[Contents] [Next] [Previous] [Bottom] [Home] [Mail]

Surnames: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
No Surnames: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Vol III File 7: The Paternal Ancestry of Homer Beers James

The following has been extracted from Volume II. See this volume for additional details of the early Lygons and other related family ancestry.

• 1. Thomas Lygon, the second son in this generation, was born at Madresfield Court. He first appears in the records in 1461 (Patent Rolls 1461, p. 98) when "Richard, Earl of Warwick, John Beauchamp of Powyck, Knight, and Thomas Lygon were to array the men of Worcester against the king's enemies." The king at the time was Edward IV. and this definitely places Thomas Lygon as a Yorkist in the War of the Roses. This arraying of the men of Worcester was just before the battle of Towton, fought in March 1461, in which the Yorkists led by Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, the "Kingmaker," obtained a decisive victory over the Lancastrians. Before the battle, Hume says (Vol XI, p. 311), "the Earl of Warwick dreading the consequences of disaster at the time when a decisive action was every hour expected, immediately ordered his horde to be brought him, which he stabbed before the whole army, and kissing the hilt of his sword, swore that he was determined that day to share the fate of the meanest soldier." Thomas Lygon was a commissioner of the peace for Worcester in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd years of Edward IV, whose reign began in 1461 and was on various commissions and inquests until 1470 when he was again called upon to array the men of Worcester against the king's enemies. This was before the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury. In 1472, Thomas Lygon, Esq., was granted lands of the king's enemies and was on commissions to collect taxes. In 1475, he was on an inquisition to determine what lands Richard de Beauchamp had left in Warwick. He was on various commissions until 1484-85, when he was again called upon to array the men of Worcester. Richard III was king at that time, and the array was probably for the battle of Bosworth Field fought in 1485. The succession of Henry VII, of the House of Lancaster, did not seem to vary the fortunes of Thomas, for he kept on serving the reigning monarch, as he was commissioner of array for Worcester in 1488 to oppose the rebellion in the north. He was a Member of Parliament for Worcester in 1477. In 1491 he was custodian of the Castle of Gloucester, probably sheriff. He was commissioner of Oyer and Terminer in 1495 and in 1496 was commissioner of array against the Scots preparing at Berwick. He last appears in the records about 1499, when he, together with Richard and William Grevyle, had royal license to enfeoff John Grevyle and Joan, his wife, in the manors of "Milcote super avon and Miolcote super Stowe" in Warwick. Thomas Lygon is first mentioned in the settlement of 1456, and again in 1460, in a deed which may possible imply that he was a lawyer. He probably succeeded to the original Lygon lands; for in 1470, he was made an enfeoffment of his lands at Hightington, Stanford, Pensax, Foxley, Wyke Episcopi, and St. John in Bedwardine in Worcestershire and Wulfirlowe in Herefordshire, which lands were next year confirmed to him and his wife, and to the heirs of his body, with remainder in default to his son, William Lygon. This was presumably on the occasion of his marriage to Anne Gifford; believed to be the daughter of Nicholas Gifford, and seems to have brought her husband the manor of Bradwell. In 1478, he acquired the messuage called `Childes' at Powye, and held the Manor of Nether Mytton, 1479. He apparently succeeded his brother William, at Madresfield, about 1484, and acquired lands at Madresfield in 1485. The first mention of him as `Thomas Lygon of Madresfield' occurs in 1495, and the latest mention of him in the Muniments, occurs in 1497. He died on April 10, 1507, when he must have been well over 70 years of age. He and his wife had two children as follows:
  
  • 1. Jane Lygon, married Thomas Salwey (Salway), and there was issue.

  • 2. Richard Lygon. See below.
    

• 2. Richard Lygon, Senior, eldest son of Thomas, born at Madresfield Court, did not outlive his father very long, so he does not appear very often in the record. He was over thirty years old at his father's death. He married not later than 1490 Anne Beauchamp, 2nd daughter and co-heir of Richard Beauchamp, 2nd and last Lord Beauchamp of Powycke, born in 1434, and died in January 1502-03 (also said to have died in 1496), without male heirs.
  

