The Earliest Lancasters of Gisburn
This is part of a bigger study of Gisburn Lancaster families. All of this involves some uncertainty, and this page is the most speculative part – attempting to explain what happened in the times before parish registers became relatively accurate summaries of the births, deaths and marriages of all residents. Please contact me if you intend to use this material in any way, or if you have any ideas which might add to the story. My main page is here.
Links:
The Paythorne Lancasters of Gisburn
The Horton Lancasters of Gisburn
The Lancaster Merchants of Gisburn
The other Gisburn Lancasters: not yet allocated in a tree, late arrivals, cousins
Craig Thornber’s Lancasters of Gisburn
Discussion about the origins of the Lancaster surname
1. First sightings?
Gisburn was once more often spelled Gisburne. It should not be confused with another Gisburn, today called Gisborough, near the northern Yorkshire coast. Although today Gisburn is in Lancashire, historically it was part of the Yorkshire region called Craven. Our Gisburn is "Gisburne-in-Craven". The other one was "Gisburne-in-Cleveland" (which sadly for us is apparently the one where Guy de Gisburne in the Robin Hood stories probably came from). Craven is a lowly populated area in western Yorkshire, corresponding approximately to the Staincliffe wapentake of the West Riding, which protrudes between eastern Lancashire and modern Cumbria. A map showing the administrative districts of the northwest of England around 1086 shows Cravenshire as an early name of the region, going back to a time when Northern England’s counties and administrative units had not taken their traditional forms: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=49271
In the 1379 West Riding poll tax returns for Yorkshire, transcribed onto the GENUKI website, no tax payers with the surname Lancaster appear in Gisburn, although many if not all of the other surnames which would appear in the early modern registers of Gisburn were already present. More surprisingly, there are hardly any Lancasters in the Staincliffe Wapentake at all, or even neighbouring wapentakes within the West Riding of what was then all in Yorkshire. Only two families seem potentially relevant:
First, in Eshton in the parish of Gargrave, a part of which touches Gisburn on it’s northeastern corner, John Lancaster and his wife were valued at “iiij.d.” which was the same as all but one of the 17 Eshton families registered. (Adam Wright was set at vj.d.)
Second, in Coniston in the parish of Burnsall (not to be confused with Coniston Cold in Gargrave), significantly further to the northeast in Wharfedale, Thomas Langsker and his wife were also valued at “iiij.d,” – the same as all but 5 of the 35 families in that village, the other 5 being once again set at “vj.d”, most of whom in this case are specifically named as people with a trade.
The
above mentioned Gargrave family are very likely the same as the
Gisburn Lancasters. Gargrave seems
to have had Lancasters living there also in later times. When we come
into the 1500s, the time of Henry VIII, and the first Lancaster
records become clear in Gisburn there is also a Thomas Lancaster who
was there in the villa of Bank Newton and Stainton (quite close to
Swinden) in 1543 tax records.
Thomas appears to be the same Thomas Lancaster of Newton who left a will dated 1551, mentioning his sons William and Richard. Sure enough the 1539 muster shows not only Thomas, but also William and Richard in Newton as able bodied men there.
William was to share the main properties with his mother Elene. Richard on the other hand was to take over land in "Newsome and Newsome close" which must be Newsholme in Gisburn. He is probably the William living in Gargrave who left a will in 1589. His heir’s name was also William, possibly the William who appears in the parish register of Gargrave, baptised 27 July 1560. Both this William and a Christopher seem to have carried the surname on into the 1600s in Bank Newton.
In contrast Richard the son of Thomas does not appear in the registers of the 1500s, except perhaps as the marriage record for 26 November 1569 with Isabell Grandidg. (One of the witnesses to the will of Thomas was a Grandage. On the other hand, as will be discussed further below, a will was made in 1587 by a Richard Lancaster of West Halton in Long Preston. His heir was Christopher.) It appears he moved to Newsholme in Gisburn, but he was not the first Lancaster there.
