Agnes

• Name	Agnes
  Gender	Female
  _UID	36122700E788044D966EFC1DC2AEBDD049A0
  Person ID	I6610	Crandall Pember Legacy
  Last Modified	7 Jun 2021

  
  

  Family	John Peaslee,   b. Abt 1485, Bristol, England ,   d. Apr 1562  (Age ~ 77 years)
  _UID	E2EF73A1F7672F47A6DEB9658A4AF3698BD4
  Last Modified	25 Aug 2021 16:45:14
  Family ID	F3068	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  Posted By: Graham Peaslee Email: Subject: Joseph's origins in England before 1635 Post Date: June 03, 2001 at 00:55:27 Message URL: http://genforum.genealogy.com/peaslee/messages/172.html Forum: Peaslee Family Genealogy Forum Forum URL: http://genforum.genealogy.com/peaslee/ My father and I have done some research on our original ancestor's origins in England, and more importantly we found a couple people in England who were much better at looking up old records than we were. Over the past 10 years we have put together a set of circumstantial bits of evidence that point to Joseph Peaslee's lineage in England prior to 1635. There are several assumptions we have to make and about 20 years of his life still missing from documents before his arrival in New England, but I think this is a much more plausible explaination than the current Lord Calvert connection that one sees on the web several places. While a William Peasley did marry Anne Calvert, he is much more likely to be directly related to a southern branch of the Peasley/Peaslee/Peaseley family that settled in the Virginia colonies as early as 1629. Lord Calvert and his fa mily being strong catholics, it is unlikely that the protestant Joseph (who was fined for preaching without a license in Boston around 1640) would be a close relative...perhaps a first or second cousin at best. I offer the following set of stories written as our best guess at the moment of our ancestry in England. Sorry it is so long-winded, but it does make for interesting reading I hope... While the connection between the original Joseph and ancestors in England/Wales has never been absolutely confirmed, my father and I have stumbled upon some rather convincing evidence that he was the son of a Robert and Jane Peaslee, born in Chipping-Sodbury, Gloucestershire, England, around 1598. The summary of some of our records is listed here: JOHN PEASLEE, SADDLER OF BRISTOL The Bristol Records Office has documents [1] showing that one John Peasly/Peasley/Peaseley, saddler of Bristol, took a number of apprentices in the decade 1532-42. For about the first half of this period, his wife was Agnes; later it was Edith. Ten years later, in 1551/52, a saddler in Chipping Sodbury named Robert Peasley sent his son Christopher [1] as apprentice to an apothecary. Subsequent saddlers in Chipping Sodbury were William Peaslie, his son (another) Robert Peasley, and his son Joseph Peasley who was born around 1600 and is likely to be the Joseph who emigrated to New England in 1630-40. Arguments can be made [2] that the first Robert Peasley in Chipping-Sodbury came originally from Hambrook in Winterbourne parish, where he probably had a younger brother John. No direct link to William, the next saddler in Chipping Sodbury, is now known; but it seems reasonable to suppose that he was a fairly close relative - say, either a son or nephew (Robert of Hambrook apparently had at least one other brother, Thomas). Since saddlery in Chipping Sodbury seems to have been such a close family affair, one is tempted to wonder whether there was a similar link to the vigorous saddler John Peasley of Bristol. In this connection, it should be noted that one John Peseley appears in the records of Sturden Manor [3] as a tenant who died in about 1562 without repairing his cow-house. The most likely scenario with such linkage probably assigns the Bristol saddler John to be the younger brother of the original Robert, father of Robert of Chipping Sodbury and his brother John. This older John of Hambrook could have been born about 1485 and been well established in Bristol by 1530: in fact, successful enough to attract his nephew Robert to his service. In about 1530 Robert struck out for himself, first returning to Hambrook/Winterbourne and then proceeding to Chipping Sodbury. The death of John's first wife Agnes in about 1535 suggests an advanced age for those