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About Gilbert Elam
Married his first cousin.
Gilbert Elam, Sr. was baptized at Thurnscoe Parish, Yorkshire, on May 11, 1630. He came to Virginia about 1650 with his brother Martin. He married Ann Elam, apparently his cousin, perhaps around 1657. In 1671 he patented 867 acres on the south side of the James in what is now Chesterfield County. Subsequently he patented a huge tract of 2015 acres in Varina, on the north side of the river, with his son Gilbert Jr. and Edward Ward. In his will, proved in Henrico County Court June 1, 1696, he names four children, sons Gilbert and Thomas and daughters Elizabeth and Mary.
THE ELAM FAMILY, Quaker Merchants of England & America. Further information -
Because of all the circumstantial evidence that linked the early Elam settlers in Henrico County with the West riding, I felt it necessary to include them in my book on the Quaker Elams. I suggested several candidates with the Christian name of Martin, (a most unusual Elam forename). The most likely being one Martin Elam, son of Thomas and Mary Elam of Thurnscoe, near Barnsley, baptized St. Helen’s Church Thurnscoe, 5 April 1635. I found this information in the original Parish registers which are in a dreadful condition with many of the relevant years missing. I was unable to get hold of the Bishop’s transcripts for Thurnscoe, and did not pursue the matter as this was a minor matter in the context of the book which dwelt with the English Quaker branch. This Martin did however fit the age given in early American sources.
I was contacted by Lloyd Bockstruck of Dallas, Texas, who had bought my book, and had obtained a copy of the Bishop’s transcripts but did find Gilbert Elam, also son of Thomas and Mary baptized 11 May 1630. So Martin Elam is in the original Parish register but not Gilbert, his brother and Gilbert Elam is in the Bishop’s transcripts but not Martin, his brother. As many Elam researchers in America have been searching for Martin, Gilbert, Robert and William Elam without success for many years it look as if we have taken a good step forward. It now looks a strong possibility that Robert, William and stay at home Thomas were brothers and sons of James and Alice (Shirecliffe) Elam, who were married 9 May 1597 in Brodsworth. There is a strong possibility that their son Thomas Elam, baptized there on 24 Feb 1697/8 could be the father of Gilbert and Martin. James we know by his will of 1616 had 6 children including one called Gervase, again circumstantial evidence linking him to later Quaker Elams. By his death in 1616, James has a wife called Ann, a possible second marriage? The Elams were in Thurnscoe and surrounding parishes from a very early date. Dr. George Redmonds thinks there is a strong link to the Calverley family and may be the reason for the family migrating from Elam Grange near Keigthley, which seems to have been considered part of the Lordship of Horsforth & a grange of Kirkstall Abbey. At the dissolution of the monasteries an entry under Hampole Priory, 1540, give John Elome, a free tenants of lands in Clayton with Frickley and Turnscoe.
In 1466, from a document entitled Nostell Priory, which is the next place to Thurnscoe, re John & Richard Elam reads "In Thurnescough, from John Elam for 1 messuage , Pentecost 16/8d. From Richard Elom for half a bovate of land called Clarkson land, Pentecost 15d. St. Martinsday, 15d. Nostell Priory Rents due 1478." These names replace an earlier Stephen Elam. This is also quoted in a book by W. Hazard, published by Dearne Rural district Council in 1974 called ‘”A History of Thurnscoe.” We copied this down from the book. There were two manors in Thurnscoe, one of which belonged to the Monks of the De Barnebys. After the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII, the Thurnscoe manor, owned by Roche Abbey (the ruins still exist) passed to the Constable family of Kinston in Nottingham. Jane Constable passed it on to her daughters Ann Thorold and Cecilia Oglethorpe. Ann’s daughter, Winifred married a Clifton who sold it to Matthew Field of Ardsley in 1614. At the time we are interested in, his son James Field owned the manor and lived at Thurnscoe. (The manor is an estate not a house at this time). James got into debt and sold the manor to "mortgagors" in 1639. They sold it to a Thomas Shiercliffe in 1670. He, I should imagine, was related to Alice Shiercliffe who married James Elam. Thomas’’s son built a manor house at Thurnscoe. .
My husband Eric and I went to Thurnscoe to look around. We found the Parish Church, St. Helen’s but to our disappointment, it had been completely rebuilt in the 1850’s & as the Churchwarden told us, there was only one part of a wall that was older. The village too was a disappointment. All the land in the area passed into the hands of the St. Oswald family who built themselves a beautiful stately home out of the remains of the Priory. It is called Nostell Priory & is open to the public. Thomas Chippendale, the great furniture designed did his apprenticeship there & the Priory is full of examples of his work. Coal was discovered in the area between the villages of Nostell & Thurnscoe & the pit located at Thurnscoe as it was further away from the Big House. Consequently Thurnscoe was a pit village until the 1980’s & is full of depressing houses & a grim place altogether now the pit has closed. The church lies at the far end of the village furthest away from the pit and probably the original village stretched away in the other direction.
