Richard Milton, "The Ranger"

Richard Melton "The Ranger" was born in 1536 in Stanton, Saint John, Oxford, England / Shotover Forest, Oxford, England (3)(4) and died after 13 Jul 1601 in Stanton,Saint John, Oxford, England. He was also known as Richard Milton and was the grandfather of John Milton (1608-1674), author of Paradise Lost.

Parents: Henry and Agnes.

Married:

1. in 1563 in Stanton, Saint John, Oxford, England to Elizabeth Haughton.(1) She was born about 1535 in Stanton,Saint John, Oxford, England and died after 1600 in England. (1)
2. about 1575 to Ellen J. Bradshaw. (2)

2 children include:

1. John Melton (b. 1563 d. 15 Mar 1647) md. Sarah Jeffries(b. 1554 - d. 3 Apr 1637)
2. Thomas Melton (b. 1570-d. 1640) m. Elizabeth or Margaret Ross (d.1575 - d.1645)

Notes

• Ancestors of Caleb Levi Burns
• from the Volume: The Family of Milton, by Hugh M. Milton

1. Richard's wife, Ellen, had apparently been married previously as record shows her as Jeffreys; nee Bradshaw, Caston, Haughton.
2. Probably the widow Jeffries. In the parish records of All Hallows, Bread Street, London, there appears this entry: "The 22d of Feb AD1610, was buried in this parish Mrs. Ellen J. Jeffries, the mother of Mr John Milton's wife." (Ref. p. 30)

• Richard Milton, son of Henry and Agnes, was a loyal Pappist and throughout his life resisted the efforts to establish the Church of England. After Elizabeth "I" came to the throne, she strengthened the Church of England by insisting that people of all faiths attend ecumenical services. Attendance was mandatory, and Richard refused and was convicted and fined sixty pounds on two occasions in 1601 as a recusant (a recusant being one who refuse to obey an order or law).
• Richard Milton was a substantial man reportedly and under-ranger in the Shotover Forest. He is the only person recorded as being a recusant in Oxfordshire. After 1601 there is nothing recorded of Richard Milton. It is believed that he was buried at Stanton -- Saint -- John.

1. http://www.reocities.com/npmelton/familyhistories.html
2. The musical times, Volume 49 "John Milton senior, father of the poet, was born in the year 1562 or 1563. The place of his birth is not definitely known, but it was probably at the village of Stanton St John about five miles from Oxford, where his father Richard Milton was a prosperous yeoman who is stated to have an under ranger of Shotover Forest. The circumstances of Richard Milton may have been improved his marriage with a lady supposed to have named Haughton whereby their son, John, was to London to seek his fortune ..."
3. Shotover was part of the Wychwood royal forest[1] from around the period of the Domesday Book until 1660.

for more about Shotover, see http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=101898

Links

• http://carolinagenealogy.org/pafg25.htm#64662
• http://home.flash.net/~jmbartay/database/d28.htm#P1409
• http://www.reocities.com/npmelton/familyhistories.html