My English Rebels and Favorites of Tudor Royality

This year I was fortunate enough to travel to London, England.  During my stay, I took an afternoon trip to a church called St. Bolloph's without Aldgate (meaning outside the gate of London's old Roman defensive wall).  It is a very old parish located in the White chapel area of East London and where the infamous murders by Jack the Ripper took place.  This church contained the plaques from the burials of my Darcy ancestors.  Their financial support of the church allowed them to be buried very close to the altar of the church.  The original church survived the Great Fire of London in 1666 with only minor damage.  However, the church fell into disrepair afterwards and then rebuilt in 1788-91.  The family Plaques that would have covered their burials were saved and restored.  

I was able to meet with the rector of the church who explained that church had been rebuilt, but the plaques on the wall  did not actually represent their burial locations.  The Church had added a more recent addition to expand the building and bring it into current codes.  This meant digging down to what would have been the roman time period, but in the process many bodies and bones were recovered and reburied under the church with current church ceremonies, despite many were probably Catholic.

The Orginal St. Boloph's without Aldgate.  The entrance to the church was actually facing the left side of the old church, now the entrance is under the tower shown in the photo above.

The rector explained that East London in earlier times had been the home of those who had opposed the changing of Church of England and still looked upon where rebels of the government still reside today.  The rector knew stories of my rebelious ancestors and their fates and some success.

Sir Nicholas Carew

Sir Nicholas Carew was born about 1496 in England.  At the age of six, he was placed in the household of King Henry VIII and shared the King's education. In the early years of King Henry's reign, he came to prominence at court through his skill at jousting, and was renowned for his fearlessness. He was knighted sometime before 1517.  He was a prominent member of the Court and held the position of Master of the Horse, as well as other prominent offices such as Master of the Forests, Lieutenant of Ruysbank (guarding Calais harbour), and Chief Esquire of the King. He was a close friend of the King and was made a Knight of the Garter in 1536.

Carew was popular with King Henry VIII, who sought his company, but was known in his youth for being something of a rake. He was one of a number of King Henry's companions whom Cardinel Wolsey believed had too much influence over the King. In 1518, Wolsey managed to have Carew sent away from court, replacing him with his own protégé. Wolsey finally engineered Carew's dismissal from the privy Chamber in 1526.  After Henry's marriage to Anne Bolelyn, Sir Nicholas resented the way she used her position, first as his mistress and later his wife and was sympathetic to his former wife, Catherine and daughter Mary.  

In late 1538, Carew was already out of favor at court, having responded angrily to an insult made by the king. When Oliver Cromwell treasonous letters which Carew had written were given to King Henry VIII, he believed that Carew had been involved in a conspiracy to depose him and place Cardinel Reginal Pole on the throne. Carew was arrested, put on trial on February 14, 1539, and found guilty of high treason.  He was beheaded at Tower Hill in London on March 3, 1539.  His head was set out on London Bridge and his body was said to have been buried at Crutched Friars, a Catholic religious order, but must have been removed at some point as he is buried at St Boloph's. His widow, Lady Elizabeth (Bryan) Carew's whose brother, Sir Francis Bryan sat on the trial that convicted her husband and reduced her to poverty was also buried with him.

Sir Thomas Darcy or Lord Darcy was born about 1467 in England.  Thomas was knighted and eventually the title of Lord Darcy in 1519.  He opposed the destruction of of the religious Monsateries by King Henry VIII.  1536 began on of the most serious revolts against the King which began in Lincolnshire and spread to other counties called the "Pilgrimage to Grace."  One of the protestant holdouts was Castle Pontefract which Darcy held, but gave up to the rebels.  He was arrested and put on trial and found guilty of treason and beheaded on June 30, 1537.

Sign at Tower Hill Scaffolding location

Sir Arthur Darcy, son of Sir Thomas Darcy and his wife, Dowsabel Tempest and grandson of Sir Nicholas Carew and his wife Lady Eliabeth Bryan through his marriage to Lady Mary Carew.  He was born in 1505 in Brigham, Yorkshire, England.  He was titled Lieutenant of the Tower of London and 10th Baron Darcy.   After his father's conviction, all the family lands were seized and barony degraded.  Although the barony was restored to Arthur's eldest brother, the lands were never restored.  Sir Arthur remained in London and was buried with his parents and grandparents at St. Boloph's.

Plaque at St. Boloph's for Nicholas Carew, his wife and his daughter's inlaws, the Darcys

                                    as well as his grandson, Sir Arthur Darcy in 2024.

Sir Edward Darcy was the son of Sir Arthur Darcy and Lady Mary Carew, born in 1543 in Dartford, Kent, England.  He was educated at Trinity college at Cambridge, England.  In 1579, he was made Groom of the Privy Chamber to Queen Elizabeth I, a title also held by his father-in-law Thomas Astley.  She granted Edward a reversion of the manors of Epsom and Ashtead, both in Surrey, England being the nephew of Sir Francis Carew.  

