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THE FRANKLIN PAINTING £ ENSLAVING CO
TOLEDO.
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Introduction 5
Eltweed the Common Ancestor of the American Pomeroys 9
Romance and History 10
Old Traditions Verified 14
English Parish Church Records 16
The Key to the Genealogical Problem 18
Antiquity of the House of Pomeroy 20
Various Pomeroy Coats-of-Arms 21
Key to Abbreviations in Heraldry (Foot note) 22
Pedigree of the Oldest Sons of the Pomeroy Family.
(From Prince's ''Worthies of Devon," 23
Notes Concerning the Above Pedigree 24
Pedigree of Eltweed Pomeroy,
(From Duchess of Cleveland's "Battle Abbey Roll,"
and other authorities.) 26
Notes Relative to Eltweed's Pedigree 29
Calendar of the English Kings (Foot note) 29
Ancient Political Honors ("Fuller's Worthies.") 32
The Pomeroy Ancestors were Norsemen of Norway $2
Ancient Demesne of Alricus the Saxon 33
Ancient and Distinctive Name in Normandy and England. . 34
Comments by the Late Chester Pomeroy Dewey 35
Names and Location of Various Pomeroy Manors and
Castles.
Berry Pomeroy Castle $7
Guard Room and Chapel in the Tower 41
Berry Pomeroy Church 42
St. Michael's Mount 44
Tragoney Castle in Cornwall 47
Engsden, Good a' Meary, East Ogwell, Up-Otterly,
Dunwinesdon, Winch, Branwendine, Pudeford,
Toriland, Horewood , Helicon, Tale, Beaver.
Nether Storey, Oare, Stockleigh, Branhinch, etc 48
Sanderidge, Devon 49
Tremerton Castle in Cornwall 49
The Barons of Valletort 50
Alverton, Penzance 51
Mocollop Castle, County Waterford, Ireland 51
The Insurrection in Devonshire 53
The Last Siege of Berry Pomeroy Castle 55
Occupation of Pomeroy Castle by the Seymours 56
Fruitless Attempt of the Seymours to Rebuild the Great
Castle 57
Beatrice of Nether Stowey 58
Extent of the Pomeroy Estates in Devonshire 59
Some Connections with Royalty 60
Interesting Extracts from English Authorities 60
Authentic Notes and Queries 64
Fragmentary Quotations 66
The Harburton Branch in Ireland 69
At Westminster Abbey 70
Domesday Survey 71
The Time Honored Name of Pomeroy 72
Some Legal Documents,
Bills of Complaint 72
Partial Epitome of Vicarages 76
Rolfe the Warrior and Eltweed the Gunsmith 76
Eltweed Pomeroy the Puritan Emigrant 78
A Proprietor and First Selectman of Dorchester 80
SUuBtratums
Castle of Berry Pomeroy Frontispiece
Photograph of Marriage Record of Eltweed Pomeroy. .
. . Face p. 16
North and East Views of Berry Pomeroy Castle.. Face p. 37
Berry Pomeroy Church Face p. 42
Stronghold of Saint Michael's Mount, Cornwall. ..Face p. 46
3totr0iMrtt0tt
'•rHIS preliminary pamphlet has been prepared with a
1JL view of attracting the attention and interest of every
individual of the Pomeroy race in America, and of every
family in collateral lines, to the importance of forwarding to
the Secretary of the Association all data in their possession
concerning the more recent developments in each family, and
the missing fragments of earlier statistics, already sent in.
Also, for the purpose of informing all those who are
interested of the recent discoveries in Romance and History
which have resulted from continued explorations among the
records and registers in England.
There is now no hesitation in asserting that our American
emigrant, Eltweed Pomeroy, of 1630, reached his century
through the channel of a long line of noted warriors and
statesmen, of whom Sir Ralph de Pomeroy, of Normandy,
was the progenitor. While the line of descent given in this
little book has been verified to an abstract certainty, there
still may remain that intangible doubt of absolute certainty
Which is so imperative in family genealogy. This absolute
proof, it is hoped, will be produced before we are prepared
to go to press with the book of record of the Pomeroy Family.
The line of descent given here is in each instance sup-
ported by dates, not of birth and death, but of periods during
which the individual is known to have lived, from the time
Sir Ralph de Pommeraie and his brother Hugue were
battling on the field of Hastings as companions with William,
Duke of the Normans, to the time of the surrender of the old
stronghold of Berry Pomeroy to the Lord Protector of
England after the affiliation of Sir Thomas de Pomeroy with
an insurgent army, which he led 20,000 strong and with which
he beseiged Exeter in 1549.
The name "Pomeroy," as Professor Phillimore has said,
is a distinctive one, and has long been noted in England,
mainly in the counties Devon and Cornwall, Dorset and
Somerset, and to write the history of this family commensur-
ate with its importance would require a large volume, for they
seem to have maintained a leading position in Devonshire
from the time of the Norman conquest, and sent numerous
branches out, which have been projected into the twentieth
century, covering a period of 900 years.
While it is evident that some of the information con-
tained in this pamphlet is familiar to many of the Pomeroy
Family, it must be considered that there are thousands of the
kinsmen who have no knowledge of any of it. It is, there-
fore, suggested that the descendants of Eltweed should bear
in mind that the family is now being represented in America
by the 10th and nth and even the 12th generations, and that
it is a colossal task to trace each individual without the
necessary information from the head of each family.
It should be understood that the Pomeroy Family Asso-
ciation has constituted itself a bureau of exchange or reci-
procity, and if heads of families will send in the vital statistics
relative to their immediate families such data can be dissem-
inated among other families by the process of genealogical
history, which will represent the entire race of busy men and
women, with their diversified interests.
In order to encourage all of those who are descendants
of Eltweed Pomeroy to adopt this action universally, the
present Secretary considers it proper to state here that
he has received through the courtesy of Mrs. Anna Grosvenor
(Pomeroy) Rodman, all of the Pomeroy records of her hus-
band, the late Dr. W. W. Rodman, a collection covering a
period of forty years ; also the data collected by the late
Mrs. Rebekah (Pomeroy) Bulkley ; the collection of Mr.
Sardis Pomeroy Chapman ; that of Judge George Pomeroy
Cobb ; and that of S. Harris Pomeroy, Esq., the latter covering
a period of fifteen years ; also that of Chester Pomeroy Dewey
and Eltweed Pomeroy.
This enormous collection of vital statistics is quite
sufficient to justify the Executive Committee to declare that
with ordinary interest and application and co-operation dis-
played by the family, the Pomeroy Family Book may be
ready for publication in the course of two or three years, or
as soon as the loose ends of the last generations can be
assimilated.
But the Association is positively in need of the recent
data, assistance from each head of family in verifying that
which we have, and sufficient financial aid to carry out the
VI
plans which have been formulated, and which are clearly set
forth in the new Constitution which was mailed to you
recently.
There is usually some one to be found in every family
who takes more than ordinary interest in genealogical lore.
If such one would take upon himself or herself the task of
forwarding to the Secretary their compilations up to date,
it would aid very materially in the solution of many of the
elusive problems and the accommodation of many of the loose
ends of an unfinished mosaic.
The nominal price ($1.00) asked for this pamphlet is not
to refund the cost, but to create a fund to be used in obtain-
ing absolute verification of «ach proposition advanced and
every lineage outlined, in order that the Pomeroy Family
Book may be produced as free from errors as a book on
Genealogy can well be made. Therefore, the $1.00 you
forward for this pamphlet will be considered as so much
financial assistance toward a mutually desirable end, and all
checks for larger amounts will be highly appreciated.
It is proper to state here that the publication of this
pamphlet is one of the results of the generosity and interest
in the family history of S. Harris Pomeroy, Esq., of New
Rochelle, New York.
ALBERT A. POMEROY,
Secretary of the Pomeroy Family Association.
Sandusky, Ohio, March 3, 1909.
VII
American Itomrrngs
It is generally understood that Eltweed Pomeroy is the
common ancestor of all of the Pomeroys in America, with
the exception of Thomas Pomeroy (Pumroy), who came
over in 1730, one hundred years after the advent of Eltweed,
and settled in Lurgan township, near Roxbury, Pa., Whose
first known ancestor is said to have been a Huguenot, and
teacher of languages in Paris in 1572. He escaped into
Ireland on the eve of the massacre of St. Bartholomew. Also,
a single family who settled in Virginia; and two or three
individuals who appeared in the country more recently from
England. However, it is a logical presumption that all have
descended from the Norman Knight, Sir Ralph, or from his
brother, Hugue Pommeraie, as the name is spelled in the
more ancient documents.
Bardsley, in "English Surnames," says that Normandy
first established hereditary surnames in England. "The close
of the eleventh century, we may safely say, saw as yet but
one class of soubriquets, which, together with their other
property, fathers were in the habit of handing down to their
children."
The derivation of the name "Pomeroy" is not from the
"Royal Apple," or "Fruit of the King," as has been so
uniformly believed by the Americans who bear it, but from
the parish of St. Sauveur (Saint Savior) de la Pommeraye,
in the department of La Manche, Normandy. Lower, in his
'"'Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom," says:
"This Paris'h (De la Pommeraye) gave name to a great
family, mentioned in Domesday Book, and by Brompton, and
they in turn conferred it upon Berry Pomeroy, county Devon,
England."
It would doubtless be interesting to the readers of this
pamphlet to note the scores of authorities given for the differ-
ent methods of spelling this time-honored name, and the
facility with which the vowels are changed about, but, how-
ever densely it is disguised, it will always be recognized. The
10 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
transition from the original "Pammeraye" is now generally
accepted by all authorities, as Webster has printed it in his
dictionary, "Pomeroy," and may "virtue and courage be the
companions of all who bear it."
It has always been the object of writers to invite
Romance to the aid of History in the effort to extract in brief
but authentic chronicles the germ from the dry storehouse
of the archeologist. It is with absolute confidence that the
writer believes the interest of the race in the time-honored
name, and in the good fame of their progenitors of the
eleventh and twelfth centuries, will prompt them to receive
this first compilation with good will when it is laid before
them.
As Sismondi has said, "The eleventh century has a right
to be considered a great age. It is a period of life and of
creation. All that was noble, heroic and vigorous in the
middle ages commenced at this epoch." To our own progeni-
tors, beside the more animated interest in the spirit of adven-
ture induced by the enterprise of the Norman Conquest, we owe
the respect of posterity, although there is a deep and pathetic
regret in the disappearance of the Saxon monarchy.
Although Freeman, in his "History of the Norman Con-
quest," has said that the "Nobility of Normandy in the time
of William was the most turbulent and aggressive in Europe,"
those war-sons of the Old North were a magnificent race
of men. While their invasion of England plunged an entire
population into the horrors of war, they reproduced the
noblest elements of civilization. They had great energy, and
a firm determination to secure and maintain individual civil
and religious liberty. At times the Knights of the Pomeroy
race made some splendid errors in their strife for fame and
fortune. However, those mistakes consisted mainly in their
efforts to improve the condition of their retainers. It was
for this reason that they were so frequently found in arms
against the constituted authority ; or in rebellion against
undesirable political or religious conditions.
But if there were no cause for personal dissatisfaction
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 11
they were always to be found fighting by the side of their
king when he was at war with a foreign enemy. Dr. W. W.
Rodman has well shown in his ''Study in Heredity" how the
years of discipline on that charming coast of Devonshire
modified those strenuous ancestors of ours into Stalwart
Souls.
"The state has no material resources at all comparable with
its citizens, and no hope of perpetuity except in the intelligence and
integrity of its people." — Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
The Family is even a closer bond than the State, and
has no material resources at all commensurate to the integ-
rity, courage and endurance of its men ; and no hope of
perpetuity except in the maternity and intelligence of its
women.
It has been said in English works on history that the
Barons of the House of Pomeroy were exceedingly happy in
the alliances they contracted by marriage. But in the present
day and age the Pomeroy men and women have been equally
fortunate, as we find among the kindred of all degrees of
relationship the most ancient and honored names in America,
and it is quite evident that the women of the race have
reflected as much glory upon the name through their mar-
riages, and through their sons and grandsons, as have the
men. While the men have the prestige of providing the
first Brigadier-General of the regular army, in the person
of General Seth Pomeroy, ever commissioned by the Conti-
nental Congress, and other important civil and military
officers, the women have added honors to the name by
alliances with scores of civil and military officers of distinc-
tion, such as Generals Pope, Bartlett, Dodge, Force, Tall-
madge, Vinton and innumerable ministers, lawyers, authors.
inventors, artisans, tutors, farmers and statesmen, and among
the latter may be mentioned the Hon. Elihu Root, the
present Secretary of State. All of these honors reflect a pretty
good class of American nobility, which is that of the mind,
and is usually merited.
However democratic a man may be, he is usually vulner-
able in the matter of wholesome ancestral pride. He is not
only glad that he is of a family that has every reason to be
proud of its record but he is resolved to live up to the stand-
12 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
ards it has established. The people who inhabited New
England from the time of the landing of the Mayflower to the
Declaration of Independence were a remarkable race. Todav
their names are found in every state of the Union ; and their
personal characteristics of mind and body are in evidence.
Their influence has been felt in the formation and develop-
ment of the government, and the institutions of the nation
and of every state ; practically they have made the national
character of which we used to be so proud and which late
immigration of a different nature has not yet wholly
obliterated.
An ancestry reaching to that Colonial period is a heritage
of wholesome and just pride to any American, and should
be an incentive to all to cultivate and encourage the growth
of those mental and physical characteristics of endurance
which have prompted and enabled men and women of that
period to accomplish so much good. Children should be
taught to perpetuate those characteristics by their own proper
physical, mental and moral development, and by judicious
marriages.
It is not clearly understood that any member of the
Pomeroy family was ever ennobled by a king after the time of
Henry III. (1257), except Arthur of Harburton, but the prefix
of "de" to a name signifies such nobility ; aside from this we
have not yet produced testimony unless it may be inferred
from Pomeroy (chequy). whose crest was a lion head crowned
with a ducal coronet ; or Pomeroy (St. Columb, counties
Cornwall and Devon), whose crest was out of a ducal
crescent, or a lion head guarded. It 'has not been learned
that any title was borne by the long line of Knights (Barons)
of Berry Pomeroy, which descended from generation to gen-
eration even while they held the old Castle, from 1067 to 1549.
Doubtless the family during this period contained many
Knights, and perhaps many of the readers are in accord with
the assertion that it is not so much the nobility of rank we
have searched for as the antiquity and honor of the name.
The title of Viscount now borne by one branch of the Pom-
eroys in Ireland dates only to 1791, and that was merited, but
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 13
as an Irish peerage it does not imply an estate in Ireland, the
name Harburton being taken from an English village in
Devonshire, which was part of the old manorial estate.
Neither has it been made clear that the family name is
derived from the fruit, but from the town or village of Pom-
meraie in Normandy, when it was bestowed upon the founder
of the race, Raoule (the French Ralph, pronounced in Eng-
land, Rolfe), or his father or grandfather, although it is
believed that he was the first to bear the name. Ralph came
from that place, Which was probably named from the orchards
in which those luscious apples grew, and for which the apple
orchards of Normandy are noted. In fact, at the date of the
Norman conquest surnames were either not in use or were
just beginning to be used, i. e., surnames descending from
father to son.
It will be remarked that this booklet consists of a com-
pilation of interesting extracts from English and French
historical authorities concerning the influence and importance
of the race in England in the early days of the House of Nor-
mandy and that of the Plantagenets, and the remarkable
projection of vitality and endurance, observable in the Pom-
eroy men and women of the present day, through past
centuries. Close study of the characteristics and physique of
those of the name, both of the Pennsylvania settlers, whose
emigrant was Thomas Pomeroy, and those of New England,
prompts the assumption that all are of the same lineage, as
none can be traced to any progenitor except the Norman
warrior, Ralph, and that all are of kindred well defined.
The apparent reproduction of extracts occurring in these
miscellaneous paragraphs will be found credited to different
authorities. This is done for the purpose of verification, in
order that greater confidence may be established in the minds
of the readers as to the authenticity of each extract, or to
denote the confusion of history as it relates to the private
individual.
14 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
(§lb ©rabitums Bmfefc
The tradition has been handed down from father to son
that Eltweed Pomeroy, our first ancestor in America, was a
descendant of Sir Ralph de Pommeraie, chief-of-staff of
William the Conqueror, and that in the division of the Saxon
lands in England to the companions of the Norman Duke,
Sir Ralph received as 'his portion large estates in Devonshire
and Somerset. It is now known that his sons acquired large
holdings in Cornwall and Dorset.
However, up to the present time the family has been
unable to discover tangible verification of these traditions
through the mists of time. In fact the English home of Elt-
weed was not discovered until 1904; neither was his father's
name known until 1907. During that year the father's name
and place of residence were found, as well as the date that
Eltweed and his brothers were christened.
The letters included in this report of the Secretary to the
many individual families of Pomeroy in America will define
the sources from Which these two important additions to the
genealogical history have become known ; and the gratifying-
results of further explorations among the English Church and
State Registers and Records in the discovery of Richard's
father and grandfather, which makes the connection complete
with Sir Richard de Pomeroy, the 15th generation from Sir
Ralph, temp. Henry VII., 1474-1531, and who was the head
of the house of Pomeroy at that time and Avho occupied
Berry Pomeroy Castle. Records verifying this assertion
have been found at Somerset House and at the British
Museum.
This Sir Richard de Pomeroy was great-great-grandson
of the Chevalier Thomas Pomeroy of Dorset, who married
his cousin Joan Chidleigh-St. Aubin-Brian. She was grand-
daughter of Sir John de Pomeroy of the nth generation,
and he was son of Robert Pomeroy, Chevalier. Sir Philip
Brian, her second husband, was also of Dorset.
In relation to his descent from this line of warriors and
lords of manors there is no degeneracy in the fact that Eltweed
Pomeroy Avas a gunsmith with a good reputation, or a black-
smith, if you please.
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 15
Quoting from an article in the American (Whig)
Review, of New York, 1848, from the pen of the Hon. N. S.
