People often make a big deal about being able to claim a connection to
royalty in their family tree. I have done so myself (*1). However, that is not
really such a big thing. If you were able to trace every line of your family
tree back far enough, you would almost certainly be able to find a connection
to a royal family line.
From the time of my birth in the mid-1900s back to the earliest
settlers in the US in the mid-1600s is about 300 years and about 10 generations
(in my case, my 8th great grandfather, John Pierpont, was an
immigrant in the late 1630s). From there back to 1066 and William the Conqueror,
the ancestor of all the royal families in England and France, is roughly
another 20 generations. Because you double the number of ancestors with each
successive generation back, in 10 generations you have roughly 1000 ancestors (2**10
= 1024). Thus 30 generations are enough to have 1000*1000*1000 or a billion
ancestors. But the population of the entire world back then was only 300
million (*2). Thus, in your (and my) family tree, there are many instances of
situation where different branches converge by people marrying distant
relatives (usually, but not always, where the individuals didn’t even know that
they were marrying a relative because the connection was too far removed). Even
so, it is nearly certain that you would find a connection to a royal family.
In this blog I’m not looking for a connection like I did when I noted
that Queen Elizabeth II is my 30th cousin, and I’ve not asked her
for an invitation to the royal wedding taking place this coming weekend.
Rather, I just want to document those in my Pierpont family line who were
things like “Sir ___ Pierrepont” and some of the circumstances which caused
them to be recognized. I’ve documented my Pierpont family line earlier (*3), so
let’s look at these individuals.
There is an excellent reference book, “A Genealogical Abstract of
Descent of the Family of Pierrepont: From Sir Hugh de Pierrepont, of Picardy,
France, A.D. 980” (*4). This book is available online as a Google e-book. It
parallels the official Pierpont genealogy (*5)
Normandy Generations
The earliest identified individual with the Pierrepont name was Hugh de
Pierrepont (980-????). He is usually called Lord or Sir as he was the lord of
the castle after which the family was named. Because the Vikings conquered
Normandy several decades earlier (*6), and because Hugh’s descendants were part
of the Norman army in 1066, it is most likely that Hugh was given his position
by the ruling Viking Normans.
The next several generations of the de Pierrepont family also inherited
the Lord/Sir designation due to this family connection, unlike the method of
getting the Sir designation in England due to service to the royal family.
These included
·
Sir Godfrey (ca 1020)
·
Sir Godfrey (ca 1050)
·
Sir Ingolbrand (ca 1090), ancestor of the French
line
English Generations
Sir Robert de Pierrepont came to England with William the Conqueror and
participated with him in the famous Battle of Hastings in 1066. He was given
the Sir designation by William for his conduct in that battle. Although the
next several generations were called the “lord of the manor”, that was a job,
not a title. They lived in the south of England.
Sir Henry de Pierrepont (ca 1250-1290) was the first of the family to
move from Sussex to Nottingham. He was knighted by King Edward I in 1280 for
his service to the king. That same year he married Annora de Manvers, the sixth
generation of her family to live at Holme (later known as Holme Pierrepont
(*7)). This began a long chain of the family who continued carrying various
titles and who continued to marry into other royal families.
·
Sir Robert (c1275-1333)
·
Sir Henry (1322-) married Margaret FitzWilliam
·
Sir Edmund (-1370)
·
Sir Edmund (-1423)
·
Sir Henry (-1453)
·
Henry, esq (-1468) High Sheriff of Nottingham
and Derby
·
Sir Henry (1430-1473), knighted by Edward IV in
1472 for valor at battle of Barton
·
Sir William (-1533), nephew of Sir Henry,
knighted by Henry, Prince of Wales in 1503
·
Sir George (-1564) MP of Nottingham, Knight of
the Carpet at coronation of Edward VI in 1547
·
Sir Henry (1545-1615) MP for Nottingham,
knighted 1603 (*8)
Note that unlike the Sir title which is granted when an individual is
knighted for service to the king and is not passed to successive generations,
other royal titles can be given which are passed along. In recognition of
several generations of continuous service and knighthood, Sir Henry’s son,
Robert was given the title of Earl of Kingston upon Hull. This was the first of
several titles that were passed along in the family for the next several
hundred years.
There are five titles of peerage, from highest to lowest these are:
duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron (*9).
·
Robert (1584-1643) 1st Earl of
Kingston upon Hull (*10)
·
Henry (1606-1680) 2nd Earl of
Kingston, Baron, 1st Marquess of Dorchester (*11)
·
Robert (-1682) 3rd Earl of Kingston,
Viscount Newark, Baron
·
William (1662-1690) 4th Earl of
Kingston
·
Evelyn (1665-1725) 5th Earl of
Kingston, Marquis of Dorchester in 1720, 1st Duke of Kingston in
1715, Knight of the Garter 1720
·
Evelyn (1710-1773) 2nd Duke of
Kingston, Knight of Garter 1741, Lord of the Bedchamber
·
Charles Meadows (1737-1816) MP, knight of
Nottingham, Viscount Newark, Earl Manvers 1806
·
Charles Herbert (1778-1860) 2nd Earl
Manvers
·
Sidney William Herbert (1825-1900) 3rd
Earl Manvers
·
Charles William Sydney (1854-1926) 4th
Earl Manvers
·
Evelyn Robert (1883-1940) 5th Earl
Manvers, Viscount Newark, Baron
·
Gervas Evelyn (1881-1955) 6th Earl
Manvers (title ended with his death)
Thus, there was a continuous line of knights, earls, viscounts, marquesses
and dukes extending for nearly 700 years.
John Pierrepont->Pierpont, who came to America around 1640, was the
great-grandson of Sir George (above). But because the various titles and land
were passed to the oldest son, Henry, and John’s grandfather, William, did not
inherit anything to pass along to his children. However, this was the reason
that James Pierpont (1699-1776), the son of Rev. James Pierpont of New Haven,
attempted (unsuccessfully) to regain the various British titles that the family
had over the years
Notes:
*4 – https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Genealogical_Abstract_of_Descent_of_th.html?id=_eAUAAAAYAAJ
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