It seems very likely that the Gargrave, West Halton and Gisburn Lancasters were related to each other. It is perhaps relevant that the earliest registers of Gisburn show the Lancasters apparently living in the northeastern corner of the parish, near Gargrave: Paythorne, Newsholme and Swinden. Another branch of the family was later found in Horton by Gisburn, also near Gargrave. There were also some in the other parish that touches that corner of Gisburn.
Whether Langsker and similar old Yorkshire surnames (now apparently extinct) can be equated with Lancaster is not known to me, but in the 1500s and 1600s they seem to have been treated as different surnames sometimes. Burnsall had Lancasters much later, some of whom were clerics and had a connection to Bolton by Bowland, neighboring Gisburn. In that same northeasterly direction into the Yorkshire dales, but closer to Gisburn, we also find Langskers around Skipton. In 1522 they were noted as Langskerthe (or similar spellings). There is a place name "Langscar" in the rough country a little to the north between Settle and Linton, but it is uncertain to me how to account for the surname, and what happened to it. Did they all become Lancasters? Langsker families show up in early registers in places like Leeds and Halifax but the name was never very widespread. One possible modern surname derived from it might be Lankshear, a surname found in Oxfordshire. I suggest this long shot, because according to Ron Lankshear, one of the earliest records is for this family names the gentleman in question as "Thomas Burshall als Lankesheire".
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Although the Gargrave records certainly might suggest one possible origin for the Gisburn Lancasters, it also encourages us to ask what the other alternatives were, and indeed where the Gargrave Lancasters were from, because it seems that Lancaster might not always have been a common surname in this part of the West Riding. There are roughly 4 more alternatives:
North. From the times of the earliest surnames in England, the surname Lancaster can perhaps be most strongly associated with what is now Cumbria: anciently Cumberland, plus Westmorland (the Baronies of Kendal and Appleby), plus Furness and Cartmell – the latter two being detached parts of Lancashire. It is even reasonable to suggest that many if not most of Lancasters have some kind of familial or other connection to the early medieval “de Lancastre” families who were Barons of Kendal for a time, and sheriffs of Lancaster at other times. Perhaps some Westmorland Lancaster families could have been established by families coming from the nearby church and castle town of Lancaster which is itself quite close to Cumbria. But my feeling is that if they were moving into Cumbria, which could be quite clannish in the early Middle Ages, they probably would not have used the surname unless they were allied in some way with the de Lancastres. A later movement from the north in Cumbria down to Gisburn is very likely also, because the people of these hilly northern areas always had, as an economic and security necessity, relations with areas comparatively far away – southwest Scotland on the one hand, and the routes towards Lancaster and York on the other. Marriage registers often mentioned the origins of out-of-town grooms, and show this clearly. Indeed, one of the earliest Lancaster entries in the Gisburn registers is certainly such a case: Richard Lancaster from Dent in Sedbergh came to the parish to marry Margaret Hodshon, 1 April 1598. In modern times Sedbergh is part of Cumbria. In the 1598 will of Richard Gibbons of Paythorne, along with Christopher Lancaster of Swinden, Christopher Lancaster of Halton, and a John Lancaster, perhaps of Paythorne, one William Lancaster of Dent appears as a person who owed money for clothe.
A particular medieval incident concerning the Westmorland Lancasters came quite close to Gisburn, and seems to indicate one was living very close to Gisburn. In 1453, Edward Lancaster, late of Skipton in Craven, gentleman, along with a band of men which included William Lancaster of Brougham, in Westmorland, gentleman, carried off Joan Beaumont, widow of Henry Beaumont, knight, and forced her to marry him. The Lancasters of Sockbridge, the main branch of Westmorland Lancasters, and subject of another webpage, seem to have owned land in Brougham, and in 1453 there were two adult brothers of that family, William being the leader of the family at the time. It is however not clear whether Edward founded a family in the Craven area. He clearly had some enthusiasm for family politics! It should be pointed out that such lawlessness were frequent in the whole region during the last phases of the War of the Roses, and generally seem to involve tit-for-tat disputes.