Dodge :
"This Eltweed Pomeroy is represented to have been a
man of good family, tracing 'his pedigree back to Sir Ralph
de Pomeroy, who accompanied William of Normandy into
England. Like most of the Dissenters of that
age Eltweed was a mechanic, having for many years carried
on the business of making guns to a large extent and with
much reputation. Upon sailing for America, he closed his
business, and selling most of his stock in trade, brought with
him only his tools. After a residence of several years in
Dorcester, the province of Massachusetts Bay offered him
a grant of 1,000 acres of land on the Connecticut river on the
condition of his establishing his business as a gunsmith
within the bounds of the province. He did so; and it is a
curious fact that, among seven generations which succeeded
him, there has been lacking at no time in the direct male
branch of descent, a follower of the original trade. The only
article of the tools, of the old progenitor of the family, which
he brought from England, known to be still in existence, is
the original anvil, now in the possession of Lemuel Pomeroy,
Esq.,* of Pittsfield, who was for more than thirty years a
large contractor with the United States government for arms."
Working in iron, fashioning implements of war, was per-
haps inherent with Eltweed Pomeroy. In the early days of
the Northmen the princes and other nobles of Norway were
workers in iron. They made their own arms and armor,
battle axes, spears, lances and other implements of war,
and the Norman warriors of much later period continued
the art or practice. Many Norman youths of generations
not long in the past were bound apprentices as armorers in
the guilds of England. These facts doubtless have some
bearing on the facility with which our ancestors in America
took so readily and spontaneously to the occupation of mak-
ing arms of offense and defense, swords, guns, pikes and the
lances (which the matross carried) during the Revolutionary
war.
*Now (Jan. 5, 1909) in possession of Mrs. Edward Pomeroy,
Tittsfield, Mass.
16 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
Jparisl? (Elmrrfj Sirrords
It has been said by one of the leading analists of
genealogy in this country, the editor of the Genealogical
Department of the Hartford Times, that it is desirable to
go into the old country a generation or two for antecedents.
Since the publication of "Eltweed and Four Generations
of His Descendants," by Mrs. Henry Thorp Bulkley, much
verified information has been collected concerning Eltweed
Pomeroy and his surroundings in England. The following
documents will be received with interest by his descendants:
(Copy of a letter from Rev. A. A. Leonard, Vicar of
Beaminster (Dorset), England, to Henry B. Pomeroy,
Cortland, N. Y.) :
Beaminster Vicarage, Dorset, England,
January 31, 1907.
"My dear Sir: — You will remember my giving you, about
a year ago, the date of the baptism of Eltweed Pomeroy,
son of Richard Pomeroy. You then asked me to let you
know if I happened to come across any other entries relating
to your family. I have now copied the Diocesan Transcripts
to the end of 1624. I find the baptism of two other Pomeroys,
probably younger brothers of Eltweed, thus :
"Edward Pomeroy, bapt. 4 March, 1591.
"Henry Pomeroy, bapt. 5 Aug., 1593.
"Edward died before he was two years old and was
buried, 19th July, 1592.
"Another day I may come across Henry again.
;jc ;jc ;jc ;}c ;fi .,- -^
"You have the record of Eltweed 's marriage with
Margery Rockett, Crewkerne, 7 May, 1627, but you may
not be aware that Eltweed had previously married at
Beaminster, Joan Keech, 4 May, 1617. Two daughters were
born to them, Dinah and Elizabeth. I can find no sons.
Elizabeth died less than two years after her birth. Joan, the
wife of Eltweed, was buried, 27 Nov., 1^20. when her
daughter Elizabeth was just a year old. So when Eltweed
married Margery Rockett he had been a widower nearly
seven years, unless there was another marriage between.
"I have now copied 1585 to 1684, inclusive, but unfortun-
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ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 17
ately in this period twelve years are missing, so my record
is not complete. I am glad to be able to give you the above
notes and hope they may be of some interest to you.
"If you are ever in the old country again and near
enough I hope you will come and see me.
Yours faithfully,
"H. B. Pomeroy, Esq. A. A. Leonard, Vicar."
* * *
(From Beaminster Church Records:)
Richard Pomeroy, county Dorset, England.
Children:
i. Eltweed Pomeroy, christened July 4, 1585.
(Note by A. A. Leonard, Vicar: "This is the first entry
in the Register.")
2. Edward Pomeroy, baptised March, 1591. Buried
at Beaminster, July 19, 1592.
3. Henry Pomeroy, baptised August, 1593.
* * *
(From Beaminster Church Records:)
"Married at Beaminster, May 4, 1617, Eltweed Pomeroy,
son of Richard, to Joan Keech.
Children:
1. Dinah.
2. Elizabeth, who died less than two years after
her birth.
* * *
"Joan, wife of Eltweed Pomeroy, buried at Berminster,
Nov. 27, 1620, when her daughter Elizabeth was just one
year old. A. A. Leonard, Vicar."
* * *
(From the Crewkerne Parish Church Register:)
"Anno Dom.
"1627
"Mar. Eltweed Pomeroy of Berminster and Margery
Rockett were married ye 7 daye of May."
"The above is a true copy of the marriage register of
Crewkerne Parish Church, the said register being legally
18 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
in my custody. Extracted this sixteenth day of August in the
year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred and four, by me.
Herbert C. Gaye, Vicar of Crewkerne."
SJje 2Crg tfl tlj? Jfroblrm
(London (England) letter from Henry B. Pomeroy,
Esq., of Cortland, N. Y., to George Eltweed Pomeroy, Toledo,
Ohio:)
First I secured a readers' ticket to
the British Museum and have spent much time there with
the pedigree of the Pomeroys.
'The Visitations of the County of Devon,' by J. L.
Vivian, an accepted authority by the British Museum, con-
tains five large and closely printed pages of the names of
Pomeroys who have lived in Devon, Dorset, Cornwall ; also
had a letter of introduction from the American Ambassador
to Sir John Barnes, of the Somerset House, and have spent
some time there. It was there that I discovered a legal
paper of some kind from Henry Pomeroy to his son Richard.
This letter or paper is written in Latin. This Henry*
Pomeroy's father was also Richard and 'he was living in
1531. In 1559 this Henry left this document to his son
Richard*. This is the date when Richard, father of Eltweed
and Henry, was living; and from material evidence I am
inclined to think that this Richard is the father of Eltweed
and Henry. * * * *
"I have just come from the British Museum, and accord-
ing to Vivian, Henry Pomeroy lived at this time and the
document at the Somerset Llouse agrees with his assertion.
As he lived at the time and was of the same age as our
Richard, and was connected with Dorset where we know
Eltweed's father lived after marriage, makes me think that he
is the Richard we are interested in.
"This Latin document was filed at the Somerset House
m I573 or T578. the last figure being somewhat indistinct,
which would seem to imply that Henry, Richard's father,
*It is suggested that the Committee on English Investigation
learn the birth and death dates of this Henry and Richard; also,
verify the names of their wives and the dates of marriage.
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 19
died about that time. * * * A gentleman
informed me that a search of the records in and about Dorset,
Wells, Bristol, Taunton, Exeter and Blanford would be likely
to throw more light on the subject than the wills at the
Somerset House, as the older wills are kept at those places.
He was at the American Embassy and seemed to be intimate
with the English system of record."
(Translation of the Latin Document referred to by Mr.
Henry B. Pomeroy :)
"Henry Pomeroy.
"On the 5th day of July, , letters of administration
of the estate of Henry Pomeroy, late of Totnes, in the county
of Devon, deceased, were granted to Richard Pomeroy,
natural and lawful son of the deceased, who was sworn to
administer truly ; and the letters of administration surrep-
titiously obtained by one Richard* Pomeroy, now or lately
of Totnes, aforesaid, by hiding the truth and stating false-
hood in June, 1559, were recalled as appears from the records
of the Courts."
Although the analysis above presented by Mr. Henry
B. Pomeroy of the interesting facts discovered by him in his
study of the records at Somerset House, and in the British
Museum, was made two years ago, and his belief in the
probability of the lineage thus developed, there has not, until
recently discovered, been evidence to corroborate the import-
ance of his finding. But now that analysis is so positively in
accord with the discoveries and conclusions recently made
by the Secretary of the Association, which are comprised
in the great volume of historical statistics in his possession,
and of which this paper is only a partial epitome, that he has
no hesitation in now announcing to the officers of the Associa-
tion, and all of the descendants of Eltweed Pomeroy, that the
problem of descent from the notable warrior and statesman,
Sir Ralph de Pomimeraie, has finally been solved.
While more minute details in support of this assertion
are desirable, the belief is now firmly established that the
pedigree outlined in this report is the correct one and that it
*It is not likely that this fraudulent Richard was father of
Eltweed as he was, evidently, of unimpeachable character later,
although young at this time.
20 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
will be resolved into absolute certainty, so essential in matters
of genealogy by further proof, which will result from still
further exploration by the committee on the English
investigation.
It is gratifying to be enabled to state that the traditions
which have for nearly 300 years been part of the Pomeroy
history in America, are in accord with these facts and that
they have now been verified. These sagas will henceforth
be resolved into family history instead of family tradition.
It is hoped that this pamphlet, with the information it con-
tains, will eventually find the way into the family of every
Pomeroy in America, and that the interest of each will be
quickened so that we may go forward at once and complete
the "Pomeroy Family Book," which has for so many years
been on the "trestle board."
uJlj? Antiqmtg of tljp ijmtfl? of pomrrog
(From Burke's English Peerage and Baronetcy.)
The family of Pomeroy is one of great antiquity, founded
by Sir Rolf de Pomeroy previous to 1050, and established
in England in 1066, after the battle of Hastings, and the
defeat of Harold the last of the Saxon Kings. Sir Rolf and
his descendants possessed large holdings in lands in Devon
and Somerset in 1097, during the reign of Henry L, the Wise
Beauclerk, the third son of William the Conqueror. The seat
of the head of the family was at Engsden, near Harburton,
county Devon, now known as Berry Pomeroy. A descendant
of this house, in the person of Arthur Pomeroy, M.A.,
University of Cambridge, was on July 5, 1791, created
Viscount Harburton. The coat of arms of some of the
ancient branches in England of the House of Pomeroy iiu
to the reign of Edward VI., are described here :
Pomerei (Berrie Pomerae), county Devon, temp. Henry
I, or a lion ramp, guarded, gu, armed and langued: az within
a bordeur se, indented sa.
Pomeroy (Viscount Harburton), or a lion ramp, guarded,
holding in the dexter paw an apple : ppr. within a bordeur sa.
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 21
Crest, a lion ramp, guarded, holding an apple in the arms:
supported by two wolves, the dexter ppr. sinister, sa. both
guarded and chained : or.
Pomeroy, Chalfent (St. Giles, county Bucks), or a lion
ramp. sa. within a bordeur, indented, guarded. Crest, a fir
cone vert, charged with a bez.
Pomeroy (Berry Pomeroy, county Devon), or a lion
ramp, guarded, within a bordeur, partition sa.
Pomeroy (Devonshire and Worcestershire), or a lion
ramp, gu., within a bordeur, engr. sa.
Pomeroy (Ireland), or a lion ramp, guarded, holding in
the dexter paw an apple, within a bordeur, engr., sa. Crest,
a lion ramp, gu., holding an apple as in the arms.
Pomeroy (Chequy), gu. and or on a chev., sa. three amul.
or. Crest, a lion head erased, charged with four bez., crowned
with a ducal coronet : ppr.
Pomeroy (St. Columb, counties Cornwall and Devon), or
a lion ramp, within a bordeur eng. gu., crescent for dif. Crest
out of a ducal crescent, or a lion's head guarded, gu.
Pomeroy (Weguy, county Cornwall), or a lion ramp., gu.
within a bordeur engr. sa. Crest, a lion segant, gu., holding
in dexter paw an apple, or.
Pomeroy, or a lion ramp., gu. within a bordeur, engr. sa.
(Eoats of Arms
The sole value or interest of our American coats of arms
consists in the remembrance or traditions of an honorable
ancestry. Coats of arms were frequently used in New Eng-
land during the Colonial period, and it is more than probable
that they were used in the rest of the original thirteen colonies.
These arms are worthy of preservation since they are valuable
evidence for the genealogist. At the date when they were used
the English rules were in force here. The time since the
settlement of the country was not so long as to forbid the
acceptance of tradition as evidence, we may believe that
those who displayed armorial insignia had good grounds for
their adoption.
(From Westminster Review, vol. 60, p. 45:)
"The glory of ancestors," it has been observed, "casts a
22 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
light indeed upon their posterity, but it only seems to show
what the descendants are. It alike exhibits to full view any
degeneracy and any worth.
"It is therefore a most desirable custom to preserve the
memory of a line of ancestry, tracing, perhaps, back to the
old feudal times ; for if any one feels a pride in the reflection
that he is descended from ancient worthies, it may prove some
incentive to him to maintain the credit of the name, and to
achieve a reputation deserving of it.
"Besides, there is a moral to be learned in looking over
genealogies ; for though, perhaps to many, nothing seems at
first sight less interesting than a genealogical table, a mere
register of dates and names. Yet, as I once read in an
American publication, each of those names in the table is a
memorial, perhaps the only memorial of a human heart that
once lived and loved — a heart that has kept its pulsations
through some certain periods of time and then ceased to
beat and mouldered into dust. Each of those names is the
memorial of an individual human life that had its joys and
sorrows, its cares and its burdens, its affections and hopes,
its conflicts and achievements, its opportunities wasted or
improved, and its hour of death.
Ijrralhtr Keg
Az — Blue.
Bordeur — Mark of difference to distinguish one branch of a
family from another.
Bez or Bezant — Flat pieces of gold without impress.
Chequy — Divided.
Charged — Bearing Device.
Dexter — Right.
Engr — Line of Partition.
Erased — Severed from the body.
Gu or Gules— Parallel lines on shield; red.
Guarded — Both eyes and ears in view.
Indented — Reversed — Changed in order.
Or — Gold.
Ppr — Party per — Divided into two equal parts.
Rampant — Standing upright — Attacking.
Langued — One ear in view.
Sa — Black.
Sal. or Sally — Posture of springing.
Segant — Sitting.
Sinister — Left.
Vert — Green parallel lines sloping to the right downward.
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 23
"To study a genealogy, then, may be to a thinking mind
like walking in a cemetery and reading the inscriptions on
the grave stones."
{fefrgrrc of % If Das? cf Punterou,
The Pomeroy Pedigree, as given by Sir William Poole,
was adopted by John Prince, Vicar of Berry Pomeroy, in
his "Worthies of Devon":
1. Ralph de la Pomerai (or Pomorio), (1066). William I.
2. Joel, married natural daughter of Henry I.
(Nicholas' "Peerage" has this name William de
Pomerai, as has the Duchess of Cleveland in her
"Battle Abbey Roll," living in 1102. This daughter
of King Henry I., by common law marriage, was
sister of Reginald, Duke of Cornwall. Had issue.
Henry, living in 1102, and Joscelin. Others give this
successor as William instead of Joel, but with the
same marriage.)
3. Henry, mar. Matilda de Vitrei ; he died 1208. Henry II.
4. Henry, mar. Alice de Vere ; died 1222. John.
5. Henry, mar. Margaret (or Margery) de Vernon ; died
1237. Henry III.
6. Henry, mar. Joan de Valletort ; died 1281. Henry III.
7. Henry, mar. Amicia de Camoil ; died 1305; aet. 40.
Edward II.
8. Henry, mar. Joan de Moels (Mules or Molle). Ed-
ward II. He had five or six sons, and was succeeded
by
(There seems to be a generation omitted here in
this pedigree.)
9. Henry, mar. (no name given). Had issue: Sir John;
Joan, who mar. Sir James Chidleigh ; and Margaret,
who mar. Adam Cole. Henry VI.
10. John, mar. Joan, daughter and co-heir of Sir Richard
Merton, of Merton, widow of Sir John Bampfield,
and died without issue.
(Joan Chidleigh, sister of Sir John, had issue, Joan,
who mar. (1) Sir John St. Aubin, and had issue,
John ; mar. (2) Sir Philip Brian of Dorset ; (3) Sir
24 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
Thomas Pomeroy of Sandridge, Kt., son of Robert
Pomeroy, unto whom and his heirs Sir John Pomerei
conveyed Beri. This Robert was sixth son of Henry,
above numbered 9. Temp. Henry VI. The line
proceeds as follows :)
10. Joan, mar. Sir James Chidleigh. Her daughter —
11. Joan, mar. (3) Sir Thomas Pomeroy, and had —
12. Edward de Pomeroy, who mar. Margaret, daughter
and heir of Peter Beavil and Margaret his wife, who
was daughter and heir of Richard Colaton. He had
three sons, and was succeeded by —
13. Henry, who mar. Alice Raleigh, daughter of Walter
of Fardell, and had issue, Richard and Thomas. The
latter was made Knight of the Bath at the coronation
of the Queen of Henry VII. (1468). This Henry
mar. (2) Amy Camel.
14. Sir Richard, mar. Elizabeth, daughter and heir of
Richard Denzel of Filley, in Devon.
15. Sir Edward, mar. Jane, daughter of Sir John Sapcote.
Sir Edward was made Knight of the Bath when
Prince Henry, afterward Henry VIII., was made
Prince of Wales, which was in 1502, after the death
of his (Henry's) elder brother.
16. Sir Thomas, mar. Jane, daughter of Sir Pierce Edge-
combe. They had issue —
17. Thomas, mar. the daughter of Henry Rolle of
Stephenston, and had —
18. Valentyne, who mar. (1) a daughter of Sir Thomas
Reynel of East Ogwell, and had a daughter ; he mar.
(2) Margaret, daughter of John Whiddon of Chang-
ford, Kent. They left issue —
19. Roger, who is still (1701) flourishing there (in Sand-
ridge), having been Justice of the Peace, Deputy
Lieutenant and a Member of Parliament. He mar.
Joan, dau. of Elias Wills of Saltash, Cornwall.
