General Notes

THOMAS BEACHAM OF COSGRAVE 15th DECEMBER 1613


my body to be buried in the parish church of churchyard of Cosgrave aforesaid.

Item: I give and bequeath to my son, Edward, all my lands and close called by the name of Burks Bryones (?) within the fields and parishes of Cosgrave, North and East part, which I purchased of John Goodman, Ellis Emerson and John Whittweale to him and his heirs forever, giving and paying to my son Richard one hundren pounds of good and lawful money of England within five years after my decease.

Item: I give and bequeath to my son Thomas my house and copyhold land in Downbam in the Isle of Ely in the county of Cambridge.

Item: I give and bequeath unto my daughter Margarett my house in Wolverton in the county of Buckingham which I purchased of my brother, Robert Beacham; and three score and ten pounds whereof forty pounds at the day of her marriage or within ten days after, and the other thirty pounds at the age of twenty and one years.

Item: I give and bequeath to my son John Beacham my estate, right title and interest in my house in Sisaw(?) with the pertenance or else four score pounds of good and lawful money of England.

Item: I give and bequeath unto Anony Mylgate of Wolverton and to Richard Windmill of the same 6s.8d betwixt them, that is either of them 3s.4d.

Item: I give to my son Edward three garners with all hovill (sic) post and timber belonging to them, with all the tables and settles in the house, with all boards and timber for building, with all pallis (pales?) and hedge mounds.

Item: I give to each of my godchildren 12d and to Marie Bird 12d.

Item: I give to the repair of the parish church of Cosgrave 3s . 4d .

Item: I ordain that If any of my four younger children depart this natural life before the above said potions and legacies to them by me bequeathed to be due and payable to remain to the proper use and behofe (behalf?) of the other that remain living.

Item: 1 give to my son Edward my worser cart and plough and harrow and my brown gelding which was bought of William Emerson, and one red Hereford.


Item: I appoint my son Edward my one half of lands and housing which was my father's part at the next fallow, paying the rent due to my father at St Thomas' Day come twelve month and till then my wife to pay it.

My legacies as performed, my debts paid, my funeral expenses discharged, all my other goods moveab1e and unmoveable unbequeathed I give to Dorothie my wife whom I make and appoint my sole executrix of this my last will and testament.

I ordain and appoint William Ellis of Thropp and my brother Christopher overseers of this my will, and for their pains I give either of them 2s.

In witness hereof I have set to my hand and seal this day and year first above written. Thomas Beacham Signed and sealed in the presence of Arthur Emerson. Christopher Beacham, John Maywood, Robert Bagnell

Quoting from the research work of DeBrett of Northampton

"Our research into the Beauchamp family of Cosgrove has covered a wide range of sources, the most revealing of which has been a series of Northamptonshire wills in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The will of Edward Beauchamp, the eldest son of Thomas Beauchamp and Dorothy, formerly Clarke, was dated 6 Jan 1624 at Cosgrove, and it was his wish "to be buried in the churchyard of Cosgrove among the burials of my ancestors". He mentioned his wife, Emma, and three sons and two daughters. His father, Thomas Beauchamps's will was dated 15 Dec 1613 and he mentioned four sons, Edward (whose will of 1624 we have just mentioned), Thomas, who was given lands in Downham, Cambridgeshire, and John, the merchant ancestor who married Alice Freeman. Thomas also named a daughter Margaret, who received land at Wolverton, Buckinghamshire. We also learn he had brothers Christopher and Robert.

Thomas's brother, Christopher Beauchamp, left a will in 1622 in which he mentioned his brother Henry. The eldest brother, John Beauchamp, left an interesting will 23 Feb 1615, which was proved in Prerogative Court of Canterbury, the superior probate jurisdiction of England and Wales. Like his nephew and namesake John, son of Thomas Beauchamp, the elder John was a successful merchant. He lived in Amsterdam and although he had a wife, he mentioned no children. He did leave bequest to his nephews, John and Richard, the sons of his late brother, Thomas Beauchamp. The testator also mentioned his brothers, Henry, Christopher, Richard and Robert Beauchamp, and a sister named Ellis. The most important point in the will is that there is a reference to John Beauchamp's father, also called John Beauchamp, who was believed to be living in Buckinghamshire in 1615.

