Re: Quarterman Family in England 111th >16th Century

["John S. Quarterman" <jsq@matrix.net>]

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>THE FAMILY NAME OF QUARTERMAN
>
>
>My name is David Edwards and my mother’s maiden name was Elsie May Quarterman [
>1908-1986].  Ever since I was at school in the 1960's I was always fascinated 
>by the Quarterman name and for many, many years have researched it through the
> Public Record Office in London UK (much easier to trace than Edwards!).  
>
>I have now traced my own family tree going back to the 1580's.  This shows tha
>t from the 1580's until the 1820's the Quarterman family lived in Cowley [a di
>strict of Oxford, England].  With travel by train then possible the family sca
>ttered all over the country:  to Yorkshire, South Wales, Manchester and London
>.  I am descended from the London branch.  I have made contact with another br
>anch of the 'London' family which was formed in the 1880's and also discovered
> that descendents of that branch emigrated to New Jersey USA and were alive in
> 1990 [when they visited the Quarterman Chapel at Rycote near the village of T
>hame in Oxfordshire, UK where the family lived from 1066 until the 15th centur
>y – see “Early History” below].

Very interesting.

How do you know that they visited the Chapel at Rycote?

>In 1883 ‘The ‘Prebendal Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Thame, in the Count
>y and Diocese of Oxford’ published a limited edition book detailing the history
> of the church, including the pedigrees of all the families connected with the
> parish. The book was written by the Revd. Frederick George Lee DD. who was th
>e Vicar of All Saints Church, Lambeth, in London [!].  My great-great-grandfat
>her obtained a copy of this giant book (15” x 10”) and it passed down to my moth
>er and is now kept by my cousin John Q.  It also includes an illustration [dat
>ed 1821] of the two large Quartermain table tombs, situated in the south trans
>ept of the church, which are from the 14th and 15th centuries. I also have pho
>tographs of them, which I will get added to this document in due course.

There's a copy of the Lee book in the Oxfordshire County Library in Oxford.
See:

 http://www.quarterman.org/q/books/lee.html

Be wary of depending on Lee's genealogies.  They are in many places inaccurate.
Lee's source for much of his genealogical information was William F. Carter,
who fifty years later published much better genealogical information in his
The Quatremains of Oxfordshire:

 http://www.quarterman.org/q/books/carter.html

>A word on the spelling of the name Quarterman/Quartermain/Quartermayne &c:
>You should realise that until the 18th century the majority of people had no f
>ormal education.  Certainly spelling was not high on the list of things to lea
>rn.  Only those who needed to write learned how.  Parish priests had to write 
>in order to record details of christenings marriages and burials (official rec
>ords of births and deaths records did not start until the first half of the 19
>th century).  However, when a new priest took over a parish he could only ever
> ask for a persons name when it had to be recorded – certainly never the spelli
>ng.  Often, entries in church registers that appear in a new hand also signify
> a new spelling of local names from those recorded by previous priests.  With 
>an unusual name like Quartermain, a variety of different spellings for the sam
>e family’s name can now be appreciated.  

Including things like Katermint.

One wonders if names now relatively common stateside such as Quatermuss
are actually just more such variants.

>If you have any interest in the Quarterman’s family history, I would be very pl
>eased to hear from you.  My cousin, John Quarterman [and his son Philip] who a
>re the last of my immediate family to carry the Quarterman name live about 1-h
>ours drive from me.  They are also very interested in the family history.

Maybe they'd also be interested in joining the list.

>In 1984-85 I made many visits to the Central Register Office in London, during
> which time I copied almost all the registered names of births, marriages and 
>deaths in the Quarterman name from when records started about 170 years ago.  
>There are also about 20 Quarterman’s listed in the London telephone directory a
>nd I wrote to them all some years ago.  Several replied, offering brief detail
>s of their ancestors, but none of them appeared to link with any ancestors of 
>mine.  I repeated the exercise in 2000 with all Quarterman’s listed as having c
>omputer ICQ membership.  This produced several responses from Australia, New Z
>ealand and USA, as well as a couple in England.  Unfortunately I did not have 
>time to maintain and update this growing database.  Hopefully I will be able t
>o do so soon. 

Sounds like a start.

>I live in New Malden, Surrey, which is near Wimbledon [tennis!!] in SW London.
>  If you can provide any information at all about the QUARTERMAN family, It wi
>ll be most gratefully received and I will be very happy to send you full detai
>ls of all my research if you request it.

Yes, please.

>David Edwards
>Nov 1999.  Updated April 2001 
>=======================================

John S. Quarterman <jsq@matrix.net>

>Early History of the Quartermains of North Weston, Oxfordshire
>
>Extract from the Historical Notes produced by the Custodian of Rycote Chapel.
>
>After the Norman Conquest of Britain the See of Dorchester was transferred to 
>the See of Lincoln in 1070, with the exception of the three hamlets of Chilwor
>th Musard, Chilworth Valery and Coombe.  These belonged to the powerful famili
>es who had obtained the land through military service [feudatories].  The Bish
>op of Lincoln immediately appointed 39 knights to oversee his lands and it is 
>at this point the Quartermains are first mentioned in the Oxfordshire area.  I
>t seems reasonable to assume, given their name, that they were of Norman desce
>nt and settled in Britain after the Conquest of 1066.
>
>The North Weston estate, near Thame, was allocated to one of those knights in 
>1086.  He is recorded in the Domesday Book as “William, knight to the Bishop of
> Lincoln” and his estate consisted of 3 Hides in Thame (viz. North Weston) and 
>3¾ Hides at Great Milton.  Two of the Fees at Ascot were shared with another kn
>ight “for their lifetime”.  These two estates formed the two halves of a Fee tha
>t became known as Quartermain’s Manor during the Tudor Period.  It was remain i
>n the family until sold to Lord Dacre in 1458.

