Literature and Writing: My Heritage

Photo: My Victorian ancestors with their NINE (!!!) children. L/R Back: Ann Elizabeth, Harry Hill, John Henry. Center: James Samuel Page Bowler, my great, great, great grandfather. Matilda, my great, great, great grandmother, holding the baby; my family has always felt I share an uncanny resemblance to Matilda. Mary Anne, Kate. Front: Francis Joseph, the child on the father’s lap (my great, great grandfather), George Hebron, the baby. Walter Wallace, the little boy with the chubby cheeks (also my great, great grandfather—eek! I’m related on both sides, making my family tree rather narrow.) Florence. Of note: This family does not descend from the Dudley family. It is a different line in my family tree entirely.

The Fabled American West

As I’ve tried picturing my Victorian ancestors carving out a life in the Old West during the pre-modern era, I’ve thought how difficult the transition; the West was not well-established, in comparison to other parts of the country, and from where they had come, Nottingham, England, where their lives had been comfortable.

And you know, some may argue the West is still wild.

But perhaps that is the allure.

A beautifully restored bedroom in Warwick Castle, Warwickshire, England (and you can stay the night here!) The castle was once owned by the Dudley Family: First, John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland, from 1547-1553, and then his son, Ambrose Dudley, from 1562-1590. Since Ambrose died without an heir, the castle reverted to the crown. Ambrose was a third cousin to my 13th Great-Grandfather, John Dudley of Newcastle.

Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke. Her mother, Mary Dudley Sidney, was a sister to Robert and Ambrose, and lady-in-waiting at the court of Elizabeth I. Mary Herbert was the first English woman to achieve a major reputation for her literature and poetry; and scholars speculate she possibly penned Shakespeare’s sonnets. The Countess of Pembroke was a fourth cousin to my 12th Great-Grandfather, Sir Robert Dudley of Newcastle (Mayor of Newcastle, and knighted by James I).

Anne Bradstreet was the first woman to be recognized as an accomplished poet in the New World. She received an excellent education from her father, Thomas Dudley, who was my 10th Great-Grandfather and served several terms as Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony as well as signed the charter creating Harvard. Bradstreet left the comforts of her aristocratic lifestyle in England for the New England wilderness.

Sherwood Forest

I’ve also wondered, what my ancestors did to adjust. Did they gather around the fire and draw from the stories and folktales, which have sustained humanity for thousands of years, allowing the tales to transmit their secret knowledge?

I like to think so.

And here’s something interesting. Since my great-grandmother’s father was born and raised in Nottingham until migrating with his family to America in 1880, she named her son, my grandmother’s brother, Sherwood, after the royal forest in Nottinghamshire, famous for its association with the Legend of Robin Hood.

Trunks Filled With Faeries

I also like to imagine that when my ancestors crossed the ocean their trunks were filled not only with their earthly possessions, but also stowaways from the British Isles–English faeries, Irish banshees, Cornish tommyknockers, and Scottish selkies.

Digging Deeper

Going further back, to the medieval and renaissance period, in school you may have studied the Dudley family. But maybe not.

During England’s Tudor period, the Dudley family rose to power. Their motto was: “Droit et Loyal” meaning “Just and Loyal.”

According to leading Tudor historian, Derek Wilson, author of The Uncrowned Kings of England:

In the political fervent of the Tudor century one family…was always at the troubled center of court and council. During those years the Dudleys were never far from controversy.

They came from solid baronial stock, could boast ancestors who had fought with Henry V at Agincourt, and served successive monarchs in court and council. They were well connected and proud of their links with the great medieval families.

Every Tudor sovereign, with the exception of Mary, reposed high trust in the members of this family, and not without good reason. They proved themselves accomplished courtiers, politicians, administrators and generals.

Yet Wilson points out it was their very closeness to the throne with which earned them their villainous reputation; however, he feels this reputation is “utterly undeserved and has led to their neglect by historians for four centuries.”

But Were They

Only recently have scholars challenged the assumption of the Dudley family being “an avarious, power-hungry brood interested in nothing but feathering their own nest.” Wilson believes the notorious legend “of the Dudleys is a monstrous injustice.”

For instance, Edmund Dudley, for centuries has been portrayed as an evil councilor, who urged on Henry VII’s draconian financial policies, while taking his own cut from increased royal revenues. Henry’s successor, Henry VIII, sent Edmund to the block.

In reality, however, Edmund was instrumental in establishing the financial basis of the Tudor dynasty, and in the process made powerful enemies amongst the aristocrats, while carrying out the policies devised by the king.

