Identifying Agnes Kelloway
On page 53 of the New England Historical and Genealogical Register for January, 1914, it is stated that the Thomas Pomeroy who died 29 December, 1493, "married Agnes Calwaye, or Kelloway, daughter of Thomas of Sherborne, co. Dorset - probably about 20 September, 1478, when land was conveyed by deed to Thomas Pomeroy and his wife from the latter's father."
I find upon examining into this claim of the parentage of Agnes made by the New England Register, that it is also false, to-wit: (1) The said Agnes was not the daughter of the said Thomas Calwaye or Kelloway. (2) The said Thomas Calwaye or Kelloway or any other man named Killoway neither conveyed to Thomas and Agnes Pomeroy by any deed of said date any right in any property in any place whatsoever; nor did the said Thomas (or John) Kelloway ever possess any right in any property at Cheriton Fitzpaine, Devon, which he could convey as alleged in the authority quoted by the New England Register in support of its statement. (3) No such deed was ever made or recorded. (4) The authority quoted by the New England Register in support of its assertion, i.e., "Chancery Inquistion Post Mortem (Series II, Vol. 30, W. 14, as given in Vivian's Visitation of the County of Devon, p. 607,)" disproves the very claim that the New England Register makes.
The father of Agnes is named on page 607 of Vivian's Visitation of Devon as John Kelloway; thus the New England Register, in giving his Christian name as "Thomas," does not even quote its own authority correctly. Stranger still, not only was Agnes not the daughter of Thomas Kelloway, but she was not even the daughter of John; thus, neither the New England Register nor the authority it quotes are correct. If the Register had properly examined the page (607) it quotes it would have been seen that there was something wrong in the said Agnes being put down as marrying her great-grandmother's step-son, Thomas Pomeroy. Mental myopia seems to have afflicted the New England Register in the hour of its old age.
The error of Vivian's in naming John as the father of Agnes Kelloway perhaps rose from a misreading of the feminine name of "Johannes" (Joan) in the original Latin inquisition (vol. 30, m. 14) for "Johannes" the Latin for John; or the error may have arisen from the fact that a John Kayleway died at Collumpton, Devon, (ten miles from Cheriton Fitzpaine) in 1531, leaving a will naming a daughter Agnes, but she was a spinster at that date. The New England Register may, as well, have been caught in another "visitation quagmire," i.e. the Visitation of Dorset, 1565, published in the Genealogist (N. S. ii, 219). This copy of this visitation names no contemporary John Kelloway, but does give a solitary Thomas Keilwey of Sherborn, Dorset, who by wife (. . . .) Lewiston had a daughter Agnes, but without any indication as to their ages. As this Thomas Keilway was only two years of age in 1478, the date of the said alleged deed, (Hutchin's History of Dorset, v. 4, p. 194) and only in his seventeenth year in 1493 when the said Agnes Pomeroy was left a widow, with seven children, by her husband, Thomas Pomeroy, will the New England Register please explain in what trench of the genealogical battlefield it picked up its then unexploded evidence that Agnes, daugher of a Thomas Keilway, Cailway, or Kelloway, married Thomas Pomeroy who died before she was born?
The said deed alleged to have been made 20 September, 1478, was not executed between any Thomas or John Kelloway and any Thomas Pomeroy and wife Agnes. The truth concerning it is made clear in an official inquisition by the King's escheator for Devonshire, from which the following brief, translated abstract will suffice:
(Public Record Office, London.) Exchequer Inquisitions, Series II. File 155. No. 8: Writ dated at Westminster 25 January 6 Henry VIII (1514-15)
The jurors say the said Henry Pomerey, son of Edward, was seised in his demeasne as of fee of 1 messuage, 226 acres of land, etc., and 15s rent in Cheryton Fitzpayne . . . . and so seised thereof . . . . enfeoffed Oto Gilbert, esquire, Thomas Bowryng and John Snape, to have to them and their heirs forever, by pretext of which they were thereof seised in their demeasne as of fee. And so seised by their charter indented dated 20 September 18 Edward IV (1478) they demised, etc., to the said Henry Pomerey, esquire, and Anne his wife the said messuage and 80 acres of land and pasture in Cheriton Fitzpayne and . . . 160 acres called Wallen . . . to the said Henry and Anne and their heirs, with remainder to Thomas Pomerey, son of said Henry Pomerey and Agnes Kayllewey, daughter of Johanne, daughter of the said Anne.
