General Notes

!BIRTH-MARRIAGE-DEATH:  The Bowen Family, by Daniel Bowen (1893)

Founder Founded town of Rehobeth, MA
Emigration: 1646

Albert M. Bowen was descended from Richard Bowen, who came to Dorchester, Mass., from Wales in 1640, and his wife was descended from Roger Clapp, who came to Dorchester, Mass., in 1630.

from Kin of Mellcene Thurman Smith

Author: no author

Call Number: CS71.S643


This book contains the history and genealogy of the Mellcene Thurman Smith family of Massachusetts.

Bibliographic Information: Kin of Mellcene Thurman Smith. Privately Published

DESCENT OF RICHARD BOWEN FROM RICHARD AND GILBERT
DE CLARE AND JOHN DE LACIE, SURETIES FOR THE
MAGNA CHARTA; KINGS OF ENGLAND
AND FRANCE.
1. Richard FitzGilbert, a lawyer, was the founder of the House of Clare in England. He accompanied William, the Conqueror, into England and participated in the spoils of Conquest, obtaining extensive possessions in the old and new dominions of his royal leader and kinsman. Richard FitzGilbert was the eldest son of Gislebert, surnamed Crispin, Count of Eu or Ewe and Brion in Normandy, in right of his wife, sister and heiress of the Count of Brione, by inheritance from their father, Geoffrey or Godfrey, Count in 996, who was a natural son of Richard I, 3rd Duke of Normandy. (In other words, this Richard FitzGilbert and William, the Conqueror, were the great-grandsons of Richard, 3rd Duke of Normandy. E. E. W.) He married Rohese de Bolbec. Their son,

2. Gilbert de Tonbridge, whose father had later been called Richard de Tonbridge, and one of the many lordships which he possessed was that of Clare on the Borders and in County Suffolk, which subsequently becoming his chief seat, he became known as the Earl of Clare, although never created thus. Gilbert became thus 2nd Earl of Clare, and as eldest son inherited all his father's estates. He was succeeded by his son,

3. Richard de Clare, who was succeeded by his son,

4. Richard de Clare, Surety for the Magna Charta, 4th Earl of Clare and Hereford. In 1196 he gave a thousand marks to the King for livery of his mother's inheritance. His name appears in the covenant made between King John and the Barons, and as he did not die until Dec. 30, 1218, and there is no other prominent man of his name, it is very likely that he was the Surety. He married Amicia, sister of King John's 1st wife and 2nd daughter of William, Count of Muellent, Earl of Gloucester, son of Robert, the Consul, natural son of Henry I, King of England, and Elizabeth de Bellomont, daughter of Robert de Bellomont and Isabel de Vermandois, daughter of Hugh Magnus, Crusader.

5. Sir Gilbert de Clare, Surety for the Magna Charta, eldest son, was born before 1182. He was granted some Welsh lordships by King John in 1210/11, and fortified the Castle of Buelth in Wales, but shortly after took up arms with the barons against the King in the interest of the new laws and was elected one of the celebrated Sureties. He married Isabel de Mareschal. He died Oct. 25, 1230, and was buried in the choir of Tewksbury Abbey. His son,

6. Richard de Clare, was born in 1222 and married 1237 Maud de Lacie, daughter of John de Lacie, Surety for the Magna Charta, and his wife Hawice, daughter of Robert de Quincey, son of Seire de Quincey, Surety for the Magna Charta.

7. Thomas de Clare, youngest son, was Governor of London in 1274. He married Amy FitzMaurice and had

8. Thomas de Clare, 3rd son. There is little known about him.

9. Margaret de Clare married Bartholomew, 1st Baron Badlesmere, who was executed 1322.

10. Elizabeth de Badlesmere married Sir William de Bohun, Knight of the Garter, Earl of Northampton; son of Humphrey de Bohun and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Edward I, King of England. (Also descended from Henry de Bohun, Surety for the Magna Charta.)

