Margaret Eggleston

Daughter of Miles Harker & Dorothy. 1st wife of James Eggleston. See Margaret's mother's profile (Dorothy Radcliffe Harker b1546) to read her OVERVIEW giving the explanation for the sources which validate the existence of this Dorothy (2), second wife of Miles Harker. This Dorothy (2) was the daughter of Dorothy (1) Bigod Radcliffe. This solves the riddle of where Dorothy Bigod fits into the Eggleston family as questioned below in the explanations given by Rosalie Eggleston PHD and Linda McBroom.

The Mother of Bygod Eggleston, in The American Genealogist. (Demorest, Habersham, Georgia, United States: D.L. Jacobus), 69:194, 196.

Margaret (Harker) Eggleston must have died sometime btween the births of Jane in 1595 and James Jr. in 1603.

Children:

1. Bygod (our line)
2. Dorothy
3. Elizabeth
4. Jane

• http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Margaret_Harker_%285%29

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Update on the Mother of

Bygod Eggleston

By Rosalie Eggleston, Ph.D.,

and Linda Eggleston McBroom

Descendants of Bygod Eggleston are in for a great surprise when they read our article entitled "Bygod Eggleston's Mother" in the October, 1994 issue of The American Genealogist. We have recently discovered three wills which prove that James Eggleston, Bygod's father, was married thrice, that there was no Juliana Harker and that James Eggleston's second wife was Juliana Frear (Frere, Fryer).

For decades, most of Bygod's descendants have accepted as facts some unfounded conjectures which were intended to explain why James Eggleston called Ralph Harker "brother" in his will of 1612. He also named Juliana as his wife, therefore someone assumed that Juliana Harker was his first and only wife and that she was the sister of Ralph. Some descendants have gone so far as to claim that Bygod was given his unusual Christian name because Ralph Harker's mother, Dorothy, was in fact Dorothy Bigod, daughter of Sir Francis Bigod the one-time lord of the manor of Settrington where the Egglestons and Harkers lived. These irresponsible conjectures can now be proved wrong by the three recently discovered wills.

For details of the Eggleston and Harker families, see our book: Bygod Eggleston: Englishman and Colonist and Some of His Descendants, published by and available from the Mary John Clearing House.

Ralph Harker's father, Miles, had four sons and four daughters, but he did not name all of his daughters in his will of 1573. His eldest son, Richard Harker, made a fortune as a mercer in the city of London and he left a will dated 1574/5 in which he named all of his brothers as well as his sisters: Isabel, Agnes, Margaret and Elizabeth. There was no Julian Harker. By the process of elimination achieved by finding the records for the marriages of Isabel, Agnes and Elizabeth, we conclude that Margaret Harker was James Eggleston's first wife and the mother of Bygod, Dorothy, Elizabeth and Jane.

Richard Harker's will also shows that the Dorothy named in Miles Harker's will was not his first wife and not the mother of Richard who calls her his mother-in-law, meaning stepmother. After the death of Miles, Dorothy Harker married Robert Lamb on 13 August 1581. These facts make the theory about Dorothy Bigod look very absurd. Dorothy Bigod married Roger Radcliff and had two children by him neither of whom was a Dorothy nor parented a Dorothy. Dorothy Radcliff died before 1565.

In our book about Bygod, we presented a chart giving the names and baptismal dates of James Eggleston's eight children. Margaret (Harker) Eggleston must have died during the eight-year gap between the births of Jane in 1595 and James, Jr. in 1603. In about 1601-1602, James Eggleston married Juliana Frear, as our second will proves. Her father, John Frear, was a yeoman of Thorpe Bassett, a parish adjacent to Settrington. In his will of 1605, he used the words "my son in law James Eggleston of Settrington" twice. At the end of John Frear's will when he is listing the people who owed him money, he said, "Item I do freely forgive my son in law James Eggleston 18 shillings which he oweth unto me for a wayne." In addition to the remission of this debt for a wain, or a wagon, James received cash totaling five pounds for his legacy.

