Pomeroy Home Page, Lists and Sub-pages
Web Site and Research by Alma LaFrance
With additions from Others!
From Normandy to Devon; to Dorset, Cornwall, Ireland and Beyond:
Although the documents that record the heads of various Pomeroy family clusters go back to the mid 1500's at best, we find, as we explore, older records that mention the name, of various spellings, going back many more hundreds of years.
While most of our earliest known forbearers cannot be connected to those historical figures, items that relate to the Pomeroy's of an earlier time are most interesting.
‘We find but few historians, of all ages, who have been diligent enough in their
search for truth; and it is their common method to take on trust what they deliver to
the public, by which means a falsehood once received from a famed writer becomes
traditional to posterity.’
1 John Dryden, quoted in J. Potter, Good King Richard ? (London: Constable, 1983), pp. 166-7.
This site serves as a depository for my internet explorations, conversations, and little discoveries.
It is my desire not to contribute to further falsehoods, but rather to locate the simple truths based upon those records available online. PLEASE do not treat the information on this web site as authoritative.
Early Origins of Eltweed Pomeroy
Work in Progress dated Jan 2022 by Alma LaFrance.
Note: Work in progress: I've been working on the early orgins of Eltweed Pomeroy in England for some time and it is possible I don't finish the project in a timely fashion. Because this is a public page, I expect it will be easy to cut and past what I've posted here. Please extend me the courtesy of waiting until everything has been properly sourced.
Descendants of Eltweed Pomeroy belong to a genetic group of Pomeroy's with early origins in Devon. The public page of Family Tree DNA-Pomeroy surname project has this genetic group identified. Y700 results show this group underwent of period of rapid expansion and dispersal between 1500-1560, from the immediate area of Totnes in Devon to Somerset and Dorset, followed closely by a branch going to Ireland and Wiltshire. This all occurred prior to the keeping of BMD records, so we have to rely on the Archives and YDNA testing.
No, A. A. Pomeroy, (History and Genealogy of the Pomeroy Family, Volume III, 1923) was not wrong, but he wasn't right, either. The National Archives do provide sufficient evidence to connect one of the Pomeroy Genetic B families, with early origins in Clapton in Gordano, Somersetshire, to Thomas Pomeroy and Agnes Kelloway of Bowden at Totnes. (Richard Pomeroy, their 2nd son, married first Elinor Coker, and second Anne Wykes Arthur, widow of Thomas Arthur of Clapton in Gordano.). Both the Wykes and the Arthurs had holdings in Somerset and Dorset.
Cutting to the chase, I propose to provide all the archives, and backstory to support this connection. It will be a short story with a very long set of footnotes. I now realize why POWLEY used the format he did...it was the only way to fit everything in.
John Pery holds by copy a cottage with appurtenances and eleven acres of land lying in the common field of Crukerne, and
renders per ann. vjs. v\\]d.
County
Somerset
Church name (Links to more information)
Register type (Links to more information)
Burial date
16 Feb 1587
Burial person forename
John
Burial person surname
POMMERYIE
Burial person abode
Huishe
File line number 962
Huish: Hewish; Near Crewkerne:
BURIAL:
Richard
Last name
Pommeroie
Death year
1629
Burial year
1629
Burial date
24 May 1629
Church; St Aldheim & St Eadburgh
Crewkerne was the mother church of the area and many marriages, births and burials for people from the surrounding area were held there, and the records note frequently...NAME immediately followed by “Of Huish.”
In Crewkerne church records none of the Pomeroys were “of this parish,” but “Of Huish,”
What is curious is that they are NEAR Clapton and Henley, right next to Crewkerne.
Henley was one of the properties Anne Wykes brought to her first marriage to Thomas Arthur. Anne Wykes married 2nd Richard Pomeroy, of Bowden at Totnes. About the time of his marriage, he sold most of his holdings in the Totnes area.
A. A. Pomeroy latched on to Richard Pomeroy, buried FEB 1612 (old style) in Symondsbury as THE father of Eltwid because his genealogist, C. A. Hoppin, couldn’t find any record of a Richard Pomeroy in Beaminster. HE IGNORED the record two lines above the Elinor Pomeroy record, of Joan Pomeroy wife of Richard Pomeroy, buried Feb. 1611. AND he chose Elinor buried April (Old Style) 1612 as the wife of Richard Pomeroy, father of Eltweed, and therefore the mother of Eltwid. Wrong.