Did this William have a surname ascribed to him?

If not, maybe he was Herbert's father anyway, and the surname
just didn't happen to be recorded by the Domesday scribe.

In that case, this William would be the first known Quartermain
in England and would have likely come over from Normandy shortly
after or even during the Conquest.

Where they came from in Normandy is not known.
I've been told by people in France that Quatremaine (four hands)
is not a typical medieval French construction, and it might be
useful to look in Flanders or even the Netherlands for the continental
source of the family.

>Around 1100 Herbert Quartermain [#1] was officially registered as knight of Bi
>shop Alexander of Lincoln, with lands at North Weston.  He married twice and f
>rom his first marriage there were four children [Herbert #2, Robert, Richard a
>nd John].  After his first wife [name unknown] died, Herbert [#1] married the 
>Foliot heiress and they had a son William.    When Herbert [#1] died, Herbert 
>[#2] inherited the North Weston estate and William was given part of the Folio
>t lands at Chalgrove.  The inheritance of Herbert #2 is recorded in Deed No. 4
>9 in the Oxford Charters.   His inheritance split the family and from that dat
>e the Quartermains of North Weston became known as the “Senior branch” and the Q
>uartermains of Chalgrove as the “Younger branch”.  However, as Herbert [#1] was 
>the progenitor of both branches, it is correct for any descendents to claim th
>eir roots as North Weston in the County of Oxfordshire.
>
>As a knight, Herbert [#1] was a very important person and his name appears on 
>many deeds and charters of that period as a witness.

Interesting.  Deeds and charters for what in particular?

>Five generations later, Thomas Quartermain [#2] was married to Kathryn Breton,
> who was related to the then Archbishop of York.  Thomas and Kathryn both died
> on 6 June 1342 [cause unknown] and they are buried in one of the table tombs 
>in St. Mary’s Church in Thame.
>
>Richard, the grandson of Thomas and Kathryn, inherited the North Weston estate
> from his father Thomas [#3] in June 1414.  Richard was born about 1394 and be
>came a merchant in London.  In November 1421 he was sufficiently important to 
>appeal against a judgement given in the court of the Lord Mayor of London, whi
>ch at that time was presided over by none other than one Richard Whittington (
>yes – he really did exist, and was involved with the Quarterman family as well!
>!).

Apparently I'm missing a reference here.  Is the name Richard Whittington
famous in some manner?

Hm, it seems he was Mayor of London, and supposedly had a famous cat:

 http://www.corpoflondon.gov.uk/history/lordmayor/historyoffice.htm

>  Sometime between 1432 and 1435 Richard became a Member of Parliament for 
>Oxfordshire and in 1436 became High Sheriff.  He built the present chapel at R
>yecote, which was consecrated in 1449 as the Chapel of St Michael and All Ange
>ls.  In 1472 at the age of 79 he was elected MP for Oxfordshire for the third 
>time.  He died on 6 September 1477 aged 84.  His wife Sybilla died six years l
>ater in 1483.  The heir to the estate, Sybilla’s nephew Richard Fowler[ #1] die
>d later the same year, passing the estate to his son Richard Fowler [#2].  In 
>1505 the estates were inherited by Richard Fowler [#3] (a great-great nephew o
>f Richard Quartermain).  This Richard was apparently something of a spendthrif
>t and in the course of time he had to part with much of his landed property, i
>ncluding Rycote, which was sold in 1521.

This part is familiar.

>Richard and Sybilla were both buried in another of the table tombs standing in
> the transept of St Mary’s Church at Thame, There are three brasses on the tomb
>: representing Richard, Sybilla and Richard Fowler [q.v.] who was Sybilla’s nep
>hew and Richard’s godson.   This tomb was inspected in 1813 and found to contai
>n nothing more than a heap of rubbish and some bones in one corner.  It was cl
>aimed that the heating apparatus for the church had been housed in the tomb at
> one time!

Were they human bones?

>The Chalgrove Quartermains – the “Younger branch” - continued, without much disti
>nction it can be said, until 1549 when Roger, who had inherited the estate fro
>m his father Reynold, died. The estate was then divided between his widow and 
>two grandchildren, whose father had predeceased Roger.  Reynold had fathered f
>ive sons and one daughter and he himself had four brothers.  As the first-born
> usually inherited, details of siblings are seldom documented in as much detai
>l, but suffice it to say there is a good chance that some of them produced fur
>ther sons to continue the family name.

We think our group probably descends from the Chalgrove branch,
but nobody has ever been able to demonstrate the connection.

>David Edwards
>April 2001 

John S. Quarterman <jsq@matrix.net>

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