The Slovak Yankee

The Royal Line of Rose (Stoughton) Otis 1629-ca. 1677 of Dover, N.H. Part II

1. Henry III, King of England, born Winchester, 1 October 1207, died Bury St. Edmunds, 16 November 1272.  He married (technically second, his first marriage being annulled), Eleanor of Provence, daughter of Raymond Berenger V, Count of Provence and Beatrice, daughter of Tomasso I, Count of Savoy.  After Henry's death she entered a convent and died at Amesbury Priory on 24 June 1291. [Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families (Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2004), hereinafter PA, pp. 13-16 and sources cited therein.]
2. Edmund of England, Earl of Lancaster, born at London 16 January 1244/45, died Bayonne, France 5 June 1296.  He married 2nd at Paris, shortly before 18 January 1275/76, Blanche d'ARTOIS, daughter of Robert I, Count of Artois and Mathilde of Brabant, daughter of Henri II, Duke of Brabant.  She survived her husband and died at Paris on 2 May 1302. [PA, pp. 422-24 and sources cited therein]
3. Sir Henry of Lancaster, Earl of Lancaster, born about 1281 at Grosmont Castle, Monmouthshire, died 22 September 1345. He married between 30 December 1291 and 2 March 1296/97, Maud de CHAWORTH, daughter of Sir Patrick de Chaworth and Isabel de Beauchamp, daughter of William, the 9th Earl of Warwick.  She was born in 1282 and died between 4 August 1320 and 3 December 1322. [PA, pp. 424-26, and sources cited therein]
4. Joan of Lancaster, youngest daughter of Henry of Lancaster, married between 28 February 1326/27 and 4 June 1328, Sir John de MOWBRAY, 3rd Lord Mowbray, born at Hovingham, Yorkshire on 29 November 1310 and died at York on 4 October 1361, son of John de Mowbray, 2nd Lord Mowbray and Aline de Brewes.  Joan died 7 July possibly 1349 and in any case before 4 May 1351. [PA, pp. 530-31 and sources cited therein]
5. Eleanor de Mowbray, married as his second wife, before 23 July 1358, Sir Roger La WARRE, 3rd Lord La Warre, born 30 November 1326 and died in Gascony, France, 27 August 1370, son of Sir John La Warre and Margaret de Holand.  She married 2nd Sir Lewis Clifford before 13 October 1372.  She died before 10 June 1387.  [PA, p. 401 and sources cited therein].
6. Joan la Warre, married 2nd before 2 May 1384, Sir Thomas WEST, son of Sir Thomas West and Alice, daughter of Sir Reynold Fitz Herbert.  He was born in 1365 and died 19 April 1405.  His wife Joan predeceased him on 24 April 1404. [PA, pp. 401-402 and sources cited therein]
7. Sir Reynold West, 6th Lord La Warre, born 7 September 1395 and died 27 August 1450.  He married first Margaret THORLEY, daughter of Robert Thorley and Anne, daughter of Michael de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk.  She died shortly before 24 November 1433.  Sir Reynold married secondly before 19 November 1443, Elizabeth Greyndour, by whom Sir Reynold had no issue. [PA, p. 402, and sources cited therein]
8. Mary West, born before 1433, died at Trotton, Sussex on 29 July 1473.  She married, before 1469, as his second of three wives, Sir Roger LEWKNOR, born about 1421 (age given as 30 in 1452 and 50 in 1471), died at Trotton 23 July 1478, son of Sir Thomas Lewknor and Phillipa Dalyngridge.  His first wife was Eleanor Camoys who was born in 1408 and was living in 1428.  One visitation notes her burial in 1445.  Roger's third wife was Katherine Chidiock whom he married in May 1477.  She died 9 April 1479.  By his second wife he had two sons: Reynold Lewkenor and Roger Lewkenor, known as Roger the younger, because he had an elder half-brother also named Roger, whose mother was Eleanor Camoys.  Reynold Lewkenor died without issue on 31 August 1492. [Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry (Baltimore, Md., Genealogical Publishing Co., 2005), hereinafter MCA, p. 509, which is now augmented by the embedded links to The Journal of the British Archaeological Association 30 (1874):59-61.  Sir Roger left a will at PCC 1 Logge.  Proof that Sir Roger had a wife named Mary in a deed where he sold land to Richard Carpenter in 8 Edward IV [i.e. 1469] see A2A index at the British National Archives.]