Notes (£tmtttnm$ iljr Abofo jfroujm
(From llayden's "Book of Dignities":)
"The Pomeroy Barons end with Henry de Pomeroy, in
Edward I., when they ceased to be ranked as Peers of the.
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 25
realm, until 1783, when Arthur Pomeroy, the heir male of
this Henry, was created Baron Harburton in Ireland."
In Nicholas' "History of the Peerage of England," after
Sir Ralph, is the following: * * * "Held diverse
lordships in the survey general, principally in Devonshire,
whereof Berry Pomeroy was the head of his Barony."
Valentyne, 18 in the above list, left a son Valentyne, by
Margaret Whiddon, who married a daughter of Gilbert Hody.
He also left a son, Gilbert Pomeroy, who was still "surviving
at Sandridge, an honest, pious and charitable gentleman."
It is not clear from Prince's book where the quotation
from Sir William Pole ends. The words, "still flourishing,"
referring to Roger, 19, and still "surviving," referring to
Valentyne in above note, doubtless are from Mr". Pole's
record, as another account makes Roger a Member of Parlia-
ment in 1601, and gives the marriage of Valentyne (18) to
Margaret Whiddon in 1628, and to the daughter of Thomas
Reynel in 1615.
Henry Pomeroy (6 in the above list), in 1258, joined
King Henry III. against the Welsh at Chester. He afterward
revolted with Simon Montfort, Earl of Leicester (1258- 1264).
Edward I. summoned him to service against Llewellyn,
Prince of Wales, and he acknowledged service in one Knight's
fee in Berry Pomeroy, in 1281.
Henry Pomeroy (7 in the above list) served in Wales
as a lad when 16 years old, and was married when his father
died. When he came of age he was released from the
scutage of Wales by Edward I. None of this Henry's
descendants were ever called to Parliament and they ceased
to be "ranked with the Peers of the Realm." (The scutage
was a species of tax or tribute levied against lords of manors
for the prosecution of war.)
"The last of the quality of Peer of this family in Parlia-
ment," says Prince's "Worthies of Devon," (p. 646), "war.
Henry de Pomeroy, who in the 41st year of Henry III. (1257),
doing his homage, had livery of 38 fees in Biry and Harburton,
etc., all of which he held in capite of the King by the service
of barony."
"In 1399 (12th of Edward III.) the then Knight de
Pomeroy (Sir Henry, 9 in the above list) released to the
eldest son of the King, the Duke of Cornwall, all of his
26 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
interest in his estate of Trematon (?), in Cornwall. An
annuity of £40 was then granted by the King, which grant
remains (1701 or 1801) in custody of Roger Pomeroy, Esq.,
the direct heir." — Ibid.
The old Raleigh seat (see Henry, 13 in the above list)
Fardel was near Cornwood, 8 m. N. of E. of Plymouth. Sir
Walter was born 1552 at Hayes, Barton Farm, near Budleigh,
5 m. S. W. of Sidmouth.
Amy Camel is said to have been the second wife of King
Henry IV., and that her crest, a camel, was set up at Berry
Pomeroy Church. It was not there when Sir William Pole
wrote. — Hume, vol. 2, p. 343.
Of the sons of Sir Richard (14 in the above list) were
John and Henry. The former had a son St. Cleer, known as
St. Clere, in Dorset.
Hayden's "Book of Dignities" says: "The Pomeroy
Barons end with Henry de Pomeroy, Edward I. (1272), when
they ceased to be ranked as Barons of England, until 1783,
when Arthur Pomeroy, the heir male of this Henry was
created Baron of Harburton in Ireland."
(The student will find some inaccuracies in the above notes;
he is referred to notes accompanying the pedigree of Eltweed
Pomeroy. — A. A. P.)
•prfctgr*? of iElttowd Pompro^
The dates given here do not represent in every case
birth and death dates, but periods when the individual is
known to have lived, most of them being by authority of the
Calendar of the English Kings:
1. 1035- 1080 — Sir Rolfe de Pomeroy of Normandy.
At the battle of Hastings, October 14, 1066, the
Norman conquest of England. (The name is printed
Rodolphus de Pommereis in the index of the Domes-
day Book.)
2. 1080-1130 — Sir William de Pomeroy, married the
sister of Reginald, Earl of Cornwall, natural daughter
of King Henry I.
In 1080 the whole of the manor of Alverton,
Penzance, passed from the Earls of Cornwall to the
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 27
Barons of Pomeroy. (Prince, who used Sir William
Poole's mss. in his "Worthies of Devon," assigns
this succession and marriage to Joel Pomeroy. There
seems to be a generation omitted here; perhaps Joel?)
3. 1 160-1208 — Sir Henry de Pomeroy, married Maude
de Vitrie ; 9th of the reign of King John.
4. 1208-1222 — Sir Henry de Pomeroy, married Alice de
Vere.
In the 17th year (1216) of King John, he joined the
rebellion and his lands were confiscated ; next year
he submitted and his estates were restored; he died
in the 6th year (1222) of King Henry III.
5. 1222-1237 — Sir Henry de Pomeroy, married Margaret
de Vernon.
He came of age in the 16th year (1232) of King
Henry III. He died in the 21st year of the same
reign, 25 years of age.
6. 1237-1281 — Sir Henry de Pomeroy, married Joan de
Villetort.
In the 42d year of King Henry III. (1258), he joined
the King against the Welsh at Chester, but was after-
ward in rebellion with Simon Montfort, Earl of
Leicester, in the 48th year (1264) of King Henry III. ;
he was pardoned for this, but in the following year
he was again in arms against his sovereign and his
estates were confiscated. In the fifth year (1277) of
King Edward I., he was summoned to service against
Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, and acknowledged the
summons by service of one Knight's fee in Berry
Pomeroy. He died in 1281.
7. 1281-1305 — Sir Henry de Pomeroy, married Amicia
de Camville, daughter of Geoffrey, who became his
guardian. He was married at the time of his father's
death.
In the 15th year (1287) of King Edward I., coming
of age, he was released from the payment of the
scutage of Wales, because as a minor of 16 he had
been in service there. He died in 1305, aged 40, and
had been four times in the King's service.
8. T305-1338 — Sir Henry de Pomeroy, married unknown.
None of his descendants ever being summoned to
28 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
Parliament, they ceased to be Barons of the Realm.
9. 1338-1371 — Sir Henry de Pomeroy, this 7th Henry
married Joan, daughter of John, Lord Moels. They
had sons: Henry, William, Nicholas, Thomas, John,
Robert.
10. 1371-1404 — Sir Henry de Pomeroy, married unknown;
had a son and two daughters, Joan and Margaret.
11. 1404-1422 — Sir John de Pomeroy, married daughter
and heiress of Sir Richard Merton, widow of John
Bomfylde, Esq. They had no issue.
Sir John's sister Joan married Sir James Che(i)dley
(leigh) ; Margaret married Adam Cole. Sir John
died 1st year (1422) of King Henry VI.
11. 1422-1426 — Joan de Pomeroy, daughter of Sir Henry
and sister of Sir John, who married Sir James
Chedleigh, had a daughter Joan.
12. 1426-1440 — Joan de Pomeroy-Chedleigh, married (1)
Sir John St. Aubin (Arebin) ; (2) Sir Philip Brian
of Dorset ; (3) Chevalier Thomas Pomeroy of
Dorset (1420-1443), a cousin to whom Sir John had
willed the Lordship of Berry Pomeroy. By the 3d
marriage a son was born.
13. 1440-1454 — Sir Edward de Pomeroy, married Mar-
garet, daughter of Peter Bevil. He sold the Lordship
of Berry Pomeroy.
14. 1454- 1490 — Sir Henry de Pomeroy, married (1) Alice,
daughter of Walter Raleigh of Fardel ; (2) Amy
Camel (of the family of Beaumont of Engsden).
Hume says that Amy Camel was the 2d wife of
Henry VI., and that her crest, a camel, was set up in
the Church of Berry Pomeroy.
15. 1474-1531 — Sir Richard de Pomeroy, son of Alice
Raleigh, married Elizabeth, the daughter and heiress
of Richard Denzell. They had Edward, who suc-
ceeded in the line of the eldest son ; John and Henry.
16. 1531-1570 — Henry Pomeroy, married unknown.
17. 1560-1593 — Richard Pomeroy, married (as yet un-
known.) According to Beaminster Church Register
he had : Eltweed, bapt. July 4, 1585 ; Edward, bapt.
March, 1591 ; Henry, bapt. August, 1593.
18. 1585-1673 — Eltweed Pomeroy, married (1) at
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS
29
Beaminster, May 4, 1617, Joan Keach (Keech), who
died Nov. 27, 1620; (2) at Crewkerne, May 7, 1627,
Margery Rockett.
They were emigrants to America in 1630 (5th of
King Charles I.*) in the ship "Mary and John," set-
tling at Dorchester, Mass. He died in Northampton.
Richard Pomeroy, father of Eltweed, had at least three
sons : Eltweed, Edward who died in 1592, and Henry. United
in this family of Richard's we find his own name to conform
to that of Sir Richard of the 15th generation, whom we now
hold to be his grandfather; Eltweed, which in Saxon nomen-
clature is consistent with Ethel ward (Ethelwold or Ethel-
wood), the name of Sir William's younger son; Edward,
*dalen&ar of tlje lEtmltBl} Kings
The House of Normandy
Reigned
from Years
William I.
1066 — 21
William III.
(3d son) 1087 — 13
Henry I.
1100 — 35
Stephen
1135 — 19
The House of Plantagenet
Henry II. 1154 — 35
Richard 1. 1189 — 10
John 1199 — 17
Henry III. 1216 — 56
Edward I. 1272 — 35
Edward II. 1307 — 20
Edward III. 1327 — 50
Richard II. 1377 — 22
The House of Lancaster
Henry IV. 139 9 — 13
Henry V. 1413 — 9
Henry IV. 142 2 — 39
The House of York
Edward IV. 1461 — 22
'Edward V. 1483—-
Richard III. 1483 — 2
The House of Tudor
Henry VIT 1485 — 24
Henry VIII. 1509 — 38
Edward VI. 1547 — 6
'Mary dau of H. VIII. 1553 — 5
EEl'z'b'th dau of H. VIII. 1558 — 44
The House of Stuart
Reigned
from Years
James I. 6th Scotland 1603 — 22
'Charles I. 1625 — 24
Charles II. 1649 — 36
Oliver Cromwell, int'r 1649 — ■ 9
Rich. Cromwell, protec 1658 — 1
Mames II. 1685 — 3
William III. 1689 — 19
Anne dau of James II. 1702 — 12
The House of Hanover
George I. 1714 — 13
George II. 1727 — 33
George III. 1760 — 59
George III. Regency 1801 — 19
George IV. 1820 — 10
William IV. 1830 — 7
Victoria 1837 — 63
The House of Saxe-Coburg
Edward VII. son of
Victoria 1901 — 7
'Murdered.
*And Catherine of Aragon.
'And Anne Boleyn.
'Beheaded.
"Deposed.
30 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
which was the name of the successor in the 13th generation,
and Henry, which was the name of the lord of the manor of
Berry Pomeroy in the 14th generation, and also the name
of Eltweed's grandfather. It is more than a remarkable
coincidence to find in one family the names of the last three
available ancestors, and one similar to that borne by a
kinsman of a more remote period, either of which might have
been changed in the confusion of history. It can also be taken
into consideration that Richard's father Henry also bore the
name of the Baron of the 14th generation.
This Thomas Pomeroy who married Joan, the grand-
c'aughter of Sir John Pomeroy, was Thomas Pomeroy,
Chevalier of Dorset. Joan Pomeroy Chidleigh had previously
married (1) Sir John St. Awbin; (2) Sir Philip Brian. Among
the Dorset Plea Rolls is the following entry :
"Dorset — Thomas Pomeroy, Chevalier, and Joan his wife,
sued Hen. le Scrope for one-third of the Manor of Pompk-
noole, as dower of Joan of dotation of Philip Bryan, her
former husband, March 5 (He. IV.), 1404."
One may assume from the Duchess of Cleveland's
"Battell Abbey Roll" that Joel and Hugue (or Hugh) were
brothers of Sir Ralph, and that during the minority of
William, son of Ralph, Joel held the succession as guardian
until the lad came of age. Hence the confusion in history of
the time, which gives the succession to both Joel and William.
The historian, Mr. Eyton, asserts that Ralph and William
were brothers, while the Duchess of Cleveland in her "Battell
Abbey Roll," vol. Ill, p. 10, insists that William succeeded
Ralph ; and that William had a younger son, named Ethel-
ward, who refounded Buckfast Abbey in the time of Henry
I., and "whose name suggests an alliance with some Saxon
house." However, logic seems to favor William as being the
true successor, and the burden of the evidence is with him.
Sir Ralph would doubtless christen his son and heir in honor
of his chief and companion-in-arms. The marriage of a
daughter of King Henry I., who was sister to Reginald, Ear!
of Cornwall, is assigned to both William and Joel. The
Duchess does not find a brother William in the "Battle Abbey
Roll," but she does find Hugue Pomeroy.
In the event that William was the successor, his son
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 31
Sir Henry was a grandson of King Henry L, and half-brother
to King Richard L, and to John with whom Sir Henry had
joined in conspiracy against Richard.
That Sir Henry was also a cousin in a degree to the
Kings Edward I., and Edward II., all of the House of
Plantagenet.
Concerning the above marriage and the succession in the
Pomeroy line, the ground is tenable that Joel was the son of
Ralph, and that William was the son of Joel, or the reverse.
In marking down the generations, and understanding that
William of Normandy and Sir Ralph de Pomeroy were of the
same generation, as they were companions-in-arms, and that
William's son Henry and Ralph's son (say) William were
of the same generation, we must have a representative
of a third generation to espouse the daughter of King Henry
I., and that may have been Joel, unless Sir William married
into a younger generation than his age would represent. Thus :
1. William of Normandy. 1. Sir Ralph de Pommeraie.
2. King Henry I. 2. Sir William de Pommeraie.
3. Beatrice (probably) bis dau. mar. 3. Sir Joel de Pommeraie.
4. Sir Henry de Pommeraie,
who married Maude de
Vitrie (or Matilda), temp.
King John.
From this point the line continues without confusion
until we reach the nth generation, when the succession
passes to Joan, a sister of Sir John ; thence to a grand-daughter
of Sir John, who was daughter of Joan and Sir James Chid-
leigh, and who rescued the name to the succession by her
third marriage with Chevalier Thomas Pomeroy of Dorset,
to whose father, Robert, Sir John had willed the lordship of
Berry Pomeroy, thus retaining name and succession through
a younger son.
The next salient point for controversy is in the 17th
generation. It has been held by some historians that Sir
Thomas de Pomeroy left no issue, but this is not true, as Sir
Thomas has mentioned Thomas and Arthur in his will as
sons, with other remainders to go to other children, one of
whom was Richard, who received a provision, although inade-
32 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
quate, in Engsden, Devon. There was also a daughter, Joan,
perhaps, who married Richard Penkerell of Rosuma, whose
descendants were ruined in the time of Charles I., and sold
their manor to Hugh Boscowen, Sheriff of Cornwall, in whose
family it was settled on the Lady Ann Fitzgerald, Who carried
it to her second husband, Francis Roberts, a younger brother
of the Earl of Radnor.
Joltitral honors of tb,r ^ousr of Jlomrroy
(From "Fuller's Worthies," ''Gentry of the County.")
"In the 12th of King Henry VI., 1433-4, Edward Pomeray,
arms. Of the 78 names in this list, 34 have arms (Esquire),
after their names ; 6 have Chevalier, and 28 have no
distinction."
"Sheriffs — In the 50th of Edward III., 1376, Niclius la
Pomeray; 2d of Henry IV., 1201, Theo. Pomeroy of Berry
Pomeroy; 13th of same reign, 1214, Ric. Pomeroy; 2d of
Henry V., 1415, Tho. Pomeroy; 10th of Henry VI., 1432,
Edw. Pomeroy; 13th of Edward IV., 1474, Richard Pomeroy;
8th of Henry VII., 1493, Richard Pomeroy, mil ; ut prius (as
before) follows these names, under the heading 'place,'
meaning of 'Berry Pomeroy.' "
Then we pass to Elizabeth, 1585, when the Sheriff is
Edward Seymour, mil. of Bery Castle. (It was in 1549 that
Sir Thomas Pomeroy 's estates passed to the Seymour-
Somersets.)
"37th Elizabeth, 1595, Ed Seymour, arm. and ut prius of
Bury Castle; and again, 3d of James I., 1606, Edward Seimour,
arm. . . . and ut prius."
©Ijr Jhmtprou AnrrBtora forr? $farB?mrn of Norfoay
Sir Rolf de Pomeroy, who was born among the apple
orchards of Normandy about 1025, was descended from Rolf,
the Norsemen, who, under Rollo, landed on the shores of
Neustra, France, with Rolf Ganger (Rolf the Walker), a
Prince of Norway, in the ninth century, for the conquest of
that province. This Sir Rolf de Pomeroy, who was a Sire
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 33
and Tenant-in-Chief in Normandy, embarked with Duke
William of Normandy at St. Valleries in 1066 for the subju-
gation of England. His name is in the muster roll of the
army of invasion at St. Valleries, and is borne on the roll of
the Domesday Book at Battell Abbey. His services were
so efficient at the battle of Hastings, October 14, 1066, that
William the Conqueror placed him in possession of fifty-eight
townships in Devonshire, and seventeen in Somerset.
Mp Attrwnt Semifine of Alririta tlje ^axon
(From the "Guide Book of Pomeroy Castle," Devon,
England.)