Another piece of evidence comes from the DNA study of Lancaster families. Although in its early stages, this study has found strong evidence that the Gisburn Lancasters, as well as other Lancaster families from the region, descend from a common medieval ancestor with all the families having surnames like Satterfield, Satterwhite or Satterthwaite – all of which are known to refer to one tiny hamlet in Grizedale Forest in Furness Fells in the Lake District. This forest was once part of the large ancient parish of Dalton, under the control of the Abbey there (which also held land in Gargrave), but with many rights once having been disputed by the de Lancastres of Westmorland. It is right in the middle of the area where these de Lancasters of Kendal where most anciently established. This is exactly the area where the antiquitarian of Cumbria, Thomas West, is said to have found evidence for many Lancaster families (or their allies) taking up the names of their hamlets. Those who had coats of arms often had arms which were straightforward variants of their Lancaster kin, and I have made a webpage especially about this subject. The best example are the Kirkbys of Kirkby Ireleth, who certainly had a strong branch living in Lancashire. The great Lancashire antiquitarian William Farrer suspected that a branch of them used the surname Lancaster. See my webpage about miscellaneous early medieval Lancasters, under Richard.
On the other hand, it is also possible that a family might have had branches which settled in both Lancaster and Satterthwaite in the early middle ages and taken up these two different surnames.
South. Gisburn is on the north side of the border of Yorkshire and Lancashire, and indeed the Lister family who ran it in early modern times, as well as the Lacys of the Middle Ages, held lands just over the border in Lancashire also. (Today Gisburn has moved from the Yorkshire side to the Lancashire side, but Swinden is no longer a part of it.) More investigation needs to be done concerning the Lancaster families living over the border in Lancashire, but there are indications that the very large parish of Whalley, in the hundred of Blackburn, did have Lancaster families, from reasonably early times. Intriguingly, Ormerod genealogists write of evidence, apparently once referred to by the 19th century historian George Ormerod, that a junior or bastard branch of de Lancasters from Westmorland married into property in the Pendle area in Whalley. This would have been at some point before 1311, when Henry de Lacy died. He based himself upon the work of Thomas West, who wrote “Antiquities of Furness” and believed many de Lancaster branches and allies had settled all around the region, often taking up new surnames based upon their new residences. I have not found such evidence, apart from the Lancasters of Gisburn themselves, but I can say that in 1323, the Hallmote of Colne was owed 7d. for a licence to tan, by one Robert de Lancastre. (See the publication online). On the other hand I should mention that the poll tax records of Eastern Lancashire, around about 1380, seem to show not a single Lancaster in the whole area (which was sparsely populated).
East. On roads to the East, medieval Gisburn connected to what was then the more populated part of England. In the Domesday book, Lancashire seems barely inhabited, and well into the Middle Ages, the Scots were able to occasionally hold territory as far south as Gisburn. In cities such as London and York, the Lancaster surname appears from very early times amongst lists of city folk. These would have been merchants, traders and people with valuable skills. Such people moved with demand and supply, and hence often took up surnames that simply explained where they or their forefathers, or perhaps even their masters when they were apprentices, had come from. It is therefore very interesting that amongst the earliest Lancaster records in Gisburn, we find that there were mercers and chapmen amongst them. This is discussed on another webpage in more detail.
West. In some way the most obvious possibility is that the Gisburn Lancasters descend from a local family that had moved over the generations in small steps from somewhere closer to the city of Lancaster, which is to the west. At some point in the Middle Ages they had started sticking to the same surname, originally descriptive of the town they had lived at. It can be noted that such a family might not have appeared in medieval records if it was not originally well-off. Gisburn itself is separated from Lancashire by Bowland (or Bolland, as it was sometimes spelt) forest and the main route of travel in that direction would have been via the course of the Ribble River, past Clitheroe. On the edge of Bowland nearest to Lancaster are Goosnargh and Thornley, again on the Lancashire/Yorkshire border. It is notable that there was also a long established Lancaster family there (associated in early modern times with the properties of Hole House and Withinreap in those two parishes respectively), and it would be extremely interesting to see if they are a close DNA match with those of Gisburn.