9. Roger Lewknor, Esquire, born about 1469, possibly earlier, died at Tangmere, Sussex between 6 November 1509 and 23 February 1509/10 the dates on which his will was written and proven (PCC 26 Bennett).  He married about 1489, Anne (---) who died at Tangmere on 28 November 1502.  They were both buried at the Boxgrove Priory.  In his will, he mentions his brother Sir William Lewknor, priest, Thomas West, Knight, Lady West, cousin Edward Lewkenor, son Roger, son Edmund, daughters Joan, Clemence, Dorothy, and Elizabeth and makes bequests for the souls of his parents and wife. [MCA, p. 782 and sources cited therein].
10. Edmund Lewknor, Esquire, born 16 November 1496 at Tangmere, died there on 11 March 1545, leaving a will (PCC 31 Pynnyng).  He married about 1532, Joan TYRRELL, born say 1510 and died before September 1557 at Racton, Sussex, daughter of Jasper and Anne (Goring) Tyrrell.  She married second John Gunter, Esquire by whom she had a son Jasper.  In his will Edmund asks to be buried with his parents at the Boxgrove Priory, daughters Elizabeth and Anne, sons Richard, George, and Edmund and wife Joane.  He makes the Lord LaWarr one of his overseers of this will.  That man's father, Thomas West, the 8th Lord LaWarr in his will of 1526 (PCC 2 Porch) leaves a bequest to "Edmund Lewkenor, my kinsman and servant." [MCA, p. 782-83 and sources cited therein.  Using the work Tyrells in England by Brown, pp. 113-115, 243, and the Visitation of Sussex, it appears that Anne Goring, mother of Joan Tyrrell is the daughter of John Goring, Esquire and Joan Hewster.  John's maternal grandmother was Margaret Camoys, sister of the Eleanor Camoys, first wife of Sir Roger Lewknor above.  Therefore, the Camoys descent is not lost in this new arrangement.]
11. Elizabeth Lewknor, born 2 March 1533 at Tangmere, died prior to 1577.  She married as his second wife, Thomas STOUGHTON, son of Lawrence and (---) (Combes) Stoughton.  He was born 25 March 1521 at Stoke, Surrey, and died at London on 26 March 1578.  [MCA, p. 783, and sources cited therein.]
12. Sir Lawrence Stoughton, born 12 November 1554, died 13 December 1615.  He married 23 April 1575, Rose IVE, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth (Agmondesham) Ive.  She was born about 1555 and died 13 November 1632.  She was called the youngest daughter in her father's IPM.  Her mother's Agmondesham identity in a message from John Brandon to soc.genealogy.medieval dated 1 July 2005. [MCA, p. 783, and sources cited therein]
13. Anthony Stoughton, born 4 July 1598 and died 14 January 1643/44.  He married Agnes PIERCE, daughter of Robert Pierce.  In addition to his daughter Rose, he was the father of Sir Nicholas Stoughton, baronet, who was the author in 1672 of this manuscript.
14. Rose Stoughton, baptized 22 November 1629, died prior to 5 November 1677 at Dover, N.H.  She married there about 1651, Richard OTIS, blacksmith and early Quaker.  He was born say 1625 and died at Dover on 28 June 1689.  Richard and Rose had eight children: Stephen, Martha, Anne, Richard, Judith, Solomon, Experience and Nicholas.  He married twice after Rose, Shuah (Starbuck) Heard and Grizzel Warren. Sarah Pinkham married Joseph Austin, who were first cousins through this family, both grandchildren of Richard and Rose.  They named a child Stoughton Austin. [MCA, p. 783, and Gen. Dict. of Me. and N.H., pp. 520-21 (Otis)].