"The ancient manor of Berri Pomeroy, Which in the time
of King Edward the Confessor (1060), belonged to Alricus
the Saxon, was bestowed by William the Conqueror on Sir
Rolfe de Pomeroy, who, after accompanying the Norman
Duke to England, rendered him such valuable assistance in
his successful invasion of England in 1066 that he received
from him no fewer than fifty-eight lordships in Devonshire,
and many in Somersetshire, as a reward. Selecting a
favorable site not far from the river Dart, Sir Rolfe erected
thereon the celebrated stronghold that now bears the family
name of Berry Pomeroy Castle, the stately ruins of which,
perched on a rocky eminence, with a crystal stream flowing
at the foot, constitute one of the most ancient and picturesque
objects of interest to be found in the county of Devon. It
is indeed an old-time relic, and to the present generation is a
reminder of the feudal days when armor-clad knights rode
out under the great gateway to do battle with a foe.
"The subsequent career of some of the members of the
family of Pomeroy appears to have been somewhat event-
ful ; and they seemed to have formed good matrimonial
alliances ; William, for instance, the son of Rolfe, married
one of the natural daughters of King Henry I., a sister of
Reginald, Earl of Cornwall. Their heirs were Barons and
Members of the House of Lords till the reign of King Edward
I. (1338), after which time, according to Dugdale, the
antiquarian and historian, they never had the benefit of
34 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
peerage, although they continued in their barony of Berry
Pomeroy until the reign of King Edward VI., about 1550,
when that was confiscated.
"It is also said that in 1257, the 41st year of the reign of
King Henry III., the peerage in Parliament of the Pomeroy
Family came to a termination, the last peer being Sir Henry
de Pomeroy, who in doing homage had livery of thirty-eight
fees in Beri (Berry) and Harburton, as well as the manors
of Beri and Stockley Pomerai (Pomeroy) and the moiety of
the manors of Harburton and Brixham, all of which he held
in capite of the King by the service of Barony. In the
following year he was summoned to provide himself with
horse and arms and to attend the King at Chester in order
to join him in resisting the Welsh ; but being afterward
found in arms against his sovereign the lands of Sir Henry
de Pomeroy were entreated.
"In the year 1102 Sir William de Pomeroy is said to have
given his Lordship of Biry to the monks of Gloucester, but
his brother Joselin, or Gozeline, afterward redeemed it by
a grant of some other property in lieu of it. This Sir William
had a son called Ethelward, who is declared by Dugdale to
have founded the Abbey of Buckfast, which, however, he
could not have done, since it was a Benedictine Abbey
before the time of the conquest. But he may very probably
have refounded and restored it, as his arms are still to be
= een there."
Attrimi attfc Ststutritfo £fam? in l-nglatifc
(From Burke's Landed Gentry.)
"The name of Sir Rolfe de Pomerei was variously spelled
in England, 'Pommerays,' 'Pomerae,' 'Pomerei,' 'Pomeraye,'
'Pommeraie' and 'Pomeroy,' until 1540, when the latter
rendition was uniformly adopted.
"Of the great array of time-honored names very few are
now borne by direct representatives. They exi?t rather
among the old gentry than in the peerage. In the majority
of cases the later descendants of illustrious families have
sunk into poverty and obscurity, unconscious of their origin ;
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 35
and this was more likely to be the case with the younger
branches, since the name or title of the family went with
the elder line that inherited the estates.
"The name as given here is found in the Doomsday
Book, and the bearer, Sir Rolfe de Pomerei, was a genuine
follower of the Conqueror, and a Tenant-in-Chief in Nor-
mandy. It is obvious that those names which compare
favorably with the Doomsday Book are the most reliable.
"Much doubt has long existed as to the authenticity of
the names of the Norman invaders who survived the battle
of Hastings, October 14, 1066, but it is manifest that those
recorded, even if they ever were upon the original document
deposited with the monks of Battell Abbey and not found
to correspond with the muster rolls as tenants-in-chief or
under-tenants of Doomsday Book at the time of the survey
(A. D., 1086) are subject to suspicion as not being genuine."
(From the "Dictionary of Family Names of the United
Kingdom," by Lamer:)
See concerning the name of Pommeraye in Normandy
and Devon. The name is in "H. R." or "Rotuli Hundred-
orum," that is "Rolls of the Hundreds," 1273, made by
Edward I., as an inquiry into the state of the demesnes, many
of which had been resigned.
See Bardsley's "Ancient Surnames" concerning deriva-
tion of names in Normandv.
(Eomntrnts by tlje IGai? (£ij?st?r Jtom? roy Srfofg
The Family of Pomeroy deduces its origin from la
Pomeraye, a hamlet near Point d'Orrelly on the Orne. Sir
Ralph de Pomeroy (or Pomerai), born at the manor of
Pomeraye in Normandy, was descended from the Northmen
(or Norsemen), who under Rollo, conquered Neustria, now
called Normandy, 912. He was a favorite knight of Duke
William the Conqueror, whom he accompanied to England
in 1066. He acted a conspicuous part in the conquest, after
which William granted him sixty lordships and manors (some
say fifty or fifty-eight) in Devon and Somerset. In Devon
Ralph built a castle called Berry Pomeroy, after the seat he
left in Normandy. It is still known by this name, and is a
36 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
noble ruin in tolerable preservation. According to some
accounts it was sold in the reign of Edward VI. to Edward
Seymour, Duke of Somerset. It was destroyed by the Par-
liamentary arm)r in the Civil War, during the reign of
Charles I.
Most of the Pomeroy families in England and the United
States can be traced to this Sir Ralph. Those that cannot
be thus traced, cannot be traced to any other source, so that
they are all probably of the same lineage.
In the reign of Charles II., the Rev. Arthur Pomeroy
went as Chaplain to Ireland with the Earl of Essex. His
descendant, Arthur Pomeroy, was made a Baron in 1783.
under the title of Lord Harburton of Castle Carberry, and
was created a Viscount in 1790. This Arthur had four sons
and two daughters. Three sons succeeded him in turn. The
story that he was succeeded by his brother, Major-Generai
John Pomeroy, a British officer in our Revolution, has no
foundation.
Eltweed Pomeroy came to Dorchester (Boston), Massa-
chusetts, in 1630, in the ship, "Mary and John." bringing with
him a wife and infant son named Elded. He was a man of
sterling character and took a foremost part in organizing
the local government. He is said to have come from Devon-
shire, England. Another account refers his family to North-
ampton, and another to Wales. Elded died without known
issue and no other Pomeroys are known to have come to
America at this time. Most of the Pomeroys in the United
States can be directly traced to Eltweed, and he to Sir Ralph ;
the others can be traced to no other source, and are probably
of the same stock.
The land Barony of Berry Pomeroy was in possession of
the Pomeroy family until the time of Sir Thomas Pomeroy
(4th year of King Edward VI.). The spelling Pomerai or
Pomeraye was changed to Pomeroy about 1508.
"Two miles beyond Shobrook we pass through Stockley
(leigh) Pomeroy, one of the ancient estates of the powerful
family of Pomeroy."
•Names an& Stratum nf Hartnua
|tommiy iSJanorB
Imij Jlomrniij <£ astir
(From Burke's Landed Gentry.)
"The Castle of Berry Pomeroy in the county of Devon,
one mile from Totnes, took its name from a Norman estate
of Rolfe de Pomeroy, by one of which family it was originally
erected. They came into England with the Norman Con-
queror and resided here until the reign of Edward VI. (1547-
1553), when the manor was sold (confiscated) by Sir Thomas
de Pomeroy (about 1550) to Edward Seymour, Duke of
Somerset. From the ruins it may be inferred that the ancient
Castle was quadrangular, with a single entrance, upon the
south, between two towers, through a double gateway. They
were in the form of hexagons, one of them being strengthened
by angular bastions and still retaining the arms of the Pome-
roys. Over the gateway is a small room divided by a wall,
supported by three pillars and circular arches. This was
probably the chapel. The ruins of the interior part, or quad-
rangle, are much more modern than any other portion of the
edifice.
"The Castle stood a mile distant toward the east from the
parish church of Biry (Berry) Pomeroy. What it wras in
its antique form can hardly be calculated from what at
present remains standing, which is only the front facing the
south in a direct line of about sixty cloth-yards in length.
The gate stands toward the west end of the front, over which,
carved in mott-stone, is yet remaining the Pomeroy arms.
It had heretofore a double portcullus, whose entrance is
about twelve feet in height and thirty feet in length ; which
gate is embattled, as are the walls yet standing home to the
east end thereof, where answereth yet in being a tower called
St. Margaret's, from which several gentlemen of this county
recently held their lands. Within this is a large quadrangle
at the north and east side whereof the family of Seymour
built magnificent structures at the charges of £20,000, but
never brought it to perfection, for the west side of the
quadrangle was never begun.
38 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
'"What was finished may be thus described: Before the
door of the great hall was a noble walk, whose length was
the breadth of the court, arched over with curiously carved
free-stone, supported in the forepart by several stately pillars
of the same stone of great dimensions, after the Corinthian
order, standing on pedestals having cornices of friezes finely
wrought, behind which were placed in the wall several seats,
of frieze stone also, cut in the form of an escallop shell in
which the company, when weary, might repose themselves.
"The apartments within were very splendid, especiallv
the dining-room, which was adorned, besides paintings, with
statues and figures cut in alabaster, with admirable art and
labor ; but the chimney piece of polished marble, curiously
engraved, was of great cost and value. Many other of the
rooms are well adorned with mouldings and fret-work, some
of whose marble clavils were so delicately fine that they
would reflect an object true and lively from a great distance.
Notwithstanding which 'tis now demolished, and all this
glory lieth in the dust, buried in its own ruins; there being
nothing standing but a few broken walls, which seem to
mourn their own approaching funerals. But what we think
strangest of all, is that one and the same age saw the rise and
fall of this noble structure."
(From John Timb's "Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of
England and Wales.")
"This person. Sir Ralph de Pomeroy, built a castle here
which he named Berry Pomeroy, and made it a seat of a
barony or honor. The family of the Pomeroys continued to
reside here and hold the chief rank in this part of the country
until the reign of Edward VI., when the manor of Berry
came by forfeiture, cession or sale, it is not agreed which,
from the hands of Sir Thomas Pomeroy to the Protector
Somerset. one of whose descendants, Sir Edward Somerset,
the second baronet, in the latter part of his life lived in retire-
ment in the Castle of Berry Pomeroy, upon which he is said
to have expended upward of £20,000. His eldest son, Sir
Edward, sat for Devon in the last two Parliaments of Charles
I., and by adherence to whom Sir Edward had the Castle
plundered and burnt to the ground. A mansion was then
built * * which has since remained with Sir Edward's
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 39
descendants. The Duke of Somerset is impropriator of the
great tytles (or tythes) which formerly belonged to the
Priory of Merton in Surrey. * * According to
tradition, the tower of Berry Pomeroy was destroyed by
lightning."
Timb's also gives a brief description of the ruins of Berry
Pomeroy.
(From the Century Magazine, December, 1883.)
"Many and curious in Devonshire are the remains which
link the past in picturesque association with the present, and
possess for the antiquarian an interest which few other
counties in England can rival. The ruins of its ancient
castles at Oakhampton, at Plympton, at Tiverton, at Totnes,
and at Berry Pomeroy, are among the most striking and
beautiful of the relics of feudal times. Though now moulder-
ing in decay, and yielding to the general conquest of the ivy-
trailers which clinsf round and cover with a thin but denselv
picturesque mass of evergreen and crumbling stones of keep,
and embattlement, they attest no less by their grandeur, the
thickness of their walls, than by the surroundings of their
position, that they were once among the proudest of the
feudal strong-holds of England.
'Perhaps of all these magnificent ruins, the most beauti-
ful in charm and grandeur are those of Berry Pomeroy.
They stand on the crest of a lofty cliff, and are embowered
in woods ; when viewed from the valley below they impress
the beholder with a sense of their exceeding grandeur. Berry
Pomeroy Castle was erected by Rolph de Pomeroy, one of
the chief knights of the Norman conqueror of England. The
original extent of its buildings may be comprehended from
the statement that it was a long day's work for a man-at-arms
to open and close the casements belonging to them.
"According to one tradition the Castle was bombarded
by the King's troops during the reign of Edward IV., because
the head of the House of Pomeroy refused to obey a mandate
of the King to dismantle it. In this task the King was
assisted by a terrific thunder storm ; and its exposed position,
from which it towers above the highest trees of the magnifi-
cent wood which surrounds it, would lend weight to the
story. Again tradition recites that it was not until the civil
40 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
war that the Castle was dismantled and the church
adornments carried oft* or destroyed by the followers of
Oliver Cromwell."
As a pendent to this picture, it will not be amiss to give
here what Maton has said of the same place, in a tone more
picturesque though not more graphic than the description
of the old chronicler.
"Berry Pomeroy Castle stands upon a rocky eminence
rising above a brook. The approach is through a thick beech
wood extending along the slope of a range of hills that
entirely intercept any prospect to the south ; on the opposite
side there is a steep rocky ridge covered with oak, so that
the ruins are shut into a beautiful valley and in quite a
retired and romantic a situation on the banks of a bright
stream which flows into the river Dart, and which
"Rushing o'er its pebbly bed
Imposes silence with a stilly sound."
The remarkable remains of Berry Pomeroy Castle at
first suggests only an idea of some peaceful monastic mansion
to the mind of the spectator. When he perceives frowning
turrets, however, massive walls and gloomy dungeons, his
imagination will be wholly at variance with the beauty and
serenity of the spot, and he will think only of sieges, chains,
torture and death.
The great gate, with the walls of the south front, the
north wing of the court or quadrangle, some apartments on
the west side, and a turret or two are the principal remains
of the Castle ; and these are so finely overhung with the
branches of the trees and shrubs that grow close to the walls,
so beautifully mantled with ivy and so richly incrusted with
moss, that they constitute the most picturesque effects that
can be imagined.
And when the surrounding scenery is taken into account,
the noble mass of wood fronting the gate, the bold ridges
rising into the horizon, and the fertile valley rising in the
opening to the east, the ruins of Berry Pomeroy Castle must
be considered as almost unparalleled in their grandeur. The
eastern tower is accessible by a passage from the chapel over
the gateway; here is the best point for surveying the
environs of the castle. The interior part appears to be consid-
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 41
erably more modern than the gate and outer walls, the
windows being square or oblong, with lintels and cross-bars
of stone. There is, however, in the present mansion a fine
apartment called the great hall, 70 feet long and 40 feet wide,
while the roof is of oak very curiously framed, and the
chimney piece is 14 feet in height. It is going rapidly to
decay, however, and the walls being composed of slate, might
be entirely demolished with little trouble. To these details
should be added that the Castle was dismantled in the time
of the great Civil War — about 1650."
(Ull* (£uarfc Smut! and (Eljapd in tff? utohwr
(From the "Guide Book of Berry Pomeroy Castle.'')
Immediately over the gateway giving entrance to the
tower of Berry Pomeroy Castle is a small room containing
about a dozen loop-holes and divided by a wall, supported by
two pillars and circular arches. This chamber is generally called
the chapel, but was evidently the guard-room, seeing that the
opening for the fall of the portcullus still remains in the
walls. The chapel, however, was probably over or adjoining
this apartment. In the above room are steps leading down
to two small chambers on each side of the gateway which are
arched over. They are six feet in width and eleven feet in
length and height, and also provided with loop-holes. A
passage leads out of the guard-room to the foot of the winding
staircase, by which visitors may ascend to the summit of the
western tower, from whence a very fine view of the sur-
rounding country can be obtained. In a direct line from this
wall will be found at the eastern extremity of the ramparts
the remains of what are known in history by the name of
St. Margaret's Towers, which possess a peculiar interest from
the traditionary supposition that in its gloomy basement
chambers the proud Lady Eleanor de Pomeroy confined her
sister, Lady Matilda, for a lengthened period, and a belief
exists that in olden time a communication by means of a
subterranean passage was afforded from this same dungeou
to Compton Castle, another similarly fortified stronghold on
42 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
the demesne of Sir Humphrey Pomeroy Gilbert, who colon-
ized Newfoundland, now occupied as a farmhouse, and is not
far distant from Marldon.
All the portions of the ruins of Berry Pomeroy Castle
encircling the interior were indisputably the work of Sir
Rolfe de Pomeroy, on whom the Conqueror bestowed the
manor of Alricus the Saxon thane after his subjugation of
England in 1066. The comparatively modern parts are
indicative of their having contained many apartments, the
windows and after recesses showing the building to have
been at least four stories high, but the kitchen fire-places
here are not nearly so large as those in the older portion,
in the northwest angle, which extends to a width of twelve
feet and large enough to permit a whole ox to be roasted at
one time. The difference in the architectural arrangement
is here strikingly exhibited, which may be accounted for by
the change in the proprietorship from the Pomeroys to the
Sevmours.
This structure appears from the architecture to have
been rebuilt in the fifteenth century, most probably by Sir
Richard de Pomeroy, the elder of the two sons of Sir Henry
de Pomeroy. The south aisles, however, must have been
added afterward at the expense of sundry persons whose
names are recorded on the scrolls encircling the capitals of
the southern pillars. At the front of one of the tombs in
Berry churchyard are the arms of the Pomeroys, at the
western end of the monument, and at the eastern end a
shield, supported by two angels, displays Pomeroy arms
impaled with those of Sir Richard Denzell, of Filleigh, whose
daughter Elizabeth married Richard, who was of the 15th
generation from Rolfe, and whose mother was Alice, daughter
of Walter Raleigh. Judging from the style of the architecture,
the church, it is believed, was erected during the lifetime
of this Sir Richard, between 1470-1512, and who may
possibly have been incited to undertake the work through
the influence of his uncle, St. Clare de Pomeroy, at that time
Abbot of Buckfast.
o
■■a
o
a.
w
Q
<
pi
«4
o
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 43
The magnificent screen with the projection of the rood-
loft remaining, is profusely adorned with fern tracery, hand-
some perpendicular bosses, carving and gilding. The lower
part of it having been much mutilated, it is supposed by the
followers of Oliver Cromwell, the carved figures in the
compartments into which it was divided are therefore very
indistinct.
