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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 1999-02 > 0917914300


From: Reedpcgen< >
Subject: Re: Weaver-Freeman
Date: 2 Feb 1999 00:11:40 GMT


>> In a will made in 1699, Simon Weaver, a cutler of London and Wokingham,
>> Berkshire, made certain bequests
>> to relatives which indicates that he was a grandson of
>> Richard Freeman, an armiger.

If this Richard Freeman truly is an esquire (which at that period meant someone
of greater standing than a gentleman, but less than a knight, and generaly one
who held land of the crown), you should find probate records for the family.
The most likely place would be the Prerogative Court of Canterbury or the
Archdeaconry Court of Berkshire, the indexes to which have been published by
the Index Library [British Record Society]. Wokingham is part of the Peculiar
of the Dean of Sarum [Salisbury], Wiltshire, however, and kept early records,
so you might have to check that court too.

There is only one Freeman family who appear in the Visitations of Berkshire
(HS56:209), that of Thomas Freeman and his wife Frances Bennet. They were
parents of three early Virginia immigrants, Bridges and Bennet Freeman (see
Adventurers of Purse and Person), and Elizabeth Freeman, who became wife of
Col. Thomas Pettus. This family originates in Berkshire several generations
earlier, being originally humble malsters who worked hard and married well, as
so many did during the Tudor period.

I have done extensive research on these Freemans, some of which will be
published in Brice Clagett's book (theoretically this or next year), and will
eventually publish a long article detailing the family, but that may not be for
about two years or so.

Frances Bennet was of that same family (great-aunt, or something) of Charles
Bennet, Earl of Tankerville, a favorite of Charles II and holder of the
Northern Neck in Virginia. Their family had 5,000 pounds per annum besides
50,000 pounds ready money "the greatest fortune in England" [CP 12:i:633, n.
a].

The names Richard, Thomas and Ralph do figure in this Freeman family, so I
would be interested to know how they might connect to later immigrants to
Kentucky. Please contact me privately.

pcr

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