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Live profile as of 15 March 2022 - for reference
Henry Billingsley
Born after 1562 in England
Son of Richard Billingsley and [mother?]
[brothers or sisters?]
Husband of Agatha Houtmans — married 22 Dec 1624 in Delft, Netherlands
Father of John Billingsley
Died before 1659 in Rotterdam, Holland [uncertain]

Billingsley-346 created 11 May 2015 | Last modified 15 Mar 2022 | Last tracked change: 15 Mar 2022

{Estimated Date|Birth and Marriage}

* * * * * * CAUTION * * * * * *
Do not merge with John Billingsley
(see "Clarification of Caution" below for details)
Note - Profile of Sir Henry Billingsley (1538-1606), Lord Mayor of London, detached as father, although it had been marked as confident. See Luke Potter's list of Henry Billingsleys (below), which notes a different father as most likely (making this Henry the grandson of William of London and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Harlowe, by Richard instead of by Henry).

Contents

Biography

Henry Billingsley is the father of the brothers who went to America, which included Francis and John Billingsley[1][2] (contrary to information in The Billingsley Family (Billingsly-Billingslea) in America, by Harry Alexander Davis, which is the basis for most online trees for the brothers John, James, Thomas, Francis, and William who settled in America). Davis and Potter[3] both have John's mother as Agatha, albeit with different maiden names.[4]

Henry's father, Sir Henry Billingsley, was one of Shropshire county's "younger sons [who] went into the world to fight their way ; their connection with old landed families had no direct influence on their success, that was entirely the result of individual character."[5]

Sir Henry's father was William Billingsley,[6] "a prosperous London merchant ... whose family originated in Shropshire. William joined the Haberdashers’ Company in 1527 and received confirmation of his armigerous status in 1562. [Following his father William, Henry was admitted] to the Haberdasher’s Company in 1560 after serving an apprenticeship, he commenced trading abroad, probably as a Merchant Adventurer, exporting items such as velvet, taffata, pins and thread to Antwerp, Middleburg and Stade;[7] he may also have acted as a money broker. Trade made him wealthy. ... in 1600 he paid £400 for the Gloucestershire manor of Siston, seven miles east of Bristol, which subsequently became the seat of his eldest son."[8]

Henry Billingsley, eldest son of Sir Henry (c. 1538-1606) was knighted in 1603 and in 1606 succeeded his father in Parliament.[9]

Henry, was knighted by James I on 28 June 1603, and entertained Queen Anne in 1613 at his house at Liston, Gloucestershire, which his father had purchased in 1698 (Nichols, Progresses of James I, i. 192, ii. 647, 666).[10]

Family

Father: Henry's father Henry was the third son of William of London and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Harlowe,[11] widow of Sir Martin Bowes. He married five times. He was a member, Merchant Adventurers’ Co., and was knighted in 1597.[9]
Mother: Elizabeth, Sir Henry's first wife, was the mother of Henry. Elizabeth was daughter and co-heiress of Henry Boorne of Yorks. She died July 29, 1577.[9]
Henry and Elizabeth married in 1562 and had at least seven sons and three daughters, including[9]
Wife: Henry married Agatha Houtmans, who had previously been married to a Mr. Utley or Otley.[2][12] Agatha Houtmans was shown as the widow of Henry Billingslee in a1651 record in the Netherlands,[13] where women kept their own name for official purposes throughout their life.[14]
Henry Billingsley married Agatha Houtmans in England.[citation needed] They moved to Holland in the late 1630s. Many of their sons moved to America.[15]
Children:[16]
  • John Billingsley: b 1612. Migrated to America
  • Agatha Billingsley: b 1614.
  • James Billingsley: b 1616. Migrated to America.
  • Thomas Billingsley: b 1618. Migrated to America.
  • Francis Billingsley: b 1020 [sic-1620 assumed]. Migrated to America.[17]
  • Bridgett Billingsley: b 162-. s.p.
  • Francis Billingsley: b 1624. s.p.
  • Joanne Billingsley: b 1626, m . d.s.p.
  • William Billingsley: b 1628. Migrated to America.
  • Mary Billingsley: b 163-, m , died in Holland.
  • Walter Billingsley: b 163-. Was living 1659 Holland.
Henry Billingsley "was deceased prior to 1659. Agatha survived him some years and died in 1666 in Rotterdam."[18]

Research Notes

Estimated Dates: Birth date of "after 1562" is based his parents' 1562 marriage (from his father's biography on History of Parliament Online). Marriage to Agatha "before 1612" is taken from information attributed by Davis to the father of John (b 1612) of England, Rotterdam, and America. (See next section, Clarification of Caution, for additional information.)