Part I is here.

The Royal Line of Rose (Stoughton) Otis 1629-ca. 1677 of Dover, N.H.

From the moment I saw this chart 30 years ago in the N.Y. Public Library, I thought--wow, how cool.  Eventually I became with Douglas Richardson, James L. and Loretta-Marie Dimond, one of the researchers to prove the royal line for Rose (Stoughton) Otis.  We have been working on this, on and off, for the last ten years or so.  Rose is special to me because I descend from her twice, and one of the lines is through her daughter Martha (Otis) Pinkham.  I can't remember when I first gave this line to Gary Boyd Roberts or Doug Richardson.  It's in Gary's Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants (2006 and 2008).  It's not in Richardson's Plantagenet Ancestry (PA, 2004), but was included in Magna Carta Ancestors (MCA, 2005).  After breaking through on one part of the line which guaranteed a Lewkenor descent for the Stoughtons, we ran into an immediate problem in the next generation.  The visitations noted a West descent (the Lords Le Warr) which would bring a royal line from Henry III.  However, the chronology didn't work well.  It was very strained, so I held off writing it up as an article.  I came back to it at one point and after reading the very long will of Sir Thomas West (8th Lord La Warr) of 1526, he named "Edmund Lewkenor, my kinsman and servant." [PCC 2 Porche],  I knew the Wests and Lewkenors were related, but how?  And could it be proven?

Doug Richardson and Google Books (again), solved the problem.  As is generally the case, the concept was correct, but the details were hazy.  That is, when doing medieval genealogy, some of what is given in the pedigrees is true, but very likely garbled.  There are two successive Roger Lewkenors, one a knight and the other an esquire (his son).  The visitations and pedigrees got their wives confused.  However, in a great find, Doug noted this article from The Journal of the British Archaeological Association from 1874 (Volume 30, p. 59-61).  Suddenly there were good death and birth records for three generations of Lewkenors in Trotton and Tangmere.  The accuracy of the dates can be considered impeccable because the children of Edmund and Joan (Tyrrell) Lewkenor are in the parish registers of Tangmere (personally checked by me) and the dates match spot on for each child.  So, combined with wills, we can now sort out the generations and solve the timeline problems.  I'll present a generation by generation break down with footnotes in a separate posting.  The critical generations now look like this:

• Sir Thomas Lewkenor m. 1st Philippa Dalyngridge m. 2nd Elizabeth Echingham.  By 1st wife:
• Sir Roger Lewkenor m. 1st Eleanor Camoys; m. 2nd Mary West, the daughter of  Reynold West, the 6th Lord le Warr and Margaret Thorley; m. 3rd Katherine Chidiock.  By 2nd wife:
• Roger Lewkenor, Esquire m. Anne (---)
• Edmund Lewkenor, Esquire m. Joan Tyrrell, who m. 2nd John Gunter, Esquire
• Elizabeth Lewkenor m. Thomas Stoughton, Esquire 1521-1578, the great-grandparents of Rose (Stoughton) Otis.

Genealogical Standard of Proof

The Genealogical Standard of Proof (GSP) is not an altar at which we should all fall and prostrate ourselves.  Nothing hurts scholarship more than blind obedience without understanding.  Yet two very influential bloggers used it as an answer for why ancient lineages might be suspect.  I understand their point and what they were aiming for.  However, they both came off as dismissive of the prospect that you can even have medieval ancestry you can prove via GSP (and you can) or about how certain aspects of genealogy actually works.

I had an argument years ago online with someone about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings shortly after the DNA testing proved that one of the Eston Hemings descendants had the same Y-DNA as the Jefferson males.  I noted that Madison Hemings in a newspaper interview had named Jefferson as his father based on his mother's own testimony. I said that, in and of itself, should be considered primary evidence.  If a white diarist had noted his parent's names we would accept that.  However, in this case, it was certainly due to the race of the individual that this testimony was not accepted as such.  In that light how do you use the Genealogical Standard of Proof for communities or cultures where the production of documents is not paramount or has been radically impaired?  Do African-Americans, Native Americans, and European Jews get to do genealogy or do we say sorry, the Genealogical Standard of Proof hasn't been met.  You have to stop after four or five generations.  No more for you.

Likewise, can you use the Genealogical Standard of Proof to prove that Julius Caesar existed?  If you run down source after source, you realize that you only have a few contemporary [that is contemporary to Julius Caesar] historians that say there was such a man.  Even his own written works are only attributed to him, because a contemporary person says so.  Everything we know about Julius Caesar is, in fact, hearsay.  But, we do accept his existence.  We evaluate those historians and note when they wrote their histories.  We come to the conclusion that these secondary sources are, on the whole, reliable.  

This is how medieval genealogy is pursued either partially or completely depending on the date.  Certainly we still have primary records from the period of 1100 and onwards (such as the Close Rolls, Pipe Rolls, Fine Rolls, etc.) and other church muniments and records.  However, medieval genealogy relies upon the same factors as history in order to make a case.  You can use the GSP to prove English origins and even generations back to the year 1450 (-ish).  Before that you need to alter the approach to allow for secondary sources to be used.