2. The first incomplete records in the 16th century.
The 1400s, the time of the War of the Roses, were a period of trouble and strife and also very poor records.
In the 1500s, with the coming of the Tudor dynasty and the beginnings of modernity (at least in record keeping), at least a few Lancaster families can be discerned in the earliest surviving modern records for Gisburn. In the first half of the century, the tax, land sale and military records for Craven show some Lancasters, starting in 1522. It is hard to tell whether they had been between the poll tax time, around 1379, and the Tudor time.
Newsholme.
One of the first apparent records of a Lancaster in the area is an intriguing record from document MD335/1/1/19/3 (kept by the Yorkshire Archaeological Society) and is dated at 1522 (14 Henry VIII):
Deed relating to the property in Newsholme to which first Thomas Habraham of Ripon, son and heir of John Habraham of Newsom, had released all his right, on account of a grand felony he had committed there (1516); other lands from Miles Lancaster of Wellow, Nottinghamshire, and Richard Browne and others; all to Thomas Lister of Westby Hall
Examination of the document involving Miles Lancaster shows that he sold apparently significant lands in Newsholme to Thomas Lister in 1522. Nevertheless he is called a labourer, and I have found no other record of him. Newsholme is the major residence of Lancasters, it seems, in the 1500s and 1600s. Was the family already local in the time of Miles, with him perhaps selling because he had married out of town? Other Lancasters certainly remained in Newsholme.
Richard Lancaster in Newsholme, valued at nil in 1522, and a tenant to Robert Banaster. He was valued at 20s 6d in 1524, and 20s 12d in 1525. In the 1539 muster he was noted as an archer with jack (padded vest used as a simple armor) and sallet (a kind of helmet) and 40s 8d in 1543, and 20s 1d in 1545.
In the 1551 will of Thomas Lancaster of Newton in nearby Gargrave (discussed above v.24 f199) another Richard was granted the land in Newsholme currently held by the wife of Richard Lancaster. It appears that Thomas had rights to the land, and it seems a reasonable guess that Thomas was a close relative, possibly a brother of the above mentioned Richard. In any case, a younger Richard, son of Thomas, then replaced the older Richard.
A Richard Lancaster of Newsholme (presumed by me to be the son of Thomas of Newton) was buried 3 February 1577/78. Involved were “lands messuages tente and hereditamentes” in Newsholme and Paythnall (now called Painley). First son was Christopher. If he dies things go to number 2, John, and the third in line is William. It seems likely that the children were still all young.
We know that the Newsholme land had been in the family before Richard entered it. A Paythnall land transaction is traceable to 1576 records. The will specifies that Richard had land in both east and north Paythnall.
The will also says that there was a 60 year lease on the land to John Hargraves of Carleton (nearby Carleton in Craven no doubt) and his son William. Christopher Wilkinson of Horton Hall is both a witness and a supervisor of the income from the lease. Richard purchased the land from the Listers. Richard’s wife at death appears to have been named Alice.
John Lancaster did not appear in the 1522 listing but first appears in the 1539 muster for Newsholme, as an able bodied bille man (a bille being a military version of a sharp hooked blade, mounted on a long pole). In 1543 a man of this name appears in the town of Gisburn, valued at 20s 2d. No other John Lancaster appeared in the previous Gisburn muster so it may be that John moved from Newsholme to Gisburn itself. A John then also appears in Newsholme in 1545, together with Richard, and valued at 40s 4d.
A 1557 land transaction is recorded for a John Lancaster who bought property in “Newsome” in Yorkshire from Wilfrid Banester esq.
