The
American Brettons
An
old family myth related to some Bretton who emigrated to the United States. We
did not know who or when - or even whether it was true or not. In 1996, however,
we had a phone call from a John Bretton in Hemel Hempstead with whom we had
corresponded for some time. He was researching the name throughout the world and
we had sent him all the information we possessed on our branch. He was
collecting an enormous amount of information and had just heard from two
American Brettons (before marriage) Charlene Duncan and Beula Wilson who were
trying to trace their ancestors. These ancestors, Joseph Bretton and his son
Henry, along with another brother, had emigrated to the States in the 1820’s.
All they knew is that they came fom Yorkshire so John Bretton asked us if we
would try and find where they originated from as we were “on the doorstep”.
Some work on the IGI narrowed it down to two possible families and a few minutes
thought showed that it could only be one family from Elland near Halifax.
Christine and I spent about four days in the archives and confirmed that it must
be that family and quickly identified the Joseph, Henry and a John who were the
likely emigrants. We then took the family back a few generations and were
astounded to find a mention of Emley, about two miles from Flockton and, as well
as tying them into a chart prepared by Rowland Bretton, we then tied them in to
our own chart. Our own branch, and Henry Bretton’s branch came from two
brothers Thomas Bretton (in our case) and John Bretton (in the case of the
American branch) born at Flockton in 1716 and 1712 respectively
We
were delighted that an old family story had at last been confirmed and since
then we have been in continuous contact with Charlene and Beula, and with Billey
Force and Leita Beth Nieshe , sisters, and Brettons, who
both live in Washington State. Most of the family live in Kansas but, although
they are far flung, they have a Bretton re-union each year in Kansas with
between 60 and 120 people attending. We were very disappointed that we were
unable to attend in 1997 but
managed it in 1998 and had a wonderful time with some great people (over 100
people attended). Ill health stopped us going there again in 2000 but we remain
hopeful for 2001.................
The
re-union we attended was held in Philipsburg, Kansas, not far from the
geographical centre of the United States and, although they were in the middle
of a heat wave (July) we thoroughly enjoyed the visit and treasure a plaque they
presented to us.
Another
of the abiding memories of that trip (and there were plenty) was when we were
taken to the Bretton Cemetery, as it is known locally, near Philipsburg. This is
where Henry Bretton was buried, a long way from Elland, near Halifax,
(Yorkshire) where he was born, and which has been used
virtually entirely for the Bretton family ever since. I believe that
there are only three graves where people other than Brettons were allowed to be
buried within the site. Two were locals who died in a cholera epidemic and the
other was a nameless cowboy who died as he was passing through and was buried
just within the boundaries of the plot.
The
cemetery is miles from any habitation (presumably on Henry Bretton’s land), on
top of a small rise in the prarie with endless views in every direction and
three quarters of a mile through pastures to get to the cemetery from the
nearest dirt road. To be there in the total quiet of that prairie was a magical
experience and one I will never forget. We went back again a couple of days
later to savour it again.
We
have let them all have copies of the family history and are hope to add, to this
web site, an article on the Wentworth family, and Governor Benning Wentworth,
the first Governor of New Hampshire, to whom the Bretton family is distantly
related.
We went on to the Internet in December 1997 to see if we could use it to trace the family, if any, of John Bretton, the brother of Henry who disappeared soon after arriving in America. In spite of contacting dozens of Brettons, Britains and Brittons in the States we have not yet managed to trace anyone.
Even at this late stage we keep on finding other, new, references to the Bretton family
and wonder just how many more there are to discover. We fervently hope that there will be other people who will be able to, and willing to, carry on this family history.
Joseph Bretton, who emigrated to the United States in 1828
A deed in the Registry of Deeds in Wakefield, registered in the year 1813 under the reference GA 131 154.
A Memorial to be registered in the Register's Office at Wakefield, of indentures of a lease and release bearing out respectively the first and second days of July in the year of Our Lord One Thousand, Eight hundred and Thirteen, the lease made between Edward Dickinson, of Marshall Mills, Huddersfield in the County of York on the one part, and Edward Kilner of Elland in the parish of Halifax in the said county of York, Gentleman, of the other part and the release being of four parts and made between the said Edward Dickinson of the first part, Joseph Bretton, aforesaid, Joiner, of the second part, John Walker of Newmillerdam in the parish of Sandal in the said county of York, Millwright, and Mary, his wife, nee Mary Bretton, spinster, of the third part and the said Edward Kilner by his further description of a person nominated by and in trust for the said Joseph Bretton and John Walker and Mary his wife of the fourth part. Of and concerning all that one full undivided moiety of actual half part the whole into two actual parts to be divided of and in all that messuage or dwellinghouse with the several cottages and other outbuildings, yard or fold, and gardensteads lying contiguous thereto. Also all that croft piece or parcel of arable meadow or pasture ground lying near to the said messuage and dwellinghouse containing by estimation near one acre be the same more or less and also one pew or seat situate standing and being on the north side of the side aisle in the parochial chapel in Elland aforesaid and now or now late in the possession of one Mary Ewbank her undertenants or assigns all with said tenements, hereditaments and premises are situate standing lying and being in Elland aforesaid and formerly in the tenure or occupation of the said Mary Ewbank, her undertenants or assigns together with all and every the rights to privileged hereditaments and appurtenances whatsoever to the same belonging or in any wise appurtaining And also containing all that the said other or remaining full undivided moiety or actual half part the whole into two actual parts to be divided of and in all that the said messuage or dwellinghouse, cottages, outbuildings, croft or parcel of arable meadow or pasture ground and of all and singular other than the premises herein before particularly mentioned and described and of their .................. of their appurtenances the execution of which said indentured of lease and release by the said Edward Dickinson and respectively attested by Joseph Thomson of Halifax aforesaid, gentleman, and Isaac Dickinson of Marshall Mills aforesaid, cornmiller.
Signed and sealed in the presence of Joseph Thomson, sworn.
The mark and seal of Isaac Dickinson
This Mary Walker, nee Mary Bretton is likely to be Joseph Bretton's aunt and who, with her husband possibly helped Joseph with a mortgage.
A deed registered in the Registry of Deeds, Wakefield known as FZ 716 899 in 1814
A memorial of indentures of lease and release bearing dates respectively the First and Second days of April in the year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fourteen the lease made between John Walker of Newmillerdam in the parish of Sandal in the county of York, millwright, of the one part and Henry Wiglesworth of Elland in the county of York, gentleman of the other part and the release being of three parts and made between the said John Walker of the first part, Joseph Bretton of Elland in the parish of Halifax in the county of York, joiner of the second part, and the said Henry Wiglesworth of the third part of and concerning all that full undivided moiety of equal half part the whole into two equal parts to be divided and all other the part and share of him the said John Walker of and in all that messuage or dwellinghouse, cottages and other outbuildings yard or fold and gardensteads lying contiguous thereto and all that croft piece or parcel of arable meadow or pasture ground lying near to the said messuage or dwellinghouse containing by estimation near one acre to the same more or less and also one pew or seat situate staning and being on the north side of the south aisle in the parochial chapel of Elland aforesaid heretofor in the possession of Mary Ewbank, widow, her undertenants and assigne all with said tenements, hereditaments unto and promised are situate standing lying and being in Elland aforesaid and were late or heretofor in the tenure or occupation of the said Mary Ewbank, her undertenants or assigne and also all and singular the houses outhouses edifices and buildings erections stables woodshops orchards gardens ways paths passages waters watercourses hedges tithes walls rights and liberties privileges advantages hereditaments and appurtenances whatsoever to the said moiety heraditaments and premises belonging or in any wise appertaining with said indentures and to the execution thereof by the said John Walker is witnessed by James Wiglesworth and Richard Hoyland both of Halifax aforesaid, gentlemen which said indenture of release and to the execution thereof by the said Joseph Bretton is witnessed by the said James Wiglesworth and Richard Hoyland.