11. Elizabeth de Bohun married Richard FitzAlan, son of Richard Fitz-Alan, Knight of the Garter, and Eleanor Plantagenet (great-granddaughter of Henry II, of England); son of Edmund FitzAlan, Knight of the Bath,

and Alice de Warren, daughter of William de Warren; son of Isabel de Warren and Hameline Plantagenet; daughter of William de Warren; son of William de Warren and Isabel de Vermandois; daughter of Hugh Magnus; son of Henry I, King of France, and Anne of Russia.

12. Elizabeth FitzAlan, Duchess of Norfolk, Knight of the Garter, being elected to the Noble Order of the Garter in 1386. She married as her 3rd husband Sir Robert Goushill, Knight, Lord of Hault Hucknell Manor in Derbyshire, she being then widow of William de Montacute and Sir Thomas Mowbray, and married 4th Sir Gerrard Ufflete, and died in 1425.

13. Joan Goushill married Sir Thomas Stanley, Knight of the Garter.

14. Margaret Stanley married Sir William Troutbeck.

15. Jane Troutbeck married Sir William Griffith.

16. Sir William Griffith married 1st Jane Stradling, 2nd Jane Pulston.

17. Elizabeth Griffith married John Phillips.

18. Mary Phillips married Matthias Bowen.

19. James Bowen married Eleanor Griffith.

20. Richard Bowen came to America.

****** Our line continues with Alice Bowen, another daughter of Richard *******

21. Ruth Bowen married George Kendrick.

22. Mary Kendrick married Samuel Bliss.

23. Ruth Bliss married Noah Saben, Sr.

24. Noah Saben, Jr., married Mary Perrin.

25. Sarah Saben married Benjamin Willson.

26. Polly Willson married Warren Poole.

27. Belinda Poole married Eliphalet Abell.

28. Fanny Belinda Abell married Manson Jesse Woodward.

29. Cecelia Marion Woodward married John William Thurman.

30. Mellcene Thurman married Edward T. Smith.

References:


Browning's Magna Charta Barons and Their Desc., pp. 93/4/5/6,
108/9/10/15, 265.


Browning's Americans of Royal Descent, p. 547.


Rixford's Families Descended from Royal Families of Europe, p. 54.


Annals and Antiquities of Wales (Nicholas), Vol. 1, pp. 41-42; Vol. 2,
pp. 895, 908.


Dwinn's Visitation of Wales, Vol. 1, p. 166.


American Hist. Soc. Enc. of Am. Biog., Vol. 47, p. 337.


The deduction of the House of Lathom in the male line has generally commenced with Henry, No. 3 on this page, but a document preserved in the Testa de Nevill carries his predecessors back to a time nearly coeval with the Conquest.

1. Dunning, the earliest proprietor named, would be coeval with Domesday. It is not certain whether Dunning was a continued possessor or a Norman grantee, but his name, which was also the name of the Lord of Kingsley in Cheshire, a Saxon suffered to continue marks his race as Saxon.

2. Siward Fitz-Dunning, who occurs next in the Inquisition in the series of proprietors holding "de Antiquitate" is, of course, fixed as the son of the preceding by his patronymic.

3. Henry Fitz-Siward, also named in the Inquisition of 1212, was grantee of Flixton from Albert de Gredle, the Elder. It is clear that Henry's son, Robert, succeeded to Flixton, for he gave that church to Burscough.

4. Robert Fitz-Henry, Lord of Lathom, so describes himself in his foundation charter of Burscough Priory between 1189-1199, endowing it with lands in Burscough, Merton, Lathom, etc., for the souls of Henry II, himself, his wife, parents and successors. Robert de Lathom died in or before 1201. The name of his wife does not appear, but it is evident from the records that she was the daughter and heiress of Orme FitzAlward, who had received Ormatone in marriage with Emma, daughter of Albert de Gredle, the Elder. Orme had inherited Ormskirk from Ormus Magnus, whose wife was Alix, sister of Herveus Walter, the ancestor of the Botelars, and it is well known that the Lathoms had adopted arms corresponding to those of Botelar, varied only by an addition in chief.