Robert “Leicester” Dudley, Elizabeth I favorite, and one of her leading statesman. He refused marriage to Mary, Queen of Scots, and was supportive of the Puritan movement. During the Spanish Armada, he was commander of the English land forces, and notably, the principal patron of the arts, literature, and Elizabethan theatre. He was a third cousin to my 13th Great-Grandfather, John Dudley of Newcastle.

Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, and elder brother of Robert. Ambrose and Robert had a very close relationship, in both business and personal life. Of significance, they were the only two surviving brothers of their family, of this Dudley line, and both died without legal heirs. (Ambrose had no children, and Robert an illegitimate son.)

Lady Jane Grey

Edmund’s son, John, the Duke of Northumberland, tried to place his daughter-in-law, Lady Jane Grey, upon the throne, but did not succeed. All involved were imprisoned in the Tower of London and condemned to death for high treason by Mary I, a punishment widely considered unduly harsh at the time.

The executions did not help Mary’s popularity. Five months after their deaths the Scottish reformer, John Knox, wrote of them as “innocents…such as by just laws and faithful witnesses can never be proved to have offended by themselves.”

Lord Guildford Dudley was described as a “comely, virtuous and goodly gentleman.” While imprisoned he and Lady Jane, who were only recently married, were kept apart. They may have had contact because at one point Guildford wrote a message to his father-in-law in Jane’s prayer book:

“Your loving and obedient son wishes unto your grace long life in this world with as much joy and comfort as ever I wish to myself, and in the world to come joy everlasting. Your humble son to his death. G. Dudley.”

The Duke of Northumberland

Furthermore, the Duke of Northumberland led countless victorious armies and laid the foundations of the Royal Navy, while ruling as uncrowned king for the young Edward VI from 1550-1553. His son Robert “Leicester” was Elizabeth I’s favorite and came very close to marrying her (and was defamed as being a wife murderer).

And The Plot Thickens

While this Dudley line was constantly in the thick of it, I descend directly from a much “quieter” and less scandalous Dudley branch, residing in England until eventually making their way to America.

Sir Edmund Sutton Dudley

Remember my mentioning Edmund Dudley (Henry VII’s financial minister and beheaded by Henry VIII?) Well, his father was Sir John Sutton Dudley, Knight of Atherington, who was a younger brother to my 16th Great-Grandfather, Sir Edmund Sutton Dudley—who was also my 15th Great-Grandfather.

In my family history research, I found out I descend from Sir Edmund directly through two different family lines.

Kinda crazy.

Arms of my 16th and 17th Great-Grandfather, Sir John Sutton Dudley VI, 1st Baron Dudley, Knight of the Garter. I descend directly from Sir John’s eldest son, Sir Edmund, through two different family lines. The two lines reconnected in the Old West when my Great-Grandmother, Naomi, married my Great-Grandfather, Amos. Their son, LeGrand, was my Grandfather, my dad’s father.

Sir John Sutton Dudley VI

Sir Edmund and Sir John’s father was Sir John Sutton Dudley VI, 1st Baron Dudley, Knight of the Garter, Councilor to King Henry VI, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

Sutton fought, beside the king, during the Hundred Years War and the War of the Roses. As Lord Steward, he carried the body of King Henry V home and was chief mourner at his funeral.

And in genealogy documents I’ve recently discovered, he was also George Washington’s ancestor (his 8th Great-Grandfather).

Lady Joyce Tiptoft

Sir Edmund first married Lady Joyce Tiptoft, the youngest daughter of Sir John Tiptoft. I descend through the line of their son, Sir Edward Sutton Dudley.

Thomas Dudley

Four generations later, Thomas Dudley, my 10th great-grandfather, came to America in 1630 on the Arbella with John Winthrop.

Thomas, a devout Puritan, served several terms as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and founded Newtown, later known as Cambridge, where he built the first home. During his term as governor, he signed the charter creating Harvard.

Thomas Dudley, my 10th great-grandfather, came to America in 1630 on the Arbella with John Winthrop.

Thomas, a devout Puritan, served several terms as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and founded Newtown, later known as Cambridge, where he built the first home.

During his 1650 term as governor, he signed the charter creating Harvard.

Anne Bradstreet

Thomas’s daughter was Anne Bradstreet, the first accomplished woman poet in the New World. Anne’s verse is written upon Harvard Yard’s Dudley Gate:

One of thy founders, him New-England know

Who staid thy feeble sides when thou wast low

Who spent his state, his strength, and years with care

That after comers in them might share

After residing for several generations in New England, in particular New Hampshire, this Dudley line found its way to the Old West, with my paternal grandfather’s mother, Naomi. (For more about my visit to New England, click here.)

