[Contents] [Next] [Previous] [Bottom] [Home] [Mail]
Surnames: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
No Surnames: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
The first Lygon probably came from Normandy
to England with William the Conqueror, yet research has revealed
very little concerning the family record from that time (1066)
on down to George Lygon. In the Visitations of Worcester, 1569,
George Lygon is the first of the family in the pedigree given
by the Lygons to the Hearlds(?).
The 7th Earl Beauchamp says, in the Bristol and Gloucestershire
Archaeological Society Transactions, (Vol 42, p. 33) that he has
no records of George Lygon, but has deeds of his son, William
Lygon, and his grandson, Richard Lygon.
According to Wurts, pp. 2218-2221, George
Lygon, a descendant of the de Bracy family, were the original
owners of the Manor of Madresfield, in Worcestershire, which manor
was still in possession of the Lygon family in the 1940's. This
family came to England with William the Conqueror in 1066 and,
having fought under the standard of Normandy, received two lions
passant in their Arms.
The only references to Richard Lygon in the
Muniments are in August, 1507, when he acquired 'Brodmedow' in
Powycke, on March 1, 1508, and on June 2, 1511, when he granted
a lease of a messuage called Brightyntone. He was Justice of
the Peace in Worcester in 1509 and in 1510 had custody of the
lands, wardship, and marriage of Richard, son and heir of William
Reade, his brother-in-law. (Letters and Papers Foreign and Domestic
Henry VIII, 1510, p. 321). He and his wife had the following
children:
Richard Lygon, Sr. died in Madresfield on May 1, 1512.
Jane Deighton came to America with John Lugg. He died and she married (2) Jonathan Negus. See the continuation of this lineage elsewhere in the Negus Line in Volume III.
Richard Williams was born January, 1608, baptized
January 28, 1606 in the parish of St. Mary the Virgin, in Wooten-Under-Edge,
near Gloucester, England. He died in Taunton, MA, 1692-93, and
his will was probated October 10, 1693, entered October 11, 1694.
They came to America about 1636 to Massachusetts, and seem to
have settled in Dorchester, MA, and were members of the first
Church there. Soon afterwards they moved to Taunton, MA where
Richard had taken up land, about 1636-37. He was one of the original
purchasers, of Taunton, from the Chanset Indians. He is called
"The Father of Taunton." Here a home was made where
their children were born. Their first farm, of over 100 acres,
was on the east side of the Taunton River. Richard Williams'
name stands second on the original "first purchasers"
of Taunton. This purchase was made in 1637, from the General
Court of Plymouth Colony, and is known as the Tetiquit Purchase,
and includes the present towns of Taunton, Raynham, and Berkeley.
Its boundaries were fixed by Captain Miles Standish and John
Brown in 1640. He also made other purchases of land in 1668,
1672, and 1680. The town of Dighton, MA, is named to honor and
perpetuate his wife's family name of Dighton. He was a tanner
and a deacon of the church and, at his death, was the largest
owner of the Taunton Iron Works, which his wife continued to administer
after his death. Taunton is the oldest settlement in Bristol
County and in point of time, third in the Plymouth Colony, after
Plymouth itself, to be incorporated in 1639. Frances and Richard
had the following children:
Katherine Deighton married (3) Rev. John Allin.
Date of Marriage unknown.