In September 1569, John Longgaster of Newsome made a will proven 1570 (v.18 f.189), corresponding to a burial of 1569, showing that this John can not be the one still living in 1577 who was a son of Richard Lancaster of Newsholme. The will records that he had (still living) a wife named Agnes, sons (probably from oldest to youngest) Thomas, Christofer, William, James, John, and daughters Maude Longgaster and Margaret Longgaster, with Margaret being youngest, unmarried, apparently not yet 21, and responsible for paying funeral expenses. In the earliest patchy parish records, a John Lancaster had a daughter Margaret baptized 20 April 1563.
We will discuss the next generation below, but it appears that at least we can say that one of the two Christophers mentioned above survived to inherit Lancaster lands in Newsholme.
Paythorne
James Lancaster in Paythorne, valued at 30s in 1522, and tenant to Sir Richard Tempest. He also appears in the 1539 muster as an able bodied bille-wielder with horse and harness. And he appears in 1545 lay subsidy records valued at 40s 2d. A James was buried 21 March 1560/61. He was specifically noted as being from Paythorne.
A “wife of James” (Uxor Jacobi) was buried 10 January 1576/77. The fact that she is not described as a widow suggests that there might have been a James Lancaster still alive, while the burial mentioned above had already happened more than ten years before.
William Longcaster, husbandman in Pathorne made his will 8 February 1576 and proved 24 April 1577 (v.21 f.5). His wife was Isabell, and his heir who did not yet have male issue was John. He also had a son Christopher who would inherit if John died without lawful male heir. So presumably Christopher did have children? two daughters, Agnes and Alice. Alice was unmarried. A Richard Lancaster is named several times as a witness and someone to refer to in certain scenarios. This is presumably not Richard Lancaster of Newsholme, who died a little earlier than William.
Two wives of William Lancaster(s) were buried 18 February 1558 and 5 May 1569 respectively, the second of them not long after an unbaptised baby of William Lancaster was buried. No hamlet is mentioned. Exactly between these two deaths are several burials of daughters of William Lancaster (Janet, Alice, Elizabeth, and a daughter who was un-named). Two of the children were buried at the same time in 1560, the others in 1567 and 1569. There is no indication of where in Gisburn this family lived, or whether it was continued by any male heir. In 1598 there is a burial for “Reta Wilimi Lancaster de Paythorne”. If “reta” is short for “relicta” this would be a widow. Might this be the third wife of the William having children 30 years before?
A 1598 will of Richard Gibbons of Paythorne is useful because many people owed him money. One of his witnesses is a John Lancaster, indicating that there might still have been a John Lancaster of Paythorne at this time, probably the son of William, mentioned in his will?
Eventually we know, as explained a separate webpage about Paythorne Lancasters, that Paythorne went to a Thomas Lancaster in the early 1600s. Was he the son of John or Christopher or neither? The baptismal registers are certainly not perfect for this period but they do lead to a suggestion. The Lancaster baptisms for this period which specifically mention Paythorne un-surprisingly show Christopher and John as fathers, with Christopher having the most:
un-named child of Christopher Lancaster 6th May 1574
Alice daughter of Christopher Lancaster 20th May 1574 (possibly a twin of the un-named baby?)
Thomas son of Christopher Lancaster 26th January 1578/9 (possibly the one who became the main Lancaster of Paythorne)
(John son of Christopher Lancaster de Swinden 20th February 1575/6)
(William son of Christopher Lancaster de Swinden 21st May 1581)
William son John Lancaster of Paythorne baptised 23 May 1591
John son of Christopher of Paythorne baptised 14 December 1594
Anna daughter of John of Paythorne baptised 20 February 1598/9
The first three look like they fit here in Paythorne.
The big question about the rest of this listing is whether this can all be one Christopher. Not only are his children very spread (perhaps possible if he had a first wife who died) but also note that he must have been sometimes referred to as being from Paythorne and Swinden in the same periods, for example in the 1590s (cf. Gibbons will and baptismal register).
John Lancaster of Paythorne was buried 7 February 1615/6, and his wife later 3rd October 1624.
The story of the Paythorne Lancasters is tolerably clear and is taken up from here on a separate webpage about them.