John Walker
Signed and sealed being first duly stamped in the presence of James Wiglesworth, sworn
Richard Hoyland
A deed registered in the Registry of Deeds, Wakefield bearing the number FZ 716 900
1814
A memorial of an Indenture being a mortgage by Demise bearing date the 11th day of May in the year of Our Lord One thousand Eight Hundred and Fourteen between Joseph Bretton of Elland in the parish of Halifax in the county of York, Joiner, of the one part and John Walker of Newmillerdam in the parish of Sandall in the said county of York, Millwright of the other part. Of and concerning all that messuage or dwellinghouse, cottages or outbuildings, yard or fold and gardensteads lying contiguous thereto and also all that croft piece or parcel of arable meadow or pasture ground lying near to the said messuage or dwellinghouse containing by estimation near one acre to the same more or less and also one pew or seat situate standing or being on the north side of the south aisle of the parochial chapel in Elland aforesaid heretofor in the possession of Mary Ewbank widow her undertenants or assigns lying and being in Elland aforesaid and were late or heretofor in the tenancy or occupation of the said Mary Ewbank her undertenants or assigns but are now in the tenure or occupation of the said Joseph Bretton his assigns and undertenants and also all and singular the outhouses ways paths and passages waters water courses, rights liberties privileges advantages hereditaments and appurtenances whatsoever to the said messuage and premises belonging to or in any wise appertaining which said indenture as to the execution thereof by the said Joseph Bretton is witnessed by James Wiglesworth and Richard Hoyland both of Halifax aforesaid gentlemen.
This is the first mention of property belonging to Joseph Bretton who went to the United States in 1828, and all three deeds above relate to the purchase of that property. Unfortunately in those days it was not felt necessary to register the address in deeds and so we have nothing to tell us where the house was. Because there are a lot of houses in this area which have stood for some hundreds of years and many of which have been renovated to modern day standards we tried to find the address if the house still stands by following through sales by the persons mentioned in the lease as buying from Joseph Bretton. Unfortunately it appears that parts of land were sold separately and so far we have not traced a sale of the “dwellinghouse” that gives an address. Some addresses were given but we cannot trace the “Dog Lane” in Elland that is quoted on a 1850's map of Elland. We will keep on trying. For reasons mentioned later it may not be the first property he owned of some size. He apparently held these properties until 1820/21. His wife, Betty, died in 1819 and maybe he wished to move. He then sold the above property and moved to Shelf near Halifax. The sale of the house etc is in the :-
Registry of Deeds in Wakefield - deed number HF 54 60 1821
A Memorial of Indenture of three parts bearing date the 14th April in the year of Our Lord 1821 and made or mentioned to be made between John Walker of New Miller Dam in the parish of Sandal in the County of York, Millwright of the first part. Joseph Bretton of Elland in the parish of Halifax in the said county of York, Joiner of the second part and John Noble of Elland aforesaid of the third part of and concerning all that messuage or dwellinghouse, Cottages and other buildings, yard or fold and gardensteads lying contiguous thereto and also all that croft, piece or part of arable meadow or pasture ground lying near to the said messuage or dwellinghouse containing by estimation near one acre (be the same more or less). And also one pew or seat situate standing or being on the north side of the south aisle in the parochial chapel of Elland aforesaid, heretofore in the possession of Mary Ewbank, widow, her undertenants or assigns all with the said tenement heraditaments and premises or standing lying and being in Ellland aforesaid and now in the tenure or occupation of the said Joseph Bretton, his assigns or undertenants together with all and singular the heridaments and appurtenances whatsoever to the same premises belonging or in any way appertaining, the execution of which said indentures by the said John Walker, Joseph Bretton is attested by John Edwards the younger of Halifax aforesaid, Attorney-at-Law and Ward Dyson Hitchin his clerk.
Registry of Deeds in Wakefield - deed number HK 480 524 1821
A Memorial of Indentures of Lease and Release bearing dates respectively the 25th and 26th days of May in the year of Our Lord 1821 the lease made between Joseph Bretton of Elland in the parish of Halifax in the county of York of the one part and John Riley of the same place, shopkeeper, of the other part and the release made between the said Joseph Bretton of the first part, John Noble of Elland aforesaid, Freeman, of the second part the said John Riley of the third part and James Hiley of Elland aforesaid, Surgeon,of the fourth part.
Concerning all that messuage or dwellinghouse cottages and other buildings, yard or fold, gardensteads lying contiguous thereto and also all that croft piece or parcel of meadow or pasture ground lying near to the said messuage or dwellinghouse containing by estimation near one acre (be the same more or less) And also one pew or seat situate standing or being on the North side of the South Aisle in the Parochial Chapel of Elland aforesaid heretofore in the possession of Mary Ewbank, widow her undertenants or assigns. All with said tenement heraditaments and premises,are standing,lying, and being in Elland aforesaid and were formerly in the tenancy and occupation of the said joseph Bretton, Jeremiah Ewbank, James Wood, Alice Brooke, Mrs Haigh, and Joseph Grayson their or some of their undertenants and their assigns together with all and singular the rights (members?) and appurtenances whatsoever to the same belonging or in any case appertaining the execution of which said indenture of lease by the said Joseph Bretton is witnessed by James Wigglesworth of Halifax aforesaid, Gentleman, and Robert Parker of the same place, Gentleman, and the execution of the same indenture of release by the said Joseph Bretton, John Noble and John Hiley is witnessed by the said James Wigglesworth and Robert Parker.
Signed and sealed (being first duly stamped) in the presence of James Wigglesworth,sworn
Robert Parker
Joseph Bretton.
We followed up the question of the right of a pew in the parochial church of Elland, (where his wife, his mother and his daughter are buried in the churchyard) and found that there was a record of ownership of pews taken in 1805, well before the date of purchase of this particular property. The 1805 record shows :-
North side South Aisle Joseph Britton of Elland - pew 39
The Honourable Mr Savile - pew 33
The Honourable Mrs Savile - pews 40 and 41
Earl Mexbro (Mexborough) - 1 sitting in pew 36
There were 43 pews in the South Aisle
36 in the Middle Aisle
50 in the North Aisle
Two things need to be mentioned. The ownership of the pews did not of course have any bearing on who occupied them and went purely on ownership of property. The Saviles (or Savilles) were, like the Earl of Mexborough, land owners in all parts of the country and no doubt owned dozens of pews in the same way. Incidentally the Savilles were very good friends to Blessed John Bretton and to Francis, after John Bretton's execution.
The other question that remains unanswered is which Joseph Bretton had the privilege of this pew number 39. Was it the Joseph Bretton who is mentioned above in all these deeds and who later emigrated to the United States- or was it his father, another Joseph and the one who married Amelia Kaye from Emley ? If the latter - then where was the property that gave him the right to occupy this pew ? Every little piece of information we find seems to beg even more questions !!!
