Mid-Atlantic Gateway Ancestors of Proven Royal Descent

Mid-Atlantic Gateway Ancestors of Proven Royal Descent

Roland's guide to surviving medieval genealogy in the Internet age.

This page includes: DE, NJ, NY, PA (Note MD is under Southern Atlantic Gateway Ancestors of Proven Royal Descent)

See also

1. New England Gateway Ancestors of Proven Royal Descent
2. Southern Atlantic Gateway Ancestors of Proven Royal Descent
3. Gateway Ancestors of Proven Royal Descent of Canada and the West Indies.

You’ve worked tirelessly for years on your genealogy and you’ve finally gotten your tree back to the Great Migration. You’ve made some fascinating discoveries. Now you are ready to cross the Atlantic and enter the world of medieval genealogy. Great work! So now you’re reading peer reviewed journals to learn about your ancestors in England – mostly yeoman, husbandman, minor clerics and various tradesmen. You find it fascinating to learn about life in the middle ages from the perspective of these families.

One day you stumble upon one of your ancestors on an Internet tree. And his or her pedigree goes back another twenty or more generations including Barons, Kings and Knights. You start to learn about geopolitical competition and the political development of Britain in a way you never imagined. You start to read about your ancestors on Wikipedia. Then one early morning you spit out your coffee on your computer screen and horror fills you when you discover accidentally that your tree is entirely bogus!

It’s happened to all of us. In fact most royal lineages found on Internet trees include what are called BGAs short for “Bogus Gateway Ancestors.” Countless man-years of genealogical effort is lost because of BGAs not to mention the heartbreak one suffers when one has to prune one’s medieval roots leaving a sorry looking stump! One may experience denial, bargaining, melancholy and even anger. This is perfectly normal. And let's not forget the embarrassment when you realize you told your whole family about your "discovery." But there has to be a better way!

GARDs short for “Gateway Ancestors of Royal Descent” and GANDs “Gateway Ancestors of Noble descent” have been the subject of intense academic research. Gary Boyd Roberts compiled and fact checked a large number of GARDs from the 1970’s though the 1990’s (see The Connecticut Nutmegger 10: 3-12, 187-98, 393-400 (1977-8); 12:372 (1980); NEHGR 141:92-109 (1987), 150:461064(1996)). Further rigorous research and collaboration lead to the publication of five robust landmark works distilling all of the proven lineages and debunking countless more:

1. Richardson, Douglas. Plantagenet Ancestry, 3 vols. 2nd ed., (Salt Lake City, Utah: Douglas Richardson, 2011)
2. Richardson, Douglas. Magna Carta Ancestry, 4 vols. 2nd ed., (Salt Lake City, Utah: Douglas Richardson, 2011)
3. Richardson, Douglas. FASG. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, ed Kimball G Everingham. 5 Volumes (Salt Lake City, Utah: Douglas Richardson, 2013) Available on Amazon.
4. Roberts, Gary Boyd. The Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants to the American Colonies or the United States (Baltimore, 2008) The 2004 edition is available online at Ancestry.
5. Weis, Frederick Lewis, Walter Lee Sheppard, William R. Beall, and Kaleen E. Beall. Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700. 8th ed. (Baltimore, 2004) Available online at Ancestry.
6. Weis, Frederick Lewis, Walter Lee Sheppard, and William R. Beall. The Magna Charta Sureties, 1215. 5th ed. (Baltimore, 1999) available online at Ancestry

Note that the five volumes of Royal Ancestry by Douglas Richardson published in 2013 includes all of the research previously published in both Plantagenet Ancestry and Magna Carta Ancestry plus some new lineages and some corrections. In addition various lineage societies also maintain current lists of GARDs and GANDs.

