1793 Sussex Co, VA), who married Lucretia Sturdivant in 1771, widow of a Parham cousin. 5th great-grandfather Ephraim Stith Parham's father was William Parham (1696 Surry Co., VA-1758 Sussex Co., VA), who married in 1723 Anne Stith (1700 VA-after 1758 VA). Our 6th great-grandmother Anne Stith's father was Lt. Col. Drury Stith (1670 Charles City Co., VA-1741 Charles City Co., VA), who married in 1693 our 7th great-grandmother Susannah Bathurst (1674 England or New Kent Co., VA-1745 Charles City Co., VA). Her father was our 8th great-grandfather, Lancelot Bathurst, the Immigrant.

County Sussex, England

We'll begin with the earliest known Bathurst ancestor. Our 17th great-grandfather, Richard Bathurst (1390-1423) of Bodehurst or Bathurst Castle, Warbleton Parish, East Sussex, is the first reputed lineal ancestor, married to an Agnes (surname unknown). They lived and died in Warbleton Parish.

St. Mary the Virgin in Warbleton Parish, East Sussex, so old the Bathursts must have worshiped here before the destruction of their castle during the Wars of the Roses

Richard's apparent 2nd son, our 16th great-grandfather, Lawrence Bathurst (1415-1464), supported the dethroned Kng Henry VI during the Wars of the Roses.HERE For his "treason" the Bathurst lands in Sussex were confiscated, the castle demolished, and its lands granted to Battle Abbey. Vestiges of the castle remained as of 1890, but I couldn't locate it on Google Earth.

Ruins of Battle Abbey, a Benedictine abbey built on the site where King Harold was killed in the Battle of Hastings in 1066, when William the Conqueror and his Normans conquered England .

Lawrence retired to another Bathurst holding in Cranbrook, County Kent. It seems he then fought for the Lancastrians up north in Northumberland at the Battle of Hexham in 1464, after which, defeated and captured, he and other noblemen and knights  were executed.HERE. His only son, our 15th great-grandfather, Lawrence II (1432-1461), had predeceased him, possibly in battle, but left a minor son, Lawrence Bathurst III (1457-1549), who was allowed to keep the Cranbrook lands in Kent, about 38 miles southwest of central London.

Medieval clothmaking, a cottage indurstry.

In 1332, King Edward III had invited Flemish clothmakers to come to County Kent to teach the English their craft.  The area became famous for its fine, smooth woollen cloth called broadcloth, and Cranbrook especially found reknown in its manufacture. The landowner-merchants who controlled the clothing trade were called the "greycoats of Kent," for the fine grey gowns they wore, made of their own cloth. It was their tenants, who wove the cloth in their cottages.

Lawrence Bathurst III (1457-1549) continued to possess lands in Cranbrook, Canturbury, and Staplehurst, 6 miles from Cranbrook, and was one of those greycoats. He married Godleve Chapman (1462-1547), daughter of Robert Chapman, Esq. of Kent, who lived nearly as long as 92-year-old Lawrence. Our 14th great-grandparents are buried at Staplehurst, County Kent.

As an aside, one of Lawrence's grandsons, Lancelot Bathurst (d.1594) by Lawrence's oldest son Edward, after whom our Lancelot may have been named, was a grocer in London and an alderman, who became rather wealthy during the reign of Elizabeth I, rebuilt the estate of Franks in County Kent, and was the ancestor of the earls of Bathurst. This enobled line still exists. One of Lancelot the alderman's sons was pressed to death for refusing to plead when arraigned on a charge of murder in 1609. A good thing old Lancelot wasn't alive to witness it. Nowadays, if an accused stands mute, a plea of not guilty is entered for him.

Franks Hall, Kent, was completed by Lancelot Bathurst the London grocer in 1591.

Lawrence and Godleve had a younger son, Thomas Bathurst (1475-1542) of Cranbrook Manor in Kent, who married Anna Chapman (1480-1547), probably a cousin. They were our 13th great-grandparnets.

Returning to the cloth industry that made out ancestors wealthy, this area of Kent had streams to drive mills, oak trees to build them and deposits of the special rock, fuller's earth, used to finish the cloth. 

