Somerleyton and Cottessey Branches: Connection Point

UPDATE:  Evidence that has been recently found seems to show that the Somerleyton connection used here is not accurate.  This involves confusion among two different Thomas de la Poles.  It now appears that the Thomas de la Pole who was married to Anne Cheney was not the son of Michael de la Pole (2nd Earl of Suffolk) and Katherine Stafford.  It seems that he was the son of Michael de la Pole, the 1st Earl of Suffolk, father of the 2nd Earl.  The other connection to King Edward I, through the Bardolf/Stapleton still holds.

Something very interesting happened when I was looking for information regarding the Cottessey branch of Jernegans – they intersect with the Somerleyton branch.  You might be thinking this is nothing new, since it is well known that both branches stem from Edward Jernegan (or Jerningham, 1472-1515).  Children with his first wife, Margaret Bedingfield belong to the Somerleyton branch, while the children with his second wife, Mary Scrope, belong to the Cottessey branch.

The new connection actually begins much earlier than Edward Jernegan, and concern not the Jernegans, but the Staffords.

Hugh Stafford (d. 1386, 2nd Earl of Stafford, Knight of the Garter) was the great-great grandson of King Edward I, through his mother, Margaret de Audley.  Hugh married Philippa de Beauchamp, daughter of Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warick and a fellow Knight of the Garter.

Hugh and Philippa had seven children, including daughters Katherine and Margaret.  Both married well.  Katherine married Michael de la Pole, the Earl of Suffolk, and Margaret married Ralph de Neville, Earl of Westmoreland.

Katherine (de Beauchamp) de la Pole was the 3rd great grandmother of Bridget Drury, daughter of Sir Robert Drury.  Bridget married John Jernegan, son of Edward Jernegan by his first wife, Margaret Bedingfield.  Katherine’s sister Margaret (de Beauchamp) de Neville was the great-great grandmother of Mary Scrope, the second wife of Edward Jernegan.  Mary, of course, was the mother of Sir Henry Jerningham, the first of the Cottessey branch of Jernegans/Jerninghams.  So, John Jernegan’s wife Bridget was distantly related to his half-brother, Henry Jerningham.

What does this mean for us?  Probably the most relevant part of this concerns the descent from English royalty.  Whether Thomas Jernegan, the immigrant, descended from the Somerleyton branch of the family (which a majority of Jernigan genealogists seem to agree) or the Cottessey branch (an idea many also adhere to), there seems to be little question as to where the family tree leads.

Cottessey Jernigans to Beauchamps, Staffords, King Edward I

• King Edward I = Eleanor of Castile
• Joan of Acre = Gilbert de Clare
• Margaret de Clare = Hugh de Audley (1^st Earl of Gloucester, 1289-1347)
• Margaret de Audley = Ralph Stafford (1^st Earl of Stratford, K.G.)
• Hugh Stafford (2^nd Earl of Stafford, K.G.) = Philippa de Beauchamp (dau. of Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, K.G.)  (Common Ancestors of Somerleyton Jernegan Branch)
• Margaret Stafford = Sir Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmorland (d.1425)
• Margaret Neville = Sir Richard le Scrope, 3^rd Baron Bolton
• Sir Henry le Scrope, 4^th Baron Bolton = Elizabeth Scrope
• Sir Richard Scrope = Eleanor Washbourne
• Mary Scrope = Sir Edward Jernegan (1^st wife was Margaret Bedingfield)
• Sir Henry Jerningham (half-brother of John Jernegan, Somerleyton branch of Jernegans) = Frances Baynham

Somerleyton Jernegans to Beauchamps, Staffords, King Edward I

• King Edward I = Eleanor of Castile
• Joan of Acre = Gilbert de Clare
• Margaret de Clare = Hugh de Audley (1^st Earl of Gloucester, 1289-1347)
• Margaret de Audley = Ralph Stafford (Earl of Stratford, K.G.)
• Hugh Stafford, K.G., 2^nd Earl of Stafford (d. 1386) = Lady Philippa de Beauchamp
  (Common Ancestors of Cottessey Jernegan Branch)
• Lady Katherine Stafford = Michael de la Pole (2nd Earl of Suffolk, d. 1415)
• Sir Thomas de la Pole = Anne (dau. of Nicholas Cheney)
• Katherine de la Pole = Sir Miles Stapleton (of Ingham, d. 1466)
• Elizabeth Stapleton = Sir William Calthorpe (High Sheriff of Norfolk, d. 1474)
• Anne Calthorpe = Sir Robert Drury (of Hawstead, Privy Concillor to Henry VII, d. 1535)
• Bridget Drury = Sir John Jernegan (of Somerleyton, half-brother of Sir Henry Jerningham and son of Sir Edward Jernegan)
• George Jernegan = Ele Spelman (dau. of John Spelman and Elizabeth Frowyke)
• Thomas Jernegan (1553-1609) = Elizabeth Thompson (dau. of Edward Thompson and Ann Browne)
• Thomas Jernegan (1591-1645 – drowned) = Elinor
• Thomas Jernegan (c.1618-c.1685, emigrant to Virginia) = ? (Ann Arlington, or Allington, cited in many family trees, unproven)

Sources:

RFESW – The Royal Families of England, Scotland, and Wales, With Their Descendants, Sovereigns, and Subjects – Vol. 2.  By John Burke, Esq. and John Bernard Burke, Esq., Published by E. Churton, 1851

MOTG – Memorials of the Order of the Garter from its Foundation to the Present Time, with Biographical Notices of the Knights in the Reigns of Edward III and Richard II.  By George Frederick Beltz K.H., Published by William Pickering, 1841

VY – The Visitations of Yorkshire in the Years 1563 and 1564, Made by William Flower, Esq., Norroy King of Arms, Edited by Charles Best Norcliffe, M.A., of Langton.  Published by the Harleian Society, 1849

THNV2 – An Essay Toward a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk, Volume II.  By Francis Blomefield, Published by W. Bulmer and Co., Cleveland Row, St. James’s, 1805

TV2 – Testamenta Vetusta, Vol. II, by NicholasHarris Nicolas, Esq.  Published by Nichols and Son, 1826

VS – The Visitations of Suffolk made by Hervey, Clearenceaux, 1561, Cooke, Clarenceux, 1577, and Raven, Richmond Herald, 1612, With Notes and an Appendix of Additional Suffolk Pedigrees.  Edited by Walter C. Metcalfe, F.S.A., privately printed for the Editor by William Pollard, 1882