THE VAUGHTONS
OF TAMWORTH

some notes by P John Partington

(in the process of extensive revision and expansion)

 ’‘“”–

WILLIAM VAUGHTON  (c. 1500 - aft. 1527)

The Vaughton family (or ‘Voughton’ family, as the name was commonly spelt in the early centuries) were well known in Tamworth in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.  Of them, our earliest known ancestor is William “of Tamworth”, a butcher, who was born in about 1500.  In about 1528 he married Marjorie ‘Growtwych’, with whom he had six children:  John born in about 1529, Edward in about 1531, Alice in about 1535, and three unnamed daughters born in 1537, 1539 and 1541 (details below).  William died in 1557.

THE CHILDREN OF WILLIAM  (c. 1500 - aft. 1527)

William’s first child, John, a “yeoman and butcher”, was born in about 1529. He married Margaret Wright in about 1553, and had eleven children:  Nicholas born in 1555, Christopher in 1556, Mary in about 1557, William in about 1559, John in 1565, Margaret in 1568, another William in 1570, Thomas in 1574, Humphrey in 1576, Joan in about 1578 and Mary in about 1580 (details below). John died in 1593, being buried on 31 May, and Margaret in 1597, being buried on 3 July.

William’s second child, Edward, was born in about 1531. Also a butcher, he married Marjorie (surname unknown), with whom he had a son, John, baptized on New Year’s Day 1575 (details below). Edward was buried on 4 January 1624.

A third child, Hugh, is known from William’s will. It may be this Hugh who married Joan Green in Tamworth on 14 May 1593. Joan was buried on 19 May 1615 in Tamworth, and on 7 October that year, still in Tamworth, Hugh married Isabelle Wright. Hugh died in 1630, being buried at St Editha’s Church, Tamworth, on 15 April. (But these dates look suspect, and this may well be another Hugh in the next generation).

William’s fourth child, Alice, was born in about 1535. On 16 November 1578 she married John Ridding: the couple had a daughter, Joan – but the following year the plague was in Tamworth, and all three of them died: John being buried on 31 January and Alice & Joan on 10 August.

William and Marjorie apparently had three further daughters, whose names are not given, born in Stafford in 1537, 1539 and 1541.

THE CHILDREN OF JOHN  (c. 1529 - 1593)

John’s first child, Nicholas, was born in Tamworth in 1555, and recorded as churchwarden there in 1598.  He was married three times:  first, to Elizabeth Seale, with whom he had ten children:  Margaret and John baptized in 1590, Robert born in 1591, Joan baptized in 1593, Alice in 1595, Elizabeth in 1597, another John in 1598, Dorothy in 1600, another Elizabeth, and Annie in 1602 (details below).  Elizabeth was buried in Tamworth on 20 November 1615.  Secondly he married Jane (surname unknown) and finally Ellen (ditto).  He himself died in 1628, being buried at Tamworth on 25 August.

John’s second child, Christopher, was born in Tamworth in 1556.  On 27 August 1599 he married Jane Taylor at Kingsbury, Warwickshire;  they had five children:  Richard baptized in 1600, Barbara in 1602, Christopher in 1604, Jane in 1607 and John in 1610 (details below).  Christopher died in 1613, being buried in Tamworth on 2 March.  Jane subsequently married John Madox “of Abenhall, Gloucestershire”;  she herself died in 1645.

John’s third child, Mary, was born in about 1557.  Nothing further is known of her at present.

John’s fourth child, William, was baptized on 6 September 1559, and died in infancy.

John’s fifth child, John, was baptized in Tamworth on 27 December 1565.  On 2 June 1595 he married Alice Bankes, with whom he had five children:  Michael baptized in 1595, Elizabeth in 1597, Edward in 1600, Margaret in 1601 and Marjorie in 1603 (details below).  In 1602/3 John was churchwarden at St Editha’s.  Alice died in 1639, being buried in Tamworth on 28 April;  John, “of Wigginton Lodge, yeoman”, died shortly afterwards, being buried on 15 April.  In his will he left legacies to a number of relations, and “10/- per year to the poor of Wigginton”;  the inventory of his possessions totalled £360-16-0.