  William Lygon of Madresfield Court, Worcestershire, seventh in descent from Anne, died in 1720, leaving a daughter Margaret, who married as her first husband, Reginald Pyndar, and by him by mother of Reginald Pyndar, who assumed the surname of Lygon. He died in 1788, having married Susannah Hanmer, daughter of William Hanmer, and was father of William Lygon, 1st Earl Beauchamp (1747-1816). The first earl, born July 25, 1747, matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, on May 2, 1764. He represented the county of Worcester in parliament as a follower of Pitt from 1775 until 1806, when he was created Baron Beauchamp of Powycke, Worcestershire. On December 1, 1815, he was made Viscount Elmsley and Earl Beauchamp. He died suddenly at his house in St. James's Square, on October 21, 1816; he had married, on November 1, 1780, Catherine Denn, daughter of James Denn, and by her he left William Beauchamp, John Reginald, and Henry Beauchamp, successively 2nd, 3rd, and 4th earls, with other issue. Frederick Lygon, 6th Earl Beauchamp (1830-1891), was born November 10, 1830, was the third son of Henry, by Susan Caroline, daughter of William, second earl of St. Germains. Frederick was educated at Eton (1844-1847), and matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, December 15, 1848. From March 1857 to April 1863 he represented Tewkesbury in the House of Commons in the Tory interest. In March 1859 he was appointed a lord of the admiralty in Lord Derby's brief ministry. In October 1863, on his elder brother, Henry, succeeding to the peerage, he was elected M.P. for West Worcestershire, and held the seat until March 1866, when he became 6th Earl Beauchamp, on the death of his brother. In the Disraeli administration of 1874-1880, he was Lord Steward of the Household. He compiled a hymnal for Madresfield Church in 1853. He died on February 19, 1891, and was buried at Madresfield, Worcestershire. His eldest son, by his first marriage to Lady Mary Catherine Stanhope, William Lygon became the 7th Earl Beauchamp.
  

  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:
  

  • 1. Richard Lygon, Jr, his successor. See below.

  • 2. Thomas Lygon, d.s.p.

  • 3. John Lygon, married Eleanor Hickford.

  • 4. Edward Lygon, d.s.p.

  • 5. George Lygon, a priest, who graduated as Bachelor of Canon Law at Oxford in 1531. This explains why he did not share in the disposition made by his mother, though he was one of the executors. He died in 1593.

  • 6. William Lygon, is mentioned as living in Powycke in 1568.

  • 7. Roger Lygon, married Katherine Buckler, daughter of Sir William Denys of Pucklechurch and therefore a sister of the wife of Roger's nephew William Lygon. Roger died in 1584.

  • 8. Michael Lygon, married Usula Hornyold.. He died about 1583.
    

    Richard Lygon, Sr. died in Madresfield on May 1, 1512.

• 3. Richard Lygon, Junior, eldest son, was 21 years of age when his father died, and was probably born in 1490. On September 15, 1512 he granted his mother for her dower in Gloucestershire the Manor of Mattysdon. He married, not later than 1511 in Worcester, Margaret Greville (Grevell), daughter of William Greville (Grevell), a Justice of the Court of Common Pleas in 1510, who had been one of the feoffes of Richard Beauchamp. With her he acquired Arle Court near Cheltenham, where he appears to have lived during his mother's life. After her death there was some differences between him and his younger brother, which was settled by a friendly arbitration. In 1523, Richard was on a commission to collect the subsidy in Worcester (L. & P., p. 1361). He was knighted at the coronation of Queen Anne Bolelyn on May 30, 1535. In 1534, he was on the commission to make inquisition (P. M.) on the lands and heir of John Lytilton of Frankley Weston. He was Sheriff of Gloucestershire 1534-35 and of Worcestershire 1548-49. In 1535 he was Justice as a session held at Great Malvern and bound over James Asche, parson of Staunton, to the council for calling the king antichrist. In 1536, Sir Richard Lygon was called to furnish 100 men to be sent against the northern rebels and to attend the king in person. He served in the French War, 1544. In 1545, the expenses of the Hundred Courts of the town of Slaughter were held by Richard Lygon, Chief Steward, and also he was Chief Steward of the King's Court at Cheltenham. Margaret, his wife, died in 1542, and Richard married (2) Joan, who survived him. Sir Richard died March 20, 1556. He and his first wife had the following children:
  