In the tower, which is square and embattled, there was
once apparently a chapel opening beneath an arch on the
southern side. Above the place where the altar must have
stood, there remains a stone shelf which was doubtless a
retable. Three of the bells are dated 1607, 1635 and 1715,
and are inscribed in the name of the church wardens. A
fourth bell was hung in the year 1829.
!?rrtr ^i\Bt <mb If tntrag?
Contiguous to the church on the northeast side stands
Berry Pomeroy House, which before the Reformation was
doubtless the Rectory house and occasional residence of
the Prior of Moreton, to whom the Rectory then belonged.
The dining-room is wainscotted and has two square-headed
perpendicular doorways. The house also contains some fine
specimens of oak carving.
On the southern side of the church is the Vicarage, where
the Rev. John Prince wrote the "Worthies of Devon," the
first edition of Which was published in 1701. He died in 1723,
and was buried in the churchyard of the parish of Berry
Pomeroy, of which he had been vicar for forty-two years,
and previous to this he had been vicar of Totnes, which was
a part of the Pomeroy domain, about five years.
®Ip> (EaHtk IHiU
The architectural features of the Castle Mill on the
manor of Berry Pomeroy are well worth examining. You
reach it by a narrow winding path on the northeast side of
the Castle at the foot of a hill by which runs a little brook.
The water of the brook after being confined by a dam serves
44 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
to turn the mill wheel. Although the water power is at
present made use of for the purpose of sawing wood, in ages
gone by it was employed in supplying the needs of the Castle.
By surmounting the bank on the opposite side of the stream
one can obtain a view of the ruins somewhat less obstructed
than any that can be had at any other point.
%t$?nbs of tip (Eastle
Among the variety of legends handed down in regard to
the Castle there are many of a sensational character, of the
type of which love and violence predominate. According to
the superstitious, Berry Pomeroy Castle and its grounds
are said to be still haunted. One story avers that a fair
maid of the Castle plighted her troth to a son of a neighboring
lord, between whom and the Pomeroys a life-blood feud
raged, and that a brother of the young lady came upon them
in a rose bower and killed both. Tales of this description
are innumerable and it is not surprising, therefore, when
the shadows of the night fall that ghosts are conjured up
in the minds of the imaginative. But perhaps no tale is more
cherished than the one relating to the Pomeroys at the time
of the last siege of the Castle, when prior to their desperate
leap over the precipice the Barons had buried in the soil the
gold and spoil their foes had fought for.
St. Michael's Mount is on Mount's Bay, a few miles from
Penzance, Cornwall.
(From Sir James D. McKenzie's "Castles of England," vol.
II.)
"This is an isolated granite crag in the parish of St.
Hilary, 195 feet high and 5 furlongs in circumference, stand-
ing in Mount's Bay, east of Penzance. It is said to have been
cut off from the mainland by a mighty inundation in 1099,
and is now joined to the shore only by a low causeway, 560
yards long of land which is covered by the tide 16 of the 24
hours.
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 45
"The hill is covered by an ancient building founded by
Edward the Confessor as a priory for the Benedictine monks,
and which in later years was fortified. The first military
occupation of this structure was effected by Henry de
Pomeroy, who having during the absence of King Richard I.
at the holy wars, assisted the usurping Prince John. He was
summoned by the Vicegerent Bishop Longchamp from Berry
Pomeroy (q. v. Devon). He, however, stabbed the messenger
who had deceived him into large entertainment, and fled to
his Castle of Tregoney, the strength of which mistrusting he
thence proceeded with some followers to the Mount where
the party, disguised as pilgrims, introduced themselves into
the monastic buildings, seized and fortified them and remained
there for several months.
"On the return of King Richard from his Austrian prison.
Sir Henry de Pomeroy, fearing the consequences of his
contumacy, is said to have bled himself to death, and the
Mount was surrendered to Waton, Archbishop of Canterbury,
the Chancellor who was sent to regain the place in 1194.
"King Richard then restored the monks, placing a small
garrison at the Mount to guard it in future.
"This Henry de Pomeroy being son of Sir William and
a daughter, by common law marriage, of Henry I., was thus
a relation of Richard I. and his brother John. Also of Kings
Edward I and Edward II."
(From Thomas Fuller's "Worthies of England," vol. I, p. 425.
Title "Memorable Persons.")
"Henry de la Pomeroy, lived at and was lord of Berry
Pomeroy in this county (Devon).
"This Henry, taking heart at the imprisonment of
Richard the First (born 1157, crowned 1189, died 1199;
imprisoned 1192-1194 by Leopaldus, Duke of Austria), sur-
prised and expulsed the monks out of Michael's Mount in
Cornwall, that then he might be a petty prince by himself.
But being ascertained of his sovereign's enlargement, and
fearing deserved death, to prevent it he laid violent hands
on himself, as Roger Hovedon doth report.
"But the descendants from this Pomeroy make a differ-
ent relation of this accident, affirming that a sergeant-at-arms
of the King's came to his Castle at Berry Pomeroy, and there
46 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
received kind entertainment for certain days together, and at
his departure was gratified with a liberal reward. In counter-
change thereof, he then, and no sooner, revealed his long
concealed errand and flatly arrested his host, to make his
immediate appearance before the King, to answer a capital
crime, which unexpected and ill-carried message the gentle
man took in such despite that with his dagger he stabbed the
messenger to the heart.
"Then, despairing of pardon in so superlative an offense,
he abandoned his house, and got himself to his sister, abiding
in the Island of Mount St. Michael in Cornwall. Here he
bequeathed a large portion of his land to the religious people
dwelling there to pray for the redeeming of his soul ; and
lastly, that the remainder of 'his estate might descend to his
heirs, he caused himself to be let blood unto death."
Another account is briefly stated in "Murray's Hand
Book of Cornwall," p. 194:
"The military annals of the Mount (St. Michael's) com-
mence with King Richard's captivity, when Henry de la
Pomeroy gained possession of the place, and reduced it
to the service of King John, who was aspiring to 'his brother's
throne. Upon the return of the King, however, the garrison
surrendered, and according to the tradition, Pomeroy caused
himself to be bled to death."
Concerning the episode at St. Michael's Mount, another
authority says :
"St. Michael's Mount was held by the Benedictine Monks
until 1 194, when the country being in great confusion by the
absence of King Richard I., in Palestine, one Henry de la
Pomeroy, a Devonshire Baron, having been summoned to
attend the King's court for some misdemeanor, killed the
Sergeant-at-Arms and took refuge in the Monastery ; but the
monks being unable to screen him, 'he drove them all out,
fortified the rocks and sides of it where he defended himself
till the accession of John, when making his peace with that
monarch he was forgiven and restored to his paternal estates."
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ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 47
©raganrg (East!* in (Eornfoall
(From Sir James D. McKenzie's "Castles of England," vol.
II.)
"At the lower end of this town (Cornwall) on the east
side of Fal river a little below the hospital is an earthwork
on a hill, still called the Castle Hill, on which are some
scanty remains of a castle built by Sir Henry de Pomeroy
(temp. Richard I.). Tradition says that Baron Pomeroy,
being appointed Lord of the Manor in the reign of Henry II.
on behalf of Prince John, Earl of Mertain and Cornwall,
espoused the cause of John when in rebellion against his
brother Richard I. The castle was standing and remained
a seat of these Pomeroys until the reign of Edward VI.
"The last Pomeroy (temp. Elizabeth) left issue a
daughter who was married to Richard Penkirell of Resuma,
whose descendants having been ruined in the time of Charles
I. sold the manor to Hugh Boscowen, Sheriff of Cornwall, in
which family it was settled on the Lady Anne Fitzgerald,
who carried it to her second husband, Francis Roberts, young-
est son of the Earl of Radnor (Hals).
"Whitaker ascribes the site of this castle to the choice
of the Romans, who placed a fort there to command the
lowest ford of the Fal, having a high precipice on each side,
and a brook which joined the river, beneath it. The trenches
of the later fortress built here are still visible."
"Tragoney is a small borough town on the same side of
the river, three miles to the southwest of Grampound. It
is a place of great antiquity, being mentioned in Doomsday
Book as part of the Earldom of Cornwall, given by the
Conqueror to his brother Robert, from whom it descended
to the family of Pomeroy, who were in possession of it till
the reign of Elizabeth, but either by descent or purchase, it
is now part of the estate of the noble family of Boscowen."
"In the 40th year of King Henry III., the Pomeroy
family was returned among the first-class land holders ; they
continued to possess considerable landed property in Cornwall
for several generations, their chief seat being at Tragoney,
and holding thirty librates of land. The manor of Tragoney
was at a very early period in the ancient family of the Pome
48 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
roys, who are supposed to have acquired it by the marriage of
William, son of Ralph, with a natural daughter of King
Henry I., the first sister of Reginald, Earl of Cornwall."
(Ibid.)
''The Pomeroys are said to have come from Cinglais,
near Falais, Normandy, where a fragment of their castle still
remains. Sir Thomas, the last of the race to occupy Berry,
served with distinction in France with Henry VIII. , and
acquired his confidence. * * The descendants of
Thomas afterward resided in the parish of Harberton till
the beginning of the 18th century. A grandson of the Rev.
Arthur Pomeroy was raised to the the peerage."
(From Palgrave's "Normandy of England," vol. 3. A chapter
in the Appendix headed, "The Baronial Castles of the
Cotentin, the Avranchin, and the Bessin," contains the
following:)
"La Pommeraye. This Cotentin family possesses upward
of fifty knights' fees in Devonshire. Bury Pommeroye and
Stoke le Pommeroye still commemorate their name."
"Chateau Gaune. This name is attached to many places
in Normandy and it seemeth to be strongly but unaccountably
connected with the romances of the Cycle of Charlemagne,
and wherever it occurs it seems to be connected with some
real or alleged act of treachery or treason. * * * "
Bzc'hal. Held by Fulke Pagnel. Within this lordship
we find the cradle of the Pomerois, in the Department of
Manche. Cotentin is a peninsula in Normandy in the
Department of Manche. Its western extremity is Cape la
Hague. The principal town was Coutances. Avranchin,
a section, adjoined it on the south, and Bessin, another section
or territory, on the northeast."
"Ingesden belonged to the Beaumonts, who held it till
the reign of Edward IV. (1461), when the heiress brought it
to the Pomeroy family, in whom it remained many years.
The manor of Mamhead was held by Ralph de Pomeroy, at
the time of the Doomesday survey."
"The manor of Good a' Mearv belonged to the Pomeroy
family."
"The manor of East Ogwell was held by Ralph de
Pomeroy at the survey."
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 49
"The manor of Up-Ottely was given by William I. to
R. de Pomieroy."
The manor of Tale was given to Ford Abbey by Josce-
lynde de Pommeray."
g>anteridg?t irfnm
(From "Worthies of Devon," p. 285, under "Capt. John
Davies.")
"Sandridge, Devon, near Berry Pomeroy, became the
inheritance of the ancient and honorable family of Berry
Pomeroy, and most likely at last, the portion of a younger
son of Berry Castle, in the parish of Berry Pomeroy, about
four miles from (it) ; though afterwards it yielded a strain
for that ancient and noble 'house. For Sir John de la Pom-
meraye of Berry Pomeroy, of the 10th generation, having
no heirs, settled his lands (about 1404) upon Sir Thomas of
Sandridge, aforesaid, who had married Joan, daughter of Sir
James Chudleigh, Kt., by his wife Joan Pomeroy, sister of the
said Sir John. Sandridge still remains in this honorable
name, and is at this time (1701) the dwelling of Roger
Pomeroy, Esq., the topmost branch of this ancient stock.''
^From the "Worthies of Devon," p. 645.)
"This family was not only very noble in its original, but
in its alliances, matching once with the blood royal, and
several times with the daughters of the principal peers of
the realm. Here (Berry Pomeroy) this great progeny had
their dwelling from the time of the Norman conquest to the
days of King Edward VI., about 500 years."
Qvtmntan (tell* in (Eornteall
(From Camden Society, "Leland's Itinerary," vol. VI, pp.
58-59. — This Itinerary was begun in 1538.)
"One of the Pomereis of Devonshire long since lost the
most part of his inheritance by killing a messenger or herald
sent from the King unto him. At that time Pomeroy was lord
50 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
of Tremington (Tremerton) Castle in Cornwall, and of the
Castle of the Monte St. Michael, and of the Lordships of
Tamarton.
"Pomeroy of told me that the Pomeries were
once Lords of Bever Castle that the Lord Rose hath now.
* * * Of descent from Pomeroy, now Lord of Byri,
there were three Pomeries (brothers) of Byri, and the two
younger of them were provided for and endowed with lands."
®lj? Uaronfl of Balktorl
(From "Peerage of England," by Nicholas.)
"Barons by Tenure," Valletort.
Ralph de Valletort held one Knight's fee, Devon,
1 185; next mentioned is,
Roger de Valletort, who, in 1186, held the honor
of Tremerton in Cornwall ; living 1203, to whom
succeeded,
Reginald de Valletort, who died 1246 without
issue.
Ralph de Valletort, brother and heir, died 1259.
Reginald de Valletort, son and heir, died 1270;
no issue.
Roger de Valletort, uncle and heir, died 1290; no
issue, leaving Henry de Pomeroy and Peter
Corbet next heirs."
"Henry II
"John.
"Henry III
"same,
"same.
'Edward I.
(Henry de Pomeroy married Joan de Valletort, and died in
1281; their son Henry, who was 16 years old at the time of his
father's death, succeeded to this Knight's fee of Tremerton, but
failed in joint petition for the domains. — A. A. P.)
(From Burke's "Dictionary of the Landed Gentry," vol. 1,
p. 263.)
"Peter Corbet, the second son, succeeded his father, who
died in 1300, in the estates of his family, joined with Henry
de la Pomeroy in petitioning Parliament for the domains of
the Valletort family, but without success."
(From the same vol. 3, Supplement, p. 107)
"The Pomeroys were of great antiquity in Devonshire
and Cornwall, and descended from Joel de la Pomeri, who
married a daughter of King Henry I., and sister of Reginald,
Earl of Cornwall."
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 51
ffimwr of Albr rtmt, T$tn%mtt
(From "Kings, Earls and True Nobility of England.")
"Beatrice (?), daughter of Henry I., and sister of
Reginald, Earl of Cornwall, married Sir William Pomeroy,
and in 1080 the whole manor of Alverton, Penzance, passed
from the Earls of Cornwall to the Pomeroys."
Xichols, Topographist and Genealogist, says: "Francis
Drew, the second of that name in the Irish line, and the son of
John and Margaret Drew, suffered great losses during the
war previous to the revolution. His place at Kilwiny, county
Waterford, was laid waste by King James' army and the
house burnt. He served at the battle of Angheim and at the
sieges of Athone, Galway and Limerick in King William's
army. He was a devoted Protestant and his remains were
interred under his own seat in the church of the Castle in
Ireland.
"His wife was Rebecca Pomeroy, a descendant of Joel
(William) de la Pomeroy of Bery Pomeroy who married a
daughter of King Henry I., ist sister of Reginald, Earl of
Cornwall. Rebecca (Pomeroy) Drew outlived her husband
many years, and with wonderful resolution protected herself
at Mocollop Castle though surrounded by Irish enemies. She
could use guns and pistols as dexterously as anybody and
always kept them loaded in her bedroom. Her powder-horn
was extant a few years ago. She told James, the second
Lord Chancellor, in his own court, that if she had him at
Mocollop Castle she would have him coursed like a rabbit.
She was a daughter of Samuel Pomeroy of Berie Pomeroy,
in Devonshire, near Totnes."
( From Burke's "Dictionary of Landed Gentry.")
"The Irish branch (of the Drew family) resident for so
many generations at Mocollop Castle, county Waterford,
descends through the heiress of Pomeroy, from King Henry
I." (She was a daughter of Samuel Pomeroy, a younger son.)
52 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
(From Camden's Britannia.)
"Here (town of Totnes) British history makes Brutus
of Troy, the founder of the Nation, to have landed, and
Havilan the poet, following the tradition, sings in his
Architrenius :
"Hence Brutus and his friend Achates steered,
When fraught with Gallic spoils their ships appeared;
The Heavens and winds were all at their command,
And happy Totnes welcomed them to land."
Stye 3lnsurmtton in {femmalprf
(From Mortimer's "Berry Pomeroy Castle.")
"The Devon insurrection was in 1549. In this rebellion
Sir Thomas Pomeroy was deeply concerned, and being the
last of his family who occupied Berry Castle it is averred
by some historians that he saved his life by making over the
manor and Castle of Berry Pomeroy to Lord Protector,
Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset.
"Lyson says this estate came into possession of the
Seymours by grant or purchase from the Crown, since at the
time of the attainder of Sir Thomas, the Protector was in
the Tower of London on a charge of treason, of which he was
acquitted, but afterwards' being found guilty of felony was
beheaded on Tower Hill, December, 1551. His brother. Sir
Thomas Seymour, Lord Dudley, Lord High Admiral of
England, was executed March 20, 1549.
"The 1 2th Duke of Somerset, in 1875, writes to the
Mortimers, authors of the work above quoted from, and says :
"I can state that Berry Castle was purchased in the reign of
Edward VI."
An old engraving says: "Berry Castle was sold by Sir
Thomas Pomeroy unto Ed Seymour, Duke of Somerset, in
the time of Edward VI."
(The painter of the picture, of which the engraving referred
to here is a copy, was at the time in the employ of Ed Seymour
and painted the picture to his order; he was also directed to paint
in the words of the legend just quoted to make it appear that Berry
Pomeroy Manor was acquired by purchase. — A. A. P.)
('From "The Battle Abbey Roll," vol. 3, by the Duchess of
Cleveland, 1889.)
"The Castle and Honour of Berry Pomeroy in Devonshire,
which had been purchased by the Protector, was restored
in blood by Edward VI., the year after his (Seymour's)
father's execution."
(From the same authority, p. 11.)
"Sir Thomas Pomeroy is described as a 'simiple gente,'
and his life was perhaps spared on account of his feeble
intellect, but no mercy was shown to his estate. After a
54 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
short struggle he was forced to relinquish the stately home
that had been the head of the house since the days of the
Conqueror, and Berry Pomeroy was sold to the Seymours."
