Humphrey (died 1577/78) WILLIAMSON of New Hall
New page 2019, revision published 19 October 2024
Links:
Immediate ancestors: unknown
Immediate descendant: Anthony WILLIAMSON (also, but not in my line of descent, John WILLIAMSON)
The Williamson of Applethwaite story - WILLIAMSON of Applethwaite research notes
index of surnames
Humphrey names his sons Anthony and John and a number of his other children and grandchildren in his will, and his daughter Mary's married name of WARD. The names given match consistently and in many points with the parish register and other wills of this family, enabling a confident multi-sourced reconstruction of generations 14-11 of this family in Crosthwaite. Whether they connect to my proven ancestry in later generations in Bridekirk and Allonby is the question - it relies on identifying my generation 10 ancestor in Bridkirk with a son of the generation 11 family here, and I only have a second-hand report of a document that does that. Plus the property of this family turns up in the estate of a later Allonby ancestor and if they didn't inherit it I have no idea why they would buy it.
I have not found Humphrey's birth record (I'm unlikely to as it was certainly before 1562 when the parish registers begin) or otherwise positively identified his parents. Obviously I would like to. It would be especially fun to attach this Humphrey to the Williamson pedigrees in the Herald's visitations to Cumberland, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Middlesex etc. (Further details on the Williamson Visitations pages) All the names of the sons of this Humphrey also appear on those pedigrees. Also, this Humphrey rented and lived in New Hall, the house of the second John Williamson from the pedigrees, when it was owned by his son Thomas who moved out of the county. Thomas then sold New Hall to this Humphrey's son.
In the visitation pedigrees, the first John has a son Humphrey, who in turn has a son Humphrey. It would be great to identify this Humphrey with one of those. The first John also has a daughter Alice, who marries Robert Braithwaite of Ambleside and has children including Thomas and James. Since this Humphrey mentions in his will cousins Mr Thomas Braithwaite and Mr James Braithwaite, that is consistent with, and suggestive of, him being the younger Humphrey from the pedigrees, whose first cousins Thomas and James sons of Alice are. The difficulty with this identification is the dates. The older pedigree Humphrey was the younger brother of John who (according to Cumberland Families and Heraldry, by C Roy Hudleston and RS Boumphrey) was born in 1508. Therefore what needs to have happened is (something like) that the first pedigree Humphrey was born by about 1510, grown up and married and had a second son Humphrey this man before say 1530, who grew up and married and had a daughter (Mary, see below) say late 1540s, who was of marriagable age in 1563. Not impossible at all, but three generations in a row starting families in their teens.
My other wishful-thinking scenario, that this Humphrey is the older one in the pedigrees, seems fine for dates but has other issues. Visitation Humphrey senior's wife awas from Oxfordshire and his heir Robert moved there, while this Humphrey doesn't seem to show connections beyond Cumberland/Westmorland - in particular his son Robert is mentioned in the will with no mention of any remarkable residence. Ought that have been mentioned? Might he not have moved yet at that stage? The three children of the older Humphrey in the Middlesex pedigree (Robert, Humphrey and Thomas) are also not a great match for the children of this Humphrey known from his will (Robert, Thomas, John, Anthony, Mary, Nicholas, Isabel, James and Janet, but no Humphrey junior). And who are his cousins Thomas and James Braithwaite? The sons of his sister are nephews, which I don't think would have been called cousins. It would seem a big coincidence for there to be other Braithwaites of the same first names who are his cousins too.
Another possibility would be that the pedigrees' first John Williamson had a brother or cousin, who could have been father (or maybe grandfather) to this Humphrey. That would require this Humphrey in his will to be saying 'cousin' meaning cousin once removed, second/third cousin or similar, but that isn't impossible. This scenario seems less hopeful for me, because anyone before parish registration and outside the pedigrees is probably no longer traceable. Also, if the Williamson arms were granted to John who bought the manor, someone not descended directly from him would not be heir to them.
