My Dudley Ancestors, Warts And All

In order, through 19 generations and 643 years.

I wouldn’t blame you if you’re wondering why I’m posting family history stuff to Feathered Photography. Again. There are four reasons.

• It’s the easiest, quickest and most reliable way to share the information with my extended family, friends who are interested and folks who search the internet for their own family history information.
• I’ve posted snippets of my family history in the past and I fairly regularly get requests for more from followers of Feathered Photography.
• At least one of those “snippets” was partially incorrect and that embarrasses me, so I want to correct it. When you make a claim in a public forum that two of your grandfathers were beheaded at the Tower of London by two different Kings of England, you’d best have your facts straight. I didn’t, not completely. I’ll clear that up today.
• Lastly, in a very large, labor-intensive project like this one it’s almost inevitable that it won’t be error free. Publishing it online gives more reviewers, over more time, the opportunity to spot errors and report them to me. I hope they do.

 

One bit of advice. Don’t even try to read this in the normal way. If you do, it’s likely that you’ll quickly be bored out of your gourd. It’s meant for browsing, as you look for bits that might grab you. And if you have any interest in things like American colonial history, Mormon history, Puritans and English history, especially English history involving the Tudor period, I predict you’ll find some good stuff.

Without further ado, let’s get on with it. Or maybe you’ll want to bail out now.

 

 

If you descend through Devere Snow Dudley (#3 below), starting with Devere the following are your direct paternal grandfathers, in order, through 17 generations (19 generations for me) and going back 643 years. Each of these male Dudleys was the son of his predecessor, on the list and in life. I’ve included interesting life events when they were available and reliably accurate.

 

1. Ron Dudley

 

Wayne Dudley

2. Wayne Leroy Dudley – born July 14, 1920 Grand Valley, CO, died May 19, 2002 Murray, UT, married Lorna June Prince, Wayne was a farmer and cabinetmaker

Notes:

• • WWII. Fought in the invasion of Okinawa, radioman and flamethrower operator for his platoon.

 

 

Devere, Aggie, young Uncle Floyd and dog. Aggie was (barely) pregnant with my father, Wayne Dudley. She died from breast cancer when Dad was 6.

3. Devere Snow Dudley – born Dec 30,1888 Brigham City, Ut, died April 15, 1973 Kalispell, MT, married Sarah Agnes Allred (Aggie) and Beulah Lamar Libbert, Devere was a farmer.

 

 

.

Joseph Smith Dudley (Killer Joe) and wife Isadore (Dora)

4.  Joseph Smith Dudley – born Sep 30, 1851 Salt Lake City, UT, died Feb 20, 1928 Hill Spring, Alberta, Canada, married Matilda Josephine Allen and Isadore Percy Sina Snow (Dora), Joseph was an orchardist and farmer

Notes:

• • Matilda had an affair with a hired hand, Henry Wadman, and Wadman was killed by Joseph in a gunfight in 1879. Joseph was charged with murder but after a 5 day trial in Salt Lake City he was found not guilty (very long story). Joseph and Matilda later divorced.
  • Joseph’s second wife and mother of Devere, Isadore Percy Sina Snow, was a daughter of Mormon Church President Lorenzo Snow. It’s Dora, my great-grandmother in the photo, not Matilda.

 

 

5. Oliver Hunt Dudley – born Feb 22, 1809 Alton, NH, died  May 27, 1897 Willard, UT, married Mary Ann Robinson and Hannah Thomas (plural wife), Oliver was a shoemaker, orchardist and farmer.

Notes: 

• • Oliver and family were Mormons living in Nauvoo, IL when “Prophet” Joseph Smith was murdered in 1844. A letter describes family members seeing the bodies of Joseph and his brother Hyrum “with blood dripping into pans beneath them”.
  • Oliver and family emigrated to Utah in 1850 as part of the Edward Hunter Company.
  • Oliver lost an eye in a bizarre incident involving some sick sheep. He nearly died from it.

 

 

6. Gilman Dudley – born Aug 1, 1787 Exeter, NH, died Oct 22, 1822 Alton NH, married Polly (Mary) Haines, Gilman was a farmer

 

 

7. Stephen Dudley – (born June 17, 1762 Exeter, NH, died Sep 24, 1826 Gilmanton, NH), married Mary (Molly) Gilman.

Notes:

• •  Stephen was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill in Captain A. Kinsman’s Company in 1775 at age 13.The battle took place on June 17, Stephen’s birthday.

 

 

8. Deacon Stephen Dudley – born Oct 14, 1724 Exeter, NH, died Aug 22, 1811 Gilmanton, NH, married Hannah Sanborn, 

Notes: 

• • Enlisted for the Crown Point Expedition in the French and Indian War. 
  • Served on the Committee of Safety during the Revolutionary War. 
  • Deacon of the church in Gilmanton from 1776 until his death in 1811. 
  • “He is held in special honor for his religious character. In his disposition he was uniformly kind and pleasant, yet firm and decided. He was considered a staunch pillar of the church”.