(This statement or surmise that Sir Thomas Pomeroy's
mentality was impaired at this time or later should not be taken
seriously. On the contrary, not many years previous to this insur-
rection he had attended Henry VIII. in his wars in France, and
displayed sufficient force of character and good fortune in arms
to attract the attention and confidence of that war-like monarch.
However, his action during the insurrection in Devon was not the
method or policy of a time-server which a prudent and ambitious
man like the Seymour would follow, but that of one whose
sympathies were with his people, and who did not hesitate or
stop to reckon the cost, which is but a characteristic strongly
developed in the American Pomeroys — men, women and children. —
A. A. P.)
(The following extract from a history of the action at Exeter
is in full accord with the above personal assertion:)
"St. Mary's Clist, four miles from Exeter, was one of
the chief scenes of the rebellion in Devonshire, wrhich happened
in 1549, in the month of June, when the insurgents laid siege
to Exeter. In August they were attacked by the King's
army under Lord Russell. By a stratagem of Sir Thomas de
Pomeroy, one of the chief Captains of the insurgents, they
obtained a temporary victory, and the wagons belonging to
the King's army, ammunition, treasure, etc., fell into the hands
of Sir Thomas Pomeroy; but Lord Russell rallied his troops,
returned to the attack, and defeated his enemy with great
slaughter."
Lyson says : "Sir Thomas is said to have saved his life
by making over the manor and Castle of Berry Pomeroy to
the Protector, the Duke of Somerset."
(That statement does not imply that Sir Thomas was
demented; nor does it convey the sense that Edward Seymour
purchased the Castle and estaf3. — A. A. P.)
(From Froude's "England," vol. 5, p. 181.)
"1549. In the West (of Devon) the insurrection had
affected a higher grade. Sir Thomas Pomeroy and Sir
Humphrey Arundel of the North of Devon, and other men
of weight and property, had 20,000 men under the banner of
the cross," "Arundel was Governor of St. Michael's Mount.
He and three others were hanged at Tyburn."
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 55
fjaat ^trge of % dastlr
(From the "Guide Book of Berry Pomeroy Castle.")
"The Pomeroys, as descendants of the Feudal Barons,
having for centuries enjoyed within their extensive domains
a power almost equal to that of the Crown, they could ill
restrain that imperative authority which for generations they
had assumed as a primogenial right, and which was ever
recognized as such by the ruling monarchs. At the order
then for dismantling the castles of England, the inheritors
of Castle de Pomeroy, tradition affirms, resisted the royal
mandates. A siege was commenced in consequence by the
forces of King Edward VI. (1549), which was long, obstin-
ately, and with bravery withstood by those feudal Princes
of the Castle, Sir Thomas de Pomeroy and his kinsmen with
their numerous retinue. Spurred on by the most determined
resolution to live or die free men, rather than, as they
imagined, basely survive the loss of those long-enjoyed
honors which were now by the arm of tyranny to be wrested
from them, they so incensed the king by their temerity that
he forthwith issued most peremptory orders for their
subjugation. Mudi time as well as blood and treasure were
consumed in front of the walls of the Castle of Berry Pomeroy
ere this strong and stately fortress ceased to shelter its
valiant defenders ; inside their almost impregnable fortress
were the besieged, protected by its turreted and castelated
walls, while the besiegers, exposed to the constant showers of
destructive missiles, fell on all sides, till the slaughter among
the King's soldiers was appalling. At length, however, either
by force, stratagem or treason, the Castle was carried. The
two brave de Pomeroys, rather than survive their lost or faded
glories, rather than submit to do homage to an incensed mon-
arch, blindfolded their horses and mounting spurred them to
the northern precipice on which the Castle stands, which but
to look from might appal the stoutest heart. The terrified
animals, as if conscious of their own and their riders' impend-
ing fate, plunged and resisted till madly and desperately urged
over the fatal steep, they with their lordly and proud masters,
were by one wild leap instantly dashed to death.
56 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
"The English poet Keats has inscribed the tribute
contained in these lines to the defenders of the Castle of Berry
Pomeroy :
"Hark! heard you not those shouts of dreadful note?
Sounds not the conflict on the heath?
Saw ye not where the reeking sabre smote;
Nor saved your brethren ere they sank beneath
Tyrants and tyrants' slaves? The fires of death,
The bale-fires flash on high; from rock to rock
Each volley tells that thousands cease to breathe;
*
GDrnjpatum at Sfrrrtf -pompniB (Easile by % grgnumrB
Historians differ widely as to the manner in which the
Seymours succeeded the Pomeroys in the ownership of this
ancient domain, but in order to correct any erroneous impres-
sions we here furnish the written testimony of the late 12th
Duke of Somerset, who in a letter from Stover, Devon, under
the date of January 5, 1875, said: "I can state that Berry
Pomeroy Castle was purchased in the reign of Edward VI."
And in corroboration of this statement we copy the following
from an old engraving representing the south view of Berry
Pomeroy Castle and dedicated to Sir Edward de Seymour
of Maiden Bradley, in the county of Wilts, Bart., by Saml.
and Nathl. Buck :
'This Castle was built by Sir Ralph de Pomeroy, in the
Conqueror's time, and was the head Barony of his Family;
his Posterity continued many descents there, till the time of
King Edward VI., when it was sold by Sir Thomas de Pom-
eroy unto Ed. Seymour, Duke of Somerset, who settled this
manor with several others on his issue by his first Lady
Catherine, daughter and co-heir to Sir Um. Filliot of Wood-
land, from whom the present Sir Edward is directly descended.
— S. & N. Buck, Delin, et Sculp., 1734."
In the civil wars between Charles I. and Parliament the
Castle was dismantled, thus denuding it of its once stately
power, but it was occupied in magnificent state until the
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 57
reign of James II. (1685) by Eel. Seymour, who headed a
rising against that monarch, and was at that period styled
the haughty and magnificent leader of the country party.
From the time of this Seymour's decease the mansion
seems to have fallen into decay, and tradition ascribes its
destruction to a terrible thunder storm, when it was set
on fire by the scathing lightning; while another reason
declares that the Castle was taken in the time of Charles I.,
carried by great guns planted on the hills opposite the
precipice. The latter story of its having been stormed by
artillery sufficiently accounts, says Mr. Bray, for this side
being more battered than any other part of the building,
various circumstances existing likewise to render the
statement more than probable.
Note — The evidence offered by the writer as to the reversion
of the Castle and Manor of Berry Pomeroy to the Seymours is very
meagre and not substantiated, especially as it is an effort to
controvert history. During the minority of Edward VI. he was
doubtless the King, but his uncle, Edward Seymour, reigned. And
it was at this time that the transfer of ownership was consummated.
St. Maur (or Seymour), who was a companion-in-arms with Sir
Rolf de Pomeroy at the battle of Hastings, had failed to receive
the commendation of Duke William, and was envious of the great
favors bestowed upon Sir Ralph. Seymour evidently transmitted
his hatred to his posterity, and when the opportunity that power
would give them had arrived they acted without compunction upon
the determination to possess themselves of the manor of Berry
Pomeroy. The only consideration that Sir Thomas de Pomeroy re-
ceived for being despoiled of his estates through the conspiracy was
a life interest as tenant in a small holding called Will, in Stoke
Gabriel. The testimony offered by Saml. and Nathl. Buck is
equally unsatisfactory.
JruttlPBs attempt of tl)£ £>?ymmtrs tn ISrronatntrt
t\)t (&vmt (Easth?
The Castle dates back to the Norman conquest, being
erected by Ralph de Pomeroy. Tradition says there was
found on the estate in Normandy a peculiarly sweet and
juicy apple, from which the estate was called "Royal Apple,"
or "Pommeroye." In those days men took their names from
their estate, hence Rolf of King Apple, or Ralph de Pomeroy.
58 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
The general characteristics of this family are strong attachment
to the principles of civil and religious liberty, and the social
virtues ; great moral and physical courage ; and seldom can one
be found that is not given to generous hospitality. The
Castle is approached through charming woods, its ivy-
mantled ruins form one of the most picturesque scenes in the
west of England. Over the gate there is a coat of arms,
presumably that of the Pomeroys. During the reign of
Edward VI. the fortress and manor were confiscated and
passed into the hands of the Duke of Somerset, and have
remained in the hands of that family up to the present time.
After they acquired it there were extensive structural alter-
ations, and Mr. Prince, the Devon historian, who was for over
forty years Vicar of Berry Pomeroy, states in his book.
"Worthies of Devon," that a sum of £20.000 was spent in
the work. All that remains today is a magnificent ruin,
whose crumbling walls tell an eloquent tale of the glories
of the House of Pomeroy of the past.
It has been affirmed that rather than obey the mandate
of the King to dismantle the Castle, the two last of the
Pomeroys present, when compelled to retreat before the
royal forces, blindfolded their horses and rode them over the
precipice on the northern side ; but this tradition probably
owes its origin to the creative genius of some writer of the
past. It was not until the civil war that the Castle was
dismantled, and the last of the Seymours to occupy it as a
residence was Edward, during the reign of James II.
The coat armour referred to above portrays a lion in the
field rampant, a lion segant holding up an apple by the stem
in his dexter paw. The motto of the Pomeroys was:
"Virtutis fortuna comes," or "Good fortune is the companion
of virtue or courage."
Heairir? IJnutfroy of $fath?r l^tahin}
(From the Domesday Book.)
To the genealogist the Exeter text (Exon Domesday
Book), History of Somerset, Victoria Histories, vol. 1, 430.
is a record of the greatest value; for it enables us at times
to identify those of whom the Exchequer text gives us but
the Christian names.
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 59
"Again, the Beatrice* who holds of Ralf de Pomerei at
Nether Stowey is entered in the Exeter book as Ralph's sister.
Mr. Eyton points out that she also held of him a Devon
manor; while she held further in that county two manors
of William Capra, who is similarly entered as her brother.
On the strength of this he asserted that Ralph and William
de Pomerei were brothers (Somerset Domesday, vol. I, p. 64),
and although this may seem not absolutely clear, it is inter-
esting to note that Roger Capra and William his son were
benefactors in the next generation to the Pommeraye Abbey
of St. Marv du Val. — (Calendar of Documents, France, page
536.)
"Ralph, though of small account in Somerset, was a great
man across the western border. Coming as his name reminds
us from among the apple orchards of Normandy, to make
his home among those of Devon, he left his Castle de la
Pommeraye, to gain a mightier lordship, and to found that
rock fortress in the heart of the English woodlands Which
still preserves his name in that of Berry Pomeroy.
"Ralph de Pomerei held Stawei (Nether Stowey), and
Beatrice, his sister, holds of him. Ralph himself holds Are
(Oare)."
ultj* lExfent of % jtomrrou, fEalate in irfumafpr?
(From "History of Devonshire," Domesday Survey, page 386,
Victoria History, vol. 1.)
"In the case of Berry Pomeroy, four plough-lands, or
lands for one plough, are represented in 1292, by 16x16 or
256 acres, i. e., 64 acres to the plough-land. The cultivated
area of Stockleigh Pomeroy was, again, 350 acres in 1292.
"The estate of Ralph de Pomeroy with additions and
exceptions, went to form the 'honour' of Berry; those of
William, his brother, better known as William Capra, the
'honour' of Braneyes or Branhinch. In all he owned 45,000
acres." — See History of Devonshire, pp. 392, 560-3.
♦Probably the wife or widow of his brother.
60 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
Bomt (Eflttttprttous with, SotjaUu.
(From the "Kings, Earls and True Nobility of England." In
possession of George Eltweed Pomeroy, of Toledo, Ohio.)
"Joane (called Ioane of the Tower) married David le
Brufe, King of Scotland; she was a sister of Reginald, Earl
of Guelders.
"Avis, daughter of Reginald, Earl of Cornwall, married
Richard de Rivers, son of Baldwin, Earl of Devonshire.
"Beatrice (?), daughter of Henry I., sister of Reginald,
Earl of Cornwall, married Sir William Pomeroy, and in 1080
the whole manor of Alverton, Penzance, passed from the
Earls of Cornwall to the Pomeroys.
("Reginald was son of King Henry I. Sir Henry Pom-
eroy was grandson to King Henry I. and half-brother to
King Richard I. and John his brother; his son Henry was
cousin in the third degree of the Kings Edward I. and II.,
of the house of Plantagenet")
lExtrarts from iEtujUslj Aitthnrtttrs
(From "Notes and Queries," 4th Series, vol. 2, p. 226; 1868,
July to December.)
"The direct descendants of Sir Thomas Pomeroy who sold
Berry Pomeroy to the Lord Protector Somerset, continued at
Sandridge, when Gilbert Pomeroy of Sandridge, whose will
was proved April 8, 1719, died, leaving all his lands to his
kinsman, Daniel Pomeroy, son of Paul Pomeroy of Brixham,
Devon, which is S. E. of Totnes, N. E. of Dartmouth."
("Notes and Queries," 6th Series, vol. 2, pp. 328, 493; 1880,
July to December.)
"Richard Pomeroy of Bowden, Yealmton, Devon, married
Eleanor Cooke of Mapowden. He and two sons were living
in 1531. His son Henry Pomeroy married Agnes, daughter
and heiress of William Huckmore, and widow of Edward
Harris; they had a daughter who married Sir Thomas Harris
of Kent.
'The Drews of Drewcliffe quartered both Huckmore and
Pomeroy through a match with the Irish branch of the
Pomeroys."
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 61
(From "The Battle Abbey Roll," vol. 3, by the Duchess of
Cleveland, 1889.)
Page 10. "Two of the name, Hugue and Raoul de la
Pomerie, are in the Dives Roll. Of Hugh I can find no men-
tion in Dugdale, but Ralph appears in Domesday, holding 60
manors in capite, all with two exceptions in Devonshire."
"William Pomeroy, who succeeded Ralph, had a younger
son named Ethelward, who founded Buckfast Abbey in the
time of Henry I., and whose name suggests an alliance with
some Saxon house."
A local legend at Berry Pomeroy concerning Henry de
la Pomeroy asserts that he never left Berry Pomeroy, and that
when the King's pursuivant came to arrest him he mounted
his horse and leaped from the battlements into the valley
below.
"Out over the cliffe, out into the night,
Three hundred feet of fall;
They found him next morning below in the glen,
With never a bone in him whole;
A mass and a prayer, good gentlemen, all,
For such a bold rider's soul."
"The wishing tree of Berry Pomeroy is the prettiest
superstition of the place, and is the only one left in England.
It is a lofty, wide-spreading beech. The wisher is to walk
three times around the tree with the sun, and three times
backward, thinking of the wish that must be unspoken and
unknown to any one. The wish will come true."
(From Jewett's "Story of the Normans," Putnam, 1887.)
"There are Saxon landlords and farmers and statesmen in
England yet unconquered, unpersuaded and un-Normanized."
(From the "Norman People," London, 1874; no author named,
p. 366.)
"The Pomerais were Castillians of La Pomerai, in
Normandy. Ralph de la Pomeroy held 51 lordships in
barony of Devon, 1086 (see Dugdale and Banks)."
In Planche's "Conqueror and His Companions," vide
passages concerning the perpetuation of Norman names in
England, and the relative number of Norman peerages and
titles.
62 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
(From Hoveden, vol. 2, pp. 134-5.)
"In 1 177 King Henry II. (1154-1189) gave the kingdom
of Limerick to Joslan de la Pomerai and others, which they
all refused."
(J bid, vol. 3, pp. 238-249.)
"'Johannes de la Pomerai abjures the realm, April 18,
1 194, and goes into exile."
Henry de la Pomerai fortifies St. Michael's Mount,
Cornwall, and dies of bleeding; temp., Richard I. (1189-1199) ;
Feb., 1 194, date of death.
(From Grose's "England and Wales," vol. 2, pp. 64-65.)
"Ford Abbey, 5 miles N. E. of Axminster, Devon, was
built by Richard de Brioni, grand-nephew of William I.,
1133-1136."
"John Courtney (temp. Henry II.) added to the Abbey
lands bought of Galfredus Pomerie for 50 marks."
"Jocelin Pomerie by deed conveyed all his town of Thale
to the monks of Ford. This deed was confirmed by his
successor, John Pomerie. Richard I., in the 1st year of his
reign, confirmed all donations made to this monastery."
t Extract from the title Harberton, Castle Carberry, county
Kildare, Ireland, in Sharpe's "Peerage of the British
Empire.")
"The Pomeroy descendants are, however, recorded in
the county Devon, as late as the beginning of the 18th
century ; but from a branch seat at Engsden, time of James I."
(Then follow a few lines concerning the Rev. Arthur
Pomeroy, founder of the Irish branch.)
(From the Hartford (Conn.) Times.)
"Crewkerne is a very ancient place and some camp of
the Romans existed there. Coins of Trajan, Pius, Gallienus,
Constantine II., one eadh were found there. A hoard of
about 130 third brass' of the time of Constantine I.,
Lycinius and Crispus, was found there in 1872, just north
of the Combe farm. These will be recognized as names of
the latest and weakest Roman emperors, at the time of the
Roman occupancy of England.
"In the Doomsday survey of Dorsetshire there is a
Ralfe de Pomereis who held the manor of Oare. in the wild
northwest part of the county. Tie held it of Edric and owed
twelve sheep a year for it."
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 63
(It is suggested that the committee on the English investiga-
tion make diligent search for records of the families of Ralfe de
Fomereis and St. Cleer Pomeroy in Dorsetshire, the county which
contains the record of Eltweed Pomeroy's birth and marriage. —
A. A. P.)
"Alice de Vere, whom Sir Henry de Pomeroy married
about 1200, was of the family of the Earl of Guisness, in
Normandy, son of Aubrey, High Chamberlain for England
during the reign of Henry I. His son Aubrey was the first
Earl of Oxford."
(From Burke's "Landed Gentry.")
"Thomas Aleigli, alias Leigh, or Lee, of Weeke, St. Mary,
in county Cornwall, descended from Leigh of High Leigh in
the county Cheshire, and lived in the tyme of Henry VI.