James's marriage to Juliana Frear is not recorded in the Settrington registers. Presumably they were married at Thorpe Bassett and that parish register does not begin until 1656. However, a brother and two sisters of Juliana were married at Settrington; Leonard Frear married Jane Swinburn on 3 May 1579; Alice Frear married Christopher Jenkinson 1 July 1682 and Helen Frear married Christopher Harker 17 May 1590. The IGI records these marriages and also the baptism of Christopher, son of Robert Harker. He may have been a cousin of Ralph, son of Miles Harker.

Juliana's brother, Leonard Frear, once owned the dovecote at Settrington which came into the possession of James Eggleston. The importance of the dovecote is discussed in our book about Bygod.

Further connection with the Frear family are revealed in our third will, of Juliana herself.

When James Eggleston died in 1613, Juliana was left with the tuition of his minor children whose ages ranged from ten to about two years; James, Jr., John, Margaret and Alice. About a year later, Juliana Eggleston married William Bainton who helped her run the farm and bring up her children. Bainton died in 1632 and left Juliana a widow for the second time. Juliana Bainton made her will on 1 January 1636/7, and was buried a week later. By this time her four children were all married.

In her will, Juliana named her own children and grandchildren, but she also named, or implied, James's older daughters; Dorothy, Elizabeth (deceased) and Jane. Of course, Juliana did not name Bygod because by then he was in Windsor, CT, struggling to build a life for himself and his three English-born sons, James, Samuel and John. We have found some Windsor land grants for "John, son of Baggett Egleston". From these we now know that John Egleston who died at Windsor in 1646 was an English-born son of Bygod. John obviously died too young to become a freeman of Windsor or to get married, so that is why we did not know about him before. He must have been a very small boy when Bygod and sons made the voyage to the colonies.

Juliana's will contains another interesting piece of information. In our book about Bygod (p. 60), we said that we thought that Bygod, Dorothy and Jane all went together to visit or live with their uncle Sylvester Eggleston in Norwich, Norfolk. They were the only ones of James Eggleston's children to receive legacies from Sylvester. Juliana's will proves that we right and we were also right about Jane's marriage to Samuel Clarke. Juliana left money to "my dawter Dorothy Barnwicke which is at noreg" and "my dawter Jane Clarke which is at noreg". Here Juliana means stepdaughters. Obviously these two Eggleston girls stayed on at Norwich and got married there after Bygod left for New England in 1630.

It is a mystery why these children of James went to Norwich in the first place. It may have been because of Sylvester's only surviving daughter, Katherine, who was apparently disabled in some way and could not look after herself. Sylvester seemed to sense that both he and his wife, Ann, were going to die and leave Katherine defenseless. They both did die a year after Bygod and his sisters arrived at Norwich for we now know they were there by 1611 when Bygod's name appears on the Norwich militia list for 1611 (NNRO 13A/15/1-20). This was a list of all able bodied householders and their servants who could be called to muster several times a year. It was not a standing army and the names of Sylvester and his son, Edmund, appear there also.

The militia list gives us another reference to Bygod's presence in Norwich. In 1611 he seems to have been a servant of Robert Coulson.

The three wills discussed in detail in our TAG (The American Genealogist) article give us the first significant breakthrough in Bygod's English background for decades. We are indebted to Mr. Robert Anderson, co-editor of TAG, for discovering the will of Richard Harker which may be found in 14 Pyckering, P.C.C. or FHL mf 0091953. We are also indebted to Tim Owston, a genealogist of York, England, and a descendant of the Bigods of Scagglethorpe, for discovering the wills of John Frear (vol. 29, fol. 704, P.C.Y.) and Juliana Bainton (Buckrose D 1636/7). Tim contacted us through our mutual membership in the East Yorkshire Family History Society. Sometimes it pays to belong to such organizations.

