v/ . . if \ ^^Ji f- V^ W ^ *.-, v^Wc^ u o^ s.^.^iWe 1 ... **' ir * f . r&JL 'A, .! f$r*-I U" ^ & ^f'^^f XAV* .2.*b.t ^.ISsr*- , v t-, r ^ * ~--.r~Tif 't\ -*t "^f^s^ ,W iirN ^^-.So. '>: '? 'W, i) *V t'^BK . o&iV r ^^^ A, *^ V J* ^ ;; .w ^5pf ISI \W? ,-.. yaCX t\^. 1 <- A --; # -;^T /"^"v .i : ^ff #-- ^Uk/ f, BROUGHT FROM ENGLAND. RICHARD SEYMOR HARTFORD, 1640 A PAPER READ BEFORE The Connecticut Chapter Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America At Norwalk, Conn., February i^th, 1903 MRS. MARlAyjWATSON PINNEY Derfy, Conn. THE TUTTLE, MOREHOUSE 4 TAYLOR PRESS, NEW HAVEN RICHARD SEYMOUR. MADAM PRESIDENT : When I pledged to write what I had gathered from tradition, from investiga- tion and from the research of others, relative to Richard Seymour, I did not understand that a very competent party had nearly completed the geneal- ogy of his five succeeding generations, although I knew it had been discussed for twenty-five years, but I supposed its publication as far in the future as ever. It stands without question that a genealogy can not be published without funds, and while the time has passed since the work has been in preparation, several parties who were interested, and would probably have subscribed for more than one copy, have passed " the dark river, which has never been shadowed by a homeward sail," and they who have spent time and money collecting and arranging material for the book, have waited for funds to publish. If my article can induce any person who inherits the blood of Richard Seymour to assist in this publication, by subscribing for the same, I shall have helped forward a meritorious work. There being in the near future a probability that two or three volumes of genealogical statistics will be published, it is useless for me in a paper of thirty minutes to refer to his descendants. Who was Richard Seymour ? who came to Hart- ford in 1639/40, and was one of the signers of the agreement for planting Norwalk June i9th, 1650, and among the first settlers soon af ler. He died between the dates July 29, 1655, when his will was made, and October 25, 1655, when the court approved the inventory. He mentions in his will his wife Mercy, son Thomas, and three other sons, namely : John, Zachary and Richard, who being under age, he left to their mother's guardianship. Mr. Henry W. Seymour, of Washington, D. C., writes, " It is singular that the wills of two Richard Seymours should be so similar." One, the nuncupative will of Richard Seymour of August i6th, 1637, and buried at Berry-Pomeroy, County of Devon, England, which says : u That lyttell that I have, I will leave ytt to the mother's disposinge, the Children shall be under the mother, not the mother them." Col. Vivian, in his History or " Visitation of Devon," states : I think it reasonably clear that Mr. Richard Seymour, son of William, third son of Sir Edward Seymour, and who married Mary Stretch- ley at Plimpton St. Mary, May 26 th 1626, License granted May 5 th 1626, was buried Aug. 1637, as Elizabeth (Seymour) Gary wife of Sir George Cary of Cockington declares January 19 th 1638, that Mr. Richard Seymour's inventory was taken by Henry Champernoune of Darlington Esq. Nicholas Ball of Tormohan, merchant, and another, Mr. Richard 5 Seymour leaving one son Richard who was never married, and was buried at Cockington August 26 th 1684, also there were three daughters, Amy, Bridget and Anne. Hart. So. " Visitation of Devon," 1620, vol. 6, page 53, says : Elizabeth daughter of Gawain Champernoune, Aunt of Henry Champernoune of Dartington Esq., married for her first husband a Stretchley which may indicate a reason for Henry Champer- noune looking after the interests of Mary Stretchley the widow of Richard Seymour, son of William Seymour, and grandson of Elizabeth daughter of Sir Arthur Campernoune of Dartington Esq. And again the Elizabeth (Seymour) Gary, whose declaration is here quoted, was sister to William Seymour, father of this Richard Seymour, and her second son Robert Gary, married for his first wife Christin daughter and heir of William Stretchly esq. Westcote's " Devonshire" page 511. The other will was made July 29, 1655, eighteen years after. Richard Seymour of Norwalk, Con- necticut saying : " I doe will and bequeath unto my loving wife, Mercy Seymour, my whole estate, viz. House and lands, cattle and movables, except small personal value of property to Thomas &c." He gives, on reaching twenty-one, the sum of forty pounds to John, to Zachary and Richard, but the control was in the mother. From my earliest childhood tales of ancestral greatness were inculcated, which in the unques- tioning credulity of youth, were accepted without asking for proof of such traditions. We were - taught to believe that the wife of Richard Seymour was Mary or Mercy Rashleigh, and that the marriage was recorded at Barnstaple in the north of County Devon, but the date we knew not. I have photographs, reversed in print- ing, of two rings, which have been handed down in the family of Richard Seymour's son, John of Hartford. Some years ago another descendant had duplicates made for his own keeping. The silver- smith who did the making said, ' that the Naval Officer's ring was not less than two hundred years old. The Rashleighs were anciently naval men, two of the family circumnavigating the globe with Sir Francis Drake. There were also Naval Officers in the Seymour family. John the second son