"Humphrey Aleigh, alias Leigh, of Leigh in Cornewall.
married a dau. of Selman.
"William Aleigh, alias Leigh, sonne and heire of Leigh
in county Cornewall, married Mary, daughter of Andrew
Pomeroy, of Newton Ferrers, county Devon, Esq.
"William Leigh, of Leigh in county Cornewall, sonne and
heire of Andrew Pomeroy, living A. D. 1620, married Eliza-
beth, dau. of Wymond Searle of Anthonie in county Corne-
wall. Their children were Tomasin, John, Andrew, Eliacon."
(From "Camden Soc," vol. 69; by Larking.)
"Henry de Pomerai is cited as a considerable benefactor
in 1338 to the preceptory of the 'Knights Hospitallers of St.
John of Jerusalem,' of Treligh, Cornwall."
(From "Collins' Peerage," vol. 5, p. 319.)
"Sir Thomas Pomeroy of Sandridge, Devon, married
Jane, daughter of Sir Piers Edgecombe."
(From the introduction to Mrs. Bray's novel, "Henry de
Pomeroy," London, 1846.)
"When Henry VII. ascended the throne he took the
Castle of Berry Pomeroy from Baron la Zouch on account
of his having espoused the cause of Richard III., and
bestowed it on Sir Pierre Edgecombe, who had rendered
him such essential service when he was Earl of Richmond."
(Sir Pierre, or Piers, Edgecombe was either the father or
grandfather of Jane, whom Sir Thomas Pomeroy married, and the
Dame Jane referred to in the grant of Ed. Seymour after he had
acquired the Manor and Castle of Berry Pomeroy. The grant
64 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
mentioned was a tenement called Will, in Stoke Gabriel, to hold
for the term of their lives. The similarity of the name "Pierre"
and "Piers" causes the doubt. — A. A. P.)
(See "Penny Cyclopedia/' for Berry or Bury Pomeroy.
Also, see "Fraser's Magazine," Nov., 1855, "Talk on Devon
Worthies.")
Here is recounted the Romantic story of Henry de la
Pomeroy, elsewhere cited in these pages. One extract,
aliunde, we make: "In Darlington Hall the christening of
the infant Lord John Holland was celebrated many years
ago. On that occasion the infant noble was carried from the
hall to the church in the arms of the god-mother, the Lady
Pomerai, whose husband walked on one side and Sir John
Durham on the other."
(From Mortimer's "Berry Pomeroy Castle," Totnes, Devon.)
"The ancient manor of Beri (Berry), which in the time
of Edward the Confessor, 1042-1066, belonged to Alricus the
Saxon, was bestowed by William the Conqueror on Ralph
de Pomeroy, who had rendered him much valuable assistance
in his successful invasion of this country in 1066, that he
received from him no fewer than fifty-eight Lordships in
Devonshire as a reward for his services. Ralph de Pomeroy
then erected the celebrated stronghold that now bears the
family name of Berry Pomeroy Castle."
The insurrection in Devonshire was suppressed by Lord
Russell, Earl of Bedford. — (See Froude, vol. 5, Hume Ch.
xxxv ; vol. 3). It was directed against t'he Reformation as
carried out by the Lord Protector, Somerset. — (See Tytler.)
In Doyle's "Official Baronetcy," vol. 3, p. 363, it is stated
that Edward Adolpnus Seymour II., who succeeded as 12th
Duke of Somerset in 1855, is Earl of St. Maur of Berry
Pomeroy, created in 1863.
(From "Notes and Queries," 1st Series, vol. 3, p. 303, 1851,
January to June.
"Rev. Arthur Pomeroy, born 1623, Dean of Cork in
1672, was a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, A. B.,
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 65
1660; M. A., 1664; S. T. D., 1676, and is said to have sprung
from the Pomeroys of Ingeden, in Devon." — (See Lodge's
"Peerage of Ireland," article, "Harberton.")
(From "Notes and Queries," 3d Series, vol. 3, pp. 196 and 231 ;
1863, January to June.)
"Archdeacon John Pomeroy of Cork, by will dated Sept.,
1724, bequeathed £100 to a charity school and £50 in books.
The library in 1863 consisted of 2,000 volumes."
Moore, in his "History of Devon," states on the authority
of Polwhele that Sir Thomas Pomeroy, though the principal
of the rebels, found the means of making his peace, although
at a great sacrifice. Sir Thomas compounded for his life by
yielding up his lands and Castle of Berry to the Lord Pro-
tector, Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset. — (See Lodge's
"Peerage," also, Tyson's "Devon.")
(From "Notes and Queries," 3d Series, vol. 4, pp. 128, 23S,
475; 1863, July to Dec.)
It is asked, who was the father of Thomas Pomeroy,
gent, of Trethynyk, St. Earney, Cornwall, who, in 1598,
married Mary Geffrey, widow.
It is suggested that Thomas Pomeroy of Enges(r)den
was the father. The mother was a Hurgscott.
"Henry de Pomeroy, Lord of the Castle of Trematon,
Cornwall, by deed in 1339 (12th of Edward III.), released
to Prince Edward, Duke of Cornwall, all his right, title and
interest in said castle. An annuity of £40 a year was paid
by the Prince."
(From "Notes and Queries," 3d Series, vol, 5, p. 424; 1864,
January to June.)
Mention is made of Rev. Joseph Pomeroy, born 1749,
Vicar of St. Kew in Cornwall, 1777, died 1837, wno prepared
and placed in his churchyard his coffin some years before
his death.
(From page 285 "Worthies of Devon," Capt. John Davies.)
"Sandridge, Devon, near Berry Pomeroy, became the
inheritance of the ancient and honorable family of Berry
Pomeroy, and most likely, at last, the portion of a younger
son of Berry Castle, in the parish of Berry Pomeroy, about
four miles from (it) ; though afterwards it yielded a strain
for that ancient and noble house. For Sir Henry (John) de la
66 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
Pommeraye of Berry Pomeroy, having no heirs, settled his
lands (about 1404) upon Sir Thomas of Sandridge aforesaid,
who had married Joan, daughter of Sir James Chudleigh,
Kt., by his wife Joan Pomeroy, sister of the said Sir Henry
(John).
"Sandridge still remains in this honorable name, and is
at this time (1701) the dwelling of Roger Pomeroy, Esq.,
the topmost branch of this ancient stock."
^Fragmentary (jtontaiums
(From the "Worthies of Devon," p. 645.)
"This family was not only very noble in its original,
but in its alliances, matching once with the blood royal, and
several times with the daughters of the principal peers of the
realm. Here (Berry Pomeroy) this great progeny had their
dwelling from the Norman Conquest to the days of King
Edward VI., about 500 years."
(Same, p. 647.)
"This stock, though eminent on several other accounts,
was for nothing more illustrious than for the works of piety
it yielded, according to the devotion of those times. They
endowed abbeys, monasteries, nunneries, etc."
Book of Family Crests and Fairbairns' "Family Crests"
contains six or more plates of Pomeroy Arms.
(In "Beauties of England and Wales," vol. x, 1801, pp.
463-470, there is the history of St. Michael's Mount and its
capture.)
In vol. 1 it is stated that Sir Ralph de la Pomeroy was
rewarded by the Conqueror with 58 lordships in Devon, and
that in the reign of Edward VI., Sir Thomas Pomeroy sold
the manor to Sir Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, whose
descendants still hold it.
Mrs. Henry Wood's novel, "Pomeroy Abbey," or under
another title, "The Haunted Tower," is pure fiction and of
modern date. The novel is in the Argosy, vols. 25 and 26,
1878.
Sir William Pole flourished in the reign of Elizabeth and
James I. ; died in 1635.
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 67
(From Camden's "Britannia," (Ed. 1695) page 28.)
"Just by this town (Totnes) stands Bery Pomeroy,
denominated from the Pomeries, one of the noblest families
in these parts, who, somewhat further to the eastward had
a very neat castle, Bery Castle, a little further off from the
bank. They derive their pedigree from Rudolph de Pomeray,
who in William the Conqueror's time held Wich, Dunwines-
don, Brawendine, Pudeford, Horewood, Toriland, Helicom
and this Berie ; also Tragony in Cornwall."
(From Brewers " Beauties of Ireland," vol. 2, p. 64.)
"Castle Carberry is of very old date. In the early part
of the 14th century it was the embattled residence of the
Be(i)rminghams. In the reign of Elizabeth the castle
belonged to Sir Henry Colley, or Cowley, ancestor of the
Duke of Wellington, whose descendants (Colley) resided
here for many generations. Mary, the daughter of Henry
Colley, Esq., married, in 1747, Arthur Pomeroy, subsequently
created Lord Harburton of Carberry. Newberry, the seat
of Lord Harberton, is near Castle Carberry, and is a spacious
and handsome residence."
"Lord Harberton is Lord of the Manor of Castle Carberry
and Patron of one living." — (Foster's "Pedigree," 1881.)
(From Flower's "Patronymica Britannica.")
"Pomeray, from Parish St. Sauveur de la Pommeraye,
in Province of La Manche, in Normandy, gave name to a
great family mentioned in Domesday Book, Berry Pomeroy,
in Devon : Ralph de Pomerei had 58 lordships in Devon and
Somerset."
"The name is in Holinshed's and in Stow's "Roll of
Battel Abbey," cited in 3d vol. of Fuller's "Church History."
1 From Collins' "English Peerage," vol. 5.)
"The will of Sir Thomas Pomeroy*, made 27th of Henry
III., died 31st of Henry III., 1247, leaves Richard, son and
heir, aet. 40."
"Vol. 6. The will of Th. Bridges, died 1542, left the
♦Doubtless of a younger branch of the family, for at this time
Sir Henry was in possession of the Manor of Berry Pomeroy; and
without doubt ancestor of Sir Thomas, who married his cousin,
Joan Chidley St. Aubin Brian, granddaughter of Sir John Pomeroy
of the 11th generation; and of the Dorset family.
68 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
Lordship of Chudleigh Common in Devon to his son. The
estate was then in possession of Sir Thomas de Pomeroy."
(From "Harleian Society," vol. 6.)
"Richard Pomeroy married (second) daughter of John
Coke."
(From Thorn's "Directory of 1885," p. 724.)
"Viscount Harberton. County Kildare, 5167 acres;
valuation, £3,658."
(From Burke's "Peerage," p. 515.)
"Rev. Arthur Pomeroy, born 1623, was in 1672 Chaplain
to Capel, Earl of Essex, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and
afterward Dean of Cork. The first peer, his grandson, also
Rev. Arthur Pomeroy, was made Baron Harberton of Car-
berry, in 1783. and Viscount, in 1790. He married Colley of
Carberry, niece of Lord Mornington."
James Spencer Harberton is 6th and present Viscount,
born 1836; married 1881. — (See Foster's "Peerage, etc.,"
1881, for full line of Harberton.)
The Harberton crest is the lion and apple.
The Berry Pomeroy estate was forfeited, as some say.
by the treason and execution of Sir Thomas Pomeroy, in the
1st year of Edward VI., 1547-8, and was bestowed on Lord
Protector Somerset, a Seymour and Hertford. The Earl of
Hertford was Edward Seymour, brother of Jane, 3d wife
of Henry VIII. He was afterward Lord-Protector Somerset.
His grandson married Lady Arabella Stuart. Somerset was
executed in 1552. His brother, Lord High Admiral, Thomas
Seymour, went to the block in 1549. The Lord Protector
was ancestor of the present Duke. The Somerset estates
were restored by Charles II. in 1660.
Berry Pomeroy is 9 miles S. of W. from Torquay ; Stock-
ley (leigh) Pomeroy is 8 miles N. of W. from Exeter.
Berry Castle is a short distance east of Berry Pomeroy.
(From the "Worthies of Devon," by Rev. John Prince, Vicar
of Berry Pomeroy, p. 649.)
"Berry Pomeroy, we are told by Sir William Pole, was
sold by Sir Thomas Pomeroy to Edward Seymour, Duke of
Somerset, who gave it to his eldest son, grandfather of
Sir Edward Seymour, Bart., by whom it was possessed in
his time. It still continues to be the property and occasional
residence of the present Duke of Somerset. The beautifui
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 69
scenery which surrounds the ruins of the ancient Castle
attracts the notice and gratifies the curiosity of every traveler
of taste.
"The last of this name that possessed the Castle of Berry
was Sir Thomas Pomeroy, Knight, a commander in the wars
under King Henry VIII., in France. How he and his
posterity came to be dispossessed thereof may be inquired
elsewhere." — (i. e., not in the "Worthies of Devon.")
QHf* ijarbnrttut Urattrlj tit dfrflattd
(Extract from the New York Herald.)
"The noble house of Harburton, a branch of the ancient
House of Pomeroy in Devon, was created in 1791, temp.
George III. James Spencer Pomeroy, Sixth Viscount
Harburton, a peer of Ireland, is the head of the race of
Pomeroy in Great Britain but the old stock has a number
of representatives in America. The Harburton branch has
been settled in Ireland ever since Arthur Pomeroy went from
his ancestral home in Devonshire to Dublin as Chaplain to
the Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Essex, in 1672, dying as
Dean of Cork. Lord Harburton is connected by ties of kin-
ship with the Duke of Wellington, one of his ancestors,
Henry Collev, having been a brother of the 1st Duke's
father, Lord Mornington. The ill-fated British General, Sir
George Pomeroy Colley, who was killed at Majuba Hill in
the Boer war of a quarter of a century ago, was Lord Har-
burton's first cousin. Lady Harburton was a Miss Frances
Legge, Malone House, county Antrim, and was of the House
of Legge, of which Lord Dartmouth is the chief. In 1783
Arthur, a descendant of Chaplain Arthur Pomeroy, was
ennobled with the title of Viscount, under the name of Baron
Arthur Harburton of the Castle Carberry. Dying without
issue, his brother, Sir John Pomeroy, a British General of the
Revolution in the American Colonies, succeeded. His son
Henry, who died recently, was his successor to the title."
(From Burke's "Peerage.")
Below is given the succession to the Harburton branch
of the House of Pomeroy, an ancient and knightly family
of Normandy :
70 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
i. Rev. Arthur Pomeroy, M. A., University of
Cambridge.
2. Henry Pomeroy, his son.
3. Arthur James Pomeroy, successor to his brother.
4. John Pomeroy, in holy orders, who succeeded his
brother.
George Pomeroy, born March 1, 1764.
5. John James Pomeroy.
6. James Spencer Pomeroy, Viscount Harburton and
Baron of Carberry, county Kildare, Ireland : born
November 23, 1836.
Pomeroy, Hon. Ernest Arthur George, oldest son of 6th
Viscount Harburton, 2d Lieutenant of 20th Hussars in 1890;
Captain of 3d battalion and Royal Dublin Fnsileers, 1892-95.
Pomeroy, John Arthur, oldest son of Reverend and Hon.
Arthur Pomeroy, and grandson of 4th Viscount Harburton,
married in 1869, Louise L. J. D., daughter of Gaitride Tipping
of Rossferry, county Fermaugh ; Justice of the Peace of the
counties Tyrone, Fermaugh, Donegal, etc.
Pomeroy, Capt. Louis Ralph Legge, second son of 6th
Viscount Harburton; born 1869; Captain of 6th Dragoon
Guards from 1901.
Pomeroy, Hon. Esther Caroline, daughter of 5th Viscount
Harburton ; born 1835.
Pomeroy, Colley, Edith Althea, Lady Pomeroy Colley,
daughter of Lieutenant-General H. M. Hamilton, C. B.,
married 1878, Major-General Sir George Pomeroy-Pomeroy
Colley.
Ai Urstmmster Ahbnj
(From the East'hampton Daily Hampshire.)
"The Abbey, as you know, contains monuments to
those who have contributed to the greatness of England ;
and as we look about we find a monument bearing the
following inscription :
"'The Honorable Henry Pomeroy,
the only Son of
Viscount and Viscountess Harburton,
who died at Brighthelmstone,
in the County of Sussex,
on the Tenth day of March, 1804.'
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 71
"We reached Totnes on April 26, and the next day we
spent several hours at Berry Pomeroy Castle. Ivy grows
in profusion all over the Castle walls. We explored every
nook and corner and there is 'but one impression, that of the
grandeur and immensity of the ruins, beautiful, sad, majestic,
awful ruins. We saw the dungeon where the Lady Matilda
de Pomeroy is said to have been imprisoned by her sister
Eleanor ; also, the spot where the last of the Pomeroys who
inhabited the Castle at the time, rather than surrender to the
King's troops, rode their horses over the precipice to death."
— (H. B. P.)
(From the Clerk of Westminster Abbey.)
"The monument is of white marble. There is a shield
on top, and the shield is the St. George's cross, the four
quarters being charged with a lion rampant, in each supported
by two wolves, but being only painted on the marble it is
now much faded, so much so that one cannot now make out
the crest nor supporters."
"In the visitation of Devon, page 107, under the Ford
family, the pedigree begins with Thomas Pomeroy, father of
Sir Edward Pomeroy of Berry Pomeroy, Knight, and of
John Pomeroy; the latter had a son St. Cleer Pomeroy
(named after the great Sinclair family of England and Nor-
mandy, known as St. Clere, in Dorset)." Into this Pomeroy
family married the Fords of Ashburton, Dorset, in several
different instances. From this Ford family no doubt
descended the Thomas Ford of Windsor, Conn., who left a
widow. Two pedigrees can be found, on the 107th page
of the Ford family. The "Sinclairs of England" has also
considerable to say of the Ford intermarriages into that
family.
72 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
®ljr Q'xmt-^axwttb Nam? of {tammnj
(By Prof. W. P. W. Phillimore, M.A., B.L.C.)
"The name of Pomeroy has long been a noted one in the
West of England, that is to say, mainly in the two counties
of Devon and Cornwall, which may be said to be the home of
the race. To write the history of this family in a manner
commensurate with its importance from the time of the.