5. Richard Fitz-Robert de Lathom, son of Robert Fitz-Henry, was a witness to the foundation Charter of Lythom Priory and had succeeded his father in 1201, when he gave ten marks and two palfreys to the King as Lord of West Derby for his relief. He was one of the knights who held the Great Inquisition for Lancashire in 1212, cited at the beginning of this article and died about 1221, leaving issue Richard and Robert. His widow was disposed in marriage by the King.

6. Sir Robert Fitz-Henry de Lathom, Knight, heir to his brother Richard, was Sheriff of Lancaster in 1236. Custos of the Castle and County in 1250 and of the honour for the shire in 1254, surviving in 1287. He sealed with the arms of Botelar and difference in chief. He was the founder of the great interests in Lancaster which the successors of his family, the Stanleys, have continued to the present day. In 1250 he had grant of the custos of the honour and Castle of Lancaster, an office of dignity almost commensurate with that of Earl Palatine. (They ruled ruled like a king in their province.) He married before 1252 Amicia, daughter and heiress of Robert de Alfreton, a Parliamentary Baron.

7. Sir Robert de Lathom was in possession in 1291, as by summons of that date against the Scots and was summoned to meet the peers in the Great Council at Westminster in the reign of Edward II in 1324 and was deceased in 1325 when his Inquisition Post Mortem was taken. He married Katherine, daughter and heiress of Robert, Lord of Knowsley, Lord of Knowsley in County Lancaster.

8. Thomas Lathom did homage in the 18th of Edward II in 1325 to the King as Lord of West Derby on his succession to Lathom and occurs on numerous rolls of summons and royal charters from that period to 1370, when he died, leaving issue Thomas by his wife Eleanor, daughter of Sir John Ferrers. His arms are given in a roll of arms 1337-50: Or, on a chief indented axure, 3 besants. He was a commissioner of array in Lancaster in 1322/3. Chief Custos of Peace there in 1323 and returned as Knight of the Shire in 1324, and had charter of Free Warren in Lathom, Knowsley, Childwall, Roby and Aulasargh.

9. Sir Thomas Lathom of Lathom, Knight, died 1382. From the Inquisition of 1383, cited afterwards, it appears that he married Isabel, daughter of Roger de Pilkington, and married 2nd Joanna or Jane Venables, identified in the Herald's records as Jane, daughter of Hugh Venables of Kunderton. The same Inquisition says that Sir Thomas was an imbecile for three months before his death, on which event his widow Jane, then enciente, sent his body for burial at Burscough Priory without priest or other attendance and married her previous paramour, Roger Fazackerly. In the Herald's College Jane is given as mother of Lady Isabel, but more probably she sprang from the de Pilkingtons.

Sir Thomas Lathom lived in the reign of Edward III (1326-1377) and he and his lady being advanced in years, without any issue but their daughter Isabell, and he desirous of male issue, had a love intrigue with a young gentlewoman of his acquaintance, whom he kept concealed in a house of retirement near him until she bore him a son, on the news of which he was greatly rejoiced. But on due consideration there still remained some articles of consequence to be adjusted, for the future peace and quiet of Sir Thomas' mind. The first whereof was how and in what manner publish the birth of his son, and he not so much as suspected to be the real father of him. And next how to amuse and secure his lady from the pangs of a jealous mind, and to induce her motherly care of the young infant in such manner that he might be nursed and brought up in his own house, free from all suspicion and uneasiness betwixt them. After imparting the whole secret to an old trusty servant, they at last hit upon the following expedient as the most probable to answer all Sir Thomas' expectations:

Wherein they had considered that as an eagle frequently formed her nest in the large thick wood, in the most desolate part of the park, where seldom anyone was seen, therefore if the child was taken and laid there, as if brought by the eagle, it might on a pretended accidental discovery complete the whole project. The servant had the mother have the child richly dressed and then he lay it at the foot of the tree the eagle usually frequented and secreted himself from observation that he might guard it from all outward injury by either bird or beast of prey.