Elinor was not the wife of Richard Pomeroy, but the wife of Richard Pomeroy alias Wrickson. And that there is an entire family of Pomeroys in Symondsbury using Alias Wrickson.
Richard Pomeroy ALIAS WRICKSON , husband of Elinor, was contemporary with the other Wricksons; William Pomeroy alias Wrickson and John Pomeroy Alias Wrickson in the records. I suggest they were ALL siblings. They were all OLDER by about 10 years than Eltwid, but TOO YOUNG to be the Parents of Eltwid.
If Eltwid was a sibling he would ALSO CARRY the Alias Wrickson surname.
An assertion on page 262 of the July 1913 NEHGA
"Thomas Pomeroy, (son of Sir Henry Pomeroy, Knight, Lord of the Manor and Castle of Berry Pomeroy, and from which family Eltweed Pomeroy is believed to have descended), died in 1493 as a farmer, possessed of not an acre of land of his own, (as hereinbefore proven).(gentleman, in the English sense of the word), but he resided upon an ordinary farm which he had leased."
(Mr Bartlett)
I have removed the rebuttal because I am not ready to have the material pirated.
The chart below represent Y700 results for the Pomeroy Haplogroup Project: Genetic Family B: Haplogroup R-
BY160080. as of December 2022.
Within Genetic Family B we now see three distinct lineages descending from lineage called Haplogroup R-BY160561, carrying the POMEROY Surname Pomeroy family living in Devon before 1350. Family Tree DNA: Y700 results. 1. Lewannick Pomeroys: a formed c 1350. 2. Brixham/Holne Pomeroys. Research in the National Archives, UK suggest The Brixham family descends from John Pomeroy of Holne. Land records connect John Pomeroy of Holne with the Ingsdon Pomeroys, a cadet branch of the nobel family at Berry Pomeroy. In addition the descendants of Haplogroup R-BY199996 carry the 3668398 AT-A INDEL. 3. The Bowden Pomeroys, which now includes both the Beaminster Pomeroys and the Clevedon Pomeroys.
January 2023: Following the Pomeroy's from Bowden at Totnes:
Inserted here temporarily.
[no title] PH/10 21 May, 1618
These documents are held at Cornwall Record Office
Contents:
Bargain and Sale (enrolled) With covenant to levy a fine. £2000
Thos. Earl of Suffolk, Lord High Treasurer to:
(i) Edwd. Harris, Esq., Chief Justice of the Province of Munster in the Kingdom of Ireland
(ii) Hen. Spiller and Michael Humfreis of London, esquires.
(i - ii) -- manor of Colquite (with deeds and evidences at cost of Thos. Earl of Suffolk)
except mess. in St. Kew occupied by Moyse, Mess. in St. Minver occupied by. Thomas, mess. in St. Teath occ. Hambly, mess. in Davidstowe occ. Gedy, patronage and advowson of a prebend in Endellion (Endillion).
Seal of i on tag.
Witd.: Hugh Pyne, Edm. Sawyer, Mathew Coningsby, Reignolde Billinge, Mathew Leighton
"The lordship of the manor of Colquitte, to which Tredethy belonged, (near Bodmin) the place belonging to Thomas Pomeroy (0160) at St. Mabyn, Cornwall, was
granted to him by Edward Harris;” (From A. A. Pomeroy 1923)
I found Thomas Pomeroy in Cornworthy records with his mother Agnes Harris, Henry Fortescue and Giles Harris up until around 1608. Then there was nothing further about him. Did he go to St Many, part of the. Manor of Colquite?
Curiously, Colquite ended up with the Hoblyn Peter family; which came from his wife, the Heiress Elizabeth Pomeroy; Elizabeth descended from John Pomeroy (1678-1732;) Edward 1645-1723; John 1616 Merchant of Fowey, who I believe was a son of this Thomas Pomeroy, who was 1/2 brother of Arthur Harris. Further, I believe he married Joan Bellot, Bodmin.
27 Jun 1641: R/958: LEASE FOR 3 LIVES. JONATHAN of Menabilly, esq. to SUSAN, POMEROY, dau. of Thomas P. of Tywardreath, and (also) JN. P., son of Thomas P. and wife JOAN.