 

 

9.   Col. Stephen Dudley – born March 10, 1687/88 Exeter, NH, died 1734 Exeter, NH), married Sarah Davison

Notes:

• • When Stephen moved to Raymond, NH he purchased land from Indians that became the part of Raymond called Freetown. 
  • “Col. Stephen, although poor, was accustomed to wearing a scarlet coat, laced jacket, ruffled shirt and powdered wig.”

 

 

10. Col. Stephen Dudley – born Dec 24, 1660 Exeter, NH, died 1734/35 Exeter), married Sarah Gilman

Notes: 

• • Stephen sometimes called himself a “planter”. 
  • “He was known for his good sense, integrity and liberality.”

 

 

11. Reverend Samuel Dudley – bap Nov 30, 1608 All Saints Church, Northampton, England, died Feb 10, 1683/84 Exeter, NH, married Elizabeth Smith, Samuel was a minister.

Notes: 

• • Sailed for the New World in 1630 in the Winthrop Fleet aboard the flagship Arabella with Governor Winthrop (Pilgrims). 
  • Minister of Exeter, NH for 33 years. 
  • Large land owner, kept the town books and was general conveyancer, judge and attorney. 
  • Married 3 times and had 18 children.

 

 

The Dudley Coat of Arms. Creative Commons. See below for the reason I’m including it here.

12. Governor Thomas Dudley – christened on Oct 12, 1576 Northampton, England, died July 31, 1653 Roxbury, MA, married Dorothy Yorke. 

Notes:

• • An orphan at 14 (or 10), he was raised as a page for Lord Compton, Earl of Northampton.
  • Well educated in Latin and the law.
  • Obtained Captain’s commission at age 20 in 1596. Fought in support of King Henry IV of France at the siege of Amiens in 1597.
  • Became a Puritan before 1603, well acquainted with John Cotton.
  • One of the signers of the agreement to form the Massachusetts Bay Company in 1629 and was one of the 5 officers chosen to come to America with the Royal Charter. The group elected John Winthrop governor and Thomas Dudley deputy governor.
  • Thomas and family sailed for New England on the Arabella in 1630 with the Winthrop Fleet – 11 ships with 700 passengers. 200 died the first year in the New World.
  • In a letter Thomas wrote one of the first known descriptions by a European of an immense flock of Passenger Pigeons.
  • Elected governor of Massachusetts 4 times and deputy governor 13 times.
  • Founded Cambridge, MA in 1631, along with Simon Bradstreet
  • Appointed to the General Court in 1636 to consider the formation of a college at Newtown (Cambridge) and in 1650, as governor, Thomas signed the original charter forming Harvard College.
  • One of the principal founders of the First Church of Boston.
  • Very religious, even dogmatic – however, he championed the idea that the state should control the church while many other Pilgrims believed the opposite.
  • His daughter, Anne Dudley, married Governor Simon Bradstreet. Anne Dudley Bradstreet is considered to be the first American poet and was the first writer in England’s North American colonies to be published.
  • In the past some researchers have questioned if there’s absolute proof that Thomas’s father was Roger Dudley, below. However, it’s generally accepted today that Roger was the father of Thomas and one of the many reasons is the fact that Thomas used the Dudley coat of arms in some of his correspondence. To quote one expert “coats of arms were then a distinguishing mark between noble families, and no high-minded person like Governor Dudley would assume the arms of another family, and no dishonest man would dare to do it.”

 

 

13. Roger Dudley – born 1535 London, England, died 1586 or 1590 in war, married Susannah Thorne, Roger was a soldier.

Notes:

• • A Captain in the Earl of Leicester’s militia, fighting with a commission from Queen Elizabeth I and under the banner of Henry of Navarre. Thought to have been killed in the Battle of Ivry, France in 1590. However, some evidence suggests that he was killed at the Siege of Zutphen in 1586.
  • A contemporary of Robert Dudley who almost married Queen Elizabeth I, Roger served as one of Robert’s soldiers.

 

At this point, a note of explanation is necessary. Baron Dudley is a hereditary title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1440 for John Sutton, a soldier who served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, so John was the first Baron Dudley. He was also the first Sutton to adopt the surname of Dudley as an alias for Sutton. The name Dudley stuck so today’s Dudleys descended from Suttons and it could be said, are still Suttons.

To this date there have been 15 Barons Dudley. Our line of Dudleys descends through three of the earliest Barons.

 

Dudley Castle – Creative Commons

14. Henry (Dudley) Sutton – born 1517 in Dudley Castle, Stafford, England, died 1568 – 70, married a daughter of Christopher Ashton, Henry was an English Admiral, soldier, diplomat and conspirator of the Tudor period.