Or of course that this Humphrey is unrelated to those of the pedigree, but then the cousins in the will matching two people related in the same way to the pedigree family is a remarkable coincidence again. I could check in the parish registers for Braithwaites to see if there is a local family like that. All in all, still several possibilities to consider.
As you may have guessed by now, I don't have actual evidence for this Humphrey's childhood. Working back from his datable children and grandchildren, I would guess he was born in about the 1510s or 20s. He seems likely to have come from a well-off family.
Humphrey can be inferred from his will (and entries in the parish registers from 1562 onwards) to have had the following children (perhaps in only roughly this order):
John, who appears to have married in 1569
Anthony who appears to have married in 1565
Mary who married first in 1563 (to William STANGER, in the parish register) and then again (as Mary STANGER to Randall WARD, again in the PR) in 1570
(John, Mary and Anthony seem from their marriages most likely to have been born in the 1540s I think)
Nicholas, who married in 1582 and appears to have been Humphrey's successor on his property at Applethwaite
Isabel, who perhaps married Gawen Birkett 1580
Thomas
Robert who may have married in the later 1580s if he stayed in the parish
James, who was probably born between 1556 and 1562, as he is treated as a minor in Humphrey's 1577 will, but does not appear as a baptism in the parish register from 1562 onwards
Janet, likewise
I have no evidence on the mother/s of these children, except that she/they appear to have died by 1577 as no wife is mentioned in Humphrey's will and living wives generally are in other wills I have seen. If Humphrey had a wife surviving to 1562 and her burial was recorded in Crosthwaite parish register, 'of Applethwaite' and not described as an infant, widow or wife of anyone other than Humphrey, then there are three candidate burials, all called Elizabeth: one in 1567, and apparently two in 1571 within a few days. But that is a lot of assumptions that may not hold (in particular it's only a guess that Humphrey was originally of Applethwaite - the evidence is from the end of his life.
Mary was I think one of the eldest children, and married (and presumably moved out) in 1563. Anthony married in 1565, and John in 1569.
I think Humphrey was, or started out as, a working agriculturalist (yeoman)) because he leaves agricultural equipment as well as household goods to a son. In yeoman wills this usually indicates that the son in question is the eldest and main heir, and has taken ownership of the main family property and will work it.
However, at least later in life, Humphrey called himself a gentleman and seems to have been richer than that. In the seventh year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth (between November 1565 and November 1566), Humphrey WILLIAMSON, gentleman, is mentioned as the tenant and occupier of New Hall, when it is sold by Thomas WILLIAMSON of the pedigrees (son of John WILLIAMSON of New Hall, 1508-58) to John WILLIAMSON, Humphrey's own son. [research note, check whether there was another Humphrey WILLIAMSON gentleman in Crosthwaite at this time - I'm making a bit of an assumption that the tenant of New Hall is this Humphrey].
I'm lacking evidence as to when Humphrey may have moved in to New Hall, except that the last definite occupier, John WILLIAMSON of the pedigree, died about 1558 (Hudleston and Boumphrey). His son and heir Thomas was around 22 by this point and may already, or shortly after, have moved south with his Northamptonshire bride (see a reference around this period in a the Victoria County History article on Denford, Northants, and note that by 1574 the same couple were at Tusmore, Oxfordshire)
[note just sitting on this page until I make a Thomas page to put it on, that there was an apparently separate set of Williamsons also having lands in Denford]
John the purchaser seems not to have moved in to New Hall until at least 1569, a couple of years or more after buying it, so I speculate that Humphrey may have continued in residence there and this may indicate that he was the real funder of the purchase, although it was in his son's name.
Noting that at least two and probably more of the children would still have been young or even yet to be born at this point, it may be that Humphrey and his family had more need of a good-sized house than John, who during 1566-70 was a single young man, then a new husband, and then a father of one. John and his wife, and presumably their first child, moved in to New Hall by 1571, but there is no positive evidence as to when Humphrey and the rest of the family moved out.