of Sir Edward Seymour, and who married Elizabeth Slannyiige of Tam- merton Folliet, Oct. 25, 1629 (possibly as second wife as he must have been about forty years old) was in 1626 in the fleet as Captain of the ship "Camelion." Also "in 1627 April i st -3 d * Plymouth.' Sir Edward Seymour desires that his brother Capt. John Seymour, may have a Good Ship in the present expedition." And several years later records show his connection with the navy. SEYMOUR ARMS AND RASHLEIGH ARMS COMBINED. RING-ACCORDS WITH RASHLEIGH ARMS. THE NAVAL RING. 7 But these suffice. The other ring accords with " The Rashleigh Arms." I will give from the " Visitation of Corn- wall," 1620, vol. 9, page 306, " Rashleigh-Quar- terly sa- a cross or. between a Cornish chough Ar. beaked and legged gu. I st quarter ; in the 2 d quar- ter a text T. of the third 3 d & 4 th a crescent of the last, on the cross a rose." Lyson's Magna Bretannia, Devonshire, vol. vi, page clxix, " Rashleigh of Rashleigh Arms." "Ar. a cross, sa. in chief, two text T 8 of the second." Can there be question about placing Richard Seymour's wife with the Rashleighs ? Thomas Rashleigh, " a studyent," no doubt meaning in theology, was May 8th, 1640, admitted to the church in Boston, and we learn from Lech- ford that in 1641 he exercised in a prophetical way in Gloucester, and there perhaps married, but his son " John, being six weeks old, was baptized at Boston, May i8th, 1645." Savage's Gen. Diet., vol. iii, page 508, says he was at Bxeter in 1646. Thomas Rashleigh's coming to New England was near or quite the same time that Richard Sey- mour came, although he remained at or near Bos- ton, while Richard Seymour located in Hartford. If he was a relative of Mercy (or Marey), wife of Richard Seymour, the influence of the mother of six weeks' old John, who returned with them to England, might have been a chain to keep him in that locality until the confusion of civil war had subsided, when he returned to England, and was the minister at Bishop-stoke, County Hants, where May 4th, 1652, he baptized Samuel Sewell, first of that name Chief Justice of Massachusetts, and who was made immortal by his wife's dowry of Pine Tree shillings. The relationship of Thomas and Mercy Rash- leigh is conjecture, but family tradition, and the presence of the " Rashleigh Arms " in family relics and treasures, is unquestioned, and they came not there by accident. I have an impression in wax of the " Seymour Arms," i. e. " The Wings," above which is the Cornish chough, no longer in flight, but resting with the Rashleigh rose in its beak, showing it had found a home in connection with the " Seymour Arms." What was the influence which moved Richard Seymour to emigrate in 1639/40 to New England ? The laws of entailment giving to the eldest son from generation to generation the estates. The Church, the sea or a military life was the vocation left to younger sons, who had too much spirit to remain a dependant upon th'at elder and more fortunate relative. Although a brother might not experience the gall of dependence in sharing what was his father's, the same exemption could hardly extend to the other members of his family. Let us look back, that we may understand what the position of two brothers might be, both inherit- ing the same blood and spirit of their common ancestors ; the accident of a few minutes, months or years earlier birth entailing control to the- favored one. Sir Bdward Seymour, Viscount Beauchamp, Karl of Hertford, and later Baron Seymour, of Hache, and Duke of Somerset, in 1537 repudiated his first wife, Lady Catherine Filliol, daughter and heir of Sir William Filliol, of Woodlands, County Dorset, and Filliol-Hall in Essex, that he might take to wife Lady Anne Stanhope, daughter of Thomas Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, seventh and youngest son of King Bdward III. Lady Catherine had then been twelve years his wife, and had two sons, John and Bdward, about ten and eleven years old. In more than one respect, this second marriage, and its results, were not unlike that of a certain Emperor of the French. On many thrones of Europe to-day are seated the descendants of repudiated Josephine, through her son Eugene Beauharnais. The ducal honors of Somerset were occupied but a short period by the descendants of Lady Anne Stanhope : ninety years after the attainder of the first duke was removed, her male line became extinct, and the honors in 1750 reverted to the elder branch, the line of Lady Catherine Filliol, ancestress of the present duke. Hay ward says in his life of King Edward VI, " Anne Stanhope, Duchess of Somerset, was for pride monstrous, a woman for many imperfections intolerable, she was exceeding violent, and subtle in accomplishing her ends, for which she spurned all respect of conscience and shame. This woman did bear such invincible hate to the Queen Dowager, first, for slight causes and woman's quarrels, and especially because she, (Queen Catherine) had precedence over her, the wife of the greatest Peer in the land." Referring to Lord Sudeley's disaffection, subtle intrigues and underhanded practices of providing arms and enlisting men, with design of seizing the King and assuming the reins of government him- self, Collins in " Peerage of England " says : " The animosity was fomented by Anne Duchess of Som- ersets being obliged to yield precedence to the wife of her husbands younger brother." The