New Portrait of a Clapp Ancestor

In 2013 a post I wrote for this blog shared my recent findings that Mary Boleyn, sister of Anne Boleyn wife of King Henry VIII, was an ancestor of our Clapp-Loy-Tilghman families. On that post I included a photo of a painting by an unknown artist that is on display at Hever Castle, Kent in the United Kingdom. This week I learned that another painting whose subject for many years had been a mystery has recently proved to be Mary Boleyn.

Mary Boleyn by Jordaens Van Dyck

This portrait by artist Jordaens Van Dyck had been sitting unidentified in the Royal Collection for hundreds of years until recent research determined the identity of the subject. It would appear that there were several artists painting the same subject because although very different, the clothing and jewelry are exactly the same in the portrait included in my 2013 post and this Van Dyck painting although it is possible that the second portrait was a copy of the Van Dyck. Nonetheless, the newly discovered painting of our ancestor Mary Boleyn is lovely and worth sharing.

The Tilghman family migrated to the American colonies in 1638 and settled in Somerset County, Maryland. John Tilghman or Tillman is recorded in Mormon records as being the father of Tobias Tillman who served in the Revolutionary War from Orange County, North Carolina. Our ancestor Catherine Tillman, wife of George Loy, of Orange County is believed to be Tobias' sister and the daughter of John. John Tilghman or Tillman to which it was changed after arriving in North Carolina, left Maryland after the death of his father in 1766 and is found in the few scant extant records of extinct Dobbs County, North Carolina in 1769. John's brother Stephen also migrated to Dobbs County at the same time. All of the Dobbs County records other than a few deed indexes were lost in a courthouse fire so the complete story of that family after their arrival in North Carolina may never be fully known but there are tidbits contained in the early Mormon records in Salt Lake City that connect the family to John Tilghman, son of Gideon Tilghman of Somerset County, Maryland.

Read more about the Van Dyck painting in Mary Boleyn is identified...

Thanks to Jayme for sharing the news of these new findings.

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2013 Post - JP Ancestors in the Court of Henry VIII

JP Ancestors in the Court of Henry VIII

As unbelievable as this sounds, I have recently discovered that the documented ancestors of Sarah Loy who married John Isaac Clapp and Sarah M. Rozzell, wife of Lewis Yancey Beadles, Jr., the daughter of Thomas Rozzell and Nancy Abernathy, were in fact descended from Sir Thomas Boleyn through his daughter Mary Boleyn. Several years ago a movie The Other Boleyn Sister was made about Mary, but her sister Anne, second wife of Henry VIII and mother of Queen Elizabeth I, is the most famous of the two sisters.

Mary Boleyn

Both of these Graves County families descend from Christopher Tilghman and Ruth Blount who are documented as coming to the American colonies in 1638. Sarah Loy, the daughter of George Loy and Mary Catherine Tillman (Tilghman) descends from Christopher's son Gideon while Sarah M. Rozzell descends from his son Roger Tilghman.

The great granddaughter of Mary Boleyn and William Carey of Aldenham, and mother of Ruth Blount was Penelope Devereux. The history of this family is filled with the intrigues of the courts of both Henry VIII and his daughter Queen Elizabeth I. Mary Boleyn is recorded as having had an affair with the king before her sister Anne became his second wife and the mother of Elizabeth.

Lady Penelope Devereux, although married to Robert Rich (3rd Baron Rich), had an affair with Charles Blount, Baron Mountjoy. Lady Penelope and Charles Blount are documented as having had four children, one of whom was Ruth. Penelope's brother Robert Devereax, the Earl of Essex, a favorite of Queen Elizabeth was eventually tried and sent to the Tower of London where he was executed. After Devereux fell from favor with the Queen, Lord Rich divorced Penelope in 1605. Prior to the divorce, Lord Rich threw Penelope and her Blount children out of the house. She then began living in his house and having a very public affair with Mountjoy. After Queen Elizabeth's death when James I became King of England, he created Mountjoy the 1st Earl of Devonshire.

Once divorced, Penelope and Mountjoy requested to be married in order to legitimize the children but King James I refused. They did marry in a private ceremony performed by Mountjoy's chaplain but afterward were banished from court by King James.