By 1577 Humphrey was living at Applethwaite, and I guess from his bequest of his agricultural equipment and household goods to his son Nicholas, later of Applethwaite, that this was a working farm, and may perhaps have been Humphrey's original yeoman property, before some increase in wealth (or borrowing) enabled him to buy New Hall or help his son to do so.
Humphrey made his will on 11 December 1577, 'seike in bodye fearyng the pange of deathe' (a fairly standard form of words, consistent with the pattern of the day that people didn't make wills until they thought they were dying). He survived for about a month, being buried in Crosthwaite on 12 January 1577/78. The will was not proved until 30 July 1578, suggesting that his probate took a while to sort out.
I am going through this will in the order it is written, as I often do, but I think the order of bequests may be unusual, rather than going in order of seniority as I've come to expect.
Humphrey leaves his agricultural gear and some large house contents such as chests and bedsteads to his son Nicholas, along with some other movables, including all the sheep that are marked with Nicholas's own mark. In a typical yeoman or farmer will, I would read this as the bequest to the eldest son who was taking over the main family property, and that either land ownership has been made over to his name already, or that a tenancy succession is arranged separately with the landlord.
But see below for what I read as indications that Anthony and John may be older, or at least more trusted, and see above for my thought that John may be set up in a house fit for a gentleman. On the other hand, this bequest goes on to make what seems to me an unusual provision that Nicholas is penalised if he challenges the will, that he would then not receive these goods but would in fact have to pay his youngest brother James 70 pounds out of something (I read as possibly 'five farmhold') that Nicholas has (from his father, I infer). So I'm hypothesing that Humphrey is aware he's treating Nicholas less favourably than might have been expected, and this may be a matter of the eldest not receiving such a lion's share as normal, or it may be a matter of a younger son who may seek to challenge greater settlements on his more privileged older brothers.
Jumping to the son who sems to be the youngest, Humphrey gives James tenancy to lands at the far end of the parish, 'beyond Derwent', plus 20 marks (13 pounds, six shillings and eightpence) and a few items of household goods. He makes Anthony responsible for James's upbringing, and gives him the use and profit of James's inheritance during James's minority. This makes me think that Anthony (perhaps along with John, see below) is the oldest of the sons and/or the most trusted in Humphrey's eyes.
There then follow a series of small bequests. They seem token, compared to the impression I get of Humphrey's wealth, and unless the individuals concerned have been otherwise provided for then it seems they are calculated as cut-offs--especially seeing that James the youngest son gets property rights. Regarding other provision, I have discussed above my reading of the New Hall purchase as Humphrey providing for John. Something would I think normally have been settled on a daughter at her marriage (Mary). I don't have information on what was done for Anthony but I expect there was something as he is given responsibility for a younger sibling. Perhaps also for Thomas and Robert.
The bequests are:
Thomas gets 40 shillings (2 pounds) and a silver spoon
Mary's son John WARD gets six lambs and a silver spoon
Mary herself gets three bushels of grain
John's son John gets a sheep and one of the best silver spoons
Anthony's son Gawen gets similar, though the spoon might not be one of the best. (It's interesting that Gawen should get something when I think he had two living brothers, one older, and up to three living sisters at the date the will was made, who get nothing. Maybe Gawen was his grandfather's personal favourite.)
Then for Robert there is another small bequest and an interesting note: a gold ryal of 15 shillings "desiring of him to see my will performed and fulfilled according to my deed." To me this suggests that Humphrey's wishes in some matter have been set down separately--perhaps some other transaction has been set up that Robert is party to and needs to complete as Humphrey has instructed. Or it may just be that he sees Robert as the foremost among the supervisors of his will (see below).
