Legends of Royal Descent/Coat of Arms
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Legends of Royal Descent/Coat of Arms
| Dan Brzezinski (View posts) | Posted: 20 Nov 2002 5:30PM GMT |
Classification: Query
The Maryland Pumphreys descend from Walter Pumphrey, born 23 November 1655 in the parish of Charlton Kings near the city of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, England. His parents were Richard (1615-1671) and Margaret (Lane) Pomfrey, and his grandparents were Gabriel (158?-1644) and Joan (Lewis) Pomfrey.
Walter, a Quaker, and his wife Hannah (Riddall), with their daughter Hannah emigrated from England to Burlington, West Jersey (now New Jersey) in 1677 or 1678. Walter was a carpenter and operated a construction company. In the early 1690s he married Marcy or Mercy. From the sons of Walter (Ebenezer, Nathan, Walter Jr., Sylvanus, Lazarus, and Joseph) came most of the Pumphreys in the United States.
Most of the clan headed toward the Washington, D.C. area, with about 25% of them settling in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, while the larger group settled in neighboring Prince George's County. The Prince George’s County group was mainly centered at "Charles Hill", near Upper Marlborough (now spelled Marlboro). The next town east is called “Meadowsâ€, the current site of Andrews Air Force Base. There is an old chapel there with a graveyard in which many Pumphreys are buried.
A Pumphrey descendant writes:
“Family legend has the Pumphreys descended from King Richard III through his illegitimate son, John of Gloucester.â€*
John of Gloucester (approx. 1471-1485) was also known as “John of Pomfretâ€. This name is derived from the Plantagenet castle of Pontefract (meaning “broken bridgeâ€) in Yorkshire, which was commonly shortened to “Pomfretâ€. After Richard III was killed at the battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, his son John was beheaded for treason on the orders of the new king, Henry VII.
Because “Pomfret†appeared in John’s name (as a title, not a surname) it looks as though someone in the Pumphrey family thought this must mean John of Gloucester was the first Pumphrey. This is unlikely for several reasons, not least of which is the fact that John was only about 14 when he was executed. In addition, we must consider the fact that John was executed by the man who defeated his father, mainly because the new king wanted no other claimants to the throne. So, if John had any children (whose name would not have been Pomfrey anyway**), Henry VII would no doubt have had them killed too.
* http://www.rootsweb.com/~intipton/pumphrey.html
** Nobles often had territorial designations added to their Christian names, e.g. Thomas of Woodstock, Elizabeth of York, Edward of Warwick, etc. These were lands that the individual (or his/her family) had title to…they were not surnames. Therefore, people living today with the surname Warwick are not descended from the Earl of Warwick (whose surname was Neville), but rather, they descend from someone who lived in Warwick. Similarly, John of Pomfret’s descendants (if he had any) would not have had the surname Pomfret/Pomfrey/Pumphrey, since John’s family line was
called Plantagenet.
Summary
Ancestry: The earliest documented ancestor is Gabriel Pomfrey of Charlton Kings, Gloucestershire, born in the 1580s. Undocumented stories of descent from John of Pomfret (who had no known children) or that the Pumphreys came over from France with William the Conqueror in 1066 are just that, stories.
Name: Although Pomfrey/Pumphrey is normally a Welsh patronymic (“ap Humphrey†= “son of Humphreyâ€), there is the possibility that in some cases it was locational, from Pomfret in Yorkshire (meaning someone who lived at Pomfret, not that they descended from the lords of Pomfret).
Coat of Arms: There are arms listed in Burke's "General Armory" for a 16th century Scottish Pumfrey: Azure a chevron Argent between three garbs Or. There are other arms recorded for Pomfret, and this is the coat that some coat of arms shops erroneously give for Pumphrey: Quarterly Argent and Gules a bend Sable. (See, for example: http://coatofarms-shop.com) There is no evidence that the Maryland Pumphreys have “official†arms, since male-line descent cannot be proven from anyone in whose name arms were recorded in the College of Arms.
Walter, a Quaker, and his wife Hannah (Riddall), with their daughter Hannah emigrated from England to Burlington, West Jersey (now New Jersey) in 1677 or 1678. Walter was a carpenter and operated a construction company. In the early 1690s he married Marcy or Mercy. From the sons of Walter (Ebenezer, Nathan, Walter Jr., Sylvanus, Lazarus, and Joseph) came most of the Pumphreys in the United States.
Most of the clan headed toward the Washington, D.C. area, with about 25% of them settling in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, while the larger group settled in neighboring Prince George's County. The Prince George’s County group was mainly centered at "Charles Hill", near Upper Marlborough (now spelled Marlboro). The next town east is called “Meadowsâ€, the current site of Andrews Air Force Base. There is an old chapel there with a graveyard in which many Pumphreys are buried.
A Pumphrey descendant writes:
“Family legend has the Pumphreys descended from King Richard III through his illegitimate son, John of Gloucester.â€*
John of Gloucester (approx. 1471-1485) was also known as “John of Pomfretâ€. This name is derived from the Plantagenet castle of Pontefract (meaning “broken bridgeâ€) in Yorkshire, which was commonly shortened to “Pomfretâ€. After Richard III was killed at the battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, his son John was beheaded for treason on the orders of the new king, Henry VII.
Because “Pomfret†appeared in John’s name (as a title, not a surname) it looks as though someone in the Pumphrey family thought this must mean John of Gloucester was the first Pumphrey. This is unlikely for several reasons, not least of which is the fact that John was only about 14 when he was executed. In addition, we must consider the fact that John was executed by the man who defeated his father, mainly because the new king wanted no other claimants to the throne. So, if John had any children (whose name would not have been Pomfrey anyway**), Henry VII would no doubt have had them killed too.
* http://www.rootsweb.com/~intipton/pumphrey.html
** Nobles often had territorial designations added to their Christian names, e.g. Thomas of Woodstock, Elizabeth of York, Edward of Warwick, etc. These were lands that the individual (or his/her family) had title to…they were not surnames. Therefore, people living today with the surname Warwick are not descended from the Earl of Warwick (whose surname was Neville), but rather, they descend from someone who lived in Warwick. Similarly, John of Pomfret’s descendants (if he had any) would not have had the surname Pomfret/Pomfrey/Pumphrey, since John’s family line was
called Plantagenet.
Summary
Ancestry: The earliest documented ancestor is Gabriel Pomfrey of Charlton Kings, Gloucestershire, born in the 1580s. Undocumented stories of descent from John of Pomfret (who had no known children) or that the Pumphreys came over from France with William the Conqueror in 1066 are just that, stories.
Name: Although Pomfrey/Pumphrey is normally a Welsh patronymic (“ap Humphrey†= “son of Humphreyâ€), there is the possibility that in some cases it was locational, from Pomfret in Yorkshire (meaning someone who lived at Pomfret, not that they descended from the lords of Pomfret).
Coat of Arms: There are arms listed in Burke's "General Armory" for a 16th century Scottish Pumfrey: Azure a chevron Argent between three garbs Or. There are other arms recorded for Pomfret, and this is the coat that some coat of arms shops erroneously give for Pumphrey: Quarterly Argent and Gules a bend Sable. (See, for example: http://coatofarms-shop.com) There is no evidence that the Maryland Pumphreys have “official†arms, since male-line descent cannot be proven from anyone in whose name arms were recorded in the College of Arms.