Ruth

Hi Jennifer, What if any documentation do you have on Ruth Devenshire? She is my 8th great grandmother, and I would like to see proof she is from Charles Blount and Penelope Devereaux. Thank you.
Marilyn Miller

Private User Writes

James Lee FINDLEY, Jr
Today at 2:27 PM
Good afternoon, Ms Howton. I noticed you have attributed the parentage of Ruth Blount to Sir Christopher Blount, Earl of Devonshire, and Penelope Devereaux, Lady Rich. I can find no historical record suggesting they had an illegitimate daughter named Ruth. Most persuasive for me is Devonshire's will, carefully written and executed the day before he died, that provided for all his children born of Penelope Devereaux, including the child she was currently carrying but later lost. It excludes any mention of a child named Ruth. Written by his lawyers (plural) it sought to ensure the inheritance of his acknowledged children and was proof against "many" common law challenges, of which Ruth Blount's mother could have been one, though she was never named among the claimants.

I don't discount Devonshire as her father, for why would someone like Ruth Blount deliberately adopt a name as well-known as Blount or Devonshire in that day unless it represented some kind of family tradition? Perhaps her mother did have a relationship with Devonshire, but was unwilling to pursue it after he left Ireland.

If Ruth was in fact born in 1600 and Devonshire was her father, she had to have been born in Ireland, her mother unknown to Devonshire's biographers. For me the unanswered question remains: who was Ruth Blount's mother?

Food for thought in any event.

——-

Does anyone have proof of origins or names?

She’s showing as daughter of Charles Blount, 1st Earl of Devonshire & Penelope Blount, Countess of Devonshire

And wife of Christopher ‘the immigrant’ Tilghman, Jr.

From Devonshires profile notes:

Until a primary or good secondary source comes along that removes all doubt that Ruth was actually Charles' daughter, this lineage is on hold. Please let me know if you have any information that proves this relationship.
1. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Blount,_Charles_(1563-1606)_(DNB00) This site mentions that Penelope had three sons (Mountjoy, Charles, and John) and two daughters (Elizabeth and Isabel). 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Blount,_8th_Baron_Mountjoy This site mentions children Mountjoy, Charles, John, and Ruth. 3. Westminster-abbey.org mentions daughters Penelope and Isabel. 4. Peerage.com lists seven children with Scipio being the child who died as an infant. Ruth is not listed.

Charles left a will, but I cannot find the details (online and for free) from the will where he mentions his five children and the child his wife was carrying at the time the will was written in 1605.

After looking at all of the online information, Charles had a total of six children: three sons who lived to maturity (Mountjoy, St. John, Charles) and two daughters (Elizabeth, Isabel, Ruth and Penelope are all mentioned as possible names in the sources) with one child dying young.

——

I am disconnecting from parents and locking relationships.

From Sally Varlow, The Lady Penelope: Passion and Intrigue at the Heart of the Elizabethan Court (Andre Deutch: London, England, 2014)

page 238: "Once the peace was signed [Treaty of London, 1604] Devonshire was at last able to get away to Wanstead for a summer interlude. Here in the calm and quiet of Wanstead he could relax with Penelope and his children. Their eldest child, Penelope, was now twelve years old; Isabella had turned nine in January; and though none of their three sons, Mountjoy, St. John and Charles, had yet reached eight, they were fine boys who would one day join him in riding, hunting and hawking in the parks."

page 259: "The deed of trust and Devonshire's will, signed the day before he died, meant his properties should pass straight to his beneficiaries . . . . In the will, Penelope and their five children were carefully identified . . . . To make it watertight only their Christian names were used: Mountjoy St. John, Charles, Penelope and Isabella, and 'such issue as the said lady now goeth withall'."

page 312. The endnotes cite Devonshire's will thusly: "PROB 11/108, re-examined 11/109/322; the inquistionem post mortem: PRO C 142/306/146 to establish his estate; and the Star Chamber court case is STAC 8/108/10."

On 7 February 1600, Elizabeth sent Charles Blount, then 8th Baron Mountjoy, to Ireland to replace Essex. A year later (during the time Essex was committed to the Tower) he petitioned Elizabeth to return to London, but she refused. He returned from Ireland in June of 1603 after her death. (His success in quashing the Irish rebellion earned him the title 1st Earl of Devonshire from James I.)

During this time in Ireland Devonshire could have sired Ruth, though there is no mention of that in Varlow's book or, indeed, anywhere else I've looked. Still, the presumptuousness of assuming his name (Blount) and his title (Devonshire) would not have been tolerated unless there were accepted facts on the ground to sustain the claim. For this reason alone I'm content (for now) to accept the fact that Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy and 1st Earl of Devonshire was the father of Ruth Blount/Devonshire.

I have proof from this on ancestry.com

It shows me as being Princess Diana's 12 cousin through Penelope Blount. I have taken a DNA test to find this information as it has been hidden for 400 years. Please contact me and I will send you screenshots.

Erica Howton

Please contact me at tahneyhuiet@gmail.com and I will send you proof of this relationship from ancestry.com

I am more than willing to do this. I sent you the screenshot for the DNA deep dive match. Please tell me how to proceed in verifying this.

Erica Howton