The James Whitlock (he’s James 1 in this previous posting in which I  discuss the three generations of James Whitlocks from whom I descend, father to son, in colonial Virginia)[1] who is the ancestor of my Virginia Whitlock family was baptized on 12 March 1651 in St. Bartholomew’s church in Brightwell Baldwin, Oxfordshire, England, son of Richard Whitlock and Joan his wife.[2] Brightwell Baldwin is 41 miles west of London and 11 miles southeast of Oxford, where James’s father Richard Whitlock was sent by his father Richard, a London merchant, to be schooled at Magdalen College, Oxford University. The younger Richard took a B.A. degree at Oxford in 1638 and was elected a fellow of All Souls College. By 1640 he had a Bachelor of Civil Law degree.[3]

“But wait,” you ask (and you’re right to do so), “how do we know that the James Whitlock of that 1651 Brightwell Baldwin baptismal record is the James Whitlock found in Virginia records by the 1680s, who died in St. Peter’s parish, New Kent County, on 29 March 1716?” A number of pieces of information make a very strong case for concluding that James Whitlock, the immigrant ancestor of the line of James Whitlocks about which I’ve been posting here lately, is the son of Richard and Joan Whitlock of the 1651 Brightwell Baldwin baptismal record.

July 1680 Power of Attorney of Anthony Whitlock, Lambeth, County Surrey, England, to James Whitlock of Gloucester County, Virginia

First, the immigrant ancestor I’ve previously identified as James 1 Whitlock is named in a 12 July 1680 power of attorney granted to him by his kinsman Anthony Whitlock in London, with Anthony’s (and James’s) relatives John Whitlock and Johanna Whitlock Harris as witnesses. These documents — Anthony Whitlock’s power of attorney and the affidavits of John Whitlock and Johanna Whitlock, wife of Henry Harris — are recorded in (Old) Rappahannock County, Virginia, will records.[4] (For digital images of this document, see this subsequent posting.)

The power of attorney Anthony Whitlock granted to his Virginia kinsman James Whitlock in July 1680 was to enable James to act on Anthony’s behalf in settling the estate of Thomas Whitlock (1615-1659) of (Old) Rappahannock County, Virginia, who was Anthony’s uncle and who had died in (Old) Rappahannock County in 1659.[5] Anthony was Thomas Whitlock’s sole heir and was the son of John Whitlock (died before 1680), a brother of Thomas Whitlock. Johanna Whitlock Harris was a sister of Thomas Whitlock, and the John Whitlock providing an affidavit in support of Anthony’s power of attorney was a cousin of Anthony and Johanna who was, also as I’ll explain in a moment, James’s uncle.

In the power of attorney Anthony Whitlock gave to James Whitlock on 12 July 1680, Anthony identifies himself as a silk weaver of Lambeth in County Surrey, England, who was the sole heir of Thomas Whitlock of Rappahannock County, Virginia. He states that James Whitlock, a planter of Virginia, was his “trusty and loving kinsman” whom he was empowering to settle Thomas Whitlock’s estate in Virginia on his behalf. In their affidavits given the same day before the Lord Mayor of London Sir Robert Clayton, John Whitlock (aged 55 and a clerk of Mansfield in County Nottingham) and Johanna Harris (aged 62 and wife of Henry Harris of Finchley, a gardener of County Middlesex) specify their relationship to Anthony. John Whitlock stated that he was cousin german to Anthony’s father John Whitlock, late of Rappahannock County, Virginia, who was brother to the Thomas Whitlock whose estate was being settled in Rappahannock County. Johanna Harris stated that she was “own sister” to Thomas Whitlock and an aunt of Anthony Whitlock. John Whitlock and Johanna Harris also deposed that they had seen Anthony Whitlock seal and execute the power of attorney he was giving to “his kinsman, James Whitlock of Virginia, planter.”