A deed registered in the Registry of Deeds in Wakefield - HN 65 54 dated 22.8.1821
A Memorial of an Indenture bearing date the 22nd day of August in the year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight hundred and Twenty One, and made or mentioned to be made between Joseph Lister of Shelf in the parish of Halifax in the County of York, shopkeeper of the one part and Joseph Bretton of Elland in the parish of Halifax aforesaid, farmer, of the other part. Of and concerning all that messuage, dwellinghouse or tenement with the outbuildings, garden, and appurtenances thereto belonging, situate standing and being in Shelf aforesaid and now in the possession or occupation of the said Joseph Lister. And also all those three several cottages or dwellinghouses with the outbuildings gardens and appurtenances thereto respectively belonging situate standing and being near to the said messuage dwellinghouse or tenement and now in the several possessions or occupations of John Torry, Sarah Bateman and John Asquith together with all and singular the hereditaments and appurtenances whatsoever to the said premises belonging or in any wise appertaining the execution of which said indenture by the said Joseph Lister is attested by John Edward the younger of Halifax aforesaid, Attorney-at-Law and Charles Barstow his clerk
Signed and sealed in the presence of John Edwards Junior (Sworn)
C. Barstow Joseph Lister (£5)
A deed registered in the Registry of Deeds in Wakefield - IW 344 317 dated 11.5.1827
A Memorial of an Indenture of three parts made the eleventh day of may in the year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight hundred and Twenty Seven between Joseph Bretton of Elland in the parish of Halifax in the Counry of York, farmer, of the first part, Joseph Lister of Shelf in the parish of Halifax aforesaid, shopkeeper, of the second part and David Pitchforth of Elland aforesaid, coalminer of the third part of and concerning all that messuage or dwellinghouse or tenement with the outbuildings gardens and appurtenance thereto belonging situate standing and being in Shelf aforesaid and now and late in the possession or occupation of the said Joseph Lister and also all those three several cottages or dwellinghouses with the outbuildings gardens and appurtenances thereto respectively belonging situate standing and being near to the said messuage or dwellinghouse or tenement and now or late in the several possessions of John Torry, Sarah Bateman and John Asquith, together with all and singular the hereditaments and appurtenances to the said premises belonging or in any wise appertaining the execution of which said indenture by the said Joseph Bretton and Joseph Lister is attested by George Edwards of Halifax aforesaid Attorney-at-Law and John Herbert Mitchell his clerk
Signed and sealed in the presence of Geo. Edwards (sworn) Joseph Lister
Jno. Herbert Mitchell
We
have to thank the internet for the initial information on William Bretton, which
was sparse but immediately spurred our interest. So much so that we contacted
Georgetown University Library in Washington DC and quickly received a reply from
Heather Bourk which was both comprehensive and fascinating. We are most grateful
to her for her help and continuing interest. One of the documents she sent us
was an article entitled “William Bretton of Newtown Neck, St. Mary’s
County” by Edwin W. Beitzell, published in the Maryland Historical Magazine in
March 1955. This is an excellent article and must be recommended to anyone
interested in the William Bretton family from the time they arrived in Maryland.
However, this particular section of the Bretton family history is mainly devoted
to an account of our researches into William Bretton’s English background and
is not intended to give more than an outline of his life in Maryland. What
information we do give about the American period of his life is taken from the
article mentioned above, from other documents sent us by Heather Bourk, from
long discussions with Byron K. Marshall, Emeritus Professor of History at the
University of Minnesota, a descendant of William Bretton, and from details sent
us by Linda Reno, who is an avid St. Mary’s County researcher. It is worthy of
note that William Bretton’s deed to his initial land grant is the oldest
sealed deed, we understand, in Maryland.
William Bretton arrived in Maryland on 12th January, 1637 together with his wife, Mary, son William aged 4, his wife’s parents Thomas Nabbs and his wife, and three servants, John Mansell, Richard Harris and James Jelfe. He became Clerk of the Lower House of the Assembly, Clerk of the Council, and Clerk of the Provincial Court. He was also “Lord of the Manor” of Little Bretton, planter, burgess, lawyer, judge, coroner, and a leading Roman Catholic layman. Edwin Beitzell feels that, from the records, it appears reasonable to assume that William Bretton was well known to the Calvert family (Lord Baltimore) and was persuaded to come out to the province to assume the Clerkships of the Council, the Assembly and the Provincial Court. He also feels that Bretton must have been a man of some means since he transported a number of people, was well educated and was referred to as “Gentleman”. The fact that he came out to Maryland to take up these posts is, to us, borne out by the fact that he attended his first General Assembly less than two weeks after his arrival and was invited to take up the Clerkships by the Governor. There is no further mention of his son William and it would appear, therefore that he died sometime after his arrival. On the death of his wife he married again and there was one daughter born of this second marriage. It is from her that his descendants in the USA originate.
Initial searches
It
made sense to start our detailed
check in this immediate area, initially merely on the basis of the Bretton
estate in Maryland being called “Liitle Bretton”, a local name. We have
spent so much time, over the last 42 years, searching for baptisms, marriages
and burials in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries that we know records of this
era vary between being non existent or completely unreadable. The problem is
always multiplied dramatically if you happen to be searching for a staunch Roman
Catholic, as William Bretton appeared to be, after the period of the
reformation. It was especially true of well educated Catholics (especially
recusants) that they either did not baptise their children or that it was done
in secret by Catholic priests and that no formal records were ever available.
However, the records were searched
for a William Bretton baptised before or around 1610
: a marriage between William Bretton and Mary Nabbs around 1630/1633 :
the baptism of a William Bretton,
son of the above William and Mary : a Thomas Nabbs father of Mary : a John
Mansell : a Richard Harris : a James Jelfe and a George Bretton(arrived in
Maryland 1657). No trace of most of these happenings, on or around those dates
has been found, in either the Yorkshire or other county records. The exceptions
are that we have on our family tree, courtesy of Dom Hugh Bowler, the Catholic
Historian, a George Bretton (Possibly born around 1609/10), for whom we have
never found a marriage or death, a William Bretton at Cathill, virtually in High
Hoyland, which was also the site of the original “Little Bretton”, which was
a potentially exciting discovery (more of this later) and the burial of another
William Bretton, who could have been either the William Bretton mentioned above
or a child, son of the William Bretton mentioned above. If it was the latter and
the death took place around the time when the next child was due then quite
often the next son was called after the child who had just died
We
also searched for records of the Calvert family, being aware that the 1st Lord
Baltimore came from North Yorkshire at Bolton Castle and Kiplin. Various IGI
records of the family were found but the information was apparently corrupted by
the unfortunate but common practice of someone submitting unattributable
information in support of what they desired to be the case.
For example they state that George Calvert, son of Leonard Calvert and
Alice Crosland was born in 1578,
1579, “about 1580” and then that he was the son of Leonard Calvert and Anne
Brent and was born in 1580) However in Foster’s “Visitation of Yorkshire in
1612” carried out by Richard St. George Norroy
King of Arms is the following pedigree
Leonard
Calvert of Danby Wiske m. Alice(Grace)
Crosland of Crosland (near Almondbury)
(1)Cecil
(heir) (2)Leonard 3)George (4)Francis Ann
Grace
(5)Henry
Dorothy
Ellen
The
information we have on William Bretton states that it was generally supposed
that he was known to the Calverts and that he had gone to Maryland to take up
the posts of Clerk of various Courts. . We were wanting to refine our search
areas for William’s origins in England so that the search of land records was
shortened and we considered how and where William Bretton may have been
associated with the Calverts. Unfortunately there are several possibilities :-
1. In one document relating to Lord Baltimore it stated that after Lord Baltimore became a Roman Catholic the four Calvert brothers were educated at Douai in France (Where
Blessed
John Bretton’s sons went to train as priests both before and
after his execution on 1st April, 1598.)(Matthew was at Douai from 1584
to 1604 and Richard from 1599 to 1613) It is also thought that his nephew,
another John Bretton also went there to train for the priesthood. If the Calvert
sons were at Douai then the families could have been aquainted through this
because the presence of the English priests must, in the circumstances, have
made them each seek out the others.. We then sought to check Douai records to
see if we could discover when Sir
George Calvert’s sons were there.
Unfortunately we found that all the original Douai records for the appropriate
period were destroyed during the French Revolution. Ushaw College, which has
later Douai deeds, was not able to help for the period in question.
2.
Leonard Calvert married Alicia/Grace Crosland of Crosland. This is only a few
miles from Bretton where Blessed John Bretton, the Catholic Martyr lived before
his execution in 1598. As the two families were of the same social standing it
would be impossible that John Bretton, and his martyrdom, was not known to the
Croslands. Equally one of the Crosland daughters married a son of the Baron
Beaumont of Whitley family . As we mention elsewhere in the family history the
Beaumonts were originally Brettons who adopted the Beaumont name when they moved
from Bretton to Beaumont near Whitley in the 1200’s.
3.
The other thing that
might reinforce this theory was our first reason for a local search. It was
common practice for early settlers to name their new homes/towns etc after the
places they had left. William Bretton named his new estate in Maryland “Little
Bretton” and there was a part of Bretton/West Bretton called “Little Bretton”.