Lady Matilda Maud Clifford

Sir Edmund’s second marriage was to Lady Matilda Maud, the widow of Sir John Harington, who died in the Battle of Wakefield.

Thomas of Yanwath

I descend through their son, Thomas, who inherited through his marriage to Grace Threlkeld, Yanwath Hall in Cumbria. Grace was the daughter of Sir Lancelot Threlkeld, who had three daughters and no sons and owned three noble houses: Crosby Ravenworth, Yanwath, and Threlkeld, each daughter being an heiress.

My ancestors resided at Yanwath Hall for two generations until relocating to Newcastle, where my 12th Great-Grandfather, Sir Robert Dudley, was mayor and knighted by James I.

Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke

Sir Robert’s fourth cousin, Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, was the first English woman to achieve a major reputation for her literature and poetry, with scholars speculating she possibly penned Shakespeare’s sonnets.

And her uncle, Robert, “Leicester” was the principal patron of the arts, literature, and Elizabethan theatre.

This Dudley line found its way to the Old West as well, with my paternal grandfather’s father, Amos.

Two Lines Reconnect

Lady Joyce Tiptoft’s descendant, Naomi, and Lady Matilda Maud Clifford’s descendant, Amos, married in 1920.

They had a son, LeGrand, who was my grandfather, the father of my father, and connecting the two Dudley lines I descend from.

Dudley Castle, West Midlands, apparently haunted (considered by many, the most haunted castle in England). This is an image of the fabled “Grey Lady” who has been haunting the castle for centuries. I wonder, who was she? And why does she haunt?

My Heritage

All in all I feel my ancestry answers many questions about me, in particular, my desire to pursue a degree in English Literature (from a New England University, nonetheless) with my earliest exposure being my mother (not a Dudley, but had English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry) sharing Alfred Noyes’s poem “The Highwayman” and to date I remain haunted by the evocative imagery of this beautiful piece.

Furthermore, Dudley Castle, the place of birth and death of my 16th and 17th Great-Grandfather, Sir John Dudley, is apparently haunted. Perhaps the most haunted castle in England. And settings crammed with ghostly shivers is one of my favorite storytelling elements.

And then there is Yanwath Hall, today a farm, having changed little since the 16th Century, possessing a well-preserved, low, 14th Century Pele tower, and a 15th Century hall, reportedly the finest manorial hall in England.

And if you know me, you know I’ve a thing with structures “of a certain age.”

Maybe my ancestry explains my obsessions.

But Meanwhile

Around the time my ancestors were establishing in England, a distinctive Navajo culture emerged in what is known today as America, in the Southwest, the Four Corners region of the Colorado plateau.

Where I reside today.

The birthplace of my third Great-Grandmother, Jeanette Smith Leavitt, who was Naomi’s grandmother.

Click here for Jeanette’s story…

For my story, here…

Beauchamp Chapel, Collegiate Church of St. Mary, Warwick. Effigial monument of Ambrose Dudley, third cousin to my 13th Great-Grandfather, John Dudley of Newcastle.

Beauchamp Chapel, Collegiate Church of St. Mary, Warwick. Effigial monuments of Robert “Leicester” Dudley, his second wife, Lettice Knollys, his son, the “Noble Imp” and his brother, Ambrose Dudley. St. Mary’s enshrines much of the history of England, and was founded on its present site in 1123. The sumptuous Beauchamp Chapel was built in the 15th Century.

Dudley Castle, West Midlands, birthplace (and place of death) of my 17th Great-Grandfather, Sir John Sutton VI, 1st Baron Dudley, Knight of the Garter. Originally a wooden motte and bailey castle, shortly after the Norman conquest it was rebuilt as a stone fortification, only to be demolished by the orders of King Henry II. Rebuilding took place in the second half of the 13th Century and culminated with a range of buildings with fortifications. Later the residential buildings were destroyed by fire in 1750, and in the late 19th Century and early 20th, the site was used for fetes and pageants. Today, it functions as a zoo.

Yanwath Hall, Cumbria. My 15th Great-Grandfather, Thomas Dudley, inherited Yanwath through his marriage to Grace Threlkeld, daughter of Sir Lancelot Threlkeld and Elizabeth Radcliffe. My ancestors resided here for two generations before relocating to Newcastle and then eventually making their way to America. I love the lichen-covered stone roof, the vines flanking the entrance, the welcoming bench, but in particular how today it functions as a farm, changing little since the 16th Century.