The five volumes of Royal Ancestry by Douglas Richardson published in 2013 being the most recently published currently contains the most up-to-date research outside of journal articles published since 2013. These volumes contain 257 gateway ancestors of which 43 came to The Mid-Atlantic Colonies. The following is a complete list of all Mid-Atlantic Gateway Ancestors of proven royal descent published by Douglas Richardson in 2013. Each Ancestor's name is followed by the volume number and page number:

Delaware:

1. Claypoole, Norton, of Lewes, Delaware V: 385
2. Rodney, William, of Kent County, Delaware

New Jersey:

1. Abbott, Anne (Mauleverer), of Nottingham Township, Burlington County, New Jersey IV: 65
2. Barclay, Gov. Robert, Esq., of East Jersey I: 245
3. Barclay, John, Esq., of Perth Amboy, New Jersey I: 245
4. Elkington, George, of Burlington County, New Jersey
5. Fenwick, Elizabeth (Covert) (non-immigratin spouse of John Fenwick, of New Jersey) 11:559; II: 344
6. Fenwick, John, Esq., of Salem, New Jersey II: 559
7. Owen, Joshua, of Burlington County, New Jersey IV: 286
8. Rudyard, Thomas, Esq., Deputy-Governor of East Jersey
9. Throckmorton, John, of Salem, Mass., Providence & Warwick, Rhode Island, & New Jersey V: 155

New York:

1. Clarkson, Matthew, of New York City, New York II: 218
2. Gotherson, Dorothea (Scott), of New York IV: 600
3. Howell, Edward, Gent., of Boston & Lynn, Massachusetts; Southampton, Long Island III: 348
4. Hutchinson, Anne (Marbury), of Boston, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York II: 147
5. Lawrence, Thomas, of Newtown, Queens County, New York
6. Lawrence, William, of Flushing, Queens County, New York
7. Lawrence,John, of New York City, New York
8. Lovelace, Thomas, of New York City, New York
9. Ludlow, Gabriel, of New York City, New York

Pennsylvania:

1. Bevan, Barbara (Aubrey), of Chester and Philadelphia Counties, Pennsylvania I: 199; I: 357
2. Humphrey, John, of Marion, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
3. Bevan, John, of Chester and Philadelphia Counties, Pennsylvania I: 357
4. Blunston, Hannah (Levis), of Darby, Chester County, Pennsylvania IV: 206
5. Bradshaw, Sarah (Lewis), of Darby, Chester County, Pennsylvania IV: 206
6. Cartlidge, Mary (Need), of Darby, Chester County, Pennsylvania IV: 206
7. Claypoole, Edward, Esq., of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Barbadoes V: 385
8. Claypoole, James, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania V: 385
9. Ellis, Rowland, of Bryn Mawr, Merion, Pennsylvania
10. Goforth, Anne (Skipwith), of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania II: 671
11. Humphrey, Benjamin [son of Samuel], of Haverford, Delaware County, Pennsylvania
12. Humphrey, Daniel [son of Samuel], of Haverford, Delaware County, Pennsylvania
13. Levis, Samuel, of Chester County, Pennsylvania
14. Lloyd, Thomas, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
15. Need, Joseph, of Darby, Chester County, Pennsylvania
16. Owen, Rebecca (Owen), of Merion, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania IV: 286
17. Oxley, Anne (Slcipwith), of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania II: 671
18. Reese Price, Rebecca (Humphrey), of Merion, Pennsylvania
19. Roberts, Anne (Humphrey), of Merion, Pennsylvania
20. Roberts, Elizabeth (Owen), of Wayne, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
21. Rodney, Capt. John, Gent., 1633-1694 of St. Kitts and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Note: I can't find the Need and the Rodney profiles If you run across these Gateway Ancestors on GENI let me know. See Samuel Humphrey and children in Plantagenet Ancestry p 653. They should be connected to Samuel Humphrey born 1635.

New

In addition we include newly proven lineages which are currently being accepted by royal hereditary societies:

1. EUPHAME (SCOT) JOHNSTON, of NJ and NY [wife of Dr. John Johnstone, Mayor of NYC et al Gary Boyd Roberts has Euphame in his book, but it follows a different line that he states may have problem Nathan W. Murphy, MA, AG, FASG presents a new line of descent click here to see the new lineage with sources.
2. Catherine (Lorraine) Lyell of NJ [wife of David Lyell] Nathan W. Murphy, MA, AG, FASG presents and outline of her ancestry here.

The Royal Descendants of 600 Immigrants (aka RD600) first published by Gary Boyd Roberts in 2003 with a second edition in 2006 and finally a third edition in 2008. The final edition includes a total of 688 immigrants of Royal or noble descent. However, only 387 of these include colonial immigrants who left progeny. Only some of these are from the Mid-Atlantic Colonies and several lines may only include a few surviving descendants. It is well worth the time to search this book if you can’t find your ancestor in Richardson’s list above.