John’s sixth child, Margaret, was born in 1568, and baptized in Tamworth on 9 May.  She was buried there on 13 June the following year.

John’s seventh child, another William, was born in 1570 and baptized in Tamworth on 4 June.  He was buried there on 15 August the following year.

John’s eighth child, Thomas, was born in 1574 and baptized in Tamworth on 23 September.  He married Dorothy Wright on 17 January 1596, and they had eight children:  Thomas baptized in 1597, John in 1600, Joan (date unknown), Margaret in 1602, Mary, Henry baptized in 1604, Richard in 1607, and two unnamed daughters, born in about 1608 and 1612.  In 1602 Thomas was churchwarden of St Editha’s.  Dorothy died in 1612, being buried in Tamworth on 29 April;  and on 13 January the following year, still in Tamworth, Thomas married Anne Wood, with whom he had two further children:  John and Benedicta, both baptized in 1626.  (Details of all the children are below.)  Thomas was buried on 14 Apr 1651 and Anne on 6 May 1661.

John’s ninth child, Humphrey, was born in 1576 and baptized in Tamworth on 23 December that year.  He married twice:  first, on 21 January 1605 in St Martin’s Birmingham, Isabel Pemberton, with whom he had four children:  Dorothy baptized in 1606, Roger in 1608, John in 1611 and another John, also in 1611.  Isabel died in 1616, being buried at St Martin’s on 17 December, and in October of the following year, again at St Martin’s, Humphrey married Elizabeth Bannor, with whom he had a further seven children:  Humphrey baptized in 1619, Thomas in 1621, Edward in 1622, Elizabeth in 1624, Samuel in 1626, Joseph in 1629, and Thomas in 1631.  (Details of all the children are below.)  Humphrey died in 1633, while Elizabeth lived on until 1672.

John’s tenth child, Joan, was buried at Tamworth on 23 January 1579.

John’s eleventh child, Mary, was born in about 1580. 

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THOMAS VAUGHTON (1597 - 1652?)

... Thomas, baptized on 30 December 1597 in St Editha’s Church, Tamworth.  He married Jane (or Joan?) Wood, and had ten eight or nine children, including Anne and Johanna, born in about 1624 and 1633 respectively.  He may have died in 1652.

Thomas had a brother, Richard, baptized on 5 January 1607 at St Editha’s Tamworth.  He died in 1665, being buried on 31 August at St Editha’s.

THE CHILDREN OF THOMAS  (1597 - 1652?)

Thomas’ first child, Benedicta, was baptized at St Editha’s, Tamworth, on 14 April 1623.  She presumably died in infancy, since another daughter was baptized with the same name three years later.

Thomas’ second child, Anne, was baptized at St Editha’s in Tamworth on 10 February 1625.  In about 1643 she married Thomas Guy, by whom she had three children:  Thomas born in 1644, John in about 1648 and Ann in about 1652.  (Thomas junior was the famous publisher who made a fortune in London and founded Guy’s Hospital.)  Thomas senior died in about 1652, and on 18 June 1661 Anne married Joseph Seeley in St Editha’s Church.

Thomas’ third child, Benedicta, was baptized at St Editha’s, Tamworth, on 29 October 1626.  She married William Weightman and had five children:  John, Thomas, Mary, Anne and Benedicta.

Thomas’ fourth child, Johanna, was apparently born in about 1633.  She married Richard Blood on 19 August 1662 in Tamworth.  They had eight children:  Robert, born in about 1663, John and Thomas in about 1667, Joseph in about 1679, Anne in about 1671, Elizabeth in about 1672, Johanna in about 1673 and Mary in 1678.  She was a special favourite of Thomas Guy, who called her “my aunt Blood” – and on his death he left £1000 apiece to a number of her children and grandchildren, including our ancestor Samuel Mousley.

Thomas also had a son, John, named as “brother-in-law” by Benedicta’s husband William in his will of 1663.

....to be continued

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