earl, for at this time his title was Barl of Hertford, having become brother-in-law to one King and uncle to his successor (his sister, Lady Jane Seymour, being the wife of King Henry VIII and mother of his only son, King Hdward VI), his ambition overcame his better sense, and hastened calamitous results. ***** Why were the Seymour's at Berry Pomeroy ? Lyson in his " Magna Britannia " says : " Berry Pomeroy came into possession of the Seymour's by purchase from the Crown." At that time the old castle was simply a strong- hold, where many warriors could be fed and en- camped. It was Catherine Fillol's grandson who II built the Elizabethan Palace, after he had married Elizabeth Champernoune, as I will mention later, and which was the residence of the Seymours until brought to destruction by civil war, then the family removed to May den Bradley. Sir Thomas Pomeroy, the last of that family at Berry Pomeroy in 1549, was a Catholic, and one of the leaders in a rebellion which assumed serious proportions, having mustered ten thousand men, who demanded that mass be restored, which riot was put down by Lord Russell, the leaders sent to London, where they were tried, and many executed, their forfeited estates reverting to the Crown. At that time, in 1549, according to Lyson, the Duke of Somerset was in the Tower of London, having been arrested on charge of treason, but after five months imprisonment was acquitted, although less than three years after was found guilty of felony and beheaded. About 1550 the Duke purchased Berry-Pomeroy and bestowed it upon the children of his first wife, perhaps that they be as far as practicable removed from his second wife and her family. Or it might have resulted from admiration of his elder son Edward, who Sept. loth, 1547, was with his father in the " Battle of Musselbourgh " and for valor there, having had his horse killed under him, received the order of knighthood. Be that as it may, from that time the home of the elder branch was at Berry-Pomeroy. John the eldest son, by his last will, dated Dec. 12 7th, 1552, after bequeathing legacies to his servants, concludes in these words : " also I make my Brother, Sir Edward Seymour the elder, my full executor and I give him all my lands and goods that are- unbequeathed. He to paie and discharge all my debts." The probate bears date April 26th, 1553. Sir Bdward Seymour, Knt., of Berry Pomeroy, County of Devon, obtained in the 7th year of King Edward VI (i. e. 1553) an act of Parliament restor- ing him in blood, to enable him to enjoy lands that might subsequently come to him from any collateral ancestor, and describing him as Edward Seymour, the eldest son of Edward, first Duke of Somerset, John the first son having died early in that year He had a grant from the King dated at Ely Sept. 6th, 1553, "of the Lordships and manors of Wal- ton, Shedder and Stowey, the Park of Stowey, and the hundred of Water-stock, in County Somerset, with the appurtenances, to him and his heirs for- ever, lately the possessions of his Father, Edward Duke of Somerset." From his father's death to that time there had been no provision made for him. He lived retired without concern in public affairs, excepting being Sheriff of the Count}' 1 of Devon and other offices suiting his degree. He married Mary Walsh, daughter and heiress of John Walsh, Esq., Justice of the Common Pleas, &c. He died May 6th, 1593, as is evident from the 13 inquisition taken after his death, at Totness on September 2oth, 1593, wherein he has the titles of Knight and Lord Seymour, and died seized of the castle and honor of Bury, and Bury-Pomeroy and Bridgetown in Pomeroy, with the advowson of the church at Bury : the castle and honor of Totness and manor of Totness ; the manors of Cornworthy, Lodeswell, Huise, Monnockenzeale, Losebear, a fourth part of the hundred of Hayborre, the seite of the monastery of Torr, and divers other lands of Devonshire ; the manor and Lordship of Mayden- Bradley in County Wilts, and divers other lands, and a capital messuage called the Lord Chayne House in London, within the precincts of Black- friars, near Ludgate. To all of which his son Kdward was heir, and at that time upwards of thirty years of age. Which Edward Seymour, while his father was yet living in 1592, was chosen one of the Knights for County Devon. Also returned to Parliament in 1600, and to the first Parliament of King James. He was made Baronet June 29th, 1611. Sept. 3oth, 1576, he married at Dartington Hlizabeth Champernoune, daughter of Sir Arthur Champer- noune of Dartington, County of Devon, Knight, a lady whose lineage, being a descendant of Lady Elizabeth Plantagenet, daughter of Eleanor of Castile and King Edward I, was fully equal to that of Lady Stanhope, for whom the first Duke of Somerset repudiated Lady Catharine Filliol, her husband's grandmother. 