It is mentioned in our family history as part of a conveyance of land from
Richard Wentworth to John Bretton in 1476 (which in itself is significant if the
Bretton family still owned land at “Little Bretton in the late 1500’s and
early 1600’s) and, by an amazing coincidence we found a second mention of it
the day after we started searching for William Bretton, in a Pedigree of a minor
Yorkshire family. In this case it was a member of the “West” family, Lewis
West, who arranged the sale of the Bretton estate by Captain John Bretton in
1642. He was described as “Clerk” which was commonly used for Lawyers and it
said that the family lived at Little Bretton. If William had lived there and named his new estate after his home area then there is no doubt
that he was part of our family. We then found that, according to Johnston,
Little Bretton was at High Hoyland, on the edge of the (later) Bretton Hall
Estate and that, in Johnston’s time, consisted of 2 houses.
Having found that the
West’s lived in one house there and that Lewis West, a lawyer
with links to the Brettons lived there in the early/mid 1600’s, it is
easy to take the next step and wonder whether the “other” house was at some
time occupied by William Bretton.
4. We had a branch of the Bretton family living near the Calverts at Danby Wiske
and Kiplin in the 1500/1600’s so he may have known them there.
5.
The worst scenario from a search point of view is that if William Bretton was a
lawyer, he had been trained, and lived,
in London and known the 1st Lord Baltimore there.
Lord Baltimore only became a Catholic late in his career in London, in
1624 in fact, but there was sufficient time for him to have
met William Bretton, as a
Catholic, between that time and 1632 when he died, and for William Bretton to
get to know Sir George’s sons.
Subsequent action
As
we say above we decided to concentrate of the “coincidence” of William
Bretton naming his estate in Maryland “Little
Bretton” and search in this area. We pre-supposed that William might have been
trained as a lawyer in England and sought to check any possible training
with the Law Society or any attendance at the main English Universities, Oxford
and Cambridge, both of which appeared to start in the 1200’s.
However,
in discussing our plan with a leading Archivist, he felt that either search
would be non-productive. He
wondered whether William, from what we had told him about his career in
Maryland, would have hidden his light under a bushell and concealed his
Catholicism. In that case he pointed out it was highly unlikely that he would
have been accepted for either Oxford or Cambridge, and even less likely that he
would have been considered for training as a lawyer, the antipathy towards
Catholics was so strong in the “Establishment”. He also suggested that a man
with a good education (even apart from Oxford or Cambridge) would have had no
difficulty, and need no training, to be appointed Clerk to such a body, as had
happened to William Bretton. We had the same principles confirmed with other
experts but nevertheless checked with both Oxford and Cambridge. Neither of them
had any record of a William Bretton at the appropriate period. Our search with
the Law Society, after an un-acceptable delay brought forth the information that
their records started well after the time when William Bretton could have been
receiving training.. We have since found confirmation that members of the
military and civil establishments had to swear loyalty to the Crown and abjure
the Roman Catholic Church which precluded most staunch Catholics from following
these professions. Even if William Bretton had “conformed” (on the surface)
he still might have found it difficult to make such an oath.
We
searched every local archive for any sale of an estate in Yorkshire by a Bretton
or Nabbs without success (apart from the sale of the Bretton estate and sundry
small pieces of land, but not involving any “William Bretton”). Enquiries at
other potential sources of land records were again unsuccessful. We then
commissioned a search by a genealogist of every possible Yorkshire
Archaeological index, searching for an estate record, purchase or sale by a
William Bretton or by a Thomas Nabbs (Knabbs). We found nothing, but this did
not surprise us considering the amount of time we had spent over the last 42
years searching the records for the 1500’s and 1600’s and how little
information is available to the researcher for those periods.
A
check on the records of Ancient Manuscripts was equally
unsuccessful.
A
preliminary check on Recusants for this area
did not show him named. It did however show
some Brettons, Beaumonts and Crosslands.
We
attempted to check all lists of recusants for the whole country but rapidly
found that this was going to be difficult. We started at the Borthwick Institute
of Historical Research at York University who are the leading repository for old
manuscripts and have a huge collection of the Catholic Records Society
publications. We knew that Father Hugh Aveling had published a roll of Yorkshire
recusants and were extremely disappointed to see that he had only named the
members of the aristocracy who were registered as recusants and some
of “the Gentry” although he gave numbers of other recusants for each
parish. He showed Blessed John Bretton as a recusant until his death and Frances
as a continued recusant after that date. He never mentioned his martyrdom, nor
that of all the other Yorkshire Martyrs who were not “in the upper classes”
and only mentioned Saint Margaret Clitheroe as “Mrs Margaret Clitheroe” of
York. It gave an impression that
the rest didn’t matter. Equally an article about the famous Gascoine family
only mentioned their recusancy although the article made clear that all the
other recusants in their home parish were named in the original rolls. A
gentleman from the Catholic Records Society said that the “rif-raf” were not
generally mentioned by name in the returns and then hurriedly said that he used
the term in a jocular fashion.
We
then tried the Catholic History Society,
again without success.
Two
full days by the two of us at the Borthwick found no concrete evidence of
William Bretton. We did however find a mention
of “Little Bretton” which was
very helpful. Little Bretton was explained as being the former “North Bretton”
(of which we had never seen a mention) and it explained it as being in (near to)
High Hoyland. To explain - the village of Bretton is on a rise with the land
dropping to the two lakes through all the Bretton Park estate. Across the lakes
the ground rises up what is called “Long Side” to a road which leads from
Bentley Springs to High Hoyland. From High Hoyland and Cawthorne the road
eventually splits - one road to
Hoyland Swaine and the other to Silkstone.
Silkstone Parish Church was at one time the church of the Wentworth
family from Bretton Hall and there are two elaborate tombs of Sir Thomas
Wentworth and Sir George Wentworth. The reference we saw stated that at one time
(no date) there were only two houses at “Little Bretton”. It is set out
below :-
From
Professor Hunter’s ”South Yorkshire” (under “High Hoyland”) published
in the 1820’s
“Little
Bretton is described by Johnston of consisting but of two houses in his time. It
seems to be the place called North Bretton in early deeds. Of the Wests, a
visitation family, who resided here, an account has already been given”
We
certainly know that the Wests lived there in what would have been a large house
befitting their status, but as we said earlier - William Bretton......?
However
we searched part of the Bishops Transcripts for Silkstone and Sandal Magna
Parish Churches, and compared them with the search we had done of these records
many many years ago.Under Silkstone found the following entry :-
“Anne,
daughter of William Bretton of Hoyland Swaine baptised 6th August, 1630/31” This
we felt to be an extremely important entry, showing as it did that there was a
William Bretton producing children at the appropriate time and living close to
the area that was known as “Little Bretton”. But
would a staunch Roman Catholic, especially a
close relation of Blessed John Bretton, have conformed so soon after his
martyrdom ? The answer could be that he did
conform but chaffed under the yoke and welcomed the chance to start afresh in
America with freedom of religion.
There
were a few doubtful (to us) entries that may, or may not have referred to
Brettons, and on our last visit to the Borthwick we were only able to search the
Silkstone parish transcripts up to the above date but so many of the transcripts
are virtually unreadable that we had to go back and check them again with an
appropriate magnifier. We did - but
with no success so far as William Bretton was concerned.
The
difficulties we faced, and have faced over the last 40+ years, for this period
of history can be summed up with a few additional details. We said that Hugh
Bowler provided our 1500/part 1600 family tree with some additions from
ourselves during the latter part of the 1600’s. If we were to take a
conservative estimate of Bretton births from the time of Adam fitz Swain and
estimate that each generation had
one male child followed by the the succeeding generation having two male
children etc etc it would mean roughly that by the time of Blessed John’s
grandchildren there would have been around 512 branches/male members of the
Bretton family bearing that name in the early 1600’s (and that figure was
reached by reducing the estimated numbers by four times). The
most branches we have on our tree around that time is 4, containing 9 male
Brettons. So there are huge gaps which we could not
start to fill and the
following excerpts from two of the
local parish records
are of no help. We are unable to place these people on our tree at all.