Clarification of Caution

John Billingsley of London, who was christened at Astley Abbotts, Shropshire, England in 1601 (usually cited as having been born in 1587), is shown by most online trees as the father of Francis (b 1620), the husaband of Agatha Cooper, and the son of Francis Billingsley and Bridgett Vernon, based on the following information in Davis's Billingsley Book:
"John Billingsley: b ca 1587 in Com. Salop, 3d son of Francis Billingsley and Bridgett Vernon. He married prior to 1612 Agatha born 1593, Com. Salop, and became connected with the Quakers."[19] (The Quaker connection is also questionable, especially considering that "Historians mark 1652 as the beginning of the Quaker movement."[20])
John Billingsley of London is a different person than John Billingsley of England, Rotterdam, and America, son of Henry Billingsley and Agatha Houtmans.
Billingsley researchers other than Davis have found that John, son of Francis and Bridgett (Vernon) Billingsley was christened in 1601, Astley Abbotts, Shropshire and died in London in 1655[2] This is a different John than "John of Rotterdam" who moved to Virginia and whose mother was Agatha Houstmans.[2]

"John" and Agatha

The following was copied Nov. 15, 2016 from the profile for William Billingsley, son of John/grandson of Francis Billingsley & Bridget Vernon (under the heading Parents and Siblings).
Note that 1587 is probably not his birth year, Agatha not his wife, 1612 not his marriage year, and the death in Holland in 1659 (or another year) is not his either. Some of the information may be based partially on this other John Billingsley, who is not William's father (nor most of those listed; it's thought that [the other] John was son of Henry Billingsley and his wife Agatha, who had two sons, John & Francis.) ~ Noland-165 15:12, 15 November 2016 (EST)
John Billingsley, son of Francis, was born about 1587. He married Agatha in 1612 at Com., Salop, England. Agatha was born in 1593 at Com Salop, Shrops. John died in Holland in 1659, and Agatha died in 1666 at Rotterdam, Netherlands.[21]
John and Agatha's children:[21]
  • John Billingsley (1612-1659)
  • Agatha Billingsley (1614- )
  • James Billingsley (1616-Nov 9 1663)
  • Thomas Billingsley (1618-1673)
  • Francis Billingsley (1620-1684)
  • Bridgett Billingsley (c1622- )
  • Joanne Billingsley (1626- )
  • William Billingsley (1628-Dec 1657)
  • Mary Billingsley (c1630- )
  • Walter Billingsley (c1632- )

