Henry ELTONHEAD

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Notes for HENRY ELTONHEAD:
THE KAY - PENDLETON - NEEL FAMILIES
by George and Margaret Rose
Published by J. Grant Stevenson 230 West 1230 North
Provo, Utah 84601 1969 Pages 137-143

ELTONHEAD (NORRES)

The ancestry of Martha5 Curtis, wife of the Rev. Henry3 Pendleton, Sr. includes the Eltonheads of England and Virginia and certain descendants of John1 Payne of Rappahannock County, Virginia. Since the Eltonhead Family is the one of greatest antiquity, this account starts with that family and as successive generations are traced the Curtis relationship will fall into line.

Parrin, in his Register of Maryland Heraldic Families Pages 273-277 shows that the family of Norreys or Norris were owners of the manor of Eltonhead and that as a consequence the Norreys or Eltonhead names identify the same family. The origins of the Norreys Family, a branch of which came to be called Eltonhead, are lost in the mists of time. Parrin's article shows that Baron Norreys was Baron of Rycote, Oxford, England before the time of William the Conqueror. This indicates that the name is of Anglo-Saxon origin. The early history of this family begins in Sutton, Lancashire, before the beginning of the reign of Henry III who succeeded his father, King John, in 1216 but due to his minority did not begin his reign until 1227.

Parrin begins his account of the Norres Family with Alan1 Norres who married Joan Molyneux and had a son Alan2 Norres who, in turn, had a son Sir John3 Norres, of Speke, who married Katherine Balderstone the daughter of Robert Balderstone and had Sir Henry4 Norres who married Alice of Chester, daughter of Roger de Ernys and his wife, Joan Molyneux who was a cousin of the first Joan of like name wife of the first Alan mentioned in the pedigree. Sir Henry4 Norres and his wife Joan had a son, Sir John5 of Bray. Burke confirms that the Norris-Eltonhead lineage traces to this Sir John5 of Bray. For the want of a definite identification of the father of Henry1 Norres or (Eltonhead) who is shown first on the chart which follows, the exact connection between these two men may not be shown. It does seem certain, however, that there were about five generations which used the name Norres before the line of Henry1 Eltonhead, to be presently charted, sets on.

William6 Norres, the son of John5, was Knight of the Body Guard of Edward IV and also commanded at the battle of Stoke. The son of William6 Norres, Henry7 Norres Esquire was of the body of King Henry VIII and one of the Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber. It fell the lot of this Sir Henry7 Norres to be the "Messenger of Peace" when Henry VIII decided to disgrace and try Cardinal Woolsey. It happened that Cardinal Woolsey on seeing Sir Henry alighted from his mule and removing a gold chain to which was attached a piece of the true cross, placed the chain around the neck of Sir Henry7 and kissed him. Henry VIII, for no reason, falsely accused Sir Henry7 of complicity with the unhappy Ann Boelyn. Sir Henry7 refused to save his own life by confirming that which was false and was executed May 14, 1536. The son of Sir Henry7 Norres also known as Sir Henry8 Norres was made ambassador to France by Queen Elizabeth. He kept this appointment for fourteen years. The fourth son of this Sir Henry9 Norres was, in turn, Sir Henry10 Norres who went to Virginia, where he was known to his cousins who now bore the name Eltonhead. It is seen by this account that certain kinsmen of the English and Virginia Eltonheads rose to great prominence in the reign of the Tudors. (Parrin, Register of Maryland Heraldic Families, 275.)

Turning now to examine the origins of the Norres-Eltonhead Family it will be kept in mind that it is known that about five generations of this family first bore the name Norres and that the exact point where the name Eltonhead sets on in the Norres Family is not established but that Henry1 Eltonhead of Eltonhead was the first of the proved Eltonhead line--all of which is shown on the accompanying chart.

Sir William Norres of Speke, County Lancashire in the year 1563 gave this account of the origin of the Eltonheads.

"Norres of Eltonhead lost his name by being called the goodman of Eltonhede, and so tooke yt for his proper name, for I am sure all his evidence ys Norres, and for want of yssue masculine all his lands ys inteylled on me William Norres of Speke Knight. And in my tyme ther was none byt my cosen Richard ltonhed his father that last died betwixt his land and me, which now God hath sent good store unto of children." See Nicholas's Topographer and Genealogist Volume 2, 369-370. Hayden's Virginia Genealogies p. 228 also quotes this source.

In his comment on Eltonhead, Sir William Norrrs of Speke affirms that there were other families in Sutton who had once carried the name of Norres but had given it up. The Norres pedigree which he reports runs through several generations and is a remarkably quaint and curious document without one reference for proof. Comparison with the record set down by Burke in his Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary shows it to be only partly accurate. Reference to the chart above shows that William Norrres, who made his comment in 1563 is commenting on his cousin Richard8 Eltonhead and is saying that if Richard8 has no male heirs, then he inherits the manor of Eltonhead. However, as this chart shows, Richard8 Eltonhead had sons, Richard9, John9, and Thomas9 who dsp. but his son William9 did survive, had several sons, and so frustrated any expectations that Sir William Norres of Speke might have entertained.