14 They had eleven children. This Sir Edward commenced the dwelling house within the quad- rangle of the Castle of Berry-Pomeroy, with its grand staircase, fine fret-work and mullioned win- dows, of which it is recorded there were so many " that it was a good day's work for a servant to open and close the casements," the cost of which exceeded twenty thousand pounds ($100,000.00). All is now buried in its own ruin. Collins in "Peerage of England," page 171, says : " This castle at Berry was a great and noble structure, but in those times of confusion during the Civil Wars in the reign of Charles I was demolished and now lies in ruin." Also at the bottom of page 172 and top of page 173 says : " For adhering to his Sovereign in the times of the Rebellion, he had his house at Berry Castle in Devon plundered and burnt." [This, recorded by Collins, relates to events which occurred after the death of this Sir Edward, but during the life of his son and successor. It is inserted here as connected with the fate of Berry Castle, its construction and destruction.] Sir Edward (Lord Seymour) died April nth, 1613, and was buried with great solemnity in the church at Berry-Pomeroy, where he has a noble monument, Sir Edward Seymour, the eldest son, succeeding him in titles and estates. May 22d, 1603, ten years before the death of his father, he had been knighted at Greenwich. He was sent by King James I on an embassy to y J Denmark, was elected one of the Knights of Devon- shire in two Parliaments, and for Killington and Totness in two other Parliaments. Also by the appointment of Charles I in the last, which met in Westminster. But on the dissolution thereof he retired to the Castle of Berry-Pomeroy, which had been made a stately House. He had by Dorothy, his lady, daughter of Sir Henry Killigrew, of Lathbury, in Cornwall, Knight, six sons and five daughters. He died October 5th, 1659. Hoare says, Lady Dorothy Seymour, his wife, was buried at Berry-Pomeroy, June 3oth, 1643. I will now follow with the other children of Sir Edward and Elizabeth (Champernoune) Seymour, who were married at Dartington, County Devon, Sept. 30th, 1576. Bridget was baptized at Dartington, Dec. ist, 1577. She married Sir John Bruen, of Aldeharnps- ton, and was buried at Aldehampston. Mary was born 1579. Married Sir George Fare- well, of Hill Bishop, County Somerset, Knight. Edward, first son, married about 1604, Dorothy, daughter of Sir Henry Killigrew, of Lathbury- Cornwall, Knight (before narrated). Their daugh- ter Elizabeth, supposed to be the eldest daughter, was baptized May 22d, 1606. John, second son (so recorded in Mill's Pedigrees of Devonshire families, 1753), married Oct. 25th, 1629, Elizabeth Slannyng, sister of Richard and Nicholas Slannyng, of Tammerton Folliet (perhaps as second wife). Marriage license at Exeter. Hoare's History of Wiltshire says he died at Halwell, Archdeaconry of Totness, in 1670. He was certainly living in 1639, and even in 1650, for at that time, John Seymour, of Stoken- harn, County Devon, Bsq., was delinquent, as he adhered to the forces raised against the Parlia- ment. He petitioned, May 3oth, 1649, stating he had property in Halwell, Devon, on which he was fined at a sixth viz. ^105. August i6th, 1626 " York House " " Bucking- ham to Commissioners of Navy Capt. John Sey- mour having been employed in the late fleet as Captain of the " Camelion " is recommended for payment, after the rate of 2 8 & 6 d per diem." April ist~3d, 1627 " Plymouth " Sir James Bagg to Nicholas. Further enforces the points in his letter to the Duke. Sir Bdward Seymour begs that his brother Capt. John Seymour may have a good ship in the present expedition. 1638/39 " Certificate by John Seymour Lieuten- ant Colonel of Sir Bdward Seymour's Regiment " " That Thomas Serle of Burferris, County Devon, cited before the Council for not providing arms at the last muster, together with his son-in-law John Pyne Clerk, had accorded to provide what arms should be impossed on them, for their tenement in Tamerton Folliet. January i9th, 1639, " Tamerton Certificate of John Seymour Deputy Lieutenant of Devon, that Henry Pollexsen, William Cholwick, Allen Belfield and Richard Lapp, all of County Devon, had prom- ised to find such arms as should be enjoined them." (And others of succeeding dates.) Communicated by Rev. F. G. Lee, Vicar of All Saints, Lambeth, transmitted by the Hon. Henry W. Seymour of Washington, D. C. " Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldiare," vol. iii, page 373. New series 1880, by J. J. Howard. No. n, Pedigree of Withey of Berry-Norbet and Westminster. Mary, daughter of John Seymour of Berry-Poin- eroy, and niece of Sir Bdward Seymour of that house, married Robert Withey of Berry-Norbet, who died in 1669, and was buried at St. Mary's, Westminster. William, the third son, married June 8th, 1602, Joan, daughter of John Young of Saltash, Corn- wall. From the burial register of Plympton St. Mary is this entry, " Mast r William Seamer Gent, of the House of Bearie-Castle, in the pyshe of Berie Pomrie, was buried in ye Pyche Church of Plymton Erie, the xxx day of Jannarie 1621." He evidently lived at Plympton. Col. Vivian, in his " History or Visitation of Devon," states that William, the third son of Sir Bdward Seymour, had a son Richard, who married Mary Stretchley at Plympton St. Mary, May 2Oth, 1626. (See marriage register.) The licence was granted May 5, 1626. He was buried August, 1637. They had three IB- daughters, Amy, Bridget and Anne, and a son, Richard, who died unmarried, and was buried at Cockington August 26th, 1684. Declaration of Blizabeth (Seymour) Gary, wife of George Gary of Cockington, Devon, dated Jan- uary iQth, 1638, states that Mr. Richard Seymour's inventory was taken by Henry Champernoune of Dartington Bsq. (allied by blood to both Seymour and Stretchley), Nicholas Ball of Tormohan, mer- chant, and another. Blizabeth, third daughter of Sir Bdward and Blizabeth (Champernoune) Seymour, married Sir George