Sources

  1. ↑ b 1612, "of England, Rotterdam, and America,"
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 see Luke Potter's research and analysis, posted in Genealogy Forum
  3. ↑ Billingsley researcher Luke Potter, of England
  4. ↑ Davis and Potter agree on Agatha's given name, see Cooper-1643 and Houtmans-2 for their differences. From Potter's post:
    "It is certain that Agatha Billingsley was the mother of the various brothers who emigrated from Rotterdam to Virginia and then [to] Maryland. In 1679 John Coalbreath deposed that in 1658 or 1659 he carried letters from John Billingsley in Virginia back to his mother Agatha in Rotterdam, and in 1681 George Billingsley mentioned in his will the legacy that his grandmother Agatha had left to him."
  5. ↑ Henry Billingsley, Lord Mayor of London, from Visitation of Shropshire, pp xvii-xviii
  6. ↑ from #P-OL: "John Strype, the eighteenth century editor of Stow’s Survey of London, claimed that...father [of Henry Billingsley who d 1606] came from Canterbury and was named Roger. In fact, Billingsley was the son ... William,...
  7. ↑ this is the information that leads me to believe Henry and Agatha moved their family to Rotterdam for business reasons
  8. ↑ see Hisotry of Parliament Online for source citations and additional biographical information on Henry's father
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 #P-OL
  10. ↑ from Wikisource
  11. ↑ "Harding al's Harlowe" (Visitation, p 46)
  12. ↑ an anonymous G2G poster had Utley 1st, fled with Agatha to Holland for religious reasons, she m 2nd a Dutchman named Houtmans, m lastly Henry Billingsley; see Cooper-1643 (based on Davis) and Houtmans-2 (based on Potter) for more information
  13. ↑ see this note on Agatha's profile
  14. ↑ knowledge gained from working on the New Netherland Settlers project
  15. ↑ Davis book, but he means "John and Agatha (Cooper)" when he says "They removed from England in the late 1630s and settled in Holland" - see Clarification of Caution). John of Rotterdam is son of Henry and Agatha (Houtmans) Billingsley (see Potter).
  16. ↑ list of children is from #Billingsley_Book, which has the father as John, son of Francis and Bridgett. That John's will named his children as Katherine, Marie, Bridget, Elizabeth, Rachel, William, Benjamin and Nathaniel. (Potter; see also Clarification of Caution)
  17. ↑ at one point, represented by the WikiTree profile Billingsley-74, but that profile receives a lot of attention and the parents are no longer Henry and Agatha Houtmans. A caution was added to Billingsley-74 on September 23, 2016 after the parents were changed rather than returning Francis to Henry and Agatha Houtmans.
  18. ↑ Davis, speaking erroneously of John (The Billingsley Family (Billingsly-Billingslea) in America, by Harry Alexander Davis. Washington, DC; Rutland, VT: Tuttle Publ. Co., 1936.)
  19. ↑ #Billingsley_Book
  20. ↑ per George Fox University(accessed May 14, 2015)
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Joe Payne's Descendants of William Billingsley, citing "Ancestral File (TM), data as of 2 January 1996." (no AFN that I could find)
  • Note: Early information from Davis's book is not reliable (see this post, for example).
    • Billingsley Book: The Billingsley Family (Billingsly-Billingslea) in America, by Harry Alexander Davis. Washington, DC; Rutland, VT: Tuttle Publ. Co., 1936. (available online; archive.org link - 2016 capture by the WayBack Machine, accessed 20 November 2020)
  • History of Parliament Online: Sir Henry (c.1538-1606) (accessed May 11, 2015)
See also:
  • The Visitation of Shropshire, taken in the year 1623: p 46 and p xviii
  • The visitation of London in the year 1568. Taken by Robert Cooke, Clarenceux king of arms, and since augmented both with descents and arms. By Cooke, Robert, d. 1592; College of Arms (Great Britain); Howard, Joseph Jackson, 1827-1902, ed; Armytage, George J. (George John), Sir, 1842-1918, joint ed (pub. 1869), page 69
  • The visitation of London, anno Domini 1633, 1634, and 1635. Made by Sr. Henry St. George, kt., Richmond herald, and deputy and marshal to Sr. Richard St. George, kt., Clarencieux king of armes. By St. George, Henry, 1581-1644; College of Arms (Great Britain); St. George, Richard, d. 1635; Howard, Joseph Jackson, 1827-1902, ed; Chester, Joseph Lemuel, 1821-1882, joint ed (pub. 1880), page 71

Leads

  • Luke Potter query: " I'm trying to track down Henry Billingsley who worked out of Middleburg by 1609 and out of Rotterdam by the 1630s." (for the Merchant Adventurers)
    • a reply from Arie: The Rotterdam notary records have a entry for a Agatha Billingsley, weduwe of Hendrick (=Henry) Billingsley (Date 15 July 1651, inventory number 172, deed number 65/104) In which she promises to pay the tax debt of her son-in-law Adriaen de Bie. [dead link]: "enter 'Billingsley' at 'Zoekwoord 1' Use the % as joker and you'll see the first entry is on 9 November 1635. On 2 January 1642 his wife appears as a widow so I guess he died before that. His wife appears to be still alive on 16 July 1664." "Re-found" on this page (accessed 21 November 2020).
    • Luke's reply to reply (in part): I have also located Agatha's death and her will through their online records. As well as her marriage to Billingsley and Houtman, she was also previously married to someone by the name of Otley, by whom she had a number of children.
    • (cont.) I suspect that Henry too was previously married, as a marriage in London took place in 1609 between an Alice Bruster and a Henry Billingsley of Middleburg in Zeeland so I suspect that this is the same Henry we late find trading out of Rotterdam.
  • Agatha's other family