So before all such lines are dismissed you need to do some research.  I keep a list of bogus royal lines as well as those I know I can prove.  As for ancient lineages, I don't enter any into my database.  I made my line (entirely arbitrary to me) to be William The Conqueror (William I) 1027-1087.  I include lines up to the 11th century but not before it (even though I could reasonably use Charlemagne as the stopping point).  It's a thousand years ago, which seems like a nice round number.  Someday when I retire and I can do more investigation, I'll add more to this.  I know of one scholar, Christian Settipani, who does credible research into Gallic Roman families and has some that push back prior to 500 C.E.  

The Royal Line of Anne (Skipwith) (Goforth) Oxley ca. 1642-1723, Part II

1. Edward III, King of England, born at Windsor Castle 13 Nov. 1312, died Sheen Palace (Richmond), Surrey 21 June 1377.  He married at York 24 January 1327/8, Philippe of Hainault, daughter of Guillaume [William] III, Count of Hainault and Holland and Jeanne de Valois, daughter of Charles of France.  Philippe was born ca. 1313-5 and died at Windsor Castle on 15 August 1369. [Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families (Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co. 2004), hereinafter PA, pp. 23-26.]

2. Thomas of Woodstock, K.G., Duke of Gloucester, born at Woodstock, Oxfordshire 7 January 1354/5, died [murdered] at Calais, France 8 (or 9) September 1397.  He married before 24 August 1376, Eleanor de Bohun, daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, Essex, and Northampton and Joan de Arundel.  Eleanor was born about 1366 and died at the Minoresses Convent in Aldgate on 3 October 1399.  She was a descendant of Edward I through her father and Henry III through her mother.  [PA, pp. 138-39]

3. Anne of Gloucester, Countess of Buckingham, Hereford, and Northampton, born ca. 1383, died 16 October 1438.  She married first Thomas Stafford, 3rd Earl of Stafford, by whom she had no issue.  She married second Edmund Stafford, her first husband's brother.  They had three children.  She married thirdly before 20 November 1045, Sir William Bourgchier, son of Sir William Bourgchier and Eleanor de Lovaine.  He was born ca. 1374 and died at Troyes, France 28 May 1420.  He was granted the title Comte (Count) d'Eu on 10 June 1419. [PA, pp. 139-40.]

4. Sir William Bourgchier, 1st Baron Fitzwarin, born ca. 1407, died before 12 December 1469 when his will was probated.  He married Thomasine Hankeford, born 23 February 1423 at Tavestock, Devonshire, daughter of Sir Richard Hankeford and Elizabeth FitzWarine.  She died 3 July 1453.  Thomasine was a descendant of Henry III through her mother. [The Complete Peerage, (London, England: Doubleday, H.A. & Lord Howard de Walden,  1936), hereinafter CP, V: 507].

5. Sir Fulke Bourgchier, 2nd Baron Fitzwarin, born 25 October 1445, died 18 September 1479, Bampton, England.  He married Elizabeth Dinham, daughter of Sir John Dinham and Joan Arches.  Elizabeth was born ca. 1450 and died at London on 19 October 1516.  She was a descendant of Edward I through her father.  Their eldest son became the first Earl of Bath.  [PA, p. 275 and CP V:508].

6. Elizabeth Bourgchier, born ca. 1475, died 8 August 1557.  She married as her last husband, Sir Richard Page, of unknown origins who died in 1548.  Elizabeth's second husband was Edward Stanhope, by whom she was the mother of Anne, wife of Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector in the reign of Edward VI. [Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004), 42:330, and Gerald Paget, The Lineage and Ancestry of H.R.H. Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (Edinburgh, 1977), Reference: O 29476.]

7. Elizabeth Page born ca. 1518 at Beechwood, Herts. England, died South Ormsby, Lincolnshire, England April 1573.  She married about 1538, Sir William Skipwith, son of Sir William Skipwith by his first wife Elizabeth Tyrwhit.  Sir William was born ca. 1510 and died in October 1586.  [Maddison's Lincolnshire Pedigrees III:895 (Skipwith) and III:1019 (Tyrwhit); PA, pp. 733 and 658.]