Gary of Cockington, in County Devon, Bsq. Sir George Gary's will proven May 2 2d, 1617. " Mathew Hatch made declaration that Blizabeth Gary, the relict of George Gary of Cockington, and mother of Henry Gary of Cockington, in Devon, Knight, and sometimes called Blizabeth Seymour, also mother of Robert (of whom Westcote's Devon- shire, page 511, states, married Christin, daughter and heir of W m Stretchley, Bsq.) also mother of Bdward, John, Theodore, George, Walter and James, sons, and Frances, Blizabeth and Bridget, daughters of the above George and Blizabeth, were all living and in good health." This is dated June i5th, 1646. Ann married Bdmund Parker of North Moulton, in County Devon, Bsq. There were two children, who died in infancy. Walter, the fourth son. Collins, in " Peerage of Bngland," names him as fourth son. Also Hoare's " History of Wiltshire " places him as fourth son. 19 Hon. Henry W. Seymour of Washington, D. C., sends the following: " Historical Manuscripts Commission, ist Report, Appendix, part vii." Manuscripts of Duke of Somerset. Marquis of Ailesbury and Rev. Sir T. H. G. Paleston, Bart., page 58. "Walter Seymour to Philip Richards at Maiden - Bradley, 1607, Oct. i9th, entreats him to further his request as necessity enforces, for 10 this quarter." " You know against Christmas I shall have more occasion to bestow money than at any other time I am so much indebted as my exhibition will not extend so far as to pay it. Wherefore I thought it better to once again trouble you, than to be in- debted to the merchants. The matter is not great, I must confess, but yet I would not willingly have any left unpaid, which would be a great discredit. My father sent me word he would increase my exhibition when I proceeded Bachelor. Wherefore I am sure he will not deny so small a sum in the meantime. Postscript If you have an intent to send your son unto Oxford, either before Christmas or imme- diately after, I can easily provide him a place." Date of the above is Oct. i9th, 1607. One year later " Oxf. Hist. Soc., vol. xii, page 281." " Seymour Walter, B.A., from Exeter College, 26th Oct. 1608. 20 "Seymour Walter, M. A. 4th June, 1611." Degrees. From the MSS. in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, M.S. Top. Devon. C. 14, p. 212. Exeter: Seymour-Walter; adm. B.A. 26 Oct., 1608, det. 1608/9: lie. M. A. 4 June, i6n,inc. 1611. The monument in Berry-Pomeroy Church shows five sons of mature age, four daughters and also two infants. Westcote's " Devonshire " says : " In the north aisle of St. Mary, Parish Church of Berry-Pomeroy, is a noble monument erected to the memory of the Seymours," underneath which are cut out in stone the proportions of their eleven children. It would seem from this that Edward, John, William, Walter and Richard were men of mature age, but of Walter's marriage or death I know of no record except a legend that he perished in one of the Parliamentary battles, of which we have no proof. Richard, the fifth or youngest son, was born in 1596, as the records at Exeter College, Oxford, " founded in 1314 by Walter D. Stapleton, Bishop of Exeter," state : " Seymour-Richard, of Devon, Bart. fil. Exeter Coll., matriculated 5 Feb. 1613 aged 17 years fifth son of Sir Edward Seymour." Also Register of Exeter College, Oxford, edited by C. W. Boase ; Oxf. Hist. Soc. xxvii, page 279. College Plate, White plate ; Card pots. " Exdono Richardi Seymour, hujus collegii MONUMENT IN BERRY-POM EROY CHURCH. 21 cominensalis et fillii Bdwardi Seymour, Baronetti, 143/4 oz." After this gift of plate (14 3/4 oz.) when he was recorded as Richard Seymour son of Edward Sey- mour Baronet, (not as son of the late Baronet) it would make it seem to have been soon after his matriculation, as his father died early that year (i. e. April nth, 1613) after which we find no later record of him at Oxford. We have no evidence that he graduated. Collins, before 1714, states, Richard, fifth son of Sir Edward Seymour, married Miss - Rash- leigh. Hoare's History of Wiltshire states, " Richard, fifth son of Sir Edward Seymour, was born in 1596, as the Records at Exeter College indicate, but do not show that he graduated." From what I can learn : Bridget was baptized December ist, .1577. Mary born 1579. Elizabeth was living in 1646. Edward died October 5th, 1659. William died January 3oth, 1621. John died 1670. Ann married Edmund Parker. Walter -Richard was born in 1596. f And our ancestor, Richard Seymour, died in 1655 between July 29th, 1655 and Oct. 25th, 1655. As I have enumerated, the Seymour estates were many. 22 Collins says that at that time the Seymours were the most powerful family, of largest fortune and extensive influence of any of the commons in the west of England. The eldest son, and inheritor of these estates, had five daughters and six sons, now arrived at mature years. Collins says the eldest son, born in 1610, was Vice Admiral of the County of Devon, taking an active part in the army. The second son, Henry, born in 1612, was Page of Honor to his Majesty Charles I, and was a gen- tleman valued and esteemed by persons of the greatest note, and on the eruption of the civil wars, went with the Marquis of Hertford into Somerset- shire, etc., courageously withstanding the whole force of the Earl of Bedford, etc. The country was now in the throes of civil war, the head of the house supporting the cause of his sovereign. Charles first began his reign March 27th, 1625, governing without Parliament from 1629 to 1640, meeting the expenses of the govern- ment by forced loans and other extraordinary means. He was executed at Whitehall January 3oth, 1649. Unless Richard Seymour's sympathies were in concord with his influential relatives, what could be better than that he seek a home in the new country, where many friends had preceded ? The Seymours being strong adherents of the Established Church, suffered alike from the Cath- olics and Presbyterians. 