Elizabeth “nee Rodney” Fisher

sloe_court

• General Notes
  • James re-married another widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Fisher, (nee Rodney), who already had one son by her first  husband. James and Elizabeth together had John, James,
    Frances, Seymour, Maurice, Theodore and Posthumous, before James died intestate in 1610-1611.
    
    Sometime during the next year or so, probably in 1612, Elizabeth married Henry Norwood, the partner in chambers of her first husband, for which they had obtained obtained a marriage licence:- "Marriage Licences 1583 - 1623", Book for Wells, Book 20, Marriage Licences - 1611:- "380 Henry Norwood 'de medio Templo London generosus' & Eliz. Kirton, Westcamel, widow at WC Bnd Rogr. Cheeke Illminster gen. Rd Maunsell, Chalton Regis Gloucestershire Yeo", which was to take place at West Camel. Together this couple had three children, Charles, Henry and Jane Norwood, before Henry himself also died in 1616, only about four years after his marriage to Elizabeth. His will (PRO, The National Archives, Cat. Ref.: Prob/11/128, Image Ref.: 640) written 27 March, 1616, shows his main residence as being at West Camell, co. Somerset. He writes that he is "sicke in Body", and he evidently did not long survive, being buried later on in that same year, evidently at Leckhampton (ref.: IGI). His will includes mention of a sum of ₤1,000 left with him by the late James Kirton, before James had died, evidently with instructions that the sum be eventually distributed to James' surviving children when they each came of age. By 1616 none of these children would have yet reached their majority, so Henry had not yet fulfilled this obligation to James Kirton. He therefore passed on the obligation to Sir Edward Rodney, his brother-in-law, who was in any case the childrens' uncle, to hold and eventually execute. It also specified that "part of my farm to the children of James Kirton, deceased, the former husband of my now wife Elizabeth.", so it seems very likely indeed that Henry & Elizabeth were still living on the same property at West Camell which had previously belonged to James Kirton, but was now clearly held in Henry Norwood's name. Henry's will was proved on 5 Nov.,1616 by the relict, Elizabeth, power being reserved to Sir H. Berkelle, executor.
    
    In as much as Elizabeth, now Mrs. Norwood, had evidently been long established with her home in West Camel, well before James Kirton's death in 1611, and was evidently still living there with her second husband, one supposes that she probably continued living there, the property now, no doubt, being known as "Norwood's", with all of her children, or at least those which were still surviving.
    
    It was at least two years later, on 24 Dec.,1618 that Elizabeth Norwood (nee Rodney) married her third husband, Payne Fisher, "by licence from ye Archbishop of Cant.", at St. Luke's Church, Chelsea, London (ref.:- "London Metropolitan Archives, film X026/012, & the IGI), as his second wife, so the couple were presumably living part of the time in London. However, they were evidently living at least part of the time in Somerset, because in "The Visitation of Somerset in the year 1623" by Henry St. George, p. 144, is shown: "West Camell, Stone and Catsagh (sic. Catsash) Hundred" "Paine Fisher, armiger, Disclaimed"  (It is worth noting that on this same page, one Edward Kirton, armiger, undoubtedly a cousin of James, is also disclaimed, but this writer is still uncertain as to which Edward Kirton is the one who was intended.)
    
    The writer has attempted to determine the location of this West Camel property, originally held by James Kirton, which probably, subsequently, would have been held under the two names of Norwood and Fisher. Certainly in the local records of West Camel, (VCH Somerset, Vol. 3, p.74-5, (fn.6) West Camel, Somerton Hundred), there is an account of a property, "Sloe (or Slow) Court" being owned by a family named "Kirton" in a period after 1629, and extending through the 1630s. Footnote 6 shows that the source of this information was the Somerset Record Society's "xv";  "Gerard's Survey of Somerset, 1633, (1900), p.199, and "xxiv" Quarter Session Records 1625-39 (1908), p.96.)  It seems very likely that by 1629-30 Mrs. Elizabeth Rodney Kirton Norwood Fisher had most likely been displaced by her then eldest Kirton son, as his father's heir, who by then was probably old enough to inherit his father's former property, which would account for "Sloe Court"  reverted to the ownership of an individual named Kirton after 1629. From the West Camel website:- <http://www.westcamel.org.uk/WCLP%2014%20colour.pdf>, the original "Sloe Court" building (probably so named for the sloe, or wild plum, the fruit of the blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)) is still in existence, and is illustrated on page 5 of the above website.  It is very tempting to suppose that this very same building was indeed James and Elizabeth Kirton's original country house and farm property.