Unfortunately, we know almost nothing about this elder John Beauchamp of Buckinghamshire. However, from the evidence contained in earlier Northamptonshire wills, we believe he can be identified as the son of Thomas and Agnes Beauchamp of Cosgrove. Thomas made his will on 10 Mar 1545, and apart from his son John, he named a daughter Agnes, and his wife, who was also called Agnes. He had a sister called Elizabeth Conqueste. Thomas' widow, Agnes Beauchamp of Cosgrave, made her will on 16 Aug 1545. Most of her property was left to the church, or for charitable purposes, but she did make a bequest to Thomas Conq(u)est, who was her brother, or brother-in-law. Finally, the earliest will we have identified relates to John Beauchamp of Cosgrove, and was dated 16 February 1536. He mentioned his brother, Thomas, who was his executor, his son William and daughter Emma.

Thus we can trace the Beauchamp family of Cosgrove back with a good degree of certainty to 1536 from probate sources. We consulted many other sources, such as Inquisitions Post Mortems, marriage licenses and legal records in the Court Of Requests, but these produced no evidence of earlier generations. One source which may have identified the father of Thomas Beauchamp, the earliest known ancestor, is Lay Subsidy Rolls, which are records of taxations levied by Parliament. In 1543/4, Thomas Beauchamp of Cosgrove was assessed for taxation. In 1524/5, we find Richard, John and Thomas Beauchamp at Cosgrove. We know that Thomas and John were brothers, and we may speculate that Richard Beauchamp was their father. However, extensive searches in deeds, muster rolls, pipe rolls, close rolls and other Beauchamp families and individuals flourishing in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, have failed to produce firm evidence of the genealogy before 1536".

No documentation as yet, just several very well researched leads by impressive persons including Stith Thompson.
From William Dugdale's "History of Warwickshire" : "I did intensive research on Bch.families, On his death in 1293, Ralph de Bch. left his son/heir, Roger, honors of Eaton. Roger was 21 next year, 1294, did homage and had livery of his lands. Dugdale concludes his unconnected account of this family with this Roger, by reason, he says, they were not of the degree of Barons."
Kin of Mellcene Thurman Smith, Page 935 -"Hereford. He had by his wife Peter, John and Otho and three daughters, Mabella de Grandison, who married Sir John de Patteshull, Katherine and Agnes. He died before 1335. 5. Mabella de Grandison married Sir John Patteshull and their daughter Sibella married Roger de Beauchamp. No. 10, Beauchamp. Roger de Beauchamp and Sibella Patteshull had a son, 11. Roger de Beauchamp, who died in the lifetime of his father, leaving a son, 12. Roger de Beauchamp, grandson and heir of Roger de Beauchamp, the first Baron. He was aged 17 in 1380 and second Baron Beauchamp of Bletso, but this nobleman was never summoned to Parliament. His lordship, proving his age in the 7th of Richard II, had livery of all his lands. In 1394/5 this nobleman attending the King into Ireland. He married Johanna Clopton and had a son John and a daughter."(this heritage also contains the names Littleton, Dorothey Edmund which are similar names in the latter linage.)There was a paternal record of the family in the possession of George A. Beauchamp, a descendant of Sir Thomas Beauchamp. This record told of the family leaving their native France for England, and of the emmigration in the latter part of the Seventeenth Century to America. The Beauchamp Family Bible had been burned.
The Bible. The information of the Bible came from "Backtracking in Barbour County - A Narrative of the last Alabama Frontier" by Ann Kendrick Walker. "About the turn of the century, Dr. Owen learned that the only portrait extant of the pioneer (Green Beauchamp) was in the possession of Miss Emily Kennon, a sister of Mrs. Beauchamp, and at this time, Miss Kennon had reached the age of ninety-six. Dr. Owen's efforts to locate the portrait resulted in bringing forth some biographical material--- slight but authentic ---from the late George A. Beauchamp, a great nephew of Green. The Beauchamp Family Bible had been burned, but there was a record of the family on the paternal side, of leaving their native France for England, and of the emigration in the latter part of the Seventeenth Century of the founder of the American Branch, and of settlement in Maryland."

Edmund Beauchamp, in making his will (dated April 10, 1691; probated 12th 9ber 1691), describes himself as "Edmund Beauchamp, Mercer, of London, and at the writing hereof County Clerke of Somerset in the Province of Maryland."4 This item furnished the clue to Beauchamp's ancestry. Research in English record publications shows Edmund Beauchamp to have been a son of John Beauchamp, of London, Merchant, and his wife, Alicia, daughter of Edmund Freeman, of Pulberry, Sussex; and
grandson of Thomas Beauchamp, of Cosgrave, Northamptonshire, and his wife, Dorothy, daughter of Edward Clarke, of Rode, Northamptonshire.