Ford & St Clere in Ashburton

Tangled genealogies. 

 After the Dissolution the manor of Polsloe, to which Budleigh was subservient, was sold to St.Clere of Tidwell. 

Gabriel St.Clere sold it to Thomas Ford of Bagstor. 

John St.Clere, son and heir of Gilbert St.Clere of Budleigh, married Joan Ford, and his sister Joan married George Ford.   

Gilbert St.Clere of Toodwell, Devon, married Joan, daughter of John Stowbridge of Colyton, their daughter Agnes Carew , wife of John, son and heir of Thomas Carew of Bykeley, ( Berkeley ) Devon [son of Edmund, Lord Carew];

 Joan, wife of George Ford; George, William, Thomas, and Phillipa St.Clere, 

Ashburton Churchwardens accounts  -  John Ford buried wife Joanna in Ashburton - 1514 - 1516 mention of Johana FORD -  possible for her funeral & use of the church's best cross . Date suggest 1st wife Joan Hatwell

This is the father of John Ford who married Mary Pomeroy in 1566.

antecedents were

 William Ford of Chagford, Devon. and his wife  Cicely Smith 1475 - †1519 

John Ford b 1466 died June 30, 1519  Chagford, Eleanor / Anastasia HILL of South Tawton

An Intriguing snippet Here  regards in Gilbert St Clere, father of 2 Ford spouses,Joan and George & 2nd husband of the 4th wife of John Ford the elder 

 Joan Strowbridge widow of Gilbert St Clere Mother of John who married Mary Pomeroy 

 Eldest son  Thomas Ford of Ashburton Bb 21 April, 1567;  buried at Ashburton 31 Dec., 1635.

M Elizabeth Coryton of West Newton near St Mellion & Landrake in Cornwall 

 2nd son John Ford   I have seen him recorded at Vicar of Totnes who died 1670

Francis  son of John Bb 12 Feb 1569 

wife Mary Pomeroy Ford  may have died in 1611 - FMP has Maria Ford Burial  15 Aug 1611 Denomination Anglican in Ashburton

 John Ford Vicar of Totnes d 1670- Matric Exeter Coll., Oxon 20 July, 1652, B.A. 30 Jan., 1655-6, fellow 1656-64, M.A. 29 June, 1658, 

Vicar of Totnes 1664, until his death 22 March, 1670  - These dates do not work -

 this has to be different  John Ford - it  seems most unlikely that he would have matriculated age 84 

there was a branch of Fords at Totnes

4th son Edward son of  Thomas Ford Bb Ilsington Bb 29 Feb 1596  died 1665

 brother of Henry married Katherine Drake

marriage 20 Mar 1620 to  Joan Cowse  at Ilsington d 1673 had 12 children

 1. Edward Ford  1st son BB 1620 died 1625

 2. Thomas 2nd son married Mary Leare of Totnes  Bb 1624 died 1673

 3. Edward 3rd son born 1626 died 1627

 4. Harry Bb 1637 died 1653

 5. Edward 4th son  bb c 1532 Married  Christian Langworthy widow1652 died 1674

 6. John Ford 5th son of Dartington Clerk of Holy Orders  Will made  1677

 7. George 6th son BB 1638 died 1644

 1. Joan; Bb 1628  

 2. Jane Bb 1635 married 1662  Sampson Bounde 

 3. Joan Bb 1640 married 1661 to William Leare 

 4. Elizabeth born 1626

 5. Susan baptised 1 Jan 1636 married  1664 to Jonus Smerdon

ALSO FOUND 

Susan Ford baptised 1 Jan 1636 at Ilsington Devon Father Edward Ford Mother Johan -  married 1664 to Jonus Smerdon

John Ford Marriage 1560 Marriage 02 Jul 1560 Marriage place Ilsington Devon to Friswid Downynge -

also recorded Boyd's Marriage Indexes, 1538-1850 England,

and

Thomas Ford Marriage Marriage 16 September 1545 OR 17 Sep 1548 at Dartington Spouse Alise last name unreadable possibly Gidley ??? dau of John??