23 St. Mary, the parish church of Berry-Pomeroy, was plundered of its monumental brasses and burned, its register destroyed, and although the edifice has been restored, there is no register ante- dating 1602. As the Seymours at that date had been located there over fifty years, it is to their serious disad- vantage, that being one reason why it is so difficult to prove the date of marriages, baptisms, and burials, previous to 1602. The probating of wills at Totness, Bodmin and Exeter assist, but minors and people without estates do not always make wills ; children offend- ing by objectionable alliances are not always men- tioned in a will. As a consequence if the church records of marriages, baptisms and burials are lost, it is an irreparable injury. In the wars between Charles I and Parliament, Sir Edward Seymour, the head of the house, for his adherence to his sovereign, and supporting episcopacy, endured many hardships. His beautiful Elizabethan dwelling within the quadrangle of the Castle at Berry-Pomeroy was plundered and burned, and now lies a ruin. Not only was the castle and palace destroyed, but its records perished, and that to the descendants seems the greater loss, for in the muniment-room (about nine feet in width and eleven feet long, leading by a few stairs from the guard-room), where were kept the castle-record of births, with names of their sponsors, of marriages, by whom bestowed, amount 24 of dower or marriage portion, deaths, and who were the chief mourners ; of charters, seals, deeds, copies of wills, and events of importance, all there, from generation to generation, and cannot be replaced. In 1639/40 there was no prospect of the elder branch of the family inheriting the ducal honors and dignities, therefore but little use in a new country of ancestral parade * * * *. Why was the tradition, which has come down through these years, that Richard Seymour was of the family of the Karl of Hertford instead of the Somersets ? Let me answer. The attainder of the first Duke of Somerset was not removed until 1660, twenty years after Richard Seymour came to Connecticut, five years after he was laid to his final rest in the old Colonial Cemetery at Norwalk. Elizabeth, in the first year of her reign, before her coronation (1558), created Bdward, the eldest son of Lady Anne Stanhope, Karl of Hertford and Baron Beauchamp,which were honors enjoyed by his father before he was made Duke of Somerset, and for which titles and honors a private act was passed May 25th, 1540, " whereby all titles and honors were specially entailed on the issue of his second marriage." When Richard Seymour came to New England and during the remainder of his life, the head of the house of Seymour was the Karl of Hertford. The natural sequence, particularly at the time of 25 burial, would be for companions and friends to refer to him as of the family of the Earl of Hertford. Think you such reference would not sink into the memories of sons 10, 12 and 14 years of age? When connected with a father who was dead, even if Thomas, who had been married one year and ten months when his father, Richard Seymour, died, did not choose to comment, would they not repeat it from father to child, and thus bring it down through the years ? What have we to sustain the tradition of our grandsires, that Richard Seymour descended from a Knight, who taking the name of St. Maur from the place of his birth in Normandy, as was an ancient custom, entered Hngland with William the Conqueror, and assisted in establishing his claim over those of Harold, as successor to " Hdward the Confessor," and in the battle of Senlac, otherwise known as Hastings, overthrew Harold. The family of St. Maur were early located in Monmouthshire, as the learned Camden and other genealogists agree. The name was anciently writ- ten St. Maur, and in old Latin records D. S. Mauro. For Camden says : " Roger de St. Mauro lived in the reign of Henry I (i. e. 1 100). Almerius de St. Mauro was Master of the order of Knight Tem- plars, and Milo de St. Maur was one of the Barons of the realm, in the reign of King John (i. e., 1179) as his descendants were, till the reign of Henry V" (14130 The earliest and most certain information con- 26 cerning the family and the place of their residence, Camden gives in his " Britannia in Monmouth- shire " in these words : " Not far from Caldicot are Woundy and Penhow, the seats formerly of the illustrious family of St. Maur, now corruptly called Seymour. We find that about the year 1240, in order to wrest Woundy out of the hands of the Welsh, Gilbert Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, was obliged to assist William of St. Maur Knt. from whom was descended Roger of St. Maur, Knight, who married one of the heiresses of the illustrious John Beau- champ, the noble Baron of Hache, who was de- scended from Sibyl, one of the co-heiresses of the most puissant William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, and from William Ferrars, Earl of Derby, Hugh de Vivonia and William Mallet, men of eminent worth in their time. The nobility of all which, as also several others, have concentred in the Right Honorable Edward de St. Maur, or Seimer, now Earl of Hertford, a singular encourager of vertue and learning, for which qualification he is deservedly famous." From Camden's " Britannia in Monmouthshire," column 2, page 597, by William Camden Clar- enceaux, who died in 1623, aged 73 : " This book was newly translated into English with additions and improvements. London, 1695." From Collins' "Peerage of England": "Sir Roger de St. Mauro was son and heir of Sir Will- iam de St. Maur (for Vincent assures us that he was a knight). 