Henry Riddlesdale alias Loker, Sr.

Surname has also been reported to be Looker, Locar and Loquar.

Date of birth has also been (erroneously?) reported to be February 2, 1576.

Date of death has also been (erroneously?) reported to be 1630.

Place of death has also been (erroneously?) reported to be Massachusetts.

Note:

His wife's maiden name has not been learned. They may have married in an adjoining parish, or perhaps at Bures St. Mary between 1602 and 1609 when a gap occurs in the parish registers. A likely guess is either a daughter of William Perry or John Simpson both having a daughter Elizabeth baptized about 1586-87-88.

Henry was a glover, not yet in his apprenticeship when his mother made her will in February 1592/3. Like his parents and grandparents, he lived in the southern part of the parish of Bures St. Mary which is in Essex. Apparently in his lifetime he dropped the surname RIDDLESDALE and began regularly using the alias LOKER instead, a pattern followed by his children in New England.

In his will, he called himself Henrie Loker of Bures St. Mary, Essex, glover, and requested burial in the churchyard, making bequests as follows:

...'to Elizabeth my wife' all my goods for life if she remains single, but if she remarries, my 'eldest son Henry' is to have my great brass kettle with a little table standing in the parlour, and 'my son John' is to have the long table in the hall and the best barrell. I give to 'my daughter Bridget' a flockbed, a coverlet, a blanket, a bolster, 1 pair of sheets and a deal hutch. I give my 'younger daughter Ann' the best cupboard, 1 of the biggest barrells and a little barrell. If my wife remains single, she shall have the use of these goods during her life. From my stock I give my wife Elizabeth £12, my son Henry £12, my son John £10 and £4 each to my daughters Bridget and Ann on their marriage days or after my wife's decease...My wife and sons are to share the use of my household stock, but if a son marries he is to have half his cash legacy at once. I give my daughter Bridget 20s. due to me from John Mathew shoemaker at Bures. Wife Elizabeth and eldest son Henry sole executors. Witnesses: John Isaack, Feffrey Hurst, John Parmiter.

sources

1. NEHGR, vol 143

Henry Loker 1610-1688 of Sudbury, Massachusetts

This family is a classic example of double named family in England using the word alias. They are original the Riddlesdale alias Loker family and in New England drop the first name and just go by Loker. This type of family name is rare, but it did exist and I descend from a few such families.

1. John Riddlesdale alias Loker, probable son of a Robert Riddlesdale, was born about 1500 and was buried on 2 July 1561 at Bures St. Mary, Suffolk, England. He married about 1530, Joan (---) who was buried at Bures St. Mary on 30 April 1561. They were the parents of:

2. Robert Riddlesdale alias Loker born about 1533 and was buried 1 July 1585 at Bures St. Mary, England. He married about 1 562, Lucy (---) who was buried 3 February 1592/3 at Bures St. Mary. They were the parents of:

3. Henry Riddlesdale alias Loker was baptized 7 February 1576/7 and was buried 25 February 1630/1 at Bures St. Mary, England. He married about 1609, Elizabeth (---), who died at Sudbury, Massachusetts on 18 May 1648. It was in this generation that Henry adopted the name Loker more than Riddlesdale. Henry and Elizabethe had four children: Henry, John, Bridget, and Anne/Hannah.

4. Henry Loker (Jr.) was born about 1610 at Bures St. Mary, England and died 14 October 1688 at Sudbury, Massachusetts. He married there on 24 March 1647, Hannah (---) Brewer, widow of John Brewer, and who died 14 February 1679 at Sudbury, Massachusetts. Henry and Hannah had one child:

5. Elizabeth Loker born about 1648 at Sudbury, Massachusetts and died after 1696. She married at Sudbury 29 May 1667, Jacob Moore, born 28 April 1645 at Sudbury and died there 23 March 1715/6, son of John and Elizabeth (Rice) Moore. Elizabeth and Jacob had twelve children: Jacob, Richard, John, Elizabeth, Nathaniel, Hannah, Sarah, Sarah, Daniel, Samuel, James, and Jonathan.

Sources:

“The Riddlesdale alias Loker Family of Bures Saint Mary, Suffolk, England and Sudbury, Massachusetts” by Douglas Richardson, New England Historical & Genealogical Register 143 (1989):325-331.

Fifty Great Migration Colonists to New England & Their Origins by John Brooks Threfall (Madison, WI, 1990).

New England Historical & Genealogical Register 57 (1903):300-7 et seq. [Moore]

“The English Origins of John Moore of Sudbury, Massachusetts” by John Plummer, The American Genealogist 66 (1991):75-77.

Feb 23, 2015 11:22:25 AM | Great Migration, Names