        Gregory Huckmore of Buckyett ( Manor /farm near Staverton, Totnes. ) Married Joan, daughter of William Walrond of Bovey Tracey

Their son Gregory married by 1550 to Alice Cruwys daughter & coheir of William Cruwys of Chudleigh, 5 sons & 8 daughters

Hockmore Huckmore family had manors of Combinteignhead, nearby is Teignharvey- they also had manors in Wonford Hundred, Netherton, Rocombe, and Ringmore. Haccombe, Cockington, and Brixham & Paignton and Landcross & Parkham in North Devon

They married amongst others Williams, Archdecons , Drewe, Capra , Cruwys, Sharpham, Leigh, Carey, Colliford, Langworthy, Floyer of Floyerhayse in St Thomas (Exeter) Channington of Someset, Carew and Pomeroy and Walrond

Agnes Huckmore/ Hockmoor married Henry Pomeroy and later Edward Harris - was the daughter of a William Huckmore . She died in Totnes a very rich woman in 1601 and left her property to her sons Thomas Harris the son of her first marriage and to Richard Pomeroy.

Sir Henry Ford (January 1617 -1684), of Nutwell in Devon was four times MP for Tiverton between 1664 and 1685 and twice Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1669–70 and 1672-3.

He was the eldest son of Henry Ford (d.1616) of Bagtor in the parish of Ilsington, Devon by his wife Katharine Drake, daughter and sole heiress of George Drake of Spratshays in Littleham, Devon. His grandfather was Thomas Ford (1556-1610) of Bagtor in the parish of Ilsington, by his wife Elizabeth Popham (d.1629) of the Popham family of Huntworth in Somerset. Her monument exists in Ilsington Church.

Thomas Ford's grandfather was John Ford (d.1538) of Ashburton, the son and heir of William Ford of Chagford who purchased the estate of Bagtor in the parish of Ilsington, which his male heirs successively made their seat. The Elizabethan mansion of the Fords survives today at Bagtor as the service wing of a later house appended in about 1700. Sir Henry Ford was a nephew of the dramatist John Ford (1586-c.1639) Ford left a son Charles, supposed to have died in his minority, and three daughters who married to Drake, Holwell, and Egerton.

sources : Lysons (1822) gives the following description of the Ford family: "Ford, of Chagford, &c. Eight descents of this family are described in the visitation of 1620. Prince supposes them to have been descended from the Fords, of Fordmore, in Moretonhampsted, ( north of Dartmoor) settled there as early as the 12th century; the heiress of that family married Charles, of Tavistock.

The Fords, of Chagford, 4 miles from Moretonhampstead, settled there in consequence of a marriage with the heiress of Hill.

John, the fourth in descent, who was of Ashburton, married the heiress of Holwell, by whom he had a daughter and heiress married to St. Clere.

The son of a second marriage continued the family.

Apprentices Indentured  ASHBURTON

An indenture, made on February 22nd 1710, concerning a property in East St. It is between John Bound of London, gentleman and Richard Adams of Ashburton in the County of Devon yeoman. In consideration of the sum of five shillings of lawful money John Bound has sold* 'all the messuage or dwelling house, courtelage and herb garden with the appurtenances'.

Mr Bound the father was a yeoman the fact that he is called a gentleman may indicate that his father invested his profits in his sons education at university which allowed him to rise up the ranks to 'gentleman.'

Sampson Bound, yeoman, November 1689 his son Sampson BOUND gentleman now on board her Majesty's ship The Dunkirk, June 1707

The property is between the lands of Thomas Ford Esq. on the east part, the lands of Christopher Bond on the north and west parts and the 'said street called the East Street on the south part'. The property had been in the occupation of one John Hurst or his under tenants, and at the time of this indenture was occupied by Richard Adams, his under tenants or assigns. Richard Adams is to have the property for one whole year, and is to pay 'the rent of one peppercorn on the feast  day of the Birth of our Lord Christ'. My reading of it is that these conditions will continue 'forever'.

* From the later conditions, this appears to be leasehold. A ground rent had to be set so that the terms of a lease could be enforced, but sometimes these were tiny amounts. A peppercorn (ie the same thing that is put in pepper grinders) or other token was sometimes set as the rent, to save the freeholder having to collect the money.