Isabel gets 20 nobles, five or six (can't read which) silver spoons, a brass pot and the best feather bed. This seems like a more substantial bequest of movable goods than to some of the other children and may actually be her whole inheritance. I'm not totally sure what sum a noble represents in this context. There were mediaeval coins called nobles worth 80 pence (before 1461) or 100 pence (1461-70), so 20 of them would be 6 pounds 13 and 4, or 8 pounds 6 and 8 depending on which issue is meant in the will. Or in 1577 the coin mentioned above called the ryal (worth 15 shillings) was also known as the rose noble, of which 20 would be worth 15 pounds. So in any case, 20 nobles seems to be several pounds.
Humphrey finally makes a legacy of three shillings and fourpence to the parish free school.
The residue of his estate (I don't know whether this is major property or just the rat droppings in the wood shed) he leaves to his daughters Isabel and Janet. They are presumably the unmarried ones, though evidently Isabel is grown up whereas Janet is a minor, because John is entrusted with her upbringing (with the proviso that if Janet prefers she can instead go to her married sister Mary, in which case John is to give 4 marks (2 pounds, 13 and 4) yearly for the increase of Janet's goods.
He names supervisors, with relationships in some cases which may be of genealogical use. As best I can read them they are: My cousins Mr Thomas [and] Mr James BRAITHWAITE Mr Nicholas WILLIAMSON, my sons Mr Robert, John, Anthony, Randall WARD my son-in-law, and Will WILLIAMSON of Lyzzick
Research note - who are the Braithwaite cousins? According to a herald's visitation to Cumberland, Alice Williamson, the sister of the elder Humphrey Williamson in those visitation pedigrees, and the aunt of the younger, married Robert Braithwaite of Ambleside in Westmorland. If she had sons, they would be Mr Braithwaites and would be first cousins to the younger Humphrey Williamson in the visitation pedigrees. So see if there's an early parish register available for Ambleside, or a will of Robert Braithwaite there or anything like that.
Another research note - are Mr Nicholas Williamson or Will Williamson of Lyzzick relatives? In the visitation pedigree, both Humphreys have brothers called Nicholas and according to Cumberland Families and Heraldry a Nicholas, possibly the older of these, inherited the original family house at Millbeck. Given the amount of first name repetition in the family there might also be one or more others who are cousins to the younger Humphrey. I don't think I've seen William as a first name definitely connected with this family so early.
Anthony married Elizabeth WILLIAMSON (family relationship, if any, unknown) in 1565 and baptised eight children with her. They have their own page.
Mary married William STANGER in 1563 (18 July, given in parish register) and then Randall WARD in 1570 (16 July in the parish register, giving Mary's surname as Stanger), with whom she had a son John. [RN - look in the PR for any STANGER and/or other WARD children, if in parish, and the burials of Wm Stanger, Randall Ward, Mary Ward, any children.]
John also married and had children baptised between 1569 and 1577. He has his own page.
Nicholas, having perhaps taken over at Applethwaite in 1578, can perhaps be identified with the one who married Margaret and baptised children in 1583-87. He also has his own page.
There are a number of Thomases baptising children in the parish register in the 1580s and 90s, but it is hard to pick out which if any may be this one.
There is just one Robert baptising children in Crosthwaite in that period, but other than the plausible date it is hard to say whether it is the right Robert. If this Humphrey were the elder Humphrey in the Visitation pedigrees, then his son Robert moved to his bride's home county of Oxfordshire so is likely to be none of them.
There is an Isabel WILLIAMSON of Applethwaite marrying a Gawen BIRKETT of Portinscale in 1580, who may well be this one.
As with Robert, there is just one candidate for James as a father in the baptismal register in the 1590s, but the identification cannot be confirmed.
There are two marriages of Janet WILLIAMSON in 1585, to Gawen TICKELL and Richard WILSON, and more in the 1590s. I can't say which if any might have been this Janet.
If you are interested in this family I'll be pleased to hear from you. Click this link to email me at deletethis.ianwilliamson161@gmail.com but delete everything up to and including the first dot, leaving just my name and number @ service provider.
Links:
Immediate ancestors: unknown
Immediate descendant: John WILLIAMSON
The Williamson of Applethwaite story - WILLIAMSON of Applethwaite research notes
index of surnames