Then Sir Thomas Lathom and his Lady taking a walk in the park drew near the desert where it was commonly reported an eagle usually built her nest, and upon their near approach heard the cries of a young child and ordered the servants attending to look for it, who on search reported it was in the eagle's nest, and on examination, to the great surprise and wonder, a male infant. And they having no male issue looked upon the child as a present sent from Heaven and that it could be no less than the will of God that they should care for it and they had it baptized by the name of Lathom and that they looked upon the child as a gift of God, and that it could be no less than the will of Heaven that they should take the infant, and the good lady in pity and compassion agreed to her husband's proposal, had the infant carried home and brought up with the same tenderness and care as if she had been his own mother.

And Sir Thomas had him baptized by the name of Oskatell de Lathom, because his mothers' name was Mary Oskatell. But to give the greater sanction to this supposed miracle and to remove all suspicion of fraud, Sir Thomas assumed for his crest an eagle upon wing, turning his head back and looking in a sprightly manner as for something she had lost or was taken from her. (The author, Mr. Seacome, states that the impression of this crest was sent him by a descendant of the very foundling found in the nest.) Sir Oskatell grew to manhood and was honored with knighthood, but Sir Thomas Lathom, his father being now in the evening of life, and intending to set his house in order, considered that his daughter Isabel Stanley and her most hopeful issue were his legitimate offspring, and justly entitled to his large possessions, he therefore settled the gross of them upon that lady and her heirs forever and declared Sir Oskatell to be only his natural son. Thus Sir Oskatell being degraded and supplanted in the hopes and prospect of an immense fortune was slighted and despised by his rivals, who either to distinguish or aggrandize themselves or in contempt and derision of their spurious brother, took upon themselves the eagle and child for their crest, in token of their conquest over him, which plainly manifests the variation of the two crests: In the one the Stanley family took the eagle has actually made a prey of the child, whereas the other crest implies the miraculous preservation of it. This daughter,

10. Lady Isabel de Lathom, married Sir John Stanley, and there are many stories about their elopement. When Sir John obtained a grant of the Isle of Man, in right of his dominion placed the arms of man in the second and third grand quarter of his coat: Gules three legs conjoined in the fesse point in armour proper, garnished and spurred or. (See No. 9 in the Stanley line.)

11. Sir John Stanley married Lady Isabella Harrington.

12. Sir Thomas Stanley married Lady Jane Goushill.

13. Lady Margaret Stanley married Sir William Troutbeck.

14. Lady Jane Troutbeck married Sir William Griffith.

15. Sir William Griffith married 1st Jane Stradling, 2nd Jane Venables.

16. Elizabeth Griffith married John Phillips.

17. Mary Phillips married Matthias Bowen.

18. Richard Bowen came to America and settled in Rehoboth, Mass.

References:


Miscellanea Palatina of Cheshire and Lancashire (Ormerod), pp.
59-71.


Seacome's House of Stanley, pp. 21-27.


Croston's Co. Fam. of Lancashire and Cheshire, pp. 8-13.


Misc. Genealogica and Heraldica, Vol. 2, p. 142.


Collectanea Topographica, Vol. 7, pp. 17-21.

ROYAL DESCENT OF JANE STRADLING FROM KINGS OF
ENGLAND THROUGH JOHN OF GAUNT, FOURTH
SON OF EDWARD III, DUKE OF LANCASTER.
1. William I, the Conqueror, King of England, married Matilda of Flanders.

2. Henry I married Matilda of Scotland, daughter of Malcolm and Margaret.

3. Empress Maud, widow of Henry V, of Germany, married Geoffrey Plantagenet.

4. Henry II married Eleanor of Aquitaine, in France.

5. John married Isabel of Angouleme, in France.

6. Henry III married Eleanor of Provence, in France.

7. Edward I married 1st Eleanor of Castile, in Spain.

8. Edward II married Isabel, daughter of Philip, the Fair, King of France.

9. Edward III married Philippa of Hainault.

Edward III, King of England, was born Nov. 13, 1312, and succeeded his father in 1327. He married in 1327 Philippa, the daughter of William, Count of Hainault and Holland, by his wife Jane, daughter of Charles of Valois, son of Philip the Hardy, King of France; son of Louis VIII, King of France. By his wife Philippa, who died Aug. 15, 1369, Edward III had issue:

Edward, surnamed the Black Prince, from the color of his armour, married in 1361 his cousin Joan, the Fair Maid of Kent, by whom he had a son, who became King Richard II.