  • 1. William Lygon, eldest son, of Redgrove and Madresfield, born in 1518, was 44 years old at his father's death. While still under age he married in the autumn of 1529 Eleanor Dennis, daughter of Sir William Dennis (Denys) of Durham in Gloucestershire and his wife Anne Berkeley, daughter of Maurice Berkeley, Lord Berkeley, who died in 1506, and his wife, Isabel Meade (the latter two being direct ancestors. See their lineage elsewhere in Volume II.) The contract of marriage contains interesting particulars as to the provision for the young people. Richard Lygon and William Dennis were to find their children in apparel according to their degree, and William Dennis was to find his daughter lodging so long as Margery and Anne Lygon were alive. Like his father, William Lygon before his possession to Madresfield lived at Arle, and seems to have been in possession of the family estates at Mattisdon, Uckington, Dormiston, and Cromhall in Gloucestershire; he was also one of the justices of the Hundred of Cheltenham. In 1538, he was among the gentlemen listed by Lord Cromwell as meet to be preferred in the King's service (Patent Rolls, p. 49). On July 9, 1540, he had a grant He and his wife had a daughter, Cicely Lygon, who married in 1559, Edward Gorges, Esq., of Wroxall, born in 1537, died August 29, 1568, son of Edmund Gorges. They had a son Ferdinando Gorges, Knight, colonizer of Maine, born about 1565, died at Ashton Court near Bristol, England, May 1647, married (1) Anne Bell, buried in London August 6, 1620, daughter of Edward Bell and Margaret Barley, married December 21, 1621, (2) Mary Fulford.

  • 2. Henry Lygon. See below.

  • 3. Ursula Lygon, married Humphrey Andrews.

  • 4. Elizabeth Lygon, married Ralph Sheldon.

  • 5. Mary Lygon, married John Mintridge.

  • 6. Susanna Lygon, married Christopher Savage, Esq., of Elmsley Castle, and of Upton, co. Gloucester.

  • 7. Barbara Lygon, of Hanley Castle, probably unmarried.

  • 8. John Lygon, 3rd son, had a grant of annuity of 9 pounds out of Cromhall from his father on May 20, 1534. He was living in London in 1568.

  • 9. Ferdinand Lygon, died in Spain.
    

• 4. Henry Lygon, the 2nd son, born in 1524, in St. Leonard Upton, co. Gloucester, had lease from his brother William of a wood at Cromhall, in 1554, and is described in 1556, as of Upton St. Leonard in the city of Gloucester. In 1560 and 1568, he was in the service of Henry Berkeley, Lord Berkeley, with whom he is said to have been "in much estimation." When he died on July 31, 1577. he was seized of a capital messuage in Kingsgrove, Gloucestershire, with lands in Little Sodbury. He married Elizabeth Berkeley, daughter of John Berkeley, of Stoke Gifford, thus one more connection to the Berkeley family. He is probably the Henry Lygon of Upton, whose will was probated in the Consistory Court of Gloucester, 1577. He and his wife had four children as follows:
  
  • 1. Henry Lygon, d.s.p.

  • 2. Arnold Lygon, knighted by King James I, on July 23, 1603. It is probably Sir Arnold Lygon who was sheriff of Worcestershire in 1608-09. He married (1) Joan, widow of John Baker; (2) Margaret, daughter of Sir John Talbot of Grafton, and widow of his first cousin, Richard Lygon, and lived with her at Beauchamp's Court. He died in 1612; Dame Margaret died on February 24, 1632, and was buried at Bromsgrove.

  • 3. Mary Lygon, married Samuel Clinton. They had seven children.

  • 4. Elizabeth Lygon. See below.
    