Anthony Whitlock’s power of attorney and the supporting affidavits of John Whitlock and Johanna Harris were recorded in (Old) Rappahannock County on 27 March 1681, and, as I’ll discuss later, on 11 March 1681/2, James Whitlock sold to Thomas Swinburne of (Old) Rappahannock County Thomas Whitlock’s land, noting as he did so that he was acting as attorney for Anthony Whitlock of Lambeth in County Surrey, England, heir of Thomas Whitlock.[6] The deed states that James was a planter of Gloucester County, Virginia.

Note the significance of these documents: they tell us in unambiguous terms that James Whitlock of Virginia (he lived in Gloucester County, we’ll discover when he sold Thomas Whitlock’s land on behalf of Anthony Whitlock), was a kinsman of Thomas and John Whitlock, who had died in (Old) Rappahannock County, Virginia, and of Anthony, Johanna, and John Whitlock back in England. These are English Whitlocks we can easily place within a particular lineage of Whitlocks — and, on the basis of these Virginia documents, we can conclude that James Whitlock also fits into this particular lineage.

Thomas Whitlock (1615-1659), his brother John with son Anthony, and their sister Johanna were all children of a Thomas Whitlock whose parents were John Whitlock (1509-1589) and Agnes Planer/Planner (1537-1630) of Wokingham, Berkshire, England.[7] The baptisms of most of the children of Thomas Whitlock, son of John and Agnes Planer/Planner Whitlock, including Thomas (1615-1659) and Johanna, are recorded in the parish register of Wokingham.

John Whitlock (1625-1708), clerk of Mansfield in County Nottingham, who witnessed Anthony Whitlock’s power of attorney to James Whitlock along with Johanna Whitlock Harris, was a brother of James’s father Richard Whitlock. He was baptized 13 January 1625 at St. Peter le Poer parish, London, and on 25 March 1652, married Mary, daughter of Dr. Anthony Tuckney, Master of Emanuel College, Cambridge. John was vicar of St. Mary’s parish in Nottingham, and was ejected from that office for holding nonconformist views. John Whitlock and his brother Richard, James’s father, were sons of Richard Whitlock (abt. 1583 – 1642) and wife Katherine Burchett (also Brechette in some records) of London.[8]

Whitlock Family of Beches Manor, Wokingham, Berkshire, England

And there’s this other important piece of information: the Thomas Whitlock who was father of Thomas Whitlock (1615-1659), John Whitlock (father of Anthony), and Johanna Whitlock Harris was a brother of Richard Whitlock (abt. 1583 – 1642), whose son Richard Whitlock (1616-1666) was father of James Whitlock (1651-1716). Richard (1616-1666) had inherited the family manor Beches (also spelled Beaches) at Wokingham, Berkshire, then deeded it to his younger brother Robert.

As Peter Whitlock explains,[9]

We know the James Whitlock who heads the Virginia families was born in the 1650’s and was related to the Whitlocks of Wokingham family as he acted as their Power of Attorney in the 1680’s when the Rappahannock, Virginia lands belonging to Thomas Whitlock (1615-1659) were inherited by Anthony Whitlock of Lambeth, Surrey. Anthony and James called each other “kinsman” although no relationship was given. We now know that Anthony Whitlock’s grandfather Thomas Whitlock was a brother to James Whitlock’s grandfather Richard Whitlock.

As Peter Whitlock also notes (I’ll discuss this history in more detail in a later posting), Richard Whitlock (1616-1666), father of James, was baptized 17 November 1616 at St. Peter le Poer church in London, and was the “eldest son of a wealthy Wokingham, Berkshire family”:[10]

His father was also Richard Whitlock, the sixth child in the family, his father’s eldest brother, William, being Lord of the Manor of Beches, in Wokingham, Berkshire. By his death in 1642 Richard owned the Manor of Beches, and was Lord of the Manor, his brother William, having first mortgaged the Manor and then sold it to Richard. In 1642, on the death of his father, Richard Jr found himself Lord of the Manor.