William, of Hatfield, born 1336, died young.

Lionel, Duke of Clarence.

John of Gaunt, of whom further.

Edmund, Earl of Cambridge, Duke of York. (His daughter Constance was the mother of Eleanor Holland, who married James Touchet, and their Constance Touchet married Robert Whitney.)

Thomas, Duke of Gloucester.

Daughters: Joan, Isabel, Blanche, Mary and Margaret.

10. John Plantagenet, called of Gaunt, Gant or Ghent, from the place of his birth, 4th son of Edward III, was born in 1340. He was of the Beaufort branch of the Plantagenet House. In 1342 he was created Earl of Richmond, and advanced to the Dukedom of Lancaster, by his father, Edward III, 1363. He married 1st Blanche, the great heiress of Henry Plantagenet, Duke of Lancaster, who was the son of Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, son of Henry III, King of England. It was through his wife Blanche that he became Duke of Lancaster. He married 2nd Constance, elder daughter of Peter, King of Castile, and in her right assumed the title of King of Castile and Leon. For sixteen years the pursuit of his kingdom was the chief object of John's ambition. By this regal dignity, as well as Duke of Lancaster and Richmond, and Earl of Derby, Lincoln and Leicester, he had summons to Parliament. He was likewise Duke of Aquitaine, in France, and Knight of the Garter. On the decease of his father, Edward III, this prince was joined in the administration of the affairs during the minority of his nephew, Richard II. He subsequently attempted the conquest of Spain at the head of a fine army; and landing at the Groyne, advanced to Compostella, where he was met by John, King of Portugal, between whom and his eldest daughter, the Lady Philippa, a marriage was concluded. Then he marched into Castile and there ratified a treaty of peace, by which he abandoned his claim to the throne of Castile and Leon in consideration of a large sum of money, and the marriage of Henry, Prince of the Asturias, with his only daughter (by his 2nd wife), the Lady Catherine Plantagenet. (Prince Henry afterwards became Henry III of Castile, and their son John, King of Castile, was the father of Isabella of Castile, Queen of Ferdinand of Aragon, who financed Christopher Columbus.) John of Gaunt married for his 3rd wife Catherine Swynford, widow of Sir Hugh Swynford, and daughter of Sir Payne Roet. Catherine had been his mistress for many years, and his children by her, who bore the name of Beaufort, were now legitimatized. In this King Richard II found it politic to conciliate him. In the latter part of his life he lived in retirement, having incurred the displeasure of Richard by a motion which he made in Parliament, that his son Henry, of Bolingbroke, should be declared heir to the throne. John was neither a great soldier nor a statesman, but he was a chivalrous knight and loyal to what he thought were the intrests of his family. In spite of opportunities and provocations, he never lent himself to treason. He was also a patron of Chaucer, whose "Boke of the Duchesse" was a lament for Blanche of Lancaster, John's 1st wife. John died at Ely House, Holborn, Feb. 3, 1399, and was buried at St. Paul's near the high altar. By 1st wife, Blanche Plantagenet, he had:

Henry Bolingbroke, later Henry IV, married Mary, daughter of Humphrey de Bohun.

Philippa married John, King of Portugal.

Elizabeth married John Holland and Sir John Cornwall.

By 2nd wife, Constance, daughter of King Peter of Castile, he had:


Catherine married Henry III of Castile, and was grandmother of Isabella.

John of Gaunt married 3rd Catherine Swynford. Her father, Sir Payne Roet, came to England in the entourage of Philippa of Hainault, John's mother. They had:

John de Beaufort, Earl of Somerset and Marquess of Dorset, married Margaret Holland. Their granddaughter, Margaret de Beaufort, married Edmond Tudor, and they were parents of Henry VII.

Henry de Beaufort, of whom further.

Thomas de Beaufort, d. s. p.

