Francis
West
Born about in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England
[uncertain]
[uncertain]Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of
Margery (Reeves) West
— married
27 Feb 1639 in Duxbury, Plymouth Colony
Descendants 
Died
at about age 86
in Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay
Profile last modified
| Created 19 Aug 2011
This page has been accessed 8,798 times.
Contents |
Biography
Origins
The origins of Francis West are unknown. According to his great grandson, Zebulon West, Francis was born about 1606 in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England and he left there as a young man, emigrating to Plymouth Colony in New England on the invitation of a Mr. Thomas of Marshfield, Plymouth Colony. He was a single man, a house carpenter by trade, and settled in Duxbury..[1]
Marriage and Children
In Duxbury, Francis married Margery Reeves on February 27, 1639.[2][3]With Margery, he had five children:
Town Records
"He is spoken of as a carpenter in the Duxbury records and the Plymouth Colony records show that he made a pair of stocks for the town of Duxbury in 1640. In 1640 and 1642, he was a member of the Grand Jury; in 1642, he bought a house and some land in Duxbury (Millbrook) and in 1643 he was on the list of those able to bear arms. He was admitted a Freeman, in Plymouth colony in 1656. In 1658, he was a surveyor of highways in Duxbury; constable in 1661; and in 1662, '69, '74, '78, '80, and '81 was a member of the "Grand Enquest"".[4]
Death
Francis died at Duxbury, Plymouth Colony, New England, on January 21, 1692, at the 'ripe old age' of 86. During the last three years of his life, his son, Peter, cared for him, and his estate at the time of his death, valued at 16 pounds, was left to Peter West.[1]
His inventory heading records his death date as 2 January 1692 and was taken on 14 February 1692 in Duxbury and recorded in Plymouth.[5]
Research Notes
Disputed Origins
In the early 1900s, there was a proliferation of "genealogists" connecting the colonial ancestors of their clients with British and European royal families, typically not verifying the results with original records. In the West family, Francis West of Duxbury was said to be the son of Francis West, Esq.,[6] a Deputy Governor of Virginia Colony (and sometimes acting Governor) whose father was the 2nd Baron De La Warr and whose mother, Anne Knollys, was the granddaughter of Mary Boleyn, sister of Anne Boleyn and mistress of King Henry VIII. Henry VIII may have been the father of Anne Knollys’ mother, Catherine Carey, [7] and therefore the great grandfather of Francis West, Esq. of Virginia.
That Francis West of Duxbury was a son of the De La Warr Wests has been largely dismissed. Francis West of Virginia and his wife Margaret were removed as the parents of Francis West of Duxbury on this profile in June 2020. Francis West of Virginia was dropped from the Jamestowne Society's list of Qualifying Ancestors because "primary records do not exist as far as we know for his children".
Richardson[8] states that Francis West of Virginia had a son Francis. Francis West of Virginia married his first wife before 1625/6. He would have been 40 years old in 1626 so presumably his marriage could have been as early as 1606 when he was 20 years old. The 1606 birth date for Francis of Duxbury is approximate and there are no known records of his birth.
Francis of Virginia left a will that was dated 17 December, 1629[9] and in it he refers to his son Francis as being under 21 years, making his son's birth year after about 1608, not that different from the 1606 approximate birth date of Francis of Duxbury. The will was proven on 28 April 1634.
Carlton Prince West, in his 1987 manuscript "A Survey of the Descendants of Francis West of Duxbury" extensively discusses whether or not Francis West of Duxbury was a son of the De La Warr Wests of Salisbury. He begins by saying that no proof from any primary source has been found.[10]
Other points in the manuscript are:
- Francis West of Virginia did visit New England in 1623 to investigate a dispute over fisheries, but there is no evidence that the visit led to further associations.[10]
- It is unlikely that the son of a prominent family in a "landed society" would have become a carpenter, or would have taken on any kind of trade.[10]
- Even though no proof from any primary source has been found to establish a connection between Francis of Duxbury and Francis of Virginia, there is also no proof that a connection is impossible.[10]
The 1987 manuscript also discusses, among other things, the issues of the birthplace of Francis West, whether he was a West or a Weston, and the origins of his wife, Margery Reeves.[10]
'Great Migration Directory p 365: West, Francis: Unknown; 1640; Duxbury [PCR 1:164; DuTR 1; NEHGR 60:142; Martha’s Vineyard Hist 2:Tisbury:25-27, 3:500-8].
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Mack, Stanley L., comp."Ancestors of Ruth (West) Cartwright" in Edward Cartwright (1640-1705) of Nantucket, Mass. Duluth, MN: 1936, p. 7. HathiTrust
- ↑ Plymouth Colony, U.S., Birth, Marriage, Death and Burial Records, 1633-1689. [database on-line] Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com
- ↑ Torrey, Clarence A. New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2004. Page 796 Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Cornwall, Edward E. "Francis West of Duxbury, Mass., and some of his Descendants". Boston: NEHGS, 1906, p. 3. Archive.org
- ↑ "Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Probate Records, 1633-1967," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-997D-JDQV : 20 March 2023), Probate records 1686-1702 and 1849-1867 vol 1-1F > image 88 of 490; State Archives, Boston.
- ↑ West, Joseph A. Francis West of Duxbury, Mass., and Some of His Ancestors and Descendants, Including the Descendants of Chauncey Walker West, Late of Ogden, Utah, and Abraham H. Hoagland, Late of Salt Lake City, Utah. Ogden, Utah: [s.n.], 1911. pages 18 - 27 (digital pages) HathiTrust
- ↑ Wikipedia article, Anne Knollys, Baroness de la Warr
- ↑ Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry, A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, Volume ?, page ?