Lancashire Inquisitions, Volume 3 and pages 277-279 record the inquisition taken at Wigan, Lancashire on January 18, 1613-14 before Edward Rigbee, Esq. Escheator. The entry reads as follows:

"after the death of Thomas Eltonhead, Gent., Thomas Eltonhead was possessed for a term of sixty years, if he should live so long, of the manor of Eltonhead consisting of twelve messuages (meaning houses with their surrounding land and buildings) six cottages, a dove house, a windmill, four tofts (meaning main residences with its outbuildings and adjacent lands) twenty gardens, twenty or chards, one hundred acres of land, thirty acres of meadow, one-hundred acres of moss, and 13 shillings and four pence rent in Eltonhead and Sutton. It was agreed in 1587-8 between Thomas Eltonhead, of the one part, and William9 Eltonhead, his brother, for the other part, that at the demise of Thomas and Jane, his wife, that the whole of the premises were to be to the use of Richard Eltonhead, and lastly to the right heirs of Richard10 forever."

The Thomas Eltonhead with wife Jane was Thomas9 Eltonhead, brother of William9 Eltonhead, heir apparent, and it was his son Richard10 Eltonhead with one son, Richard11 and eight daughters, including Martha11, our ancestress, who married Edwin1 Conway, to whom this entry refers. The supplemental entries with this document show that the manor of Eltonhead and other premises in Sutton were held of William, Earl of Derby, by the 20th part of a Knight's fee and by rent of a pair of gloves, and that they were worth per annum clear 4 pounds sterling. This hearing also brought out the fact that Thomas9, brother of Richard9 Eltonhead, all shown on the accompanying chart, died 1611, that Richard9 Eltonhead died 1613-14, and that Richard10 Eltonhead, heir of William9 Eltonhead was 32 in 1614 thus confirming the date set down in the chart which Richard10 Eltonhead signed September 23, 1664.

This remarkable report before the Escheator should hold considerable interest because it provides a rather complete description of the home place of Martha11 Eltonhead, who married Edwin1 Conway of County Wigon in England. She along with all her sisters and her brother Richard11 were adult and married on September 23, 1664 at which time their father, Richard10 Eltonhead of Eltonhead, Gentleman gave his long pedigree to the herald.

The Eltonheads were an armigerous family. Their original crest was on a window in Childwell Church, County Lancashire. It displays an eagle rising from a mount vertical. (This crest is the same as that of Sir Henry4 Norres who married Alice of Chester, daughter of Roger de Ernys. Note that this is in the Norres line set down above being: Alan1, Alan2, John3, Henry4.) The shield is quarterly ar. and gu. in the second and fourth quarters a fret or. overall a fease, az. (See, Parran; Register of Maryland's Heraldic Families 275.)

In his notes on the chart showing the descendants of Martha10 Eltonhead in Virginia who married Edwin Conway, Hayden shows that William10 took the oath of fealty on January 2, 1646 and that he was made a member of the King's Privy Council September 29, 1649, or a little more than two years after his taking the oath of fealty to the Stuarts. He took the oath as a member of the Privy Council July 22, 1650. He undertook a mission to the colony of Maryland as agent of Lord Baltimore 1654-5. There he was killed in 1655 in the conflict between Governor Stone and Fenwick. This was the uncle of Martha11 Eltonhead who
married Edwin1 Conway.

Hayden also traces the marriages of the various daughters of Richard10 Eltonhead. He thinks that Richard10 Eltonhead was getting old and forgetful when he made the chart and that he slipped into one or two slight errors. He points out that Eleanor married William Brocas, not Edwin Brocas as the chart indicates. His research shows that Agatha11 Eltonhead married Ralph Wormley who resided at Rosegill, Middlesex County, Virginia. Jane11 Eltonhead who was the widow of Robert Morson, married second Curthbert Fenwick of St. Mary's Hundred in Maryland. This name appears as Robert in the chart. Martha11 Conway married Mr. Edwin1 Conway in England but removed to Virginia and resided in Northampton County where Mr. Conway was Clerk of the Court. Finally, it is shown that Alice11 Eltonhead
married Henry Corbin on July 25, 1645. The Corbins also resided in Middlesex County, Virginia. (For notes on these marriages see Hayden, Virginia Genealogies 225-230). Of the eight daughters of Richard10 Eltonhead, five and possibly six took up residence in the New World. It seems surprising that there should have been such an exodus from the comforts of the Manor of Eltonhead. English families of this era tended to form alliances in the same social class as that to which they belonged. The period of the Commonwealth under Cromwell was a season of disaster to the defeated Royalists. It would seem certain that Richard10 Eltonhead would have adhered to the crown in this conflict and that the fathers of the men who married the daughters of this Richard10 Eltonhead did likewise. Indeed, Lancashire and Cheshire Records Vol. 2 p. 242 show that in 1652 Richard10 Eltonhead, Sr. (Richard10 Eltonhead) was called in and required to pay his Royalist composition fines to the treasury. His name appears on a list referred to as Royalist Composition Papers Number 42. His fine seems to have been comparatively light but some estates were fined as much as two-thirds of their appraised value. The total fines for the district of Richard10 Eltonhead amounted to one and one half million pounds sterling. This explains the exodus of defeated Royalists into the Colony of Virginia.

Henry married.