  • 5. Elizabeth Lygon, married Edward Bassettof Uley Manor, son of William Bassett of Uley and his wife, Jane Ashe, daughter of John Ashe, of Somersetshire. Edward Bassett, husband of Elizabeth descended through nine successive generations, from Anceleme Bassett, Knight, who married Margaret Berkeley, daughter of Thomas de Berkeley, Lord Berkeley, to whom the heirs of her body, her father had formerly given the moitie of the manor of Uley in the hundred of Berkeley to hold of him by the service of the fourth part of a knight's fee, and by two suits to his hundred of Berkeley yearly. "Ancelme Bassett and Margaret (Berkeley) Bassett had issue: John Bassett, Kt., died without issue and Edmond Bassett, Kt., who by Isabell his wife, daughter and co-heir of another Bassett, had issue: Sir Symon Bassett, Kt., a gentleman as remarkable in his time as any that then lived in his county, as more than forty records do witness, married Maud, daughter and co-heir of John de Bitton, and had issue: Sir John Bassett, d.s.p., and Maurice Bassett, who had issue: John Bassett, father of William Bassett, father of Edward Bassett, who married Isabel (The name Isabel and Elizabeth are used interchangeably), daughter of Henry Lygon, Esq., much esteemed by Henry Lord Berkeley."
    

    Elizabeth and Edward had the following children:
    

    • 1. William Bassett, married daughter of William Davy, and had issue.

    • 2. Barnaby Bassett, married Elizabeth Dorney, daughter of John Dorney of Uley, and had issue.

    • 3. Edward Bassett, married daughter of Mr. Danyell (Daniel) of Marlborough, and had issue, one daughter.

    • 4. Giles Bassett, unmarried 1630, died 1640.

    • 5. Elizabeth Bassett, married (1) William Clavile, by whom she had no issue; (2) Thomas Poyntz, and had issue.

    • 6. Margaret Bassett, married Samuel Shellam, of Woodchester, and had issue five children.

    • 7. Susan Bassett, married Michael Dorney, and had issue.

    • 8. Jane Bassett, married Dr. John Deighton. See below.
      

  • 6. Jane Bassett , born in 1584 in Uley, co. Gloucester, married Dr. John Deighton (Dighton) of Gloucester, a surgeon, born about 1583, Uley, co. Gloucester, died May 16, 1640. According to one record, they had six children. The record from "The Ligon Family in England" only names two children; John and Frances, but other records expand on the other names. The town of Dighton, MA was named in the latter part of the 17th century in honor of the Dighton family. The children were as follows:
    
    • 1. John Deighton, born 1606, in Uley, co. Gloucester. Also it is reported that he was christened on April 9, 1607, at St. Nicholas, Gloucester City, co. Gloucester, England in Uley, co. Gloucester. He married Mary Anstye, born about 1607.

    • 2. Jane Deighton, christened April 5, 1609 or April 15, 1609, St. Nicholas, Gloucester City, co. Gloucester, England. She married (1) John Lugg, born about 1609, of Gloucester, co. Gloucester, England. They had the following children:
      
      • 1. Jane Lugg, born January 11, 1628, in Gloucester City, Gloucester, England.

      • 2. Esther Lugg, born February 24, 1632, in Gloucester City, co. Gloucester, England. She married James Bell, born about 1632. They had nine children, all born in Taunton, Bristol County, MA.

      • 3. Unknown Lugg, born November 11, 1637, Gloucester City, co. Gloucester, England.

      • 4. Elizabeth Lugg, born March 7, 1638, Boston, Suffolk County, MA.

      • 5. Mary Lugg, born August 1642, Boston, Suffolk County, MA. She married Nathaniel Barnard, born about 1638, of Boston, Suffolk County, MA.

      • 6. John Lugg, christened August 4, 1644, Boston, Suffolk County, MA.
        

        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.