times, and John himself no longer appears in the records after 1542. In this account the John Peseley in Sturden Manor appears as Robert of Chipping Sodbury's younger brother. THE PEASLEES OF CHIPPING-SODBURY The survey "Men and Armour for Gloucestershire in 1608 "includes for Chipping-Sodbury one Robert Peasely, sadler, with a notation to show that his age was nearer 20 than 40 years. Also listed is John Williams, mercer, with an age notation closer to 40 than 20. Robert's will in the PCC is dated May, l6l7: probate granted to widow Jane the following February. Widow Jane herself left a PCC will dated May, 1618: probate granted to son Joseph in May, 1619. Since Joseph was the only son, this sequence of wills indicates that he had not attained the age of majority (21) by May, 1619, but he probably was 21 by February, 1618; hence he was born in 1597/98. Robert's will is unusually explicit and orderly in distributing his property: to the benefit of wife Jane "during her naturall life". Thereafter son Joseph inherits the shop with responsibilities to his 4 sisters - Jane, Elizabeth, Gertrude and Sarah. The detailed devolvement of Robert's leaseholds among his daughters makes it clear that they are listed in birth order. The only specific date now known is in the IGI: Elizabethe Peaslye, daughter of Robte Peaslye, christened in Chipping Sodbury on 10 May, 1607. One can then guess approximate birth years of 1602, 1610 and 1613 for Jane, Gertrude and Sarah. The last known reference to Joseph Peaslee in England is from "The Continuing Story of the Sodburys" (1972), a privately duplicated account published and distributed by the author, Mr. P. A. Couzens. On page 104 appears the statement, "For some time prior to this year [1628] there had been premises in High Street........at Sodbury occupied by Robert Peaslie and his son Joseph who were sadlers. Now however they pass to John Williams, who has a wife Jane and a daughter Sara, and whose business is that of a mercer." This is the strongest suggestion in print that this Joseph Peaslee had picked up and left the Chipping-Sodbury area around 1628 despite the fact that his family had resided there for 100 years … all about 10 years before a Joseph Peaslee shows up in New England. We contend that Joseph resurfaces in the records of the Massachusetts Colony between 1638 and 1641, along with a wife Mary and 3 daughters - Mary, Jane and Elizabeth. He now is listed as a husbandman. Sister Jane was singled out in her mother's will to receive the best of the widow's household goods, presaging her marriage soon. This presumably occurred between 1620 and the passage of the shop premises to Jane as the wife of John Williams, mercer. If this was the man mentioned in the Gloucester muster of 1608, he must have been some 30 years older than his wife; it seems more likely that he was a son who had inherited both the name and the business. Elizabeth was most likely a teenager when sister Jane was married, Joseph having departed Chipping Sodbury at that time or before. She may have been sent to "help out" among the numerous Peaslee cousins and their friends in Thornbury. An Elizabeth Peaseley/Peaslie witnessed baptisms of Charles and Judith Tayer in 1635 and 1640. Gertrude was less fortunate: buried in Chipping Sodbury in 1632, she was at most in her early 20's. Presumably she had been left with some family in Chipping Sodbury, perhaps one named in the wills of Robert and his wife Jane. This is another interesting connection with the Joseph Peaslee who showed up in New England. The original immigrant Joseph had four daughters and a son, and the names of the four daughters were Mary, Jane, Elizabeth and Sarah. Mary was his wife's name, and the three other names of his daughters, although common names for that period, were the exact same three names of Joseph's surviving sisters. ROBERT PEASLEE,* JR.,+ FROM HAMBROOK, GLOUCESTERSHIRE The Military Survey of Gloucestershire in 1522 [1] lists for the tithing of Hambrook in the parish of Winterbourne, about 10 miles north-east of Bristol, the following entries among others: Robert Peseley 20s, and separately Robert Peseley L 8 and son John . The immediate reading of this is a father Robert and two sons - Robert, Jr., who is of age (21 in those times) and John who is not, but sufficiently mature to bear arms. Since their separation in age was probably only a few years, we can take Robert, Jr., as born about 1500 and John a bit later.