Hansby Christmas Message 2017.

Greetings to Hansby descendants, relatives and enthusiasts one and all.

It has been a busy year in Hansby research, but a fruitful one. In April, we received contact from Richard Gravestock, from Lincolnshire , UK, whose wife is a descendant of John Calvert, the father of Judith Calvert, who married Michael Hansby around 1718. All known living Hansbys are descended from this couple.

In the information from JAC Barradale of 1955, it is suggested that this Judith Calvert was a descendant of George Calvert, First Baron Baltimore. George Calvert was a Secretary of State under King James I around 1620, and was instrumental in establishing an early colony in Maryland, in what is now the USA. The capital of Maryland is named Baltimore in honour of his family; his sons were among the first governors of the colony.

This George Calvert had a son Francis, born around 1612, of whom very little is known. Richard Gravestock located a Will of a Francis Calvert of Boroughbridge, Yorkshire which appears to be the father of our John Calvert, and which appears to bear the wax seal of the Calverts, Baron Baltimore. With this information, we approached Henry Miller, who was recently involved in confirming the identity of the remains of Governor Philip Calvert in Maryland by DNA testing. The seal on the Will apparently did not match seals used by George Calvert in his lifetime, and so we were not able to confirm that relationship based on this. The presence of a Calvert seal on this Will is still suggestive that some link to this prominent family may well exist.

Richard also located the Will of Michael Hansby, confirming his death at 1754, and suggesting that he was not in contact with his son Ralph at that time. Ralph had moved to Ireland in the 1730’s, and married Catherine McCarthy in 1748. Their son Michael Joseph had moved back to England by the 1780’s, and we located an interesting ‘job application’ from him for a post as Governor of one of the Caribbean Islands, which had recently been handed over from the French. Presumably he did not receive that position, otherwise we might all be sitting in the West Indies right now!

Since September, I have been loading the Hansby tree onto Wikitree, so the tree is now ‘searchable’. I have made a point of not putting ‘persons living’ onto Wikitree, but anyone can join, and it is free, so if anyone wants to join their branch onto the Hansby tree, they are welcome to do so.

While entering the tree, I have identified the ‘missing’ parents of Etheldred Gerrard, who was Sir Ralph Hansby’s wife, and also from whom all living Hansbys are descended. Her parents are William Gerrard of Trent, Somerset, and Mary Allen. This couple were also prominent recusant Catholics, and their family has connections to the Babington plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth, and to Sir Thomas More, who was executed by Henry VIII for his faith.

Furthermore, Wikitree has entries going back to pre-Norman times, and through this database, a direct line of descent has been identified from Sir Ralph Hansby of Tick Hill all the way back to William the Conqueror, MacDuff, King of Scots, and some of the Plantagenet Kings. The line of descent is as follows:

William the Conqueror   Matilde Flandre    MacDuff, King of Scots    Margaret Wessex

              I                                    I                                 I                                      I

              I__________________I                                 I___________________I

                                I                                                                           I

                                I                                                                           I

                    King Henry the First                                        Eadgith Dunkeld

                                     I_______________________________I

                                                                                       I

                                                                                       I

                Geoffrey Plantagenet                Matilda Normandie

                         I_______________________I

                                  I

                                  I

       King Henry the Second                                                               Eleanor of Aquitaine

                     I____________________________________________I

                                       I

                                       I

                            King John                                                    Isabel de Angouleme

                                 I__________________________________I

                                         I

                                         I

                       King Henry the Third                         Eleanor de Provence

                                I___________________________I

                                             I

                                             I

                     Edmund Plantagenet                    Blanche Artois

                             I________________________I

                                        I

                                        I

                   Henry Plantagenet                                                Maud de Chaworth

                               I____________________________________I

                                                                                               I

                                                                                               I

  Sir John Beaumont                                               Eleanor Plantagenet

                    I________________________________I

                                 I

                                 I

                  Henry Beaumont                                                          Margaret de Vere

                             I__________________________________________I

                                    I

                                    I

                                    I

                      Henry Beaumont                                                      Johanna ?

                           I_________________________________________I

                                   I

                                   I

               Richard Beaumont                                             Cecilia Merfield

                          I____________________________________I

                                   I

                                   I

                     Thomas Beaumont                                                   Elizabeth Neville

                                                 I_____________________________I

                                                                                              I

                                                                                              I

      Robert Lovell                                                    Anne Beaumont

                      I______________________________I

                             I

                             I

                 Philip Lovell                                                                        Bridget Pennington

                       I________________________________________________I

                               I

                               I

                  Thomas Lovell                                                            Jane Hungate

                                      I_______________________________________I

                                                                                                       I

                                                                                                       I

John Hansby                                                              Audrey Lovell

                I_____________________________________I

                        I

                        I

            Sir Ralph Hansby                                 Etheldred Gerrard

                                  I_____________________I

                                                       I

                                                       I

                            From whom are descended all living Hansbys..

So there you have it - all modern Hansby descendants can claim a lineage back to William the Conqueror! He was crowned on Christmas Day, 1066, so as you don your Christmas cracker crowns this year, you may reflect upon your famous ancestor doing the same, 951 years before…

Best wishes to you all for the festive season, and for an enjoyable and prosperous 2018.

             From David Morley and Family. (drdavemo@hotmail.com)