Who then was the father of Agnes the wife of the Thomas Pomeroy who died 29 December 1493? She is not named in either the Visitation of Dorset, 1565, or the Visitation of Wiltshire, 1565, both of which manuscripts deal with the same Kelloway family and include the name of the man who was her father; but they do not name him in such a way as to even suggest that he had a daughter Agnes. Reference, therefore, is first had to Benolte's original Visitation of Devonshire, 1531. Herein Agnes Kayllewey is named not only as the wife of the said Thomas Pomeroy, but as daughter of William Cayleway of Sherborn, Dorset. She is also so placed in Hutchin's History of Dorset (v. 4, p. 194). Let us not accept, however, the evidence of such an Agnes in Benolte's Visitation, until it be supported by something more substantial in the way of a record. Fortunately the will of her grandfather, William Kayleway, senior, suffices:
(Principal Probate Registry, London.) Abstract translated from the Latin will registered on folio 27, Godyn. (Dated) May 21, 1469.
I, William Kayleway, senior, son of John Kayleway, of Sherborne, co. Dorset, bequeath to Salisbury Cathedral 12d, and to Sherborne parish church my new missal, and to the Abbot of Sherborne 6s 8d, and to his monastery 13s 4d, and to the Vicar of Sherborne 6s 8d. To the House of Alms of Sherborne 13s 4d, and to the priory of Henton 13s 4d, and to the Abbot and brothers of Bristol 13s 4d. To the Rector of the Grene, Sherborne, 3s 4d. To my son William my two best horses with their harness. To my servant William Glover, 40s and a horse. To my servant William Daniell, 10s. To John Preston to pray for my soul, 10s. To my son William my goods at my house at Sherborne. To John, son of my son William, all my lands and tenements in co. Bristol, and in Yeovil, co. Somerset, to him in tail male, and in default of such issue then to William, brother of said John, in tail male, and in default of such issue to my son William in tail male, with remainder in dafault of such issue to my right heirs.
To my said son William a silver cup, a silver bottle, and a silver vessel given me by Joan, mother of Joan my late wife, and another silver vessel to him and his issues. All my jewels to John, son of said William, in tail male, with remainder as above.
To Agnes, daughter of my son William, 40 pounds and to Alice, another daughter, 40 pounds. Residuary legatees and executors: my son William and Thomas Cosyn, my clerk. Signed and sealed with the seal of the Abbey of the Virgin of Tarent. Proved: 1 July, 1469, by the executors.
The above article is from: Pomeroy: Interesting English records supplemental to the history and genealogy of the Pomeroy family, Charles Arthur Hoppin, London, pp. 16-18, 1915.
I find upon examining into this claim of the parentage of Agnes made by the New England Register, that it is also false, to-wit: (1) The said Agnes was not the daughter of the said Thomas Calwaye or Kelloway. (2) The said Thomas Calwaye or Kelloway or any other man named Killoway neither conveyed to Thomas and Agnes Pomeroy by any deed of said date any right in any property in any place whatsoever; nor did the said Thomas (or John) Kelloway ever possess any right in any property at Cheriton Fitzpaine, Devon, which he could convey as alleged in the authority quoted by the New England Register in support of its statement. (3) No such deed was ever made or recorded. (4) The authority quoted by the New England Register in support of its assertion, i.e., "Chancery Inquistion Post Mortem (Series II, Vol. 30, W. 14, as given in Vivian's Visitation of the County of Devon, p. 607,)" disproves the very claim that the New England Register makes.
The father of Agnes is named on page 607 of Vivian's Visitation of Devon as John Kelloway; thus the New England Register, in giving his Christian name as "Thomas," does not even quote its own authority correctly. Stranger still, not only was Agnes not the daughter of Thomas Kelloway, but she was not even the daughter of John; thus, neither the New England Register nor the authority it quotes are correct. If the Register had properly examined the page (607) it quotes it would have been seen that there was something wrong in the said Agnes being put down as marrying her great-grandmother's step-son, Thomas Pomeroy. Mental myopia seems to have afflicted the New England Register in the hour of its old age.
The error of Vivian's in naming John as the father of Agnes Kelloway perhaps rose from a misreading of the feminine name of "Johannes" (Joan) in the original Latin inquisition (vol. 30, m. 14) for "Johannes" the Latin for John; or the error may have arisen from the fact that a John Kayleway died at Collumpton, Devon, (ten miles from Cheriton Fitzpaine) in 1531, leaving a will naming a daughter Agnes, but she was a spinster at that date. The New England Register may, as well, have been caught in another "visitation quagmire," i.e. the Visitation of Dorset, 1565, published in the Genealogist (N. S. ii, 219). This copy of this visitation names no contemporary John Kelloway, but does give a solitary Thomas Keilwey of Sherborn, Dorset, who by wife (. . . .) Lewiston had a daughter Agnes, but without any indication as to their ages. As this Thomas Keilway was only two years of age in 1478, the date of the said alleged deed, (Hutchin's History of Dorset, v. 4, p. 194) and only in his seventeenth year in 1493 when the said Agnes Pomeroy was left a widow, with seven children, by her husband, Thomas Pomeroy, will the New England Register please explain in what trench of the genealogical battlefield it picked up its then unexploded evidence that Agnes, daugher of a Thomas Keilway, Cailway, or Kelloway, married Thomas Pomeroy who died before she was born?
