Chat
|
Daily Search
|
My GenForum
|
Community Standards
|
Terms of Service
|
|
|
As some of you will recall, I've been trying to tie the well-established American Bonham lineage that descends from George / Nicholas Bonham (Plymouth colony, c. 1635) to the Bonham family that was prominent in Essex, England in the 1500's. If this can be done, then there would be a well-established Bonham paternal lineage going back all the way to about 1300. More interestingly, one of the people in this line (Thomas Bonham, d.1532, listed in the 1532 Parliament Rolls as knight of the Shire for Essex), married and had his children by Catherine Marney -- who herself was an eighth generation descendant of Edward I. Ergo, if we can definitively connect up George / Nicholas to the Essex Bonham line, then we would be able to tie into some very well-researched genealogical lines. It would also mean that our ancestors include numerous pre-Edward I kings of England, going back to and including William the Conquerer and his wife Matilda of Flanders. Through William the Conquerer, we'd be able to tie into the Norman kings and their Norwegian warlords ancestors (this line would go back to at least the 8th century). Through Matilda, we tie into various kings of Italy and France (including Louis the Pious (a/k/a Louis I a/k/a St. Louis), his father Charlemagne, and Charlemagne's grandfather Charles Martell ("the Hammer of the Franks", who defeated the Arabs at Tours)). Indeed, one researcher indicates that Matilda is also in a line that also descends from various Byzantine emperors and kings of Armenia, who themselves traced their ancestry all the way back to Xerxes of Persia (remember the battle of Thermopylae?) -- meaning we'd have one ancestral trace going back a whopping 80+ generations to 521 BC!!
So, is this all too good to be true? It all depends on proving the link between George / Nicholas and the Essex Bonhams . . . . .
As I noted before, there's anecdotal, "family tradition" evidence that says George and Nicholas were brothers who came over with their brother Hezekiah, a shipbuilder who was later lost at sea. However, I've never seen or heard of any hard data to support this.
I've seen three claimed ancestries for George and Nicholas in various "online" genealogies. All three posit George as the father of Nicholas, which given their respective birth dates is certainly possible (indeed, Hazie makes a decent circumstantial case for Nicholas being the son of George). However, none of these three have any sort of source documentation for their claims . . . the story is always "I got it from someone else online." [Obviously, if anyone has such documentation, please let me know!) As will be seen, all three have problems:
Theory 1 -- George as the son of Thomas Bonham - Joan Bocking.
Thomas Bonham succeed to the family estate (Stanway Hall) in Essex in about 1550, and so it appears that he was born about 1540. He married Joan Bocking about in 1567, and it appears that they had sons George, William, and John. Berry indicates that George married a "__ Bishopp" -- which could well be the source of the various claims that American George Bonham's first wife was a "Miss Bishop."
This theory that American George was Thomas Bonham's son is, however, in very hot water. To begin with, the George Bonham who was the son of Thomas was the *eldest* son . . . and there is no doubt that Thomas' second son, William (listed below [theory 2]), was a man of considerable importance and wealth in London well *before* American George's birth in the early 1600's. Indeed, William's will (1628) specifically mentions the fact that his elder brother George was deceased (he left bequests to some of George's children). Finally, even assuming Joan Bocking was only 13 when she married Thomas, she would have had to have been 50 or more at the time of American George's birth -- highly unlikely, especially in the early seventeenth century. Ergo, methinks someone simply confused "George Bonhams" here.
Theory 2 -- George as the son of William Bonham -- Anne Babington
Another theory posits George as the son of Thomas' son William. Certainly, the dates would be about right, as the birthdates of some of William's other children are in the same range. Alas, this theory is in even hotter water. William left a very long will, and the summaries of it I have read indicate that he left bequests to all of his children, grandchildren, and various other relatives. He does not, however, list any son named George, and it would have been highly unlikely for him to have simply omitted him (if he wanted to cut him out, he would have mentioned him and left him a nominal bequest to make it clear that he was out of favor). He *does*, however, list 10L bequests to his "kinsmen," John and George Bonham (see below).
Theory 3 -- George as the son of Nicholas Bonham -- ?
A third theory sounds tantalizingly close to the mark. It posits George Bonham as the son of Nicholas Bonham (1573-1629?), and claims this Nicholas Bonham to have been another son of Thomas Bonham-Joan Bocking. Certainly, the dates would be about right. This same claim indicates that George had a brother named Nicholas . . . which is consistent with a comment that E.B. Hazie makes ("George and his brother Nicholas were mentioned in the 1629 will of their father" -- if only Hazie had bothered to identify who their father was!!). This would also make George the nephew of William, and thus would explain the bequest in William's will.
Alas, this theory also has its problems. Most notably, it claims that both American George and Nicholas were born at Stanway Hall -- but it appears clear that the last Bonham to occupy Stanway Hall was Thomas. Indeed, the family estate as of the death of William (1628) was Valence House, which was left to William's son and heir Thomas -- making it essentially impossible for Nicholas to have been born there in 1630. Further, the admittedly fragmentary records I have seen make no mention of a Nicholas, son of Thomas . . . but of course there could be any number of explanations for this.
Obviously, more research is needed. I have contacted a professional genealogist in Essex to try and run down the 1628 will Hazie mentions, as well as to check the records of Stanway Hall. (She also indicated that there is a reference work (History of the Bonham Family of Wilts and Essex, by G.J. Kidston) that might supply some answers, and that the Society of Genealogists in London may have some information.) If any of you have any hard evidence that could save us a few steps, please drop me an e-mail.
Louis K. Bonham
Followups:
|
| http://genforum.genealogy.com/bonham/messages/191.html | ||
 |
Agreement of Use Link to GenForum Add Forum |
|