The above photos of paintings depicting Penelope's parents, Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex and her mother Lettice Knollys make the disparity of their lives and that of their descendants, our Jackson Purchase ancestors, extremely apparent.

It was not uncommon for young men from well to do families like Christopher Tilghman to leave England and settle in the new colonies. The English practice of primogeniture which is the right of the firstborn child to inherit the family estate was the law or custom at the time of the settlement of the American colonies. Many younger sons who were left to make their own way chose to seek their fortunes in the New World. Here they could own vast tracts of land and become affluent as they never could have in England.

I love genealogy but it has never been my aim to find titled or famous ancestors, this information came to me recently from another researcher who called to my attention the identity of the parents of Ruth Blount (sometimes called Devonshire). It is still amazing to me that these are my ancestors and not just the subjects of history books and PBS series.

DNA Matches Among My JP Families

This week the results of my recent DNA test have begun to show in Ancestry. There is currently no new information and nothing that will solve any lingering mysteries, but there have already been many matches to Jackson Purchase families where valid historical documentation already exists.

Numerous matches to Clapp descendants have already been identified including this match between William and Mary Clapp, children of John Isaac Clapp and Sarah Loy ~

Also a match to the previous generation George Loy and Mary Catherine Tillman, the parents of Sarah "Sally" Loy ~

A Wingo family match links Thomas and Sarah Wingo of Amelia County, Virginia to their sons Thomas Wingo and his brother Obediah who migrated to Spartanburg County, South Carolina after the Revolution. Thomas Wingo was the father of Jerman Jeduthan Wingo of Graves County ~

Marilla Pryor, wife of James Rodgers Cargill, of Graves County has always been considered a daughter of Jonathan Pryor and Elizabeth White although there are no historical records to confirm that relationship because of the courthouse fire that destroyed Graves County's earliest records. Now a DNA match to Eustacia "Stacy" Pryor for whom there is historical documentation, confirms that Marilla was descended from Jonathan Pryor ~

And finally, a match to Susannah Mary Pryor Newby confirms the long held belief that Jonathan Pryor and his brother James of Graves County were the children of Richard Pryor and Mourning Thomson of Virginia who migrated first to Tennessee and lastly to Logan County, Kentucky. In the past there has been much debate, discussion and some disbelief that Jonathan and James were truly the children of Richard and Mourning Pryor. Susannah Mary Pryor's husband, Henry Newby, was named among the heirs of Richard Pryor in a Logan County deed of 29 Nov 1811 wherein Richard Pryor's heirs were selling a tract of land to Jonathan Pryor whose relationship was unstated. (Logan County KY DB C:467-469)

I'm looking forward to many more interesting matches and hopefully a few new revelations as the matches continue to arrive.

A Rare Genealogical Find

William Layne Wingo,
son of John Will Wingo

For those of us who include genealogy and family research among our obsessions, countless hours are spent over a microfilm viewer, in a courthouse, library or other archive searching for a document that will confirm our lineage from a particular ancestor. It's exciting to find a document that confirms one generation, but a document that documents four (4) generations is unthinkable. But here it is - the wonderful document that proves the lineage from my great grandmother, Nancy Susan Wingo Reeves to her great grandfather (my 4th great grandfather) Jonathan Pryor.

Graves County, Kentucky
Deed Book #4, Pg 514

For and in consideration of the sum of sixty dollars cash in hand paid and hereby receipted: we L. W. Wingo and wife, M. M. Wingo, W. A. Jones and wife L. A. Jones (late Wingo), W. L. Wingo, Sidney Reeves and wife N. S. Reeves (late Wingo) and L. T. Wingo, being the heirs at law of Mary F. Wingo the late wife of J. W. Wingo. Who was the daughter of Stacey Clapp deceased; She being a Daughter of Jonithan Pryor deceased; have sold and hereby convey by general warranty to H. C. Allison the following real estate lying in Graves County, Kentuckey: being a one forty fifth (1/45) undivided interest in and to the tract of land set apart by order of the Graves County Court as dower to Mrs. Mary Pryor widow of Jonithan Pryor deceased; said tract of land consists of 206 acres and the interest being conveyed being 1/45 herein subject (undecipherable) to the dower rights. In testimony hereof all said grantors have herewith set their hand; this February 22, 1886.