Notes:

• • As a soldier he fought “gallantly” during the siege of Boulogne in 1544 and was made a Captain early in 1545.
  • Received a Knighthood at Hampton Court in 1551
  • Promoted to Admiral of the Narrow Seas in 1552
  • Henry had many friends in France. The Duke of Northumberland sent him to France in 1553 to confer with King Henry II. It’s complicated but as a result, Henry was imprisoned in the Tower of London but Queen Mary pardoned him in Oct of that year.
  • Henry conspired with others to support a French invasion of England. The conspiracy was discovered and dissolved but several of his co-conspirators were “ hanged on the gallows of Tower Hill for treason against the queen… and after cut down, beheaded and their bodies carried onto London Bridge and there set up”. 
  • Henry remained in exile in France but eventually returned to England where he died between 1568 and 1570. No will is known to exist. 

 

 

15. John (Dudley) Sutton, “Lord Quondam”, 3rd Baron Dudley – born c. 1494 at Dudley Castle, died 1563, Married Cecily Gray, John was an English Nobleman

Notes:

• • John was with Henry VII in France in 1513 , fighting in the War of the Holy League with Spain against France. He was knighted in Oct of that year.
  • When he succeeded his father, Edward Sutton, 2nd Baron Dudley, he was already very much in debt. Due to further  mismanagement and squandering, John had to sell most of his patrimony, including Dudley Castle, which he sold to his cousin, the future Duke of Northumberland, John Dudley . As a result, he acquired the derogatory nickname “Lord Quandam” (Lord Has-been). 
  • When cousin John was executed in 1553 for plotting to install Lady Jane Grey on the English throne, Dudley Castle was forfeited to the crown. In 1555, Queen Mary restored Dudley Castle to Lord Dudley’s eldest son, Edward Sutton, 4th Dudley Baron. 

 

 

16. Edward (Dudley) Sutton, 2nd Baron Dudley – born c.1460, died Jan 31, 1531, married Cecily Willoughby, Edward was an English nobleman.

Notes:

• • Elected as Knight of the Garter in the beginning of King Henry VIII’s reign. 
  • He was chamberlain to Princess Mary (later Queen Mary I) from 1525 -1528
  • Personal note: It was here that I made the error of reporting that I was directly descended from two Dudleys who were beheaded at the Tower of London. Two Dudleys actually were beheaded (Edmund Dudley, Edward VII’s minister, and Edmund’s son John Dudley) but they weren’t my direct paternal ancestors. Instead, they were first and second cousins to this Edward (Dudley) Sutton. 

 

 

17. Edmund Sutton – born 1425, died c.1485), married Joyce Tiptoft, Edmund was an English nobleman.

Notes:

• • One reference says Edmund was knighted. I haven’t been able to confirm.
  • Fought alongside his father during the Wars of the Roses, including at the battles of St. Albans, Blore Heath and Towton.

 

 

18. John (Dudley) Sutton, 1st Baron Dudley – born Dec 25, 1400, died Sep 30, 1487, married Elizabeth de Berkeley, John was an English nobleman, a diplomat and a councilor of King Henry VI .

Notes:

• • John was the first Baron Dudley and the first Sutton to adopt the surname Dudley as an alias for Sutton. 
  • A Knight of the Garter
  • As Lord Steward it was John who brought home the body of King Henry V after he died of dysentery? while he was in France.
  • Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1428 -1430. 
  • Fought in several campaigns in the wars with France and as a diplomat he met with Charles VII of France.
  • Was a King’s Councillor and became one of the favorite companions of King Henry VI.
  • In the Wars of the Roses he was a resolute defender of the House of Lancaster but changed his allegiance to York before the Battle of Towton in 1461.
  • With his son Edmund, Lord Dudley fought in the Battle of St. Albans in 1455 where he was taken prisoner, along with Henry VI. 
  • He was also, with son Edmund, at the Battle of Blore Heath where he was wounded and taken prisoner again.

 

 

19. Sir John Sutton V – born Feb 1380, died Aug 28, 1406. Married Constance Blount, 

Notes:

• • Heir to Dudley Castle.

 

Additional general notes:

1. I have the names and dates to take this Dudley ancestry back 12 more generations to the year 1079. But names and dates are all I have, which makes it even more boring to read than what I’ve included above. So, I’m leaving them out.
2. Some of the Dudleys above had multiple wives due to death or divorce but for this presentation I only included the wife who was the mother of the Dudley we descended from. With three exceptions:  I included Devere Dudley’s second wife, Beulah Libbert, because she’s the grandmother of some of my living relatives. I included Joseph Smith Dudley’s first wife, Matilda Allen, because she played an important role in the killing of Henry Wadman. I also included Oliver Hunt Dudley’s plural wife, Hannah Thomas because, you know, the polygamy thing. And because her name is on Oliver’s headstone in one of the photos above.

 

Ron

 

PS – Just so you know, I do cross check my online research results (from sources like Ancestry.com, FamilySearch, Wikipedia and others) with my own Dudley family mini-library. But mistakes still happen. Almost inevitably.

 

My Dudley family history books. The book on the right is brand new and it inspired me to do more research. That’s when I discovered my error involving Dudleys beheaded at the Tower of London.