We feel that as these people are recorded within three or four miles of here
there is no doubt at all that they are family members :-
Sandal
Magna
Matthew
Bretton buried 1627
Thomas, son of Thomas Britton baptised
29th September, 1633
Bartholomew, son of Bryun Bretton buried 7th April, 1635
Bryan Bretton buried 2nd May 1635
Thomas, son of Elizabeth Bretton, buried 21st March, 1640
---------? Brettoner and James
Rhodes married 26th November, 1672/3
Thomas Bretton buried 14th March 1691
Mr Bretton (very helpful) and Elizabeth Dawson married 30th March 1695
Martha, daughter of Thomas Bretton
Robert, son of Richard Bretton baptised 27th August, 1710
Elizabeth daughter of William Bretton baptised 26th April, 1711
Ann B(retton) baptised 27th March 1712
William son of William Bretton baptised 18th May 1712
Silkstone Parish church
John
Britton baptised 8th September 1605
Plus,
no doubt many many others where records are now non-existent.
We
also visited Barnsley Archives to look at the Hoyland Swaine parish records for
the late 1500’s and the early 1600’s. If the William Bretton who baptised a
daughter Anne (above) is the correct one then he would have been married and had
a son, William, baptised at either Sandal, Hoyland Swaine, or Silkstone if,
at the time of the marriage/birth he had conformed and was attending
a Protestant Service, as we say above. A glance through the Recusant Records
will show that the Commission suspected that many of the marriages/baptisms were
not officially registered and tracing these people is virtually an impossible
task.
A
day at the British Library at Boston Spa threw no more light on the
subject. Checks on pedigrees of Lincolnshire, Staffordshire and Leicestershire
had no success.Checks on all the other English counties were also
non-productive.
HOWEVER,
a further discovery of
Christine’s is extremely interesting. She was checking through a “History of
All Saints Church, Silkstone” when she was struck by the description of a
memorial in the church. This reads (We used bold for
the important word ) :-
“Not
far from here are placed
the sacred ashes of William Wood of Nabbs,
Gent,
who was a faithful subject of the King,
an orthodox son of the Anglican Church,
dear to his relatives, Boni omnib Febitus,
he departed this life on the 21st July, 1682, aged 71 years”
With
that in mind she examined a large scale ordnance map of the Silkstone area
(fortunate that we are so close) and, near Silkstone, found “Knabbs
Hall farm” clearly marked. The coincidences are mounting up to such an
extent that they are not looking “coincidental”
after all. It was very common from the 1100’s for Anglo Saxon aristocracy to
change their names to reflect the new Norman culture and the most important land
owners in each village adopted the name of that village, as my own ancestors did
“----de Bretton” for example. Clearly there was a Knabbs or Nabbs
around Silkstone from which Thomas and Mary Nabbs could have been descended just
as William Bretton appears to be descended fom the Brettons of West Bretton.
We
spent another day going through the Bishop’s Transcripts for Silkstone Parish
Church, High Hoyland Parish Church and Hoyland Swaine Parish Church without
finding the marriage of William Bretton or the birth of William Bretton who was
four years old when they arrived in Maryland. This means very little because
probably 70% to 80% of the records for the late 1500’s and up to 1637 were
completely unreadable, even with a good magnifying glass, they were in such poor
condition. We found a transcript of the Silkstone Parish Registers (as opposed
to the Bishop’s Transcripts of those registers) but were mortified to find
that the person who had done the transcription in the 1920’s noted that the
records for 1601 to 1655 were missing !
We
did, however, decipher the burial of a “William Bretton of Hoylandswaine” in
1634 - no month and no age. We were reminded of a very common practice that when
one child died young the next child of the same sex was given the same name as
the dead child. The “William” aged “4” who went out to Maryland could
have been born shortly after this death and given the same name.
On
Sunday 5th May we rode over to Silkstone and noticed, for the first time, the
name of a road which we have travelled regularly, “Knabbs Road”. On Knabbs
Road, as marked on the ordnance survey map we came across Knabbs Hall Farm. On
the map the farm was named in Olde English script which means it has some
historic interest and we were not disappointed. It was a very old building with
an intricate shield and a date that read either 1614, 1624 or 1674. Which of
these was not clear without stopping and staring and, as we were going to ask a
favour of unknown occupants we did not wish to do that.
It was clearly an ancient building that was now a working farm and not
the gentrified 1500/1600’s building that you would get if it had been
purchased by English Heritage or the National Trust and “restored”. We spoke
to the owner about the history of the building and the whereabouts of any old
deeds. He wasn’t able to help us and suggested that we speak to his father who
may know more than he did. He gave us the telephone number and suggested we
phone him the following day - which we did. In fact his wife answered and had no
knowledge of the whereabouts of the deeds (or even the age of the house). We
later spoke to the churchwarden of Silkstone Church who knew these people and
said that they are purely farmers and do not welcome visitors. He told us that
the outbuildings are older than the main house and are thought to date from the
late 1500’s.
We
have (later) found , courtesy of Mr John Goodchild, a leading archivist with a
unique knowledge of West Yorkshire history, a book, “The History of Silkstone”
by Rev. Prince, published in 1922 in which he says about “Nabbs” (as he
describes it) :-
“Nabbs
is a very interesting old house, and well worth a visit from the antiquary. It
is situate near Silkstone Station, and the property of Mr P. Johnson, of Green
House, Penistone : his two sons reside there farming the estate. Mr Percival
Johnson tells me this is the third residence built on the same site. The oldest
date now discernible is over the stable door viz. 1644 and on the barn
adjoining, R.S. 1653. This is the same Robert Swift who held charters, tithes
and leases from Queen Elizabeth and James I . Over the malting house the
initials of William and Elizabeth Wood appear “W.W.E. 1658 On the front of the
house there are some lead pipes of beautiful shape and workmanship
and on the left of the porch in raised figures ‘E.W. & W.W. 1662’ ; on
the right ‘E.W. & W.W.
1666’ and over the porch W.W. 1666. This Mr Wood was an old resident and
worked Wortley Forge These Swifts, Woods and Butterworths were the ancestors of
the present owner. The interior of the house is noted for its fine oak
pannelling. There was until recently a magnificent refrectory table there,
but it was sold by the present owner. We are told that in Cromwell’s
time it possessed a private chapel, and during repairs in 1840 several old
documents and several coins of the reigns of Elizabeth, James, and Charles were
discovered. (!!!!!)
There
is also a priest’s hiding-place under the stairs, and in it a box of old deeds
was found, but too mildewed and crumbling to be deciphered : (loud
groans from SB and CB) and like many of those early houses which needed
secret hiding-places in the troublous times it was
possible to ascend from an opening near the floor of the house, cross the roof,
and descend another such opening at the other end of the house, and escape.
There
is a large royal crest over the door implying that royalty once slept there. Mr
Johnson has shown me over 170 old deeds connected with this property, some with
the Great Seal attached temp. Elizabeth. (Off
we go again - there are no prizes for guessing our next line of search -
SB & CB)”
Mr
Goodchild was also able to produce a book of Yorkshire place names which
included Nabbs Hall and indicated that the first known recorded mention of the
Hall was in 1558 when it was mentioned in a will.
It
would appear to us to be a strong possibility
that the Thomas Nabbs who went to Maryland with his daughter, his wife,
and with William Bretton is from this area and, indeed, may have lived in an
earlier house on that site.
We
shall continue the search for the sale of an estate but centred in the Silkstone
area and seeking a sale by both a Bretton and a Nabbs (concentrating on “Knabbs (Nabbs) Hall” or “Knabbs Hall farm”). The addition of the word
“Farm” to “Knabbs Hall” is probably a modern alteration which is not
uncommon.