Norman Conquest down to the twentieth century would
require a large volume, for they seem to have maintained a
leading position in Devonshire, and sent out numerous off-
shoots right into the new world. Bearing this fact in mind,
and remembering that the surname of 'Pomeroy' is a dis-
tinctive one, it might be thought that it would be a compar-
atively simple matter to solve the problem presented to me
by members of the family in America.
"This in effect is to ascertain the origin and parentage
of a certain Eltweed Pomeroy, who is stated to have emigrat-
ed to America in the ship Mary and John, and to have landed
at Dorchester in 1630.
"The Pomeroys are still to be found in Devon and
Cornwall, and though the name can hardly be described as
a common one, still there is no doubt that they have been
pretty widely spread out through the two counties, also
extending into the neighboring shires. Thus our first investi-
gation shows upward of forty places in Devonshire alone
where people of the name have been settled, and in the local
probate registry prior to 1852, there are preserved records
of upward of fifty wills. These include some of the latest
members of the ancient knightly family.
' 'Eltweed' Pomeroy had a son 'Eldad' Pomeroy, another
remarkable christian name, which naturally attracts atten-
tion. The name Eldad is associated with Devonshire, though
not so far as is known at present, with any individual. A
correspondent. Mr. R. F. Pomeroy, of Gloucester, England,
but belonging to a Cornish family, states that a church near
Plymouth, Devonshire, where he formerly lived, is known
as Eldad church, and it appears to have acquired its name
from being situated in a road bearing that name.
"The indexes to the wills proved in the probate registry
at Exeter have been searched for the period during which
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 73
we might expect to find some trace of the name of Eltweed
Pomeroy. The proceedings in chancery for the reign of
King James I. and Charles I. (1603-1649), have also been
examined. This task is a very tedious one by reason of the
character of the documents, often very long and intricate,
and though it has given valuable information relative to the
family generally, the enquiry proved negative so far as the
name Eltweed is concerned until the church records at
Crewkerne were examined by an American representative
of the family, and a record of Eltweed's marriage discovered.
"Other records have been examined. I may mention
the Exeter marriage licenses to 163 1. Chancery proceedings
temp. Elizabeth (1558-1602) ; signet bills and privy seals,
1 584-163 1 ; London marriage licenses; lists of graduates and
matriculations at Oxford and Cambridge Universities ; and a
mass of valuable information accumulated for future use,
which must have an equal interest to the bearers of this
time-honored name."
(While Prof. Phillimore's report was negative and without re-
sult concerning the discovery of our American emigrant, which does
not matter, it contained some valuable data which has materially
assisted the analyst in finding other essential information bearing
upon the problem. — A. A. P.)
"St. Neat Vicarage.
"The registers go back to 1549. There are frequent refer-
ences to the Pomeroy family who resided here at one time.
Baptism of son of John Pomeroy (Richard) in 1574."
(This son was probably St. Cleer, known as St. Clere in Dorset,
who would be 43 years old at the time his father's will was
probated. — A. A. P.)
UUla of (Eotttttteutt
"4 Feb., 1629.
"Of Valentyne Pomeroy of Sanderidge, Devon, Esq.,
against Sir John Whiddon and William Whiddon his son.
"Recites treaty of marriage between Valentyne Pomeroy
and Margaret Whiddon, a daughter of the Sir John Whiddon
of Changford, Knight. The marriage took place in April,
1628."
"15 Nov., 1634.
74 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
"Of Valentyne Pomeroy of Sanderidge, Devon, Esq.,
against Dowing.
"Relates to manorial rights of the manor of Waton,
Stoke Gabriel ; mention made of Sir Thomas Pomeroy, grand-
father, and Sir Edward Pomeroy, great-grandfather of
Valentyne."
"1595, Gloucestershire.
'The Pomeroys had Tragoney Castle, but the registers
prior to 1660-1 have been destroyed or lost."
"Nov., 1637.
"Of Valentyne Pomeroy of Sanderidge, Devon, Esq.,
against Sir Richard Buller, Robert Collyn, and others.
"Recites that Richard Carew of Anthony, Cornwall, Esq..
devised premises in Saltash to Arthur Pomeroy, gent., on
Dec. 1, 1605 ; that Athur Pomeroy died ten years ago without
issue. Alleges that said premises ought to descend to Valen-
tyne Pomeroy as cousin and heir of said Arthur Pomeroy,
i. e., as son and heir of Thomas Pomeroy, Esq., deceased,
the brother and next heir to said Arthur."
"18 Nov., 1640.
"Of Valentyne Pomeroy of Sanderidge, Devon, Esq..
against George Rowe.
"Recites grant by Edward, Duke of Somerset, to Sir
Thomas Pomeroy and Dame Jane his wife (dau. of Sir Perse
or Pierre Edgecombe), grandmother and grandfather of
Valentyne Pomeroy, of a tenement called Will, in Stoke
Gabriel, to hold for the term of their lives : remainder to
their son Thomas (Who mar, a dau. of Henry Rolle of
Stephenton) : remainder to Arthur Pomeroy, the second son;
with other remainders. Thomas Pomeroy was father of
Valentyne (also, of Edward)."
("Other remainders'' would imply that there were other
children of Sir Thomas who were provided in this way with small
holdings or tenements, and of these we find Richard and Joan.
Arthur mar. and had a son Arthur, this second Arthur having no
issue; Richard mar. Agnes , and had a number of children,
among whom were Thomas, John, Edward and Henry, and three
daughters. — A. A. P.)
'27 April, 1642.
"Of Valentyne Pomeroy of Sanderidge and Torrin of
Stoke Gabriel, against Edward Lide, gent.
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 75
"Relates to premises called Eglisford in Stoke Gabriel."
(All of the tenements specified here had previously and for
many years formed the patrimony of the younger sons of the
house of Pomeroy. — A. A. P.)
"Date torn away, B. 71. 14.
"Bill of complaint of Honour Pomeroy, dau. of Edward
Pomeroy of Brixham, Devon, gent.
"Recites that Thomas Pomeroy of Bingley, Devon, Esq.,
by will dated 29, 13 James I. (1616), appointed Valentyne
Pomeroy, Esq., his first son and brother of the said Edward,
as his executor. Testator bequeathed debts owing him to said
Honour Pomeroy. Valentyne proved the will. Mention is
made of Wilmot, wife of Edward Pomeroy and mother of
Honour Pomeroy.
"Complainant alleges that Valentyne Pomeroy has
obtained possession of clivers securities and not accounted
for them."
"Undated. P. 73. (Probably about 1620.)
"Replication of Thomas Pomeroy, Sr., against Mary
Pomeroy and Thomas Pomeroy, two of the defendants.
Thomas Pomeroy, the father, is deceased; his sons were
Robert, Thomas and John. John was father of the defendant."
"No date. B. 158. 93. (Document much decayed.)
"Bill of complaint of John Boscawen of Tregathnan,
Cornwall, and John Rolle of London, gent., and John Haweis
of Kelliow, Cornwall, gent.
"Relates to manor of Tregoney Pomeroy; mention made
of Hugh Pomeroy, Esq."
"Undated. P. 12. 5.
"Answer of Radford Wilde and Grace his wife to bill of
Thomas Pomeroy. Grace Wilde was the widow of Robert
Pomeroy.
"Answer of Mary Pomeroy and Thomas Pomeroy, son
of John Pomeroy. Relates to a bond affecting the three
brothers, Thomas, Robert and John."
76 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
Partial Spitump of Utraragra
(Rev. M. II. Froher, St. Stephens Rectory, Launceston.)
"We have a tablet in our church wall recording the
names of John and Mary Pomeroy, date 1630. Also an entry
in the book of the burial of their daughter Mary. Also an
entry of the baptism of their daughter Dorothy, 1631. Also
the marriage of Elizabeth Pomeroy in 1625 to Richard Fowler.
'"There is a coat of arms on the Pomeroy tablet. John
Pomeroy is styled 'gent.' "
(Rev. W. Symonds of Forcester, Gloucestershire.)
"The Pomeroys had Tragoney Castle, but the Tragoney
registers prior to 1660-1 have been destroyed or lost."
(Sir John MacLean of Clifton, Bristol, a well-known Cornish
antiquary, writes :)
"I have a very large number of extracts from Parish
Registers in Devon and Cornwall relating to the name of
Pomery and Pomeroy, including other documents. I have
looked through my indices and have not found in any instance
the christian name of Eltweed, Elwood. Eldad, or even
Edward.
"The registers of St. Neot, Cornwall, contain a great
many entries of the name extending from 1545 downwards.
Fowey also contains many entries and it occurs also in many
other parishes."
(Rev. H. L. Ventris, St. Colomb Rectory, Cornwall.)
"The name Pomeroy occurs 47 times in our register. I
have looked on the original register of baptisms from 1590 to
1630 but cannot find the christian name you are in search of."
Mfllfe tljr Barrinr ano Sllfofpu % <Smt-i>miiIj
(By Dr. Hiram S. Pomeroy, written from Hotel Seymour,
Totnes, England, 1907.)
"The fact that Eltweed Pomeroy was a gun-smith proves
absolutely nothing relative to his not being of descent from
Rolfe de Pomeroy the warrior. In my studies and research
I have found that it is one of the universal certainties for
members of an ancient and knightly family, noble and even
royal, to be submerged in the masses. This is true in
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 77
many cases where there is no special reason for it other
than the inexorable law of Dame Nature, that the masses
must acquire numbers. But in the case at issue there were
special and good reasons for it, namely : That the property
of the family was confiscated by the Crown and bestowed
on the Seymours ; and that the rank of peer of the realm
was annulled by the Parliament. * Sir Thomas
de Pomeroy stood by his faith, partly at least, because he
very justly believed that justice and fair play to the com-
moners was on that side as against the other, which was
serving the ends of personal ambition and private greed.
"We should be proud of Sir Thomas de Pomeroy, and
glad that he took just the stand he did. In his time and
place we would doubtless have done the same. But such
action is expensive. The most expensive luxury one can
purchase without loss of self-respect, is that of being right
rather than to be with the King.. His poor neighbors and
tenants whom he had tried to aid and defend were now
helpless; nay, many of them maimed or dead; others in
prison; some of them condemned to death. All this brings
up a picture which I think has occurred to few of us, yet it
is a true and just definition of Avhat actually happened to him
and his. Would it then be any wonder if one of his grandsons
or great-grandsons, or one of his nephews or grand-nephews
became a good gun-smith?
"Many a descendant of even a prouder house than ours
has come to a less honorable career, and besides has had
behind less than a tithe of the character and social position
which our Eltweed possessed. I have studied the matter
long and carefully in regard to 'internal evidence' and feel
practically certain that Eltweed was a descendant of Rolfe.
If you cannot feel that this is consistent, meditate on the
humble beginnings of many of the forbears of the most noble
families, and if that does not convince you turn to the hosts
of their unworthy and obscure descendants.
"In truth, it is not a matter of ancient warrior or of more
modern gun-smith, the noble man is a product of character
and war, self-respect in every-day life and gallantry in battle,
and the wholesome pride that is born of either or both. It
is a matter of sensitive regard for the things of human weal,
which make for the harmony of this universe as the Creator
78 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
intended it should. It is a matter of the manhood that spells
out duty to his fellow man, so that it shall be the result of
mental and physical courage ; without fear to move a step
ahead of his place and time ; to take that step, and with it
the penalties and pains, which are always the heritage of
the one who dares to lead. Such an one was our grandfather,
such an one was our father, but above all and before all such
an one our progenitor in America, in 1630, Eltweed Pomeroy."
iEUhtwd :|totttpr0y tl|r Emigrant
It is not necessary to assert that the force of character
demonstrated by the men of the Pomeroy race in England
has not deteriorated in any appreciable measure among the
men who bear that name in America. Eltweed Pomeroy,
the American emigrant, who came over in the ship "Mary
and John,'' Capt. Squibb, in March, 1630, brought with him a
wife and son Eldad. An impression has prevailed for many
years that he was accompanied by one or more brothers ; that
is not the case, however.
When the initial action was taken to establish a town
government in this country, Eltweed readily demonstrated the
fact that he had been a man of affairs and that he was familiar
with business methods, and at once took a leading place
in the community at Dorchester, where the first town gov-
ernment was organized. He was one of the proprietors in
that plantation and had been chosen as chairman of the
board of Selectmen, comprised of 12 of the more notable
men in the little colony of what is now known as the
Dorchester District of Boston.
This town government was organized in August, 1633,
and the first town meeting in the United States was held at
the junction of Cottage and Pond streets, in that town, over
which Eltweed Pomeroy presided, by virtue of his office
as first selectman. In those days the governor of a colony
or community had no more power than a selectman, but was
of equal influence.
It is also held with justice that this community over
which Eltweed Pomeroy presided as chairman nf the board
of selectmen established the first free public school in the
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 79
country, although this school was in part endowed by the
proprietors of Thompson's Island. However, Dorchester
more completely supported its public schools in 1639 by
general taxation than Boston does now.
The congregation of the first church of the Dorchester
(Mass.) colony held its initial service in June, 1630. The
meeting house was on the corner of what is now East Cottage
and Pleasant streets, Boston. It was built of logs, surrounded
by palisades, and had a thatched roof; and a sentinel was
kept on guard, so that it served as a place of refuge and
defense against the Indians. On the first day of the week
the colony held its meetings as a church ; on the second day
of the week the town meetings were held. An extract from
the "Outlook" (New York) says:
"This Dorchester town meeting, the first in America,
was the model of all the town meetings in New England,
and the germ of our American commonwealths. Near by was
soon established the first free school supported by general
taxation in America."
It can therefore readily be believed that Eltweed Pomeroy
was a man of large influence in this new environment, and
believed in fostering all enterprises tending to educate and
elevate the colony.
Authorities differ concerning the year Eltweed Pomeroy
and a number of the colonists of Dorchester moved with their
minister, the Rev. Mr. Wareham, to Windsor, on the Con-
necticut river. It is probable, however, that it was in
1636 that the migration took place, and the records contrm
grants of land in that town in his favor in 1640.
When Eltweed Pomeroy and his companions of the
colony of Dorchester moved their effects to Windsor, they
carried along the records of Dorchester, which they had
prepared up to that date. Eltweed's name appears in the
list of the proprietors of Windsor, but the first record of
lands was not made until 1640. In 1644 he, as an experienced
man, was appointed by order of the court, an inspector of
linen and woolen yarn.
80 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF
iExirarta from % IjtBtonj of lorrifeBtf r
(From the Dorchester Town Records.)
"An agreement by the whole consent and vote of the
Plantation, made Monday, 8th day of October, 1633 :
"Imprimus, it is ordered for the general good and well
ordering of the affairs of the Plantation, there shall be every
Monday before the Court by eight of the clock in the morn-
ing; and be present upon the beating of the drum, a general
meeting of the inhabitants of the Plantation, at the Meeting
House, there to settle and set down such orders as may tend
to the general good as aforesaid ; and every man to be bound
thereby without gainsaying or resistance. It is also agreed
that there shall be twelve men selected out of the company
that may, or the greatest part of them, meet as aforesaid
to determine as aforesaid, yet so as it is desired that the
most of the Plantation will keep the meeting constantly, and
all that are there although none of the twelve shall have a
freer voice as any of the twelve, and that the greater vote,
both of the twelve and the other, shall be of force and
efficacy as aforesaid.
"And it is likewise ordered that all things concluded as
aforesaid shall stand in force and be obeyed until the next
monthly meeting, and afterwards if it be not contradicted and
otherwise ordered upon the said monthly meeting by the
greatest number of those that are present as aforesaid. More-
over, because the Court in in vacancy of
this said meeting, to continue till the first Monday in the
month.
Mr. Johnson,
Mr. Eltweed Pomeroy,
Mr. Richards,
John Pierce,
George Hull,
William Phelps,
Thom. Ford.
ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 81
"The proportion which each man is to have of the Town's
pasture and other lands accordingly to the same rule for
division, for every one on this side of the river
"The Maps of the Meadows beyond Naponset River
....85.
Eltweed Pomeroy, Ca.
Eltweed Pomeroy, Proprietor in 1633 and first Selectman,
removed to Windsor.
Extract from New England Historical and Genealogical
Register published by Xew England Historical and Genealog-
ical Society, 1889:
"ELTWEED — Ancestor of the American Pomeroys came
to this country from Devonshire, England, in
1630. Was in Dorchester, Mass., from 1633 to
1635. In Dorchester he was called Eltwid.
In Northampton, Eltwed Pumry.
"He removed to Windsor, Conn., about
1635 or lo36- His first wife died in Windsor,
Conn., July 5, 1635. Name not ascertained.
"Second wife was Lydia, widow oi
Thomas Parsons."
"CHILDREN — Mary, died in Windsor. Dec. 19, 1640.
John, died in Windsor, (?) 1647.
Eldad, died in Northampton, Mass., May 22,
1662. He gave his property (which was of
small amount) to his betrothed, Susanna
Cunlifte. Her parents were from Dorchester.
Aledad. baptized Aug. 19, 1638.
Caleb, baptized Alar., 1641, Alarried Heph-
sibah Baker of Windsor (his descendants were
numerous, many settled in Southampton).
Alary 2d, baptized April 21, 1644, died young.
Joshua, baptized Nov. 22, 1646, married 1st
Elizabeth Lyman, 2d Abigail Cook. (He
moved to Deerfield, Mass., [684.)
Joseph, baptized June 20. [652.
"Eltweed Pomeroy was brought from Windsor, Conn., to
Northampton about 1670 or 1671 to be cared for in his old
age by bis son Dean (Deacon) Medad. He died in 1073."
errata:
Page 14, 4th paragraph, 1st line, for gr-gr-grand father
read grea t -grand father.
Page 14, 4th paragraph, 4th line, for Sir John read Sir
Henry.
Page 14, 4th paragraph, 4th line, for 11th generation
read loth.
Page 30, 2nd paragraph, 2nd line, for Sir John read
Sir Henry.
Page 31, next to last paragraph, for Sir John read Sir
Henry. ^ , , a '
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