    • 3. Frances Deighton, born in 1610 in Gloucester City, co. Gloucester, England. She was mentioned in her father's will in 1639; and was baptized in the parish of St. Nicholas, Gloucestershire City, March 1, 1611. She married at the Whitcombe Magna Parish Church, co. Gloucester, February 11, 1632, Richard Williams of Gloucester City, son of William Williams of Synwell, died September 1618, and his wife Jane Woodward.
      

      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:
      

      • 1. John Williams, born 1634, in Gloucester, England. Another source has him baptized about 1636. No other information available.

      • 2. Elizabeth Williams, born in 1635, in Gloucester, England. Another source has her baptized about 1636, died young.

      • 3. John Williams (?) According to Mormon records, he was born about 1635, in Taunton, Bristol County, MA. Possible confusion with the John listed as 1. above. No other information available.

      • 4. Samuel Williams, born and baptized about 1637-38, in Taunton, Bristol County, MA.

      • 5. Nathaniel Williams, born November 17, 1639, in Taunton, Bristol County, MA. He married in 1688 Elizabeth Rogers, daughter of John Rogers and his wife Ann Churchman, granddaughter of Thomas Rogers, the Mayflower Pilgrim.

      • 6. Joseph Williams, born February 7, 1641, in Taunton, Bristol County, MA. He married Elizabeth Watson, born January 18, 1648, in Plymouth, Plymouth County, MA.

      • 7. Thomas Williams, born about 1645, in Massachusetts. Additional data not available.

      • 8. Elizabeth Williams, born in 1647, died in 1724, married John Bird, born in Dorchester, Suffolk County, MA, 1641, died in 1732. They had a daughter Hannah Bird, born December 16, 1677, in Dorchester, Suffolk County, MA., died in 1728, married John Dean, who was born in Taunton, MA, in 1674, and died in 1724. This line continues through Anna Dean, John Barney, Sarah Barney, Benjamin Barney Belcher, to Aurelia Belcher, died in 1864, married about 1844 Arthur MacArthur, born at Glasgow, Scotland, January 26, 1815, died in Atlantic City, NJ, August 24, 1896. He was Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia from 1870 to 1888. Their son was Lieut. Gen. Arthur MacArthur, father of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, born at Little Rock, Arkansas, January 26, 1880. He commanded the entire Pacific Theater in World War II. against the Japanese. He later was the Commander of all Allied Forces in the Korean War. He was removed from his command by President Harry Truman, due to a conflict between the two men.

      • 9. Hannah Williams, born 1649 or 1650, of Taunton, Bristol County, MA. She married John Parmenter, born about 1649.

      • 10. Benjamin Williams, born in June 1651, of Taunton, Bristol County, MA. He is also listed as being born in 1652 and 1657, and married to Rebecca Macey, born about 1656, of Taunton, Bristol County, MA.
        

    • 4. Katherine Deighton, married (1) Samuel Hackburne, (no children listed in available records) and married in 1644 (2), as his 2nd wife, Thomas Dudley, an eminent Puritan, second Governor of Massachusetts, 1634-1650. He arrived in America in 1630, settling in Boston and founding the First Church. He was a founder of Harvard College in 1637; owned large estates, appointed Sergeant Major General, then the highest military office in the Colony. He died in Roxbury July 31, 1653. They had the following children:
      
      • 1. Deborah Dudley, born in 1645, in Roxbury, Suffolk County, MA., married Capt. Jonathan Wade.

      • 2. Joseph Dudley, Governor of Massachusetts, born in 1647, in Roxbury, Suffolk County, MA., married Rebecca Tyng.

      • 3. Paul Dudley, born in 1650, in Roxbury, Suffolk County, MA., married Mary Leverett, born about 1649.

      • 4. Dorothy Dudley, born about 1652. married Rev. John Allin, born about 1614.
        

        Katherine Deighton married (3) Rev. John Allin. Date of Marriage unknown.
        

      • 5. Damaris Deighton (?). Note: These last three names were found only in the Mormon IGI data base. There was no additional data.

      • 6. Mary Deighton (?). See 5. above.

      • 7. Thomas Deighton (?). See 5. above.

[Contents] [Next] [Previous] [Top] [Home] [Mail]