(Later)
We
started an intensive search to see whether we could find if (and where) the 170
deeds had been deposited. We eventually tracked them down to Sheffield Archives
and went down there to look at
them. The original deeds, on vellum, were there from the mid 1500’s until the
present day and there was a
detailed index available. On looking through the index our hopes were dashed
immediately. Some of the earlier deeds referred to houses and land that were
well before the date the present Knabbs Hall was built and started in the mid
1500’s. They contained no entries referring to anyone called Nabbs or Knabbs
so evidently the family had not inhabited these houses.
Nevertheless
we went through the deeds up to the 1630’s to see if there was any mention of
a Thomas Nabbs (or any Nabbs), William Bretton or Mansell, Harris or Jelfe (the
servants) as witnesses to any deeds. No such mentions were found so if the
family lived in this area they were like the Brettons
and were not important enough to occupy the (possible) “family” seat
and were not called upon to witness deeds relating to that house. This search
could be likened to a ride on a see-saw. Our hopes keep on being raised and then
dashed, but the discovery of the deeds opened up another possible channel and no
doubt there will be others waiting to be found.
A
comprehensive search of the graveyards of both
Silkstone and Hoyland Swaine parish Churches failed to find any mention of
either family - but it was very much a forlorn hope and we did not expect to
find any graves from the early 1600’s. In the event we only found one that MAY
have been in the 1690’s. The Churchwarden confirmed that all the very early
graves had been covered over, as churches are allowed to do after 100 years and
that no early memorials remained. It was worth the check because , from the
descriptions from Maryland of both William Bretton and Thomas Nabbs as
“Gentlemen” their families would probably have warranted a memorial of some
kind A further search of Penistone
graveyard was similarly without any trace of the names Knabbs, Nabbs or
Bretton. There were graves there for people from HoylandSwaine so we checked the
Penistone parish records without success. As we always do, we shall check these
again when the time is available.
We
are still considering doing the same with Bishops
transcripts for Silkstone but, in that case, asking for just the bare bones
of a search ie., looking for just the surnames Bretton and Nabbs (of any
spelling) to avoid directing anyone too specifically. Unfortunately we have
spent half a day checking in four places for
the most complete Silkstone records as we were very doubtful about the
records we had searched ourselves. Allowing for a very small population area we
felt that there were not a lot of records (and most of them unreadable as we
said before). What we now find is that the Parish Records are missing the period
1598 to 1651 and the Bishop’s Transcripts, which we had searched were worse
than we thought. In many cases it was impossible to ascertain which year we were
searching because most of the entries were unreadable. They only exist from 1558
to the early 1590’s (in extremely poor condition) and then, for the period
that we need, in only the following
years :-
1600,1601,1602,1604,1605,1608,1610,1612,1614,1623,1627,
1629,1630, 1631,1632,1634,
1635,1636 1637 (plus 1638/9/40).
So with 20 years missing there is an enormous
problem, especially as 1633 is one of the missing years and that may be the year of William Bretton Jnr’s birth.
Law Society
At
last we have received a reply from our “tame lawyer” about a search of the
Law Society Records. Unfortunately, he tells us, they only start in 1729.
Calvert Family Records
The
Kipling Hall records of the Calvert family (the Lords Baltimore) are held in the
Archives of North Riding County Council in Northallerton and we went up there on
Wednesday 15th May to search those for any mention of William Bretton and any
indication of how he was known to the Calverts and so asked to go to Maryland to
take up his role with the two Assemblies.
We
(Christine and I) spent all day searching
the archives of Kiplin Hall and Danby Wiske records , the two homes of the
Calvert family, to see if we could find any reference, in any shape or form,
about William Bretton, Thomas Nabbs and the servants they took with them to
Maryland. The records are extremely well indexed (the best we have ever seen)
which made it a one day job instead of several days. We examined every deed and
checked the names of “Clerks” and witnesses, we checked the Tithe Rolls etc
etc etc and we checked every possible spelling. We found not a single mention of
any of them and we went up to about
1700 to see if there were any others of the family names mentioned. We had been
to Northallerton before several times over the last thirty years and we were
aware of a number of Brettons, of different spellings. Two of our known
ancestors lived up there in the 1500’s. We found one Thomas Brittan as a
witness to a Calvert deed but he lived at Kings Lynn in Norfolk and the deed
related to one of the Calvert’s southern properties.
We
also checked many of the transcribed parish records covering all the area for
which records exist up to 1700’s to find any of the names we required. We
found Brettons of course but no Knabbs or Nabbs. We are no wiser than we were
before - we proved nothing - neither did we dis-prove anything. We did ,
however, find a marriage settlement which, amongst other things relinquished to
the use of one of the Calverts, and his wife to be, “Maryland” (a
minor matter of 12,303 square miles
- or 7,873,920 acres).
This
search was no different to any other search we have conducted over the last 40+
years. It left us with more queries than we started with. The following deed is
the one mentioned above (which left us speechless with awe - we are very
familiar with marriage deeds, but not one that includes a complete State of the
United States of America) and two other deeds that appear to relate to the
purchase of Danby Wiske and Kiplin Hall, the two
estates that we have always associated
with the Calvert family. YET, these two deeds appear to suggest that the two
estates were only purchased in the 1619/1620 period when they seemed to record
their purchase from Lord Wharton. If this is so then where did Leonard Calvert
(the father of the first Lord Baltimore) live before that ? Did he in fact live
in Danby Wiske and rent the property from Lord Wharton (and then later see his
son, the 1st Lord Baltimore purchase it when he was Secretary of State) ?
Certainly he was stated to be at Danby Wiske
in 1612 at the time of the visitation by Norroy King of Arms.
Miscellaneous
information from the Calvert (Lords Baltimore) Archives
Kiplin Hall, North Yorkshire.
in the possession of the North Riding County Council Archives
Marriage
Settlement (Release only)
1.
Right Honourable Charles, Lord Baltimore, & Hon. Benedict Calvert (Lord
Baltimore’s son and heir.)
2.
Right Honourable Edward Henry, Earl of Litchfield & Right Hon. Lady
Charlotte Lee (the Earl of Litchfield’s eldest daughter)
3.
Most Noble, George, Duke of Northumberland:
Rt. Honourable Robert, Earl of Lindsey, Lord Great Chamberlain of
England: Hon Roger North of the
Middle Temple Esq.: Sir Henry Lawson of Brough Bt. :
and Edward Somerset of Pauntley Court, Gloucestershire Esq.
In consideration of the marriage of Benedict Calvert to Charlotte Lee.
All
Calvert property in Kiplin, Moulton and Catterick : the Lordship, manor & town of Cloghamon, co Wexford ( 1700 acres) : the town land of Baheny Park, co.
Wexford (1070 acres) : town land of
Carracodle, Mucke & Owlet (1315 acres) : town land of Coolemelagh (1186
acres) : town land of Balenrankah (598 acres) : and all other Calvert lands in
Counties Wexford and Wicklow & all the Country, Province and Islands in
America commonly called Maryland with all incomes,
rights, royalties or duties payable to the Calverts as owners/governors of
Maryland.
To
Lawson & Somerset to the use of Baltimore till marriage. After marriage to
use of Northumberland, Lindsey and North for 99 years.
Usual
clauses. 30/31 December 1698
Maryland
comprises 12,303 square miles (7,873,920 acres).