The said deed alleged to have been made 20 September, 1478, was not executed between any Thomas or John Kelloway and any Thomas Pomeroy and wife Agnes. The truth concerning it is made clear in an official inquisition by the King's escheator for Devonshire, from which the following brief, translated abstract will suffice:
(Public Record Office, London.) Exchequer Inquisitions, Series II. File 155. No. 8: Writ dated at Westminster 25 January 6 Henry VIII (1514-15)
The jurors say the said Henry Pomerey, son of Edward, was seised in his demeasne as of fee of 1 messuage, 226 acres of land, etc., and 15s rent in Cheryton Fitzpayne . . . . and so seised thereof . . . . enfeoffed Oto Gilbert, esquire, Thomas Bowryng and John Snape, to have to them and their heirs forever, by pretext of which they were thereof seised in their demeasne as of fee. And so seised by their charter indented dated 20 September 18 Edward IV (1478) they demised, etc., to the said Henry Pomerey, esquire, and Anne his wife the said messuage and 80 acres of land and pasture in Cheriton Fitzpayne and . . . 160 acres called Wallen . . . to the said Henry and Anne and their heirs, with remainder to Thomas Pomerey, son of said Henry Pomerey and Agnes Kayllewey, daughter of Johanne, daughter of the said Anne.
Who then was the father of Agnes the wife of the Thomas Pomeroy who died 29 December 1493? She is not named in either the Visitation of Dorset, 1565, or the Visitation of Wiltshire, 1565, both of which manuscripts deal with the same Kelloway family and include the name of the man who was her father; but they do not name him in such a way as to even suggest that he had a daughter Agnes. Reference, therefore, is first had to Benolte's original Visitation of Devonshire, 1531. Herein Agnes Kayllewey is named not only as the wife of the said Thomas Pomeroy, but as daughter of William Cayleway of Sherborn, Dorset. She is also so placed in Hutchin's History of Dorset (v. 4, p. 194). Let us not accept, however, the evidence of such an Agnes in Benolte's Visitation, until it be supported by something more substantial in the way of a record. Fortunately the will of her grandfather, William Kayleway, senior, suffices:
(Principal Probate Registry, London.) Abstract translated from the Latin will registered on folio 27, Godyn. (Dated) May 21, 1469.
I, William Kayleway, senior, son of John Kayleway, of Sherborne, co. Dorset, bequeath to Salisbury Cathedral 12d, and to Sherborne parish church my new missal, and to the Abbot of Sherborne 6s 8d, and to his monastery 13s 4d, and to the Vicar of Sherborne 6s 8d. To the House of Alms of Sherborne 13s 4d, and to the priory of Henton 13s 4d, and to the Abbot and brothers of Bristol 13s 4d. To the Rector of the Grene, Sherborne, 3s 4d. To my son William my two best horses with their harness. To my servant William Glover, 40s and a horse. To my servant William Daniell, 10s. To John Preston to pray for my soul, 10s. To my son William my goods at my house at Sherborne. To John, son of my son William, all my lands and tenements in co. Bristol, and in Yeovil, co. Somerset, to him in tail male, and in default of such issue then to William, brother of said John, in tail male, and in default of such issue to my son William in tail male, with remainder in dafault of such issue to my right heirs.
To my said son William a silver cup, a silver bottle, and a silver vessel given me by Joan, mother of Joan my late wife, and another silver vessel to him and his issues. All my jewels to John, son of said William, in tail male, with remainder as above.
To Agnes, daughter of my son William, 40 pounds and to Alice, another daughter, 40 pounds. Residuary legatees and executors: my son William and Thomas Cosyn, my clerk. Signed and sealed with the seal of the Abbey of the Virgin of Tarent. Proved: 1 July, 1469, by the executors.
The above article is from: Pomeroy: Interesting English records supplemental to the history and genealogy of the Pomeroy family, Charles Arthur Hoppin, London, pp. 16-18, 1915.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - Copyright © 2004 Callaway Family Association
posted by DFM | 9/09/2004
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home