Richard Jr. (1616-1666) then sold Beches to his younger brother Robert, as I note above, got himself ordained, and spent his final years as an Anglican parson, a story I’ll tell in more detail in a subsequent posting….

Wokingham is, as I noted previously, also where the children of the Thomas Whitlock who was grandfather of Anthony Whitlock were baptized. Not only did James Whitlock, the Virginia planter and immigrant ancestor of an American family of Whitlocks, have blood ties to the relatives named in the 1680 power of attorney and affidavits discussed above, but both branches of this Whitlock family also had close ties to the Whitlock ancestral home in Wokingham.

Additional Documentation in English Records for James Whitlock of Virginia

And there are more pieces of information that allow us to confirm the identity of James Whitlock (1651-1716), Virginia immigrant, and his connection to the Whitlocks of Beches manor in Wokingham, England. Two Whitlock wills from the Wokingham family name James Whitlock, son of Richard Whitlock. The 2 March 1670 will of Robert Whitlock (1618-1671) of Wokingham makes a bequest both to Joane Whitlock, James’s mother, who is named in Robert’s will as the widow of his brother Richard Whitlock, and to several of Richard and Joane’s children including James, who is identified as “my Nephew James Whitlock Sonn of my Brother Richard.”[11]

James Whitlock was also named as a nephew in the 14 June 1690 will of his aunt Katherine Whitlock Jorden (1622-1690), wife of Thomas Jorden (also Jordan) of London. Katherine was a sister of Robert (1618-1671) and Richard Whitlock (1616-1666), father of James[12]. Her will left a bequest to her nephew James, naming him as a nephew without stating the name of his father.

As Peter Whitlock writes,[13]

We have suspected for years the WHITLOCK25 family and the WHITLOCK02H family were related and the YDNA tests confirmed they shared the same YDNA. The Will of Robert Whitlock now confirms just how the families are connected. This adds six generations of Whitlocks to descendants of James Whitlock and takes these families back to the 1400’s. If you trace back from Agnes de la Beche that family takes you back a further nine generations to the 1100’s.

Given the genealogical information found in the power of attorney Anthony Whitlock made to James Whitlock in Virginia in July 1680 and the supporting affidavits of John Whitlock and Johanna Whitlock Harris outlining their connection to Anthony, who identifies James in Virginia as his kinsman, it’s not difficult to connect James Whitlock of Virginia to the Whitlock family of Wokingham, Berkshire, England, and to conclude that he’s the James Whitlock, son of Richard and wife Joane, who was baptized in Brightwell Baldwin, Oxfordshire, England on 13 March 1651. That James Whitlock does not appear in English records other than the wills of his uncle Robert Whitlock and Katherine Whitlock Jorden, and, of course, in the power of attorney of Anthony Whitlock and affidavits of John Whitlock and Johanna Whitlock Harris — because he had gone to Virginia as a young man, following his kinsmen Thomas (1615-1659) and John Whitlock (died bef. 1680) to Virginia.

And, as preceding postings note (and here), it’s also not difficult to show that the James Whitlock who appears in the 1680 power of attorney documents died in 1716 in St. Peter’s parish, New Kent County, Virginia (I’ll discuss my documentation regarding his death in a subsequent posting), and was the first in a chain of James Whitlocks found subsequently in St. Paul’s parish in Hanover County, a parish formed from St. Peter’s parish in New Kent (and Hanover was formed from New Kent as well) and in St. Martin’s parish in Louisa, a county formed from Hanover.

In my next posting, I’ll discuss the documentation that has been to trace the life of James Whitlock the immigrant in Virginia.

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[1] James 1 (1651-1716); James 2 (bef. 1690 – 1736); James 3 (abt. 1718 – 1749)

[2] 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.