Title
deeds
Licence
of Alienation
Philip,
Lord Wharton : Sir Thomas Wharton
to Sir George Calvert
The free chapel of Kiplin ; Kiplin Grange ; 8 messuages ; 4 cottages ; 1 water mill ; 8 gardens ; 8 orchards ; 140 acres of land ; 160 acres of meadow ; 360 acres of pasture ; 10 acres of wood ; 40 acres of furze and heath ; 40 acres of moor ; right of warren at Kiplin and Catterick & fishing in Kiplin
1 September, 1619
Conveyance
( Bargain and Sale) £2,500
Phillip,
Lord Wharton and Sir Thomas Wharton
to Rt. Hon. Sir George Calvert, Principal Secretary of State
Mansion
and manor house and capital messuage, hamlet, town and grange of Kiplin, demesne
etc., water corn mill, free chapel with Chapel Garth (2 acres), St Margaret Lea,
belonging to the free chapel (tenant Michael Johnson),all messuages, tenements
and hereditaments etc. in Kiplin hamlet and grange, all other messuages, lands
tenements etc of Philip, Lord Wharton and Sir Thomas Wharton in the parish of
Catterick and all charters of muniments re above property
16 January, 1619/20
Stitched
to this deed is a Power of Attorney
(to receive seisin)
Sir George Calvert and Leonard Calvert esq (father)
to receive from Christopher Smithson of Moulton, gent., & Nicholas Smithson
of Richmond gent., (Attorneys) full possession and
seisin of above property
17 February 1619/20
George
Bretton
George
Bretton has been on the periphery of our searches and we have not particularly
bothered about him as he only went out to Maryland in 1657 and figures only on
the sidelines to the main enquiry. Apart from one or two mentions he seemed to
disappear and no marriage or children are attributed to him. As we have said
several times the records for the 1500’s and 1600’s are very sparse and we
were indebted to the Catholic Historian, Dom Hugh Bowler, for our family tree
around those times. Dom Hugh had a
George Bretton mentioned on that tree - and at the relevant time period). This
George was the son of Mark Bretton and the grandson of Blessed John Bretton, the
Catholic martyr. No date of baptism is quoted but the eldest brother of George
(Richard) was baptised in 1607 and only one
other sibling is mentioned on the tree, a sister, Jane who is said to have
married in 1627.
There
is no other comment about George Bretton on Hugh Bowler’s tree, no marriage or
children are quoted. There are several large gaps, and loose ends in the tree
around that period so is this George the one who appeared in Maryland in 1657.
At that time he would have been somewhere in his late 40’s , which is not too
late to decide to seek a new life. More important - was there another brother -
William springing from one of the
many loose ends ?
Later - Little Bretton
We
had found two references to Little Bretton and, as we said earlier, to make the
best use of our time, had instigated a professional search of the records of the
Yorkshire Archaeological Society, for any references to all the names and places
mentioned in the Maryland history of William Bretton. We were very disappointed
therefore when we went along to Bretton Hall, former Hall of a branch of the
Wentworths and talked to Leonard Bartle, the Custodian of the Bretton Estate
Archives. He immediately pointed out that he held, in the archives, the
originals of “The Bretton Deeds”, but that The Yorkshire Archaeological
Society had copies of these deeds and he immediately showed us an index of these
deeds in “Yorkshire Deeds”
where several mentions of “Little Bretton” were made and which had not been
picked up in the professional search. We are indebted to Leonard, a former
colleague of mine, for this information, mainly in the 1400’s but he also
found another mention of Little Bretton in 1620 which confirms the information
(that the “West” family lived there in the 1640’s) giving us two 17th
century references to Little Bretton.
These
are the references referred to (also called in some deeds “Netherbretton”)
:-
Yorkshire Deeds Volume 6 Page 16
52.
Deed between some of the Wentworths regarding land in the
vill of Westbretton and the vills and hamlets of Littelbretton,
Sandall and Woolley. St Thomas the Apostle, 8 HenryVI, (December 21, 1429)
54.
St Dunstan the Bishop, 8 Henry VI ( 19th May 1430) quitclaim by Richard
Flynthill to Maud, Countess of Cambridge of land in various vills and hamlets
including Lytulbretton
55.11
Henry VI 30 April, 1433
Quitclaim by Christopher Dronsfeld to the Wentworths including land at
Nederbretton
56.
Wednesday after the Invention of the Cross, II Henry VI, (6 May, 1433) Quitclaim
by Christopher Dronsfeld to Richard Wentworth esq ........... All rights etc etc
to land and tenements etc with rents etc
with appurtenances in the vills and hamlets of ......including Lytulbretton.
There is a note by Farrer with this deed stating “ Little Bretton and Nether
Bretton, in the previous deed, appear to be identical”
57.
June 1, 12 Henry VI (1434) Indenture between Richard Wentworth and Christopher
Dronsfeld by which the former granted that id he and his wife Cecily, John
Cowell and William Lynderyck should hold forever a chief messuage with
apputenances in West Bretton, and four messuages, six cottages, 300 acres of
land 100 acres of meadow,200 acres of pasture, 300 acres of moor, and 10 acres
of woods in the vills and hamlets of West
Bretton, Netherbretton etc etc.
58.
Deed no. 58, October 3rd 1441, also
includes Littelbretton.
59.
Deed number 59 mentions Netherebretton, in 1443
61.
Deed number 61, dated Thursday after the Assumption,
25 Henry VI, (August 17, 1447) is a quitclaim by Philip Wentworth etc
etc, to Richard Wentworth of Everton, William Fitzwilliam, Nicholas Fitzwilliam
etc etc, in the lands ( same as 58
except Littelbretton
62.
Eve of the Decolation of St John the Baptist, 25 Henry Vim (28 Aug. 1447)
quitclaim which includes Lytylbretton
64
Quitclaim on April 10 , 28 Henry VI, (1450) Quitclaim by Cecily, lat wife of
Richard Wentworth of Everton, to lands etc including Litelbretton.
Also mentioned in deed 65 as Litelbretton and again
in 1450
When
Leonard Bartle wrote to us on 16 January, 2003 he mentioned that since our last
visit to Bretton Hall he had found a reference to Robert Burdet living at Little
Bretton in 1620. If you recall “Burdett” was the name adopted as a nom
de plume by one of the Brettons whilst training for the priesthood at Douai in
France at around the same time. It is also the name of the Knight who owed a
considerable amount of money to one of the Wentworths at the time of his (the
Wentworth’s) death.
Summary
Several
months of concentrated, intensive searching has not produced any conclusive
proof about William Bretton. We
cannot pretend however that the search has covered all (or maybe even most) of
the documents that are available throughout the country which might have thrown
some light on his life prior to arriving in Maryland. All we are left with is
supposition but there are strong clues (indications might be a better word) that
William Bretton of Maryland was part of the family descended from the original
Brettons of West Bretton and that we could place him and his wife’s family
within this locality. To sum up these “clues” :-
Little Bretton
The
original area settled by the English on the east coast of the United States is
full of English place names, given to the new settlements by people who, though
anxious to leave England to start a new life, still had sufficient affection (or
home sickness) for their former towns or villages to name their new towns or
villages after them. The fact that William Bretton of Maryland named his new
estate “Little Bretton”, and that there was a place called “Little Bretton”
here in this immediate area, mentioned in the 1400’s, when the Bretton family
bought land there, and again in the 1600’s, would appear to us to be highly
significant. It must be a further coincidence that the only person we are
certain lived there was a Lawyer who was involved in the sale of the Bretton
estate some 20/30 years afterwards.
William Bretton of Hoylandswaine
Parish
records, incomplete as they are, show that there was a “William Bretton”
baptising a daughter “Ann” in 1630/31 in Silkstone parish church. Clearly
therefore he and his wife were at child bearing ages. The historians, Johnston
and Professor Hunter place Little Bretton
as being in or near High Hoyland. With the very high incidence of childhood
deaths, the then disappearance of Ann Bretton (we have no trace of her at all on
our family records) is not exceptional. Whether the William Bretton of Maryland
would have conformed by attending services of the “new” religion is
debatable.
Knabbs
or Nabbs
Like “Bretton” , “Knabbs or Nabbs” is an un-common name, and finding places
named “Nabbs” and “Knabbes
Hall” within three or four miles of High Hoyland and two miles from
Hoylandswaine is remarkable.
George Bretton.
We
have a solitary reference to a George Bretton on our family tree where we had no
further reference to any marriage, children or
death. If this is the George Bretton who went to Maryland in 1657 he would have
probably been in his late 40’s at that time. The fact that there is no record
of any marriage or children attributed to him in Maryland could bear out that he
was not in his youth.
How could “our” William Bretton have known the Calverts.