Joan de Beaufort married Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmoreland, and became the ancestor of Edward IV and Richard III and many noble families.

11. Henry de Beaufort, circa 1377-1447, English Cardinal and Bishop of Winchester, was the 2nd son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, by Catherine, wife of Sir Hugh Swynford. His parents were not married until 1396, and in 1397 King Richard II declared the four children legitimate. Henry spent some of his youth at Aix-la-Chapelle, and having entered the church he received various appointments, and was consecrated Bishop of Lincoln in July, 1398. When his half-brother became King as Henry IV, in 1399, Beaufort began to take a prominent place in public life; he was made Chancellor in 1403, but resigned in 1404, when he was translated from Lincoln to Winchester. Henry and his brother and sister were legitimatized by act of Parliament, for all purposes save succession to the throne, and they derived their surname from the Castle of Beaufort, the place of their birth, in France, which was part of the marriage portion of Blanche of Artois upon her marriage with Edmund, called Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster, son of Henry III, which Edmund was grandfather of John of Gaunt's 1st wife. After having resigned his Chancellorship in 1426, he again accepted it from Pope Martin, who was anxious to secure his aid for the crusade against the Hussites. He accompanied King Henry VI to Normandy in 1430 and in December, 1431, crowned him King of France. Beaufort was a man of considerable wealth, and on several occasions he lent large sums of money to the King. His interests were secular and he was certainly proud and ambitious. He was merciful in his political enmities, devotedly faithful, and ready to sacrifice his wealth and labour for the King. He died at Wolvesey Palace, Winchester, April 10, 1447. He married Alice, daughter of Richard Fitz-Alan, 10th Earl of Arundel, K. G. (In the 1st of Richard II, this nobleman being considered Admiral of the King's Fleet in the westward, and was retained by indenture to serve the King for one-fourth year, in the company of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, King of Castile. In 15th of Richard II, when the King regained his power, a Parliament at Westminster dismissed several of the great officers of state, amongst whom was Richard FitzAlan, who was removed from his command at Admiral, and two years afterwards, the Parliament then sitting, he was accused of treason by the Duke of Lancaster, but escaped for the moment, and sought to retire from public life. The King entertaining, however, the strongest personal enmity to him, contrived to get the Earl of Arundel into his hands, and he was brought to immediate trial and condemned to be hanged, drawn and quartered as a traitor. The sentence, however, was somewhat mitigated and he was beheaded in London, 21st of Richard II. He married 1st, 1359, Lady Elizabeth de Bohun, and had Thomas, Elizabeth [who married 4th Sir Robert Goushill, from whom you descend in several ways. E. E. W.]. Joan, Margaret and Alice. One reference says Alice married John Cherlton of Powis, and Enc. Brit., Vol. 3, p. 586, says: Henry Beaufort was the lover of Lady Alice FitzAlan, daughter of Richard, Earl of Arundel, by whom he had a daughter, Joan Beaufort, who married Sir Edward Stradling of St. Donats, in Glamorganshire in Wales. Alice FitzAlan's mother, Elizabeth de Bohun, was 6th in descent from Henry de Bohun, Surety for the Magna Charta.)

12. Joan de Beaufort, granddaughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and great-granddaughter of Edward III. She married Edward Stradling. (See Stradling line.)

13. Henry Stradling m. Elizabeth Herbert.

14. Thomas Stradling m. Janet Matthew.

15. Jane Stradling m. Sir William Griffith.

16. Elizabeth Griffith m. John Phillips.

17. Mary Phillips m. Matthias Bowen.

18. James Bowen m. Eleanor Griffith.

19. Richard Bowen m. Ann ....., came to America.

Burke's Royal Families of England, Scotland and Wales, Genealogy of
the Sovereigns, Part II, pp. I to VI, Pedigree CXXXI.


Burke's Dormant and Extinct Peerage of Great Britain, pp. 200/1,
34, 57.


Burke's Extinct Baronetcies, pp. 509-511.


Yeatman's House of Arundel, pp. 325/6.


Collinson's Hist. of Somersetshire, Vol. 3, pp. 334/5.