27 The church of Penhow was dedicated to St. Maur. The Park was called by their name, and likewise here at Penhow they had their castle, which continued in the family until the time of Henry VIII, for in a letter of the Earl of Hertford to Sir John Thynne (whose grandmother was a Seymour, and the family bore the ' Seymour arms,' she inheriting Penhow), and Roger St. Maur having married Cecelia, one of the daughters and heiresses of John Beauchamp, Baron of Hache, etc., in County Somerset, added to his fortunes as well as the dignity of his family, and this was the cause of their removal into Somersetshire to their very great advantage." The Earl of Hertford asked of Sir John Thynne " To be informed to whom his grandfather had sold Seymour castle in Wales ?" Sir Roger de St. Mauro was lord of the manor of Woundy in the time of Henry III (1216) and a grant to Thomas Elliot of a messuage of the chapel at Woundy ; his seal appendant was a pair of wings circumscribed " Sigill Rogeri de Seimer." This Sir Roger died before the 28th year of King Edward I (i. e. 1299). I have a copy of these arms, taken from a window of the old church at Penhow. A genealogist who has made a study of this, suggests that the name u Penhow," may be an outcome of the St. Maur coat of arms, as " Penna " means " wing." When Richard Seymour came to New England in 1639/40, he brought some things which verify traditions. Anciently but a small proportion of the people could write their names, even if they could read. Therefore, from early times every family had as sign-manual a " coat of arms, or " seal," to be used by way of authentication or security. The " seal" which Richard Seymour brought with him to New Hngland, which he used, as well as did his immediate successors, on wills and busi- ness papers, is still in the keeping of one branch of the family of Richard's son, John Seymour of Hartford, and is identical with that used six hun- dred years ago by Sir Roger Seinier of " Penhow " in Monmouthshire. I have a photograph of an impression from that seal. The seal was used on a will in 1765, in 1798 and again in 1829. An excerpt from the will of Thjomja^Sej^iour, on which that seal was used, dated Dec. 28th, 1798 : Item "As I have already given to my eldest son Thomas Y. Seymour by deed of gift and other- wise, his full portion of my estate, in which he ex- presses himself contented, so I give him nothing further, except ' my silver seal,' bearing the Family Arms, which was his grandfather Seymour's." Which arms are the " St. Maur wings, tips downwards conjoined in lure" the same as gener- ation after generation have used for seven hundred years. I have a photograph of a coat of arms which was brought from England. \ \ '"* \ \ THE SEAL THE SAME AS USED AT PENHOW IN 1393. 29 The original is in the keeping of a descendant of Richard Seymour's second son John. It is prop- erly colored, which does not make itself evident in a photograph. Underneath the " coat of arms " is " He beareth Gules, a pair of wings inverted and conjoyned Or," by the name of Seymour. This is a copy of the original formerly belong- ing to Henry Seymour, son of Thomas (1735), the first mayor of Hartford, which Thomas had the original ; it is now in New Orleans, but still in the possession of a descendant of John Sey- mour, the son of Richard. I have referred to the two rings which are pre- served by descendants of John Seymour, who must have clothed these several relics of bygone days with a degree of sacredness, or they would not be in evidence to-day. One ring is the ring of a naval officer. Was it Seymour ? or was it Rashleigh ? The other ring accords with the Rashleigh arms, and admits of no doubt but that it was once the ring of Richard Seymour's wife. Charles J. Seymour, a descendant of John, second son of Richard Seymour, now past middle age and living near Boston, has in his possession by inher- itance a Bishop's Bible, black letter, edition 1584, which he guards with devotion. It is in the vault of a bank, and the credentials of any one requesting sight of it must be without spot or blemish. I have not seen the Bible, but a 30 friend, a descendant of John, son of Richard Sey- mour, has had a careful examination of it, and says : " I believe the Bible published in 1584 was inher- ited by John, the second son of Richard Seymour, and that Richard was in Hartford in 1640, as the Bible states." The minute statement, " Richard Seymor of Bery-Pomery, Heytor hund. in ye Com. Devon, His Booke " indicates that Bery-Pomery was his birthplace or residence, and that the Bible was his book. In the inventory of the estate of his son John of Hartford, we find a great