W. L. Wingo, W. A. Jones, L. A. Jones, N. S. Reeves, S. P. Reeves, L. T. Wingo, L. W. Wingo, M. M. Wingo

Vanzant County; State of Texas: I, L. W. Hayne a notary public duly commissioned and qualified as such in and for the county of Vanzant and State of Texas do certify that this deed from L. W. Wingo and his wife M. M. Wingo and others to H. O. Allison was this day produced to me by the parties which acknowledged by the said L. W. Wingo to be his act and deed; and the contents and effect of the instrument being explained to the said M. M. Wingo by me separately and apart from her husband, she thereupon declares that she did freely and voluntarily execute and deliver the same, to be her act and deed and consented that the same may be recorded. In testimony where of I have here unto set my hand and here with affix my notary seal; this March 1, 1886

W. L. Hayne
J. P. and Exofficio Notary Public
Vanzant County, Texas

It appears that Jonathan Pryor's second wife, Mrs. Mary Wilson Oliver, had died before March 1886 and the portion of his estate that had been set aside for her dower was then reverting to his heirs. The heirs of Mary Frances Clapp Wingo were in turn selling their portions to H. C. Allison, husband of another heir, Louanna Pryor, one of Jonathan's granddaughters.

The only reason this document survived the fire that destroyed the Graves County Courthouse, is because Leonidas W. Wingo was living in Van Zant County, Texas at the time and the document was not located in Graves County at the time of the fire.

You never know what treasures are waiting to be discovered in the courthouse basement.

Adam Clapp, Soldier of the Revolution

Adam Clapp, the ancestor of the Clapp families of the Jackson Purchase, was the grandson of George Valentine Clapp (Klap) and Anna Barbara Steiss who immigrated from Germany, sailing from Rotterdam on the ship James Goodwill, arriving in Philadelphia on September 27th, 1727. Thanks to the records of the German Reform church now known as the Brick Church founded by George Valentine and his brother John Ludwig Clapp in Guilford County, North Carolina (current Alamance County), this family is extremely well documented.

Adam was born on 10 Dec. 1754 to John Phillip and Barbary Clapp in Orange County, North Carolina. In addition to the records of the Brick Church, Adam applied for a Revolutionary War pension on November 13th, 1832 in Union County, Illinois, providing more information regarding his life and Revolutionary War service. In his affadavit for that pension, he stated that he was living in Guilford County when he first volunteered for service during the Revolution under Capt. Henry Whitesell in the fall of 1776 or 1777. During his first tour of duty they marched to the Cherokee Nation where, along with South Carolina troops and Catawba Indians, they were engaged in a battle. After marching back to Salisbury, they were discharged.

He recalls during subsequent tours of duty, once serving again under Capt. Whitesell at the Guilford Courthouse guarding the public ammunition. When serving under several other commanders on tours after that, they were primarily pursuing the Scotch and Tories in North Carolina. It was after one of these pursuits that they returned to Guilford Courthouse because the British were located there. Joining the main army, they were placed under the command of Gen. Nathaniel Greene. Their arrival at Guilford Courthouse was on the day after the battle took place and they then pursued the British army which was retiring toward New Bern until they were dismissed to return home.

Sometime around 1780, Adam married Emma Ruth Marley daughter of Adam and Rosanna Marley. In his pension statement he says that he moved to Tennessee about five years after the Revolution. By around 1785, Adam is found in the records of Sumner and Robertson counties. After the Revolution, many of North Carolina's soldiers received bounty land grants in Tennessee which was then part of North Carolina.

In Tennessee during the 1790's, Emma Ruth died after which Adam married Ruth Lawrence. He was still living in Robertson County, Tennessee in August of 1804 when he was recorded as serving on a jury there, but by 1807, he and his family had moved to Union County, Illinois. Legend has it that they traveled to Illinois on the Cumberland, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

Adam died on August 15th, 1841 and is buried in Union County, Illinois at St. John's Lutheran Cemetery in Dongola. Many of Adam's children remained in Illinois, some migrated to Texas where they were found during the Republic of Texas but the oldest son of Adam and Emma Ruth, John Isaac Clapp, settled in Graves County, Kentucky.