Queen Elizabeth I of England 1575

In 1598, Queen Elizabeth granted Edward the exclusive patent to manufacture, import, and sell playing cards.  (In Showtime's "The Tudors" King Henry is often shown playing cards with his wives).  This was done as the queen was concerned that card playing was becoming a problem amongst her subjects and better having one person to regulate the activity.  However, Thomas Allin, a haberdasher in London started produce his own playing cards and Sir Edward brought sought against him in 1602.  The Queen's Bench Court decided against Sir Edward as it was a case of one person having a monopoly on a product which tradesman skilled could not produce to make a living, there would no limits on price, no reason to maintain the product quality and that the person in this case knew nothing about making playing cards himself.

The case of Darcy vs Allin is still used to today in English law on Monopolies and competition.  

Sir Edward Darcy died on October 28, 1612 and buried at St. Boloph's Church in London.

Plaque at St. Boloph's for Sir Arthur Darcy in 2024

The tudor era was tumultuous time in my ancestor's lives.  Those who opposed the King, even if they found favor with him, lost their heads, while others supporting the Queen (and not Queen Mary) also found favor and gained back little of what was lost by prior generations.  Sir Edward's daughter, Isabella Darcy (born in 1600) married John Launce, a gentleman (meaning his family had a coat of arms), who held some honor, but little if any property.  After his death in 1639, Isabella married a minister, Rev. Shadrach Simpson in 1640.  Her older brother succeeded to the family manors.  Isabella being one of 12 children inherited little or nothing of what was left of the family's former fortunes.

Isabella's daughter, Mary Launce who was born in 1625, also maried a Reverend, John Sherman of Dedham, Essex, England.  With little to keep them in London, they set sail on the "Elizabeth" for America in 1634 eventually settling in Watertown, Massachusetts. Their descendants would remain New England for generations.  

Ephraim Spaulding, Builder of many buildings of Anson and Madison, Maine

One of my visits to Madison, Maine revealed more about my ancestor, Ephraim Spaulding of North Anson, Maine.  He was a carpenter or a framer as he was sometimes called.  It was recently I realized that some of his buildings as a carpenter still exist today.

Ephraim Spaulding was born on June 3, 1794 in Westminster, Massachusetts.  According to his granddaughter, Hattie (Spaulding) Rand, "Ephraim Spaulding who as a youth came from Westminster, Mass., to the Providence of Maine seeking employment as a carpenter.  He had heard that frame houses where being built in Embden so he came up the valley to what is now Madison, Maine and crossed the Kennebec river in a ferry boat.  On the trail to Embden he became weary and paused for a rest on a hill side overlooking the river.  He was impressed with the amount of cleared land and decided to someday build on the spot, which he did in a few years."

                                                              Ephraim Spaulding colorized

Ephraim became acquainted with the Weston Family across the river in Madison, Maine, boarding with the family while finding work building or framing houses. Benjamin Weston had received a large amount of property from his step-father, John Moor, who had married Benjanmin's mother, Eunice (Farnsworth) Weston, after his father's death and raised Benjamin with a promise to his mother to give him land once he reached the age of 21.  Benjamin settled on the land in Madison which at the time consisted of 200 acres.  A log cabin had been where the family lived and Benajmin hired Ephraim to build his frame house.

                                                
                                                    Benjamin Weston farm in Madison, Maine

The house was finished in 1817 and as with many of the homes Ephraim, Ephraim would build, were based on plans of his grandfather, Ephraim Heald's home in Temple, New Hampshire.  During this time, Ephraim became acquainted with Benjamin's daughter, Mary Weston who he wed in her parent's home in 1820.  Eventually Ephraim bought the land he had discovered several years before and began building his own home which he completed in 1828.  The granite foundations, huge timbers rugged construction and generous dimentions indicate that he thought in terms of large buildings.  The wide planed boards, handmade wood finish, double chritian doors, inside window shutters, were evidence of his accurate work, though most of it with tools that he made himself with handmade nails.  The house had a brick oven and five fireplaces.

                             Undated old photo of Ephraim Sapulding house in North Anson, Maine

                                            The same house in 2011

Another somewhat famous landmark, Ephraim Spaulding is credited to building is the Patterson covered bridge bridge that spanned the Kennebec River between North Anson and Madison, Maine.

                                            Patterson Bridge

The Patterson Toll Bridge as it was called was built by Ephraim Spaulding between 1839 and 1840 and remained in existance until it burned in 1926.

Several other home in Madison and Anson area are credited built by Ephraim Spaulding according to the Madison Historical Society and most are in similar shape to his own home and his father-in-law's.

Ephraim is also credited to building the Union Church in North Anson.

Ephraim left his mark on many homes and buildings of the area.  He died on November 25, 1851 in North Anson, Maine at age 57.

"In Anson, Nov. 25th, Mr. Ephraim Spaulding, aged 57.  An esteemed citizen, a faithful and exemplary Christian, a liberal supporter of the Gospel, the church, of which he was a member; and the community in which he lived, with his deeply affliected family, sustain, in his death, a more than ordinary loss.  But to him, the event is gain.  He honored his Savior in life and in death.  And the Savior honored him.  Favored with reason to the last, and almost to thwe last with the power of speech, he gave to each of his family present, and to numbers of his friends, his parting words of affection and advice.  He repeatedly said, with an aspect of serenity and delight, "I am going to be with Jesus."  A sermon was preached on the occasion, from Pslams 12:1 - "Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men." [Christian Mirror, issue of December 23, 1851]

He was buried in Sunset Cemetery in North Anson, Maine with his wife and two sons.