- ↑ Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham, (Salt Lake City, UT: the author, 2013), vol. V, page 356 WEST 15.iv., Francis West, Esq.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 West, Carlton Prince. A Survey of the Descendants of Francis West of Duxbury. Winston-Salem, NC: 1987. Vineyard.net
- See also:
- WEST Surname DNA Project - Y-DNA Classic Chart at 'Family Tree DNA' FamilyTreeDNA website
- West, Curtis. Searching for Francis West. St. Paul MN: Whistling Shade (journal), 2006. Whistlingshade.com Also shown in the images for this profile.
- Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 9 October 2022), memorial page for Francis West (1608–2 Jan 1692), Find A Grave: Memorial #25354234, citing South Yard Cemetery, Tolland, Tolland County, Connecticut, USA; Maintained by C & N Rasmussen (contributor 46971876) .
- Banks, Charles Edward. The History of Martha’s Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts. Boston: G.H. Dean, 1911. page 25. (page 488 in the digital version) Archive.org
- Cutter, William Richard, Encyclopedia of Massachusetts. New York: The American Historical Society, Inc. Volume 12, page 432.
- Jones, Electa F., "Ancestry of the Jones Family, Stockbridge, Mass." The New England Historical & Genealogical Register. Boston: Thomas Prince, Printer and Publisher (1852) Pages 279-282. (The page numbers were misprinted, as 279, 280, 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, and 282. Francis West is mentioned near the bottom of the second page numbered as 280.) Archive.org.
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- Comments on Francis West Esq. Jun 11, 2020.
- Can DNA answer a question that known sources can't? Mar 19, 2018.
Rejected matches › Francis West Esq. (1586-bef.1634)
Francis is 17 degrees from Emeril Lagasse, 17 degrees from Nigella Lawson, 20 degrees from Maggie Beer, 43 degrees from Mary Hunnings, 25 degrees from Joop Braakhekke, 23 degrees from Michael Chow, 19 degrees from Ree Drummond, 21 degrees from Paul Hollywood, 15 degrees from Matty Matheson, 21 degrees from Martha Stewart, 29 degrees from Danny Trejo and 24 degrees from Molly Yeh on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
His executor was "John West sonne of Francis West my sonne". Francis West was one of the Overseers. Hence, they are in England.
Poverty in Early Stuart Salisbury. Wiltshire Records Society, Vol. 31, 1975, p 68
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6229e984718e915edd91ce38/t/62d548d28480c860280a2586/1658144985220/wrs_v31.pdf
Also a John Weste was recorded in 1635 - see p 97.
A Francis Weste was baptised on 5 Dec 1622 at Salisbury St Edmund, Wiltshire, son of John Weste, Billows maker.
Does anyone know if the original writings of Zebulon West exist anywhere?
Also (as some others have noted), I find it hard to believe that Capt. Francis West waited until the age of 40 to get married and until 41 to have his first child, especially in those days where a lot of men would have died by then. Does anyone know why it is disputed that Margaret Whitney, daughter of Sir Thomas Whitney and Mary Ann Brock, married Capt. Francis West in 1602 and died in March 1628?
That all fits with the narrative of Francis West of Duxbury that has been in writing since the early 20th century. In Francis West of Duxbury, Mass and Some of His Ancestors and Descendants (1911) there's an account that in 1632, Capt. Francis West bought large tracts of land in Duxbury (which tracks the historical record of his appointment as Admiral to New England in 1622), and that his son came over from England to take possession of the land and marry Margery Reeves. There are supposedly tax records of the purchases.
Both the will and this narrative can be correct at the same time. The will was drafted in 1629, four years before Capt. Francis West was said to have bought the land in Duxbury. The will didn’t say that his wife Jane was currently raising Francis II, so it’s entirely possible that this was the father’s plan for Francis II who was still in England after his mother had died the year before, but that when Francis I bought the land he changed his mind as to where he wanted Francis II to relocate. Maybe Francis II was staying with family in England in the interim, who knows?
It'd be great to get DNA evidence, but even without it I don't find the disputing sources convincing. Even on such matters disputing whether a member of the gentry could have learned a trade such as carpentry, there are sources on apprenticeships stating that this was possible, for example: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Apprenticeship_in_England.
edited by B Williams
To name the relationship we first had to name the relationship between Francis and Catherine and the relationship between William and Catherine. See the relationship trails above for the details. We then found the intersection of their relationships to Catherine on a relationship table. This gives us the name for the relationship: Francis and William are 7th cousins 9 times removed.
I do have a 2nd West line (Matthew West) coming from Aylesbury but is not my Paternal West line. This Line comes to me through marriage to my Paternal Grandmothers lineage. Ha! I may be my own Cousin!?
edited by William West Jr.
edited by Melaney West
See Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers page 735 for other Francis Wests (Google Books). I suggest detaching the parents of this Francis West.
edited by Traci Thiessen
Francis of Virginia left a will that was dated 17 December 1629 and in it he refers to his son Francis as being under 21 years, making his son's birth year after about 1608, not that different from the 1606 approximate birth date of Francis of Duxbury.
edited by J. West
edited by Garald Robinson
The question is, is there anyone who is known to be descended from West-420 (or his father) to whom we could compare the results?