John Whitlock (1509-1589), Owner of Manor of Beches, Wokingham, Berkshire, England

James Whitlocke, Liber Famelicus of Sir James Whitlocke, etc., ed. John Bruce (London: Camden Society, 1858),

Or, Subtitled: A pidle of land lieing at beare lane nowe in the teanure of the same John”

John Whitlock, father of Richard Whitlock (abt. 1583 – 1642) of Wokingham, Berkshire, England, and London, was born around 1509. We can estimate his birth year as around 1509 on the basis of information provided by his nephew Sir James Whitlocke (1570-1632) in James’s history of the Whitlock family entitled Liber Famelicus.[1] In his opening statement in this book, James Whitlocke states that he began writing Liber Famelicus 18 April 1609.[2] About his uncle John Whitlock, James writes that John was a son of James’s  grandfather Richard Whitelock (d. 1556): he states,[3]

Richard Whitlock (abt. 1583 – 1642), London Merchant and Owner of Beches Manor, Wokingham, Berkshire, England

Sir Henry Saint-George and Richard Saint-George, The Visitation of London, Anno Domini 1633, 1634, and 1635, vol. 2 (London: 1883), p. 347

Or, Subtitled: “I Richard Whitlock Citizen and Merchant of London”

Richard Whitlock (abt. 1583 – 1642), father of Richard Whitlock (1616-1666), was born prior to 12 December 1586, when his father John Whitlock made his will at the Holt estate, the dower house of Beches manor, at Wokingham in Wiltshire.[1]  Though most of Wokingham is in Berkshire, at this point, the Holt house was in a detached part of Wiltshire that comprised part of Wokingham. John Whitlock’s will states that his son Richard was the youngest of John’s sons, and was, along with brothers Clement, De la Beche, and Thomas, under 24 years of age. Richard’s birth year has been conventionally estimated as “about” 1583. A brass memorial plaque for Richard’s wife Katherine Burchett/Brechette Whitlock on the north chancel wall of All Saints church at Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, England, states that Katherine died 2 April 1649, aged 54, which would give Katherine a birth year of 1595.[2] That birth year is confirmed by the baptismal register of the church of St. Gregory and St. Martin at Wye, County Kent, which shows Katherine Byrchet, daughter of David, being baptized in that parish on 18 May 1595.[3]

Extract from 12 December 1568 will of John Whitlock, Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 11/74, pp. 169-171

Richard Whitlock (1616-1666), Oxford Graduate, Anglican Parson, Heir to Manor of Beches, Berkshire, England

Anthony à Wood, Athenæ Oxonienses, An Exact History of All the Writers and Bishops Who Have Their Education in the University of Oxford, vol. 3 (London: F.C. and J. Rivington, 1817), pp. 984

Or, Subtitled: “This Mr. Whitlock was a man of wit & learning”

Richard Whitlock (1616-1666), son of Richard Whitlock and Katherine Burchett and father of James Whitlock (1651-1516) the Virginia immigrant, was baptized 17 November 1616 at St. Peter le Poer church in London.[1] St. Peter le Poer, which no longer stands, was on the west side of Broad Street in the city of London. The church was of medieval origin and was rebuilt from its medieval foundations in 1540 and 1792, in the latter instance according to a design by Jesse Gibson. The church was demolished in 1907.

St. Peter le Poer church, from Robert William Billings and John Le Keux, The Churches of London by George Godwin (1839), at Wikimedia

Power of Attorney of Anthony Whitlock in England to James Whitlock in Virginia (1680): Digital Copy

In a previous posting discussing the English roots of James Whitlock (1651-1716), the Virginia immigrant, I talked about the power of attorney that James’s cousin Anthony Whitlock of Lambeth, Surrey, England, gave in London on 12 July 1680 to empower James to settle the Virginia estate of Anthony’s uncle Thomas Whitlock (1615-1659), who died in (Old) Rappahannock County, Virginia, in 1659. I noted that this power of attorney was accompanied by supporting affidavits given in London on the same date by Anthony’s aunt Johanna Whitlock Harris of Finchley, Co. Middlesex, and James’s uncle Reverend John Whitlock of Mansfield in Nottinghamshire.