\  The Bristol Records Office [2] shows that one Robert Peasley acquired a holding in Sturden, one of the 3 estates in Winterbourne, jointly with wife Alice and son Richard. The timing and location agree well with the supposition that this was the same Robert, Jr. A will is extant in the Gloucestershire Record Office from one Robert Peysley who died in 1578 in Thornbury, about 20 miles north of Bristol, leaving to brother Thomas his "wearing clothes", to son Ambrose his shop tools (but no other property), and "to Alyce my wyffe one hand-spinner which is at my wyffe's..." Alice Peasely is also listed [2] as an individual leaseholder in Sturden in 1554. Again the times and places invite identification with Robert, Jr. His wife outlived him, and there is some suggestion that they were separated years earlier. The Apprentice Rolls from the Bristol Records Office [3] include one Christopher Peasley, son of Robert, saddler of Sodbury, apprenticed to John Sprynt, apothecary of Bristol in 1551/2. The Hampshire Records Office has wills [4] dated 1610 from one Christopher Peaslee, apothecary of Andover, and one dated 1625 from his son Michael, which incidentally remarks that his father was born in Chipping Sodbury. If his apprenticeship started at age 13, Christopher was born about 1538. Again it is perfectly consonant with the information above to suppose that Robert, Jr., was that saddler of Chipping Sodbury - located about 10 miles northeast of Hambrook and about 15 miles east of Thornbury.\  * Spellings in this era were a function of the particular scribe and vary capriciously; it seems likely that even if the individual knew how to spell his name, that could be ignored, especially in dictation of wills from a deathbed. + Distinctions like Jr., III, for different generations with the same name were a much later innovation. We use them here to separate 4 generations of Robert Peaslees. Original document not seen, so present spelling used.\  From these scraps of information some outline of the man himself can be drawn: apparently of more than usual energy and ambition, both with regards to property and social status. Names like Christopher and Ambrose sound rather upscale in a world of Roberts and Johns. His energy is suggested not only by his repeated change of domicile but by the fact that he may have fathered as many as 5 sons. A Robert Peaslee is on record [4] as present in Andover, Hampshire as early as 1582 and was buried there in 1612. The will of Christopher's son Michael makes gifts to "the children of Uncle Robert" who thus becomes a candidate for the family position of Robert III in modern terms. In addition, there was a William Peeseley renting premises in Sturden Manor in 1573 [5] who can be connected to the saddlery in Chipping Sodbury [6] and was possibly an additional son of Robert, Jr.\  It is intriguing to attempt a timetable for this family. The eldest son would traditionally have borne his father's name, so a sequence like the following suggests itself: Robert(1528), William(1531), Richard (1534 - maybe died young, as he never reappears), Christopher(1538), and Ambrose(1540+). In the early 1540's, the family would all have been together in Chipping Sodbury; their subsequent wide dispersal suggests enterprising spirit and possible conflicts at home. REFERENCES [1] Ed. R. W. Hoyle, Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, l993. [2] Documents AC/M18/6 & 7. [3] Calendar of the Bristol Apprentice Book, Part I, BRO 1949. [4] Reported by Mrs. Helene P. Cairns of Tipperary, Ireland. [5] Bristol Records Office, document AC/M18/4. [6] A separate treatment of William Peaslee follows. WILLIAM PEASLEE OF CHIPPING SODBURY The will of one William Peaslie of Chipping Sodbury is extant in the Gloucestershire Records Office, dated 1599. In it he leaves the wares of his shop, plus some housebuilding material, to the only son mentioned in the will. That the shop dealt in harness and was presumably a saddlery is indicated by an instruction to pay 15s to the lorimer, who was a fabricator of metal parts essential for harnesses. How does he relate to