3. Loose ends from the late 1500s and early 1600s.
By the late 1500s and early 1600s, the Lancasters were thriving, but the parish registers are still very incomplete. Many of the un-allocated Lancasters in this period must come from the Newsholme family discussed already.
Swinden
Christopher of Swinden was buried 15 April 1617, his wife having been buried in 1611. As has been mentioned above, he appears to have had children in 1576 and 1581. With Swinden situated in a part of Gisburn which protudes between West Halton and Bank Newton (see map), this Swinden family could equally be connected to the Lancasters of Gisburn, Long Preston or Gargrave.
The will of 1588 of Christopher Dodgson of Newsholme, specifically mentions his brother-in-law Christopher Lancaster of Swinden, two of whose sons are beneficiaries in the will implying that they were already adults: John senior and Richard. This was not to be the only Lancaster-Dodgson connection in Gisburn!
A John Lancaster was baptised to Christopher Lancaster of Swinden 20 April 1563. The same father also had a William Lancaster baptised 11 April 1581. John and William would align well with the two mercers of Gisburn who were having children in the early 1600s. (This family is discussed on a separate webpage.)
West Halton.
In 1586, one Richard Lancaster left a will in the neighboring parish of Long Preston, in West Halton (also called Halton West). This will however specified that he should be buried in Long Preston. The will mentions an heir Christopher, as well as daughters Agnes, Sybill, and Elizabeth. Christopher is a name which came to appear very often amongst the Lancasters of Gisburn, including those specifically of Newsholme. The name Richard Lancaster is found in Gargrave in earlier records of the 1500s, and it is possible Richard married in Gargrave, where a marriage occurs in 1569 to Isabell Grandidg. But this could also be another Richard.
Christopher Lancaster of West Halton is mentioned in the 1598 will of Richard Gibbons of Paythorne, which also distinguishes him clearly from his namesake in nearby Swinden.
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As the parish registers start to make an impact, and the number of Lancasters with the same name increases, the number of loose ends increases. The register entries which mention no hamlet are the most difficult. We can only collect information based on names and dates...
Richard Lancaster having children in the 1560s and 1570s
A Richard Lancaster and Margaret Wilkinson married 20 August 1565. Margaret appears to have been buried in May 1568. (It is possible Richard re-married in Gargrave, where a marriage occurs in 1569 to Isabell Grandidg. But this could also be Richard of West Halton or another Richard.)
After the burial of this Margaret, several children of a Richard Lancaster were baptized who do not correspond easily to either the 1578 will or the 1586 will: Laurence in 1571/72, and John in 1574.
There is also the Richard Lancaster mentioned in the 1576 will of William of Paythorne as a reference.
There was clearly such a Richard who was a son of Christopher Lancaster of Swinden, because he is mentioned in the 1598 Dodgson will.
John Lancaster having children between around 1580-1600. All in all, counting all entries, there are 4 wives of John Lancasters buried in Gisburn between 1598 and 1626, and 2 John Lancaster marriages (though these may well be out of town Lancasters, as men often travelled to their brides parish for a wedding). There are 8 recorded baptisms for children of John Lancasters between 1581 and 1617. The following baptisms were not marked as relating to the mercer in Gisburn, nor "of Paythorne":
William. Baptized and buried in 1581.
Christopher. Baptised 1587.
Henry. Baptized 1594/95. It seems very likely that this Henry became the later Henry Lancaster of Horton. The Horton Lancasters are on another webpage. Note that Horton is closer to Newsholme and Painley (Paithnell) was part of it, so we would expect the Newsholme Lancasters to have a connection to Horton.
John. Baptized 1603. This could either be John Lancaster of Horton, or John Lancaster the second Mercer who lived in the mansion house. (So it appears one of them is not in the register.)
Anna. Baptized 1607. Most likely in the Mercer’s family, because the other baptisms from this period seem to be.
Richard. Baptized 1610. He appears to be in the Mercer’s family, because he is mentioned in his will.