Blessed
John Bretton was Beatified as one of the 40 English Martyrs and was referred to
by the authorities in the late 1500’s as being “notorious” (amongst other
things). Whilst, as we said earlier the Brettons were moving, socially and
economically, in opposite directions to the Beaumonts and Crosslands, they were,
at this time, still relatively of the same social standing and by all accounts
the martydom of Blessed John was well known throughout the area and especially
within the very widespread recusant Catholic population. The Crosslands lived
within maybe 6 or seven miles of West Bretton and the Beaumonts within about
five miles. The Brettons and the Beaumonts were branches of the same Bretton
ancestors in the distant past and the Beaumonts and the Crosslands
inter-married. They were all three, Brettons, Beaumonts and Crosslands shown on
recusant rolls in the area for a long time, and the mother of the 1st Lord
Baltimore was one of the Crossland family from this area.
If
the Calvert sons were in fact educated at Douai in France, as we are told,
then there were two of Blessed John Bretton’s sons, a nephew and a
grandson, also there training for the priesthood and spanning more 30 years -
more than covering the possible period of the Calverts education. The
relationships between the families, the fact that Blessed John would be well
known to the Calverts now they had turned Catholics, and their common links with
this locality, would surely have meant there was some lengthy contact between
them. This contact could well have led to knowledge of, or contact with William
Bretton.
We
have discussed all the above with a number of Archivists we know, particularly
in relationship to the two different types of proof required by criminal law and
civil law, so far as we know in both Britain and the United States. Criminal law
requires evidence “beyond reasonable doubt” whilst civil law has a lesser
requirement of “on the balance of probabilities”. Genealogy has, by
necessity, been founded “on the balance of probabilities” and on these
grounds we are prepared to accept that William Bretton of Maryland was most
likely a member of the Bretton family originating from West Bretton whose
history is set
out in full on our website -
www.bretton.org and our hard copy. The
Archivists mentioned above have concurred with this assumption.
We
have no axe to grind at all in this search. We started out to try to find, if we
could, where William Bretton from Maryland originated and searched nationwide
within the limits of available information. He is not a direct ancestor of ours
and his placement on our family records does not add anything to our direct line
which already goes back well before William’s time. Having lived and worked in
the States, having a great affection for the country and it’s people, having
pride in our existing, and proven, family in the States, it
would be nice to “claim” William, if for nothing else but his part in
the early establishment of the USA that exists today, but that, in itself would
not even begin to tempt us to change our guiding principles of the last 40+
years, and make our wishes the father to our claims.
If
any reader wants further evidence of this I would refer to
some comprehensive notes in our published history relating to a Richard
Bretton who was imprisoned for his Catholic faith and soon afterwards died,
probably because of his privations. He was included on the basis of a statement
by Anstruther, a famous Catholic historian who referred to him as “probably an
uncle or close relative of John Bretton the martyr”. In researching William
Bretton I had discussions with Caroline
Dalton, the Archivist of New College, Oxford University. She was extremely
helpful, and, in those discussions she
found that this Richard Bretton was on their records for the early 1500’s but
coming from London. As we had no known relatives in the London area at that
time we now putting an appropriate
note in the family history “dis-claiming” him - if that is the correct word :)
About
William Bretton of Maryland you must make up your own mind
Hunters “South Yorkshire” (under High Hoyland)
“Little Bretton is described by Johnston as consisting but of two houses in his time. It seems to be the place called North Bretton in early deeds.
Of the Wests, a visitation family, who resided here, an account has already been given.”
This description is particularly important in the context of William Bretton of Maryland who named his new estate there as “Little Bretton”. The “Wests” included Lewis West who was a lawyer and handled the sale of the Bretton Estate in the mid 1600's. Could possibly the Brettons have lived there at the same time. Certainly a Bretton was involved in a deed of trust or “use” there from the Wentworths in the late 1400's and it is highly possible that they still retained some connection with it in the 1600's. William Bretton went out to Maryland as Clerk to the two most important Assemblies in early Maryland history and was later described as lawyer, judge and coroner.
We still continue to search and found the following entry in the Silkstone Parish Records.
1670 April 7th Francis Nabbs baptised
Silkstone is, of course, the parish containing Nabbs Hall and is the parish church of Hoylandswain where we think “our” William Bretton lived. So we did have “Nabbs” still living here some years after William Bretton and the Nabbs family arrived in Maryland.
We also found references of the closeness of the 1st Lord Calvert and the powerful Wentworth family, into a branch of which John Bretton had married, in the following two books :-
“The Yorkshire Gentry - from the Reformation to the Civil War” by J. T. Cliffe
Page 236.
“..... From a collection of documents which has survived amongst the State Papers for the year 1623. In a letter to Sir Edward Conway, his fellow Secretary of State written on 4th July 1623 Sir George Calvert expressed the hope that his cousin Sir Thomas Wentworth of Wentworth Woodhouse would not be forgotten when the deputy lieutenants of Yorkshire were chosen.”
Page 237
“Wentworth's choice of Deputies (Deputy Lieutenants - when Wentworth was Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire) is interesting in that the majority (22 out of 31) were relatives or close friends of his. They included his nephew Sir William Savile of Thornhill.......”
The name Savile keeps cropping up regularly throughout the Bretton history. The Brettons and Saviles (or Savilles) were related by marriage, held adjoining lands and apparently were great friends. The Saviles were of tremendous help to Frances Bretton after John Bretton's martyrdom and the above relationship between Savile/Wentworth and Wentworth/Calvert (see below) appears to confirm even more our theory that William Bretton's appointment to the Clerkships in Maryland sprang from his probable descent from the Bretton family in West Bretton, the marriage of John Bretton to Frances Wentworth, and to all the complicated friendships where favours were freely given as a result of the martydom of Blessed John Bretton.
“Stafford 1593 - 1641” by C. V. Wedgewood
Pages 34/35/36 discuss Sir Thomas Wentworth again in 1617 and talks about Sir John Saville, a true friend of Blessed John Bretton, and another friend of the Bretton family, Sir Gervase Clifton. This section talks about the real Sir Thomas Wentworth as seen by the people who were his close friends and able to penetrate his armour of pride and reserve. It lists amongst those people “Sir George Calvert, one of the Secretaries of State, an active, practical man, busied with colonial schemes and teased with religious doubts” He gave to these men, as Calvert said “ a friendship beyond the fashion of courts”, to them alone he was unaffected and unreserved, frank almost to indescretion.
So time and time again we come across references which add to, and confirm, the original thoughts we had that there could well have been a knowledge and sympathy for the relatives of Blessed John Bretton and his family who suffered so grieviously at the hands of the authorities but who, by his marriage into the Wentworth family could still attract sympathy, and possibly even active (but low key) help from the powerful Wentworth family. With the religious conversion of the Calverts, and the possibility of helping a “Bretton” and, at the same time, of providing a sympathetic Clerk of their Courts etc in Maryland......................
Maryland Archives
Will dated July 27 1658
"To Thomas Eare (Eyre ?), Captain John Price and Robert Jeans Wife Margaret execx and residuary legatee of estate. Real and personal In the event of death of Margaret, intestate, all afsd. Estate to Philip Calvert and Thomas Eare in trust for the English College and Secular priests at Doway, Flanders except a gift of personalty to sister-in-law Margery Molins Test. George Briton, Will Harper, William Bretton (Liber S., folio 219,MD Historical Society, Baltimore, Md)" This again is continuing some fascinating coincidences. Three Brettons studied and taught at Douai in France (quoted above as Doway in Flanders) one before and two after the martyrdom of Blessed John Bretton. All the Calvert boys (later to include the Lords Baltimore) are reputed to have studied there about possibly the same time as the Brettons were teaching there, and now here is a will leaving an estate in Maryland to Douai, via Philip Calvert, and witnessed by two Brettons who appear to be related, in spite of continuing mis-spellings of the name. We now feel, increasingly, that William Bretton was a family member of the Brettons of West Bretton. (lived at Little Bretton ? - if only we could find that final piece of conclusive evidence !!).