I will be adding the complete list from RD600 2008 edition on this page as well soon.

Perhaps you would like to join a lineage society so you can dress up and role play. Lineage societies maintain their own lists based on accepted membership applications. For example Order of the crown of Charlemagne includes a total of 390 immigrants of which 63 came to Mid-Atlantic Colonies:

1. Abbott, Anne (Mauleverer), of Nottingham Township, Burlington Co., NJ
2. Asfordby, William, of Kingston & Marbletown, NY
3. Aubrey, Barbara, of PA
4. Barclay, John, Governor of NJ
5. Barclay, Robert, Governor of East Jersey
6. Barnes, Charles, of Long Island, NY
7. Bevan, Barbara (Aubrey), of PA
8. Bevan, John, of PA
9. Blunston, Hannah (Levis), of Darby, Chester Co., PA
10. Bradshaw, Sarah (Levis), of Darby, Chester Co., PA
11. Bradstreet, John, of NY
12. Burnet, William, Governor of NY
13. Bye, Thomas, of Bucks Co., PA
14. Cartlidge, Mary (Need), of Darby, Chester Co., PA
15. Clarkson, Matthew, of New York City, NY
16. Claypoole, James, of Philadelphia, PA
17. Claypoole, Norton, of DE
18. Claypoole, Norton, of Lewes, DE
19. Craighead, [Rev.] Thomas, of PA
20. Curtis, Anne (Revell), of NJ
21. Eddowes, Ralph, of PA
22. Eddowes, Sarah (Kenrick), of Philadelphia Co., PA
23. Elkington, George, of Burlington Co., NJ
24. Ellis, Rowland, of Bryn Mawr & Gwynedd, PA
25. Fenwick, John, of Salem, NJ
26. Foulke, Edward, of PA
27. Gordon, Thomas, of NJ
28. Graeme, Thomas, of PA
29. Howell, Edward, of Long Island, NY
30. Humphrey, Daniel, of Haverford, Delaware Co., PA
31. Humphrey, John of PA
32. Hunter, Robert, Governor of NY & NJ
33. James, Rev. Thomas, Jr., of Southampton, NY
34. Keith, Sir William, Governor of PA & DE
35. Kenrick, Sarah, of PA
36. Lawrence, John, Queens, NY
37. Lawrence, Thomas, Queens, NY
38. Lawrence, William, Flushing NY
39. Levis, Hannah, of PA
40. Levis, Samuel, of Chester Co., PA
41. Levis, Sarah, of PA
42. Lloyd, Thomas, of Philadelphia, PA
43. Logan, James, of PA
44. Lovelace, [Lady] Charlotte (Clayton) [Baroness Lovelace], of NY
45. Ludlow, Gabriel, of New York City, NY
46. Mauleverer, Anne, of NJ
47. Need, Joseph, of Darby, Chester Co., PA
48. Need, Mary, of PA
49. Owen, Joshua, of Burlington Co., NJ
50. Owen, Rebecca (Owen), of Merion, Philadelphia Co., PA
51. Oxley, Anne (Skipwith) (Goforth), of NJ
52. Potts, Thomas, of Philadelphia, PA
53. Powell, Anne (Duncanson), of NY
54. Rodney, Capt. John, Gent., of St. Kitts & Philadelphia, PA
55. Rodney, William, of Kent Co., DE
56. Rudyard, Thomas, Deputy Governor of East Jersey
57. Seton, William, of NY
58. Teller/Tayler, Margaret (Duncanson), of Beverwyck (Albany), NY
59. Traill, Robert, of PA
60. Wallace, John, of PA
61. Yarnall, Francis, of PA
62. Yarnall, Philip, of PA
63. Fitz Randolph, Edward, of Scituate and Barnstable, MA and Piscataway, NJ

Perhaps the fight for liberty is more your style? The Baronial Order of Magna Charta (BOMC) keeps its own list of Gateway ancestors that descend from the barons who forced King John of England to sign the document at Runnymede on 15 Jun 1215.

Feeling more Valiant? The Military Order of the Crusades (MOC) maintains a list of gateway ancestors that will take you on an exciting journal across Europe and into the Middle East.

If your immigrant ancestor isn’t on at least one of these lists chances are any royal ancestry you found for him or her on the Internet is bogus.

Good luck with your research!

Roland Henry Baker, III