• **Reprinted here by permission of the authors. The above excerpted article originally appeared inThe Search for the Passengers of the Mary & John 1630 Vol. 25 pp. 83-85, The Mary & John Clearing House

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Children

  1. Bigod EGGLESTON b: 20 FEB 1586 in Settringham,Yorkshire,England

  2. Dorothy EGLESTON b: Abt 1588

  3. Jane EGLESTON b: Abt 1590

  4. Elizabeth EGLESTON b: Abt OCT 1592 c: 8 OCT 1592 in Settrington,Yorkshire,England

  5. Janet EGLESTON c: 2 NOV 1595 in Settrington,Yorkshire,England

  6. James EGLESTON b: Abt 1603 in Settrington,East Riding,England c: 19 JUN 1603 in Settrington,Yorkshire,England

  7. John EGLESTON b: Abt 1606 in Settrington,East Riding,England c: 6 APR 1606 in Settrington,Yorkshire,England

  8.  Margaret EGLESTON b: Abt 1608 c: 28 FEB 1608 in Settrington,Yorkshire,England

http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/CONYERS1.htm#Catherine This URL shows an outstanding Conyers family tree with the Conyers mother of Dorothy Bigod recorded on the lineages. It states that Dorothy married first, Roger Radcliffe. They had children probably by about 1546-7. Dorothy Radcliffe (2) was one of them and then it states that she (2) was the one who married Miles Harker having children by about 1563, Margaret Harker born circa 1565, plus Elizabeth bc1563 d Dec.1637. Dorothy's step-son Ralph bc1560 d Oct.1637 with other step-siblings like Richard bc1553 are known from her husband's first wife. These are mistakenly listed with Dorothy Radcliffe (1) but if Dorothy Radcliffe's (2) name is clicked, it is seen that (2) married Miles Harker by 1563 and would be the mother of the last two Harker children.

Quote from Tudorplace.com.ar/CONYERS, the link given above:

"DOROTHY RADCLIFFE Father: ROGER RADCLIFFE of Tunstall

Mother: Dorothy BIGOD

Married: Miles HARKER"

Roger Radcliffe and Dorothy had a son also named Francis Radcliffe born about 1548. This son was said to be the last Radcliffe to live at Mulgrave Castle, near Whitby, Yorkshire.This leaves room then for Dorothy Bigod to have Radcliffe children before 1550. So there were two Dorothy's descending from Catherine and Francis Bigod: Dorothy Radcliffe (1) and the next generation, Dorothy Radcliffe (2) who married Miles Harker and in 1581 Robert Lamb. 

Notes for Margaret and Dorothy Harker: By Rosalie Eggleston, Ph.D., and Linda Eggleston McBroom: "Richard Harker's will also shows that the Dorothy named in Miles Harker's will was not his first wife and not the mother of Richard who calls her his mother-in-law, meaning stepmother. After the death of Miles, Dorothy Harker married Robert Lamb on 13 August 1581. These facts make the theory about Dorothy Bigod look very absurd. " (authors are pointing out the impossibility that Dorothy Bigod (Radcliffe) (1) could have married Miles Harker and then Robert Lamb well after she died.) However the next generation Dorothy Radcliffe (2) bc1546, which the authors have admitted did exist, would be the Dorothy who married Miles and Mr. Lamb.

Miles Harker married the second time to Dorothy Radcliffe (2). His first children before 1563 were all born to his first wife. They were: Richard c1553, Isabel 1554, George 1555, Thomas 1556, Agnes 1558, and Ralph b1559 died 1637. Dorothy(2) bore Miles one more son named Radolphi in1561 and then at least two daughters: Elizabeth Nicholson c1563-1637 and Margaret Eggleston c1565 d before 1603. Then she had more children by another marriage after 1574 and Miles died. Second marriage was in 1581 to Robert Lamb..