Bible 10 shillings. That a man who had matriculated at an Oxford College should, when in his sixtieth year and near death, sign his will with his mark, indicates physi- cal weakness, and that he did not mention this Bible in that will, cannot count against its having belonged to Richard Seymour, for with the excep- tion of a few specified articles to his son Thomas, all else was given to his loving wife as well as care of his three sons under age, who, at the age of twenty- one years were each to receive forty pounds. In the inventory of Richard Seymour's estate, appraised by Matthew Campfield and Richard Olm- stead, we find : Item Books, one poimd, which, without doubt, included this Bible. [In the inventory of his son John's estate we find one Great Bible, 10 shillings^ From this Bible I have three photographs : on the reverse of the title page is a pen and ink SEYMOUR COAT OF ARMS, With Augmentations granted by Henry VIII in 1536. sketch of the " Seymour coat of arms," as used by the Karl of Hertford, with the augmentations granted by Henry VIII in 1536 to the family of Jane Seymour, his third wife. J. Howard, in his " Peerage and Family History," on page 40, referring to the augmentations granted to Howard, after the victory at Flodden, and death on the field of the King of Scots, says : "The dif- ference between a grant to a man and his heirs and a grant to all his race, is well seen in the case of the Seymour augmentations, (August i5th, 1547), which was granted not only to the Duke of Somerset and his heirs, but also * Omnibus posteris suis totique familie.' : Which coat of arms and augmentations were Quarterly, ist and 4th between six fleur-de-lis, three lions of Bngland, 2d and 3d. The paternal coat of Seymour, i. e. " two wings conjoined in lure, tips downward," " crest," " a Phoenix in flames with wings expanded." Which crest was a badge in memory of King Edward VI, as it was on the banner carried by -his grandfather, Sir John Sey- mour, the father of Queen Jane Seymour, in the wars in France and Flanders; also in 1520, when he attended King Henry VIII at the great inter- view with Francis the French King, called the " Field of the Cloth of Gold," having in his retinue one chaplain, eleven servants and eight led horses. Also at the second interview at Boulogne in 1532. 32 Beneath this Coat of Arms is this device : ' ' Foy pour devoir ' ' RICHARD SEYMOR OF BERY POMERY HEYTOR HUND. IN Y* COM DEVON hi/ Booke. Hartford y e Collony of Connecticot in Newe England Annoque Domini 1640 The second photograph is the title-page to the New Testament of a Bishop's Bible, black letter edition 1584. At the bottom of this page, in a panel, is a pen and ink sketch of the Seymour arms, i. e. " the wings conjoined in lure, tips down- wards." The same as were used by the D. St. Mauro at Penhow in 1393, and always in the Somerset quarterings. G. W. Bve in " Decorative Heraldry," page 37, says : " The ' Phoenix ' was the Banner of Sir John Semer in the sixteenth century," and " the colors of his standard were Azure with the Back of the Wings Or." The original " crest " was on a wreath, a " pair of wings conjoined and crowned." The third photograph is the first chapter of Matthew in this Bishop's Bible, black letter, edition 1584. In the inventory of John Seymour's estate 33 (second son of Richard) is u a Great Bible, 10 shil- lings." The will was dated Dec. loth, 1712. If Richard Seymour's home had not been at Berry Pomeroy before he came to New England, would this Bible with this record have been left to stand without explanation ? Did not the sons of Richard know the truth from their parents' lips ? and ^Thomas must have been at least seven years old wlien he left BnglaricT^and would have disabused their minds if not correct. Knowing the truth, they would never have assumed that to which they were not entitled, for they were men of honor. MARIA WATSON PINNEY, No. 116 Derby Avenue, Derby, Conn. In the first place I wish to acknowledge the great assistance of the Hon. Henry W. Seymour of Washington, D. C., without which this narrative of connected incidents could never have appeared. Also to the courtesy and assistance of Mr. Chas. Iy. N. Camp of New Haven I am greatly indebted. Authorities used are : Camden's " Britannia in Monmouthshire." Ly son's Magna Britannia, Devonshire. Col. Vivian's Visitation of Devonshire. Westcote's Devonshire. Mill's Pedigrees of Devonshire Families. -34- Hartley Society's Visitation of Devonshire. Hoare's Visitation of Devonshire, Wiltshire and Cornwall. Collins' " Peerage of England." Hay ward's Life of Edward VI. J. J. Howard's " Peerage and Family History." J. J. Howard's Pedigree of Berry-Norbet and West- minster. G. W. Eve, " Decorative Heraldry." Savage's Geneal. Diet. Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldiare Manuscripts. Church Register of Marriages and Burials, St. Mary Plympton, Devonshire. Court Records, Totness, Bodmin and Exeter. Oxford Hist. Soc. Exeter College and Bodleian Library. Family Legends Seymour Bible, the Wills and Inven- tories of Richard, John and Thomas Seymour. Declarations of Elizabeth Seymour Gary and Matthew Hatch. >rf l" T- y,,, ^& " ' e ^rlSR j 28 il ^^% * *] ^. r -.^* ' 'f r v^ ; ^^ -'I T '^"'>P' vi^ A 000109345 9 ____.___. Vj^' Ki&> *7Pn -> ^v7 t f-fr r - - ; & '* -"N ,, _2> * ' Up f^M'tf- , ^?T f ' V- r *Y ^T^V ^ , ^ f ^5^S ^ ^4i^/ ^ ^vl^r^ .^^ <^ 7V ! V* JK *>\f t^ 1 ?*^