James Whitlock (1651-1716), Virginia Immigrant: Virginia Records

G.C. Chamberlayne, The Vestry Book and Register of St. Peter’s Parish, New Kent and James City Counties, Virginia, 1684-1786 (Richmond: Library of Virginia, 1937), p. 447

Or, Subtitled: Glimpsing Tidewater Virginia Immigrants in the 17th Century and Their English Roots

As the previous posting states, we first catch sight of the immigrant James Whitlock (1651-1716) in Virginia records in a 12 July 1680 power of attorney filed in an (Old) Rappahannock County will book, a power of attorney given by James’s cousin in England, Anthony Whitlock (born 1657), to empower James to act on behalf of the estate of Anthony’s uncle Thomas Whitlock (1615-1659), who had died in (Old) Rappahannock County in 1659.[1] Anthony Whitlock’s power of attorney, given in London with affidavits supporting it from James’s uncle John Whitlock (1625-1708) and Anthony’s aunt Johanna Whitlock Harris (1617-1684), states (as do the supporting affidavits) that James Whitlock was Anthony’s kinsman and was a Virginia planter.

James Whitlock (1651-1716), Virginia Immigrant: English Roots

Brightwell Baldwin parish register, 1546-1704, Oxfordshire, England, in Anglican Parish Registers, Oxfordshire Family History Society and Oxfordshire History Center, available digitally in Ancestry database Oxfordshire, England, Church of England Baptism, Marriages, and Burials, 1538-1812

Or, Subtitled: In Which We Connect James Whitlock, Virginia Immigrant, to His English Roots

My American ancestral roots run largely back to colonial Virginia and are largely English. I have a sprinkling of colonial immigrant ancestors who came to Maryland, the middle colonies, and the Carolinas. But the bulk of my colonial ancestors were English folks who came to Virginia in the 1600s. And the Whitlock line is one of my rare ancestral lines in which I can pinpoint this family’s place of origin in England — and trace it back with confidence into the 1400s (and, in the case of families married into the Whitlock line such as the de la Beches, to the 1100s).

Frances, Wife of James Whitlock (bef. 1690 – 1736) of New Kent and Hanover County, Virginia: Some Notes

18 May 1756 Hanover County, Virginia, Affidavit of Reverend Patrick Henry, in Frances Hoggatt v. Exrs. of Anthony Hoggatt, Prince Edward County, Virginia, Chancery Court case 1757-01; the case file is available digitally at the chancery records section of Library of Virginia’s Virginia Memory site

Or, Subtitled: “The said Frances Whitlock was poſseſsed of a good Estate and did live like a gentlewoman and further Saith not”

As I ended my previous posting discussing James Whitlock (bef. 1690 – 1736) of New Kent and Hanover Counties, Virginia, I wrote that in a subsequent posting, I’d provide information about James’s wife Frances following James’s death, when Frances remarried to Anthony Hoggatt. As the posting I’ve just linked indicates, after the death of her second husband Anthony Hoggatt in Albemarle County in 1755, Frances filed suit in chancery court in Prince Edward County against Anthony’s executors Nathaniel Hoggatt, a son of Anthony by his first wife, and Charles Venable.[1] The case file for this chancery lawsuit contains valuable information including a transcript of the otherwise lost will of James Whitlock, a document I discussed in detail in the posting linked above. Other documents in the case file provide important details about Frances’s life including when she married Anthony Hoggatt. In this posting, I’ll discuss the documents in Frances Hoggatt v. Exrs. of Anthony Hoggatt in detail.

James Whitlock (bef. 1690 – 1736) of New Kent and Hanover County, Virginia, with Wife Frances

Vestry Book of St. Paul’s Parish, Hanover County, Virginia, 1706-1786, held by State Library of Virginia, minutes for 8 November 1736; digital copy available at FamilySearch

Or, Subtitled: “Mr. James Whitlock was Sworn a Vestry man for this parish and took the Oaths appointed by law, before Peter Garland Gent.”

Researchers have conventionally estimated the birth of the James Whitlock (bef. 1690 – 1736) who was father of James Whitlock younger, who died between 7 March and 28 November 1749 in St. Paul’s parish, Louisia County, Virginia, between 1680 and 1690. For the sake of convenience, in this posting, I’m going to refer to the three James Whitlocks of Gloucester, New Kent, Hanover, and Louisa County, Virginia, who form a chain of fathers and sons, as follows:

James 1 (1651-1716)

James 2 (bef. 1690 – 1736)

James 3 (abt. 1718 – 1749)

James Whitlock (abt. 1718 – 1749) of Hanover and Louisa County, Virginia, with Wife Agnes Christmas

Louisa County, Virginia, Will Bk. 1, p. 13

Or, Subtitled: Drugget, Shalloon, and Hanks of Silk, Execution of an Enslaved Man, and a Father Disinheriting His Son

Having completed a series of postings discussing the children of James Whitlock (abt. 1718 – 1749) and Agnes Christmas of Hanover and Louisa Counties, Virginia — Charles, James, Mary (Jones), Ann (Austin), Thomas,[1] and Nathaniel — I’m moving back a generation to share my (sparse) information on their father James Whitlock (abt. 1718 – 1749).