Nostell on the other hand is very pretty. The difficulty in researching this area is that it lies on the edge of Barnsley and Doncaster. I expect a great many relevant documents will be in the Archives of Nostell Priory & therefore under the care of the St. Oswald family who still own it. We found out as much as we could at the library at Barnsley but the librarian was not very helpful.
Another circumstantial clue is that Christopher Branch who married Mary Addie & who brought Robert Elam over to America did so at Darton, which is very near Barnsley & close therefore to Thurnscoe. In all probability, he knew the Elam family well. American researchers have brought to my notice a common oral history that Gilbert came over with 2 or 3 brothers. Other Americans are of the opinion that they came from "Tuckho". Can this be because of the way it was pronounced at that time, a corruption of Thurnscoe? In "The Annals of Virginia" by Waddell, he writes “The people living on the East side of the Blue Ridge received the sobriquet of Tuckahoes from a small stream of that name while the people on the west side were denominated "Cohees" from their common usage of the words "Quoth he" or "Quoth her" Was this division originally those that came from Thurnscoe & those who spoke as the Quakers of that time did? It certainly gives one pause for thought!
I went to the Borthwick Institute in February to see the Thurnscoe Bishop’s Transcripts originals. What a disappointment. They have a policy of not allowing either the transcripts of the Parish Registers to be photocopied. I did however get a look at the film of the transcripts. That was a surprise. It wasn't’t the same film as the Mormon film. In addition to the known gaps they have a gap from 1619-1627. This knocks out the entry for the youngest children of Thomas & Mary. I checked it very thoroughly. You can see Gilbert Elam’s baptism clearly enough if you can read the script, and if you peer very carefully and use a magnifying glass at the bottom of the page, there is the faintest impression, and I mean the faintest, of the beginning of ‘Martin’. If you looked at it in the normal manner you would not see it at all as the bottom half of the page appears blank. Having got nowhere with the archivist there to whom I told the story of the Virginia Elams, I thought I would see if Doncaster Record office had a printer yet. No they haven’’t. I had a word with the archivist there and she suggested Sheffield may have the transcripts and a machine to print them. I wrote to Sheffield with a sob story and they sent me a copy of Gilbert’’s baptism. This is from the Mormon film. Unfortunately it doesn’t show Martin’s baptism at all. That is how matters stand at the moment.
N. C. Elam Neill
The name Elam is English and is derived from Elham a village near Canterbury, Kent county England. Elham is probably a contraction of Elmham meaning a village of elms, and residents of that community first bore the name elham which afterwards became Elam.
2 APRIL 1694: Gilbert Elam and Gilbert Elam Jr. of County and Parish of Henrico, the husband and elder son of Ane (Anne) Elam dec'd. the daughter and heiress of Robert Elam of the same county, to Joseph Royal of the same, for L 50, tract in Bermuda hundred, formerly called Charles Hundred, 50 acres, 47 being on James River, and rest at the seat of Isaac Chaplin's mansion house to William Sharps and land of John Pettitt. signed: Gilbert Elam and Gilbert Elam Jr.
WILL OF GILBERT ELAM:
“To grandson Henry Gee, all my land at Parkers, 120 acres.
To daughter Elizabeth, a feather bed and 370 acres on Falling Creek, to be divided between her and my grandson Gilbert Gee, plus other items to the two Gee grandsons above.
To son Thomas Elam, 300 acres on Falling Creek.
To son Gilbert Elam and two sons in law Edward Ward and Robert Broadway, each a shilling apiece.
Son Thomas Elam to be sole executor.”
Dated 17 Feb. 1693 Wit: Edward Oliver, John Worsham, Phebe Worsham
Recorded 1 June 1696
Sources:
1. Henrico County, VA Will Book 5, pg. 653.
2. William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Ward Family, pg. 198, 1919
3. Henrico Will and Deed Book 1688-1697, pg. 479.
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Gilbert Elam's Timeline
| 1630 |
May 11, 1630
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St. Helen's Church, Thurnscoe, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
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May 1630
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Thurnscoe, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
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| 1645 |
1645
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Henrico, Virginia
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| 1659 |
1659
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Henrico County, Virginia Colony
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| 1663 |
1663
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| 1664 |
1664
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1664
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Henrico County, Virginia
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| 1666 |
March 2, 1666
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Varina, Henrico County, Virginia Colony
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| 1669 |
1669
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