John Deighton (1570-1640)
John Deighton (my 9th great grandfather) was a prominent citizen in the city of Gloucester, England, in the early 17th century. He was born in the town of Uley in the Cotswold region of England, probably in 1570. In 1605 he married Jane Bassett, also of Uley. One of the Deighton daughters, Frances, married Richard Williams and together they went to America and eventually settled in Taunton, Massachusetts.
St. Nicholas Church (shown here) in Gloucester is where John and Jane Deighton were married, where their children were christened, and where they were buried. In the picture above you can see the church, whose tower has been leaning for centuries. You can also see my wife Barbara in the blue rain jacket talking with Tom Scharf, who kindly gave us a wonderful tour of the church when we visited England in 2010. The church is no longer used for regular worship, but is still consecrated by the Church of England. It is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.
On the tomb of John and Jane Deighton is inscribed the following:
Here lie interred the bodies of John Deighton of this city, Gent., and Jane his wife, daughter of Edward Bassett, Uley, Esq. by whom he had issue three sons and four daughters. He spent all his time in the study of Chirurgery, and attained to great knowledge therein. He died 16 May, 1640 and she 23 April, 1631
Unfortunately, the location of the tomb and the inscription are not known today. They may be under new floor tiles, visible in the photo, that were laid a century ago.
Chirurgery means surgery. John Deighton was a surgeon, as was his son, John, Jr. Some artifacts documenting the affairs of John Deighton have been preserved and are in the Gloucestershire county archives.
One of the documents is an indenture (agreement) in which John Sr. grants to John Jr. ownership of his medical library and instruments. Above is part of the original inventory of instruments, probably written by John Jr. For a more complete account of this transaction, see the PDF document at the bottom of this web page.
Another document in the archive is a pardon issued in 1626 by King Charles I to John Sr., excusing him for his "refusal to aid in the muster of arms, to provide either man or beast or dog towards the necessary provision." The pardon refers to an incident in 1622 during the reign of Charles' father James I, who had tried to draft 200 men from Gloucester to go on a military expedition against Spain. The men of Gloucester apparently refused to go and got away with it. The pardon, written in Latin on parchment, appears in the photo above.
The seal attached to the pardon is actually the seal of James I, with some slight modifications. James had died in 1625, Charles was in the first year of his reign, and he was using his father's seal until a new design could be prepared for him.