Thomas' and Anna's third son, our 12th great-grandfather, Robert Bathurst (1513-1577) of Horsmonden, County Kent, was a clothier (but don't imagine his doing manual labor). He belonged to a guild, as perhaps his father and brothers did also, whose closed ranks allowed its members to prosper and rise in the wealthy merchant class. Wives were chosen from families of guild members or from the minor nobility, forming strong alliances. Robert married Alice Saunders (1518-1596), our 12th great-grandmother, daughter of Sir William Saunders, Esq.  Robert lent money to King Henry VIII in 1542, and owned Sprivers Manor in Horsmonden during Elizabeth I's reign. The most famous of the Kent broadcloths was Cranbrook Grey. When Queen Elizabeth I visited the town in 1573, she was said to have walked along a mile-long piece of Cranbrook Grey made specially for the purpose, although it's difficult to imagine her walking a mile, rather than riding.  Robert, who had three years left to live, and his son John (b.1533), our 11st great-grandfather, must have been present to greet their queen.

St. Margaret's in Horsmonden, built in 14th century, where Robert Bathurst's family worshiped in the 16th century. Jane Austen's ancestors are buried there.

Robert and Alice are buried at Horsmonden. Their son John (b.1533) married Mary Dodge, our 11th great-grandmother, in 1562. And that brings us to Robert Bathurst IV (1563-1623), our 10th great-grandfather, who inherited Lechlade Manor, Gloucestershire, from his mother's uncle, Edward Dodge of Wrothom, Kent, who had purchased it in 1588 from a pair of haberdashers in London, who'd purchased it from the previous owner's creditor on speculation. Edward Dodge left it to Robert in 1597. I don't know how long this line of the Bathurst family bore a coat of arms, but Robert Bathurst, Esq. apparently was a baronet or at least a knight, and was High Sheriff of the shire in 1611. He married Elizabeth Waller (1586-1627), our 10th great-grandmother, daughter and heir of Ralph Waller, Esq. In 1623, the year he died, Robert applied for and was granted an alteration to his coat of arms, adding a bay horse standing on a green mount - Horsmonden - get it. 

Edward Bathurst's coat of arms on his tomb slab. Note the two horses upper right, and the one lower left, although they do resemble dogs. The left side retains the old Bathurst design with the three crosses and the hand.

Edward Bathurst (1615-1674), our 9th great-grandfather, was not his father Robert's heir for Lechlade Manor. His older brother Robert was heir, but died a minor in 1626, making Edward the heir of it all. 

St. Lawrence Church, Lechlade, where the Bathursts worshiped

Lechlade, Gloucestershire, a borough and market town from the early 13th century, early on played some part in the Cotswold wool trade. Its chief function, however, was as a staging-post for goods and passenger traffic, for it lay at the head of the navigable Thames River, and at the entrance into Gloucestershire of a major road route from London. By the late 17th century large quantities of cheese were being shipped downriver from Lechlade. 

The manor that Edward Bathrust (1616-1673) inherited in 1626 was composed of 40 messuages, 16 tofts, 3 watermills, 4 dove-cotes, 40 gardens, 2,000 acres of land, 1,000 acres of meadow, 1,000 acres of pasture, 20 acres of wood, 100 acres of furze and heath, free fishing, the fairs of Lechlade (for fees), the rectory, and the avowson of the rectory of Lechlade. Some of the land had originally been part of St. John's Priory, taken by the Crown when Henry VIII dissolved the monestaries. I found this bit interesting. An ancient charity known as the Maiden Dole, said to have been given by two maiden sisters in early times, comprised 5 bushels of wheat and 5 bushels of barley, charged on the estate for the poor. The charity lapsed in the late 16th century, but was restored by royal order in 1602 together with the arrears of 21 years, and in 1604 Robert Bathurst charged it on a part of the manor estate. A gift of 5 pounds yearly for the poor was charged on the manor estate by Edward Dodge when he died in 1597, and became known as Dodge's Dole. A commission for charitable uses c.1679 directed that Dodge's Dole to educating and apprenticing children, but there is no record of it being so used.

Lechlade Manor in Gloucester, actually built in 1873. It wasn't where Lancelot grew up, but it's lovely, isn't it.

Edward had three wives, two of which gave him a total of 12 children. Susan Rich (1615-1669), his 2nd wife and our 9th great-grandmother, was the mother of Lancelot Bathurst, the Immigrant, our 8th great-grandfather, who most likely was born at Lechlade Manor in 1646, and died c.1707 in New Kent County, Virginia Colony.