8. (a) Sir Richard Skipwith ca. 1540-1611 married Mary Chamberlain, the daughter of Sir Ralph Chamberlain and Elizabeth Fiennes.  Elizabeth was a descendant of Edward I through her mother and Henry III through her father.  [Lincolnshire Pedigrees III:895; Visitation of Cambridge, 1575 (London, 1897), pp. 41; PA pp. 642 for Sir Roger Fiennes and Elizabeth Holand, the paternal grandparents of Elizabeth (Fiennes) Chamberlain.]

8. (b) Elizabeth Skipwith married Thomas Portington, the son of John Portington and Anne Langton.  [Lincolnshire Pedigrees III:895 (Skipwith), II:582 (Langton), and III:794 (Portington).]

9. William Skipwith, Esquire ca. 1566-1622 married his first cousin Anne Portington, as his second wife.  His first wife was Anne Hussey, the widow of John Ryther and Sir Robert Constable.  The widow Anne (Portington) Skipwith remarried to Francis Guevara and was living in 1648.  No. 10, below is the son of the second wife.  [Lincolnshire Pedigrees III:896 and 795.]

10. Willoughby Skipwith, Esquire, baptized 3 January 1612/13, died about 1658 when administration to his estate was granted to his widow.  He married 20 July 1634 at Barnet, Hertfordshire, [extracted and with thanks to Will Johnson] Honora Saunders, the daughter of Patrick Saunders or Sanders, M.D. of London and his wife Sarah Smith.  Honora became a Quaker martyr dying in prison at York Castle on 15 April 1679.  Administration to her estate was granted to her son John on 16 September 1680.  [Lincolnshire Pedigrees III:896; Visitation of London, 1633, pp. 227; NYGBR 29 (1898):172; Lincolnshire Notes & Queries 8 (1904/5):188-89.  Burial record of Patrick Saunders.]

11. Anne Skipwith, born ca. 1642, died Philadelphia, Penn. on 2-3-1723[April 3, 1723].  She married first at Hull in a Quaker ceremony on the 11th day 7th mo. 1662: Download Goforth Marriage Certificate Here, William Goforth, son of Miles Goforth, born at Knedlington, England ca. 1631, died Burlington, New Jersey between 1677 and 1686.  They had (at least) five sons, perhaps six and possibly daughters who escape the records.  By 12 October 1686 Anne had remarried William Oxley by whom she had three children.  William Oxley died at Philadelphia on 2-15-1717 [April 15, 1717]. [See source notes under generation #10 as well as the following: On 12 October 1686, George Goforth, yeoman of Burlington, New Jersey, son and heir of William Goforth and Anne Oxley, wife of William Oxley and mother of said George, deeded to Ricahrd Bassnett [John David Davis, West Jersey New Jersey Deed Records 1676-1721 (Baltimore, Md.: Heritage Books, 2005), p. 240, a similar deed dated 1706 on p. 244; George Tuttle Goforth, The Goforth Genealogy: A History of the Descendants of George Goforth of Knedlington, England (Annandale, Va.: the author, 1981), pp. 1-4; Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr., Passengers and Ships Prior to 1684 (Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970), pp. 142-43; death records from the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting at William Wade Hinshaw, The Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, II:401; No records of William and Anne remain in the Burlington, N.J. meeting records;  The Skipwith Family also has an account in Notes on the Visitation of Lincolnshire, 1634, pp. 178-86.]

Ancient Lineages

This last Madness Monday posting will take a few comments to get through.  I was partly chagrined by the posting itself and then further dismayed that two of the most influential genealogical bloggers responded to it with comments I also disagreed with.  So, much to discuss. The first thing is:  if you don't know your history, look it up before you post.  In today's world, wikipedia is but key strokes away.  I always use it to verify dates.  I'm not saying you should take its word on historical interpretation, but for dates, it's pretty doggone reliable.  So this sentence:

Marriage was outlawed by the Catholic Church (name later given to the group called the CHURCH) some time in the late 17th or 18th century. That time line not critical to comment but I am aware that in days of old, (500 years ago +) the clergy were married more often than not.

It's not that hard to find this in wikipedia:

The First Lateran Council (1123), a General Council, adopted the following canons: Canon 3: We absolutely forbid priests, deacons, and subdeacons to associate with concubines and women, or to live with women other than such as the Nicene Council (canon 3) for reasons of necessity permitted, namely, the mother, sister, or aunt, or any such person concerning whom no suspicion could arise. Canon 21: We absolutely forbid priests, deacons, subdeacons, and monks to have concubines or to contract marriage. We decree in accordance with the definitions of the sacred canons, that marriages already contracted by such persons must be dissolved, and that the persons be condemned to do penance.