[3] See Peter Whitlock, “Richard Whitlock 1616-1666,” Whitlock Family Newsletter 31,4 (December 2012), pp. 9-10, available digitally at the Whitlock Family One-Name Study website. See also 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: Rivingon, 1813-1820), pp. 984-5.

[4] (Old) Rappahannock County, Virginia, Will Bk. 2 1677-1682, pp. 157-165. A transcript of the power of attorney and affidavits of John Whitlock and Johanna Harris is in Ruth and Sam Sparacio, Deed & Will Abstracts of (Old) Rappahannock County, Virginia, vol. 2: Deeds & Wills No. [2] (1677-1682, pt. 1) (McLean, Virginia: Antient Press, 1989), pp. 47-9. This transcript is also found online at pages for Thomas Whitlock of Essex County, Virginia (died bef. 13 June 1678) and John Whitlock of King William parish, Virginia (died 10 June 1746), at the WeRelate site. An abstract of these documents is also in Polly Cary Mason, Records of Colonial Gloucester County, Virginia, vol. 2 (Newport News, Virginia: George Carrington and Polly Cary Mason, 1948), p. 95.

[5] Thomas Whitlock died testate in (Old) Rappahannock County with a will dated 9 October 1659: see (Old) Rappahannock County, Virginia, Will and Deed Bk. 2, pp. 90-1. An abstract of the will is in “Abstracts of Rappahannock County Wills,” Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 5,3 (January 1898), p. 285. The will names wife Mary and son Thomas, specifying that the 600 acres on which Thomas Whitlock Sr. lived were to go to his minor son, and that Thomas Jr. was to be educated by Mary Whitlock. The will also notes that Thatcher (Sylvester) was the godfather of Thomas Jr. and that Thomas Sr. had a business partner, Samuel Nicholls. The will was proven on 20 November 1659. Thomas Jr. was of age in 1661 and died without issue with a will probated 5 June 1677 in (Old) Rappahannock County, leaving to his heirs lands on both side of the Rappahannock that he inherited from his father Thomas Whitlock.

[6] (Old) Rappahannock Co. Deed Bk. 6,1, pp. 160-1.

[7] For the line of descent of these Whitlocks, see “Whitlocks of Wokingham, Berkshire descent from John Whitloke and Agnes De la Beche (M1454?) with all historical detail and source references added,” chart WHITLOCK.02H at the Whitlock Family One-Name Study website.

[8] See Robert Whitlock, “The Whitlock Family,” at the Nottinghamshire History website.

[9] Peter Whitlock, “Richard Whitlock 1616-1666,” p. 10.

[10] Ibid.

[11] Prerogative Court of Canterbury PROB 11/336, pp. 240-1; a transcript of Robert Whitlock’s will by Peter Whitlock is in “Will of Robert Whitlock 1670,” Whitlock Family Newsletter 31,4 (December 2012), pp. 4-5, online at the Whitlock Family One-Name Study site (and also here). Digital images of the original will along with this transcript are found in the list of sources accessible through the Whitlock Family One-Name Study site: see “Will proved Jun.7,1671 1670 Mar 2 Robert Whitlock Wokingham Berkshire England W02H,” R3226.

[12] Prerogative Court of Canterbury PROB 11/401, pp. 48-9; a transcript by Peter Whitlock is in “Will of Katherine (Whitlock) Jorden 1690,” Whitlock Family Newsletter 34,1 (March 2015), pp. 3-4, online at the Whitlock Family One-Name Study site.

[13] Peter Whitlock, “Richard Whitlock 1616-1666,” p. 10. The charts he cites are “James & Dorothy Whitlock (M1670’s) (some PAF) (son of Richard Whitlock (1616-1666) see WHITLOCK02H chart),” chart WHITLOCK.25 and “Whitlocks of Wokingham, Berkshire descent from John Whitloke and Agnes De la Beche (M1454?) with all historical detail and source references added,” chart WHITLOCK.02H at the Whitlock Family One-Name Study website.