Lechlade in County Gloucester on the River Thames

Edward Bathurst was knighted by King Charles I on 4 December 1643, at the height of the English Civil War, and shortly thereafter was made 1st Baronet of Lechlade, Gloucester, with lands still held in County Kent. Oliver Cromwell, King Charles' fierce Puritan opponent, ordered Bathurst's land squestered in 1645 for allying himself to Charles, but I don't believe Edward Bathurst actually fought in any battle. It was money the Parliamentarian armies needed, so the sequestration was lifted and a heavy fine imposed by Cromwell's parliament in March 1647. They really socked it to Edward:  

Resolved, &c. That this House doth accept of the Sum of Seven hundred and Twenty Pounds, for a Fine, for the Delinquency of Edward Bathurst, of Leechlad in the County of Gloucester, Esquire [his new title of Baron not acknowledged]: His Offence, That he adhered unto and assisted the King against the Parliament: Rendered in September 1645: His Estate in Fee, in Possession, per Annum, Four hundred and Ten Pounds; in old Rents, per Annum, Six Pounds; for One Life, per Annum, One hundred Pounds; in Reversion, after One Life, per Annum, Two hundred Pounds; in Fee, after Forty Years, per Annum, One hundred and Twenty Pounds; in Goods and Chattels, One hundred and Fifty Pounds: He owes, One thousand Five hundred and Fifty Pounds: There issues, out of his Estate, for ever, per Annum, One hundred and Fifty-three Pounds; and there is charged upon his Lands, in Debts, One thousand Two hundred and Two Pounds: . . . . leaves the Fine, at a Tenth, Seven hundred and Twenty Pounds. . . An Ordinance for granting a Pardon unto Edward Bathurst, of Leechlad in the County of Gloucester, Esquire, for his Delinquency, and for taking off the Sequestration of his Estate, was this Day read; and, upon the Question, passed; and ordered to be sent unto the Lords for their Concurrence.

 It's possible Sir Edward got out from under this onerous fine, for it's of record that he swore he'd sided with the Royalists under duress. He turned over Lechlade Manor to his eldest son Laurence in the late 1660s, but Laurence died in 1670 and the estate went to Laurence's minor son. Sir Edward died in 1674, and that was about the time our 8th great-grandfather, Lancelot Bathurst, 8th child and 5th son of his father, left England for Virginia. When Edward began dividing his estate in the late 1660s, he must have given Lancelot his share.

9th Great-grandfather Edward Bathurst grave marker at St. Lawrence Church, Lechlade, Gloucestershire. Note that he was buried under the church floor as befit his station

We don't know whether Lancelot, who had studied law, married Susanna in England or in Virginia, but they had a son by 1671. By 1680 they had settled in New Kent County and he was listed as a lawyer. In April 1683 he acquired 1200 acres. In November 1683 he and Edward Chilton together acquired 850 acres in that county. Bathurst appears to have acquired an additional 600 acres for himself the same day. He was on his way to becoming a man of note. As expected, it was tobacco that made him wealthy, but also his lawyerly skills. He became Deputy Attorney General of Henrico County, next to New Kent, in 1684.

He acquired 5000 acres in 1687 in New Kent. In 1688 he was Clerk of the Committee of Private Causes in the House of Burgesses; in 1689 he was Clerk of the Committee of Examination of Records. He became High Sheriff in 1698. The St. Peters Parish Vestry Book contains this entry: Capt. Lancelot Bathurst, High Sheriff of this county, is ordered to collect from each tithable inhabitant in this parish fourty fower [forty-four] pounds of tobacco to defray the parish charges. Oct. 3d 1699. The Anglican Church was the official church of Virginia, supported by taxes that landowners in the parish paid in tobacco, which was shipped to Great Britain and sold. He became a Justice in 1699, and successively captain and colonel of militia. He died in 1707 at age 61.

Lancelot and Susanna Bathurst had son Lawrence, who died without issue, and three daughters, including Susanna Bathurst (1674-1745), who married Drury Stith. They were our 7th great-grandparents. I will write about the Stith family soon.

St. Peter's Parish Church, New Kent, built in 1703 in English bond brick style during Lancelot Bathurst's lifetime. George Washington married Martha Custis here in 1759.

In honor of our English medieval roots, we'll end with The Lyke Wake Dirge, an English folk song that tells of the soul's travel, and the hazards it faces, from this earth to purgatory, sung by Buffy Saint-Marie HERE  Its lyrics and explanation are HERE