So, we've gotten that factual error out of the way. I'm not sure even what the clergy marrying has to do with ancient pedigrees in the first place. This is part and parcel of the great American tradition which is the non-religious education of our population. I've always been amazed at how many people can quote the Bible, but have no knowledge of its history or even the two original languages from which it comes. [In my home I have the Bible in ancient Hebrew [O.T.] and ancient Greek [N.T.]].  

All of this seems to be a prelude to the salient question of the poster: can you trust ancient lines?  I call them ancient lines because  she notes lines going back to Abraham.  If you've done genealogy for a while  you'll see lines going back to the ancient world in various forms, either to King David, Adam & Eve, Alexander the Great, etc.  The answer is a resounding no, but not for the reasons you may be thinking.  In all ancient pedigrees there is one or more trouble generations that connect a perfectly reasonable medieval ancestry into those ancient pedigrees, which may also be reasonable.  It's the connection that is either flawed (i.e. erroneous) or unproven.   The biggest example is Zaida.  She is one of the wives/concubines of King Alfonso VI of Castile (ca. 1040-1109), and most people of western European extraction with any provable medieval royal or noble lines descend from him.  The problem is (and always has been) that we can't prove which of his children were by which of his wives.  Some people have cast that problem aside because Zaida is a likely descendant of the prophet Muhammad.  It is also through her (and a few others) that one can make an assertion of a descent from Cleopatra.

So, why did such big time bloggers like Myrtle and Footnote Maven, punt?  

The Royal Line of Anne (Skipwith) (Goforth) Oxley ca. 1642-1723, Part I

About five years or so ago, I broke through on Michael's Morrow family.  William Isaac Irvine Morrow's parents were David and Priscilla (Doherty) Morrow and his maternal grandparents were George and Priscilla (Goforth) Doherty.  I hastily copied the important parts of the 3rd edition of the Goforth Genealogy by George Tuttle Goforth and published in 1981.

I noted that the English origins of the first Goforth, William, was given as was his marriage to Anne Skipwith, the putative daughter of Willoughby Skipwith and Honora Saunders.  I'm well acquainted with medieval families so seeing the name Skipwith, I immediately thought royal line.  I did some quick research and saw one.  However, the Goforth Genealogy is presented in narrative form without any footnotes.  Although well-researched, there is no way to know that without redoing all the research yourself to see if what this book contains is accurate or not.  The combination of Quaker and royal seemed spurious.  There have been many recent scholarly articles disproving such claims.  The thought that a member of the Skipwith family became a Quaker martyr and her daughter would come to the states, seemed very far-fetched.  So, it got filed.

Two weeks ago, a cousin of Michael's contacted me and I gave her my research for the lines she shared with Michael.  That included this Morrow/Goforth line.  So I looked at this again.  In the intervening five years or so, technology made proving this much easier.  A quick search of google books found this article from Lincolnshire Notes & Queries 8 (1904/5):188-89: The Skipwiths and the Quakers.  This seemed promising.  Then I went to the British National Archives to their Non-Conformist Parish Registers Database.  There I obtained (for five pounds) the actual marriage record of George Goforth and Anne Skipwith from 1662.  In fact, as I did the research, I proved exactly what George T. Goforth had written in 1981.  His only error was with the Quaker dating system.  The marriage was 11th day 7th mo. 1662 which is September 11th not July 11th.  

Interestingly, no one has bothered to do any research on this couple, and specifically Anne Skipwith who has amazing ancestry.  She was the daughter of Willoughby Skipwith and Honora Saunders.  This last couple is clearly given in Maddison's Lincolnshire Pedigrees, III: 896.  Honora is further given in the Visitation of London, 1633.  Through Willougby Skipwith, there is a double descent from Edward III.  In a further posting, I will give the generation by generation break down of that line.  It is what people tend to call "the best royal line," which is merely short hand for the closest descent to the most recent monarch.  However, in addition to the two Edward III lines, there are a dozen or so additional lines to other kings such as Edward I, Henry III, and John. I've submitted this new information to my colleagues Gary Boyd Roberts and Douglas Richardson for inclusion in their future editions of royal lines.

Part II is here.