Robert, Jr., from Hambrook, who appears to have been a saddler in Chipping Sodbury in 1540-50 at least? No record of direct connection is currently known, but circumstantial evidence indicates a close relationship: i.e., William was probably a son or nephew: 1) His date of death is consonant with those of Robert. Jr.'s sons Christopher and Robert III in Andover, Hampshire; 2) he named his (apparently) only son Robert (here Robert IV); 3) he followed the lead of Robert, Jr., who was the first Peaslee family member of the Hambrook-Chipping Sodbury area known to have left a will; 4) Robert IV named his first two daughters Jane and Elizabeth, which are the daughters' names mentioned in Robert, Jr.'s will. This is not a very strong point, as these were the most popular women's names of the day. The simplest scenario at Chipping Sodbury would have been for Robert, Jr., to have taken a young family member as apprentice to the saddler's trade. Initially this arrangement may have been amicable, but it is not clear whether it remained so through the eventual split of Robert, Jr., to Thornbury with William remaining in Chipping Sodbury. Indeed, the quarter century 1550-75 reads as a rather turbulent one for the family of Robert, Jr. Before this time the family had been together in Chipping Sodbury for a decade or more but appeared rapidly to break up afterwards. Son Christopher went to Bristol and never looked back; wife Alice was perhaps planning a retreat to Sturden (1554); some years before 1578 Robert, Jr., and son Ambrose decamped to Thornbury for reasons unknown but perhaps relating to social advancement. Robert III and William could have been left to run the shop in Chipping Sodbury; but Robert III later left to join his brother Christopher in Andover. This picture looks as if the breakup was not without acrimony - perhaps Robert, Jr., had acquired recusant notions that most of his family resisted. Under those circumstances it may be plausible that the rental of premises in Sturden Manor by Willyam Peeseley in 1573 was a retreat by the same William from the quarrels in Chipping Sodbury. He would have returned to Chipping Sodbury when the conflict was resolved in a way that left the saddlery there to him. Whether William was son or nephew to Robert, Jr., he was in either case the grandson of the senior Robert Peseley of Hambrook listed in the survey of 1522. That Robert - who must have been born about 1475 - thus appears as the great-great-grandfather of Joseph Peaslee who lived in Massachusetts, in the decades 1640-60. Since this is rather long and not the clearest, I have put together a chart of the best guess of the four generations previous to Joseph: #-4Robert Children: Thomas b. ~1470 Robert b. ~1475 m. Alice d? John b.~1485 (sadler of Bristol 1532-1542) d.1562?m.1 Agnes m.2 Edith #-3Robert Peaslee, Jr (of Hambrook) b. ~1475 d. >1522 m. Alice Children: Richard ? b. <1500 Robert, 3rd. b.~1500 (has sons Christopher & Ambrose) John b. ~1505 Jane Elizabeth William? b. >1520? #-2William Peaslee b. >1520? d. 1599 Chipping-Sodbury m. ? Children: Robert b. ~1580 #-1Robert Peaslee b.~1580 d. May-1617 (sadler of Chipping-Sodbury) m. Jane ? b. ? d. May-1619 Children: 1.Josephb. ~1598 2.Janeb. ~1602 3.Elizabeth b. 10-May-1607 Chipping-Sodbury 4.Gartres (Gertude) b. ~1610 d. 1632 Chipping-Sodbury 5.Sarahb. ~1613 #0Joseph Peaslee b. ~1598 Chipping-Sodbury? d. 3-Dec-1660 (Amesbury, MA) m1. (Jane Severance)??) d. <1635 Children: 1.Jane b. ~1626 (England) m. John Davis 1646 2.Mary b. ~1628 (England) m. Henry Sayward ~1654 3.Elizabeth b. ~1630 (England) m. John Collins? 1652 ? m. Nathan Gould? m. Peter Brewer? m2. Mary Johnson ~1635 (England or Wales) d. < Sep-1694 (Haverhill, MA) 4.Sarah b. 20-Sep-1642 (Haverhill, MA) m.1 Thomas Bernard 1664.m.2 Thomas Hoyt >1706 5.Joseph b. 9-Sep-1646 (Haverhill, MA) m.1 Ruth Barnard.m. Mary Davis Children of Robert Peaslee, Sr~ are:  i. Thomas Peaslee, born Abt. 1470; died Unknown.  5496 ii. Robert Peaslee, Jr, born Abt. 1475 in of Hambrook, Gloucestershire; died Aft. 1522; married Alice~.  iii. John Peaslee, born Abt. 1485 in of Bristol, Gloucestershire; died Abt. 1562; married (1)Agnes; died Unknown; married (2) Edith; died Unknown.  More About John Peaslee: Occupation: Bet. 1532 - 1542, Sadler of Bristol