Wives of John Lancaster, neither mercer nor of Paythorne, (both of whose wive's burials are also accounted for) were buried 6 April 1598 and 12 July 1620. So there may have been at two or more Johns having children, or one with two wives.
My guess would be that the there are at least two Johns fathering children here, the first one, maybe from Newsholme because the Newsholme Lancasters had land in Painley, which is in Horton, and the second one may be John Lancaster the mercer of the town of Gisburn (who also probably had a Newsholme connection). It is even possible that these were the same man, with John moving from Newshome to become a mercer in town?
4. Newsholme line continued in the 1600s.
Christopher Lancaster. A 1613 will of John Dodgson of Newsholme mentions his son-in-law Christopher Lancaster. Christopher of Swinden, also a relative to the Dodgsons, was apparently already dead. But there were Christophers, probably several, in both Newsholme and Paythorne.
Chris Lancaster married Alicia Dodshon 13 April 1594. It appears as if this couple may have been the main Lancasters of Newsholme in their time. Christopher Lancaster of Newsholme is found in old tax records, appearing several times in lists of the 1620s. He (or perhaps his son?) also appears in a 1638 document MD335/1/1/14/3 held by the Yorkshire Archeaological Society concerning a “Settlement of differences between John Wilkinson of Horton Hall and John Dodgson of Newsholme, concerning a way leading between Newsholme to Horton Hall”. In 1650 he was buried, as Christopher senior.
This connection to Newsholme makes it possible that Christopher is the one mentioned as heir in the will of Richard Lancaster of Newsholme in 1577. Alice seems to have died a few years after her brother’s will, “Vxor Chr. Lancaster de Newsholme” was buried 16 May 1618. Children noted in the baptismal registers as those of Christopher of Newsholme are...
John was baptised 9 February 1597/8, and apparently buried as a baby 14th June 1598.
Alice was baptised 13 October 1599.
Elizabeth was baptised 11 April 1602.
Margaret was baptised 18 March 1603/4
Anna was baptised 19 November 1606
An unnamed child was baptised 24 November 1607/8
Agnes and Jenet were baptised together on 18 March 1613/14. Jenet apparently died very soon after on the second last day of March 1614.
There was also a Richard Lancaster of Newsholme, presumably related. He is young enough to be Christopher's son, though no such Richard shows up in the baptismal register. He could be the son of Christopher of Swinden mentioned in the Dodgson will of 1588, but it seems unlikely?
baptism: Chrus filius Richi Lancaster de Newsholme xxix o die Nouembris 1618
burial: Johes filius Rich : Lancaster de Newsholme vicessimo tertio die Septembris 1635
And there was a William of Newsholme in this generation. At least one baptism, Thomas Lancaster on the 13th of May 1627, is described as his child, but this is also during a period when other baptisms to a William, mostly William of Reghill Clough, were being recorded. If these are two different men, one of them may correspond to the above mentioned baptism of a William, son of John Lancaster of Paythorne, baptised 23 May 1591.
Either Christopher had a son Christopher, or else Richard's son Christopher, became Christopher "Junior". Christopher Lancaster of Newsholme junior was already having children by the time "senior" was buried in 1650, and was himself buried in 1658. One of these Christophers, most likely the younger, appears to have been executor of the will of John Lancaster of Gisburn (1649/50), the first of a line of Mercers who owned a mansion house in the town, and land in Paythorne. Christopher Lancaster of Newsholme “junior” had the following children baptised in the period when his father was still alive, or only recently passed away. He was buried 29 November 1658.
Elizabeth Lancaster. Baptised last day of November 1645.
Alice Lancaster. Baptised 30 October 1647.
Christopher Lancaster. Baptised 25 August 1650.
John Lancaster. Born 23 January, Baptised 25 January, 1656/57. This could be “John Lancaster of Gisburn” who married Ellena Clark 26 April 1680. She seems to have been buried 25 March 1690, whereupon John was still “of Gisburn” making it unlikely that this was the John Lancaster of Paythorne, of that time as he appears to have lived in Newby.