Henry Billingsleys, 1550–1650

This profile, Billingsley-346, is shown with birth in England after 1562, marriage to Agatha Houtmans before 1612 in England, and death before 1659 in Rotterdam, Holland. Information in the profile would indicate that he died before 2 January 1642. Also, although no children are currently attached to his profile, text has him as father of Francis and John (which is extremely likely), whom Davis has as sons of John Billingsley and Agatha Cooper. Henry and Agatha Houtmans may also be the parents of some of the other Billingsley immigrants to America that Davis shows as John's sons: James, Thomas, and William.
Billingsley researcher Luke Potter shared his findings about various Henry Billingsleys in a 2015 post to aid in determining which one was the Henry Billingsley in Rotterdam who was husband of Agatha and father of John. His 2015 post has more detail, but following are dates/parents (known and speculative) of the Henrys he listed:
  1. (1) Sir Henry Billingsley, Lord Mayor of London, died 1606. Son of William Billingsley and Elizabeth Harlowe. "He left a will in 1606 which details a number of his immediate and wider family." - Billingsley-107
  2. (2) Sir Henry Billingsley (1564–1629). Son of Sir Henry Billingsley (1) and Elizabeth Bourn. Left no estate either to pay his debts "'or to mayneteyne his children.' [National Archives, C2/Chas1/B20/48]" - no WikiTree profile found 9/25/2016
  3. (3) Lt Colonel Henry Billingsley (1602/3–1645/6). Son of Sir Henry Billingsley (2) and Mary Killigrew. - no WikiTree profile found 9/25/2016
  4. (4) Colonel Henry Billingsley (1620–1657). Son of Lt Col Henry Billingsley (3) and Sarah Rogers. Brother of Sarah (will of 1651). - no WikiTree profile found 9/25/2016
  5. (5) Henry Billingsley (c1595–aft 1639). Grandson of Sir Henry Billingsley (1) by William Billingsley and Blanch Gunter. Married sister of Edward Collins, his partner in 1630s "supplying gunpowder to the East India Company." - no WikiTree profile found 9/25/2016
  6. (6) Henry Billingsley (c1601–1652). Grandson of Sir Henry Billingsley (1) by Thomas Billingsley and Elizabeth Hinde. Died "unmarried in Hedsor, Buckinghamshire. His will reveals that he had no family of his own." - no WikiTree profile found 9/25/2016
  7. (7) Henry Billingsley (1576–?). Grandson of William Billingsley & Elizabeth Harlowe by Richard Billingsley (mother not known). - no WikiTree profile found 9/25/2016 note - this Henry is who Luke thinks is best match for Henry m Agatha Houtmans - Billingsley-346
  8. (8) Henry Billingsley (c1565–bet. 1638 & 1651), a draper by trade. Grandson of William Billingsley & Elizabeth Harlowe by William Billingsley and Elizabeth Tuthill. Married Abigail Thompson after July 1596 and they had three sons by 1629. She was sister of Emmanuel Thompson, "one of the victims at Amboyna." Two of their sons were Thomas Billingsley and William Billingsley ("married Sarah Pratt in 1622 aged 21"). "Henry was still alive in 1638 when he was listed as the guardian of William and Sarah’s young daughter Frances. [National Archives, C10/34/74]." - no WikiTree profile found 9/25/2016
  9. (9) Henry Billingsley (1599–1603). Grandson of William Billingsley & Elizabeth Tuthill by Martin Billingsley and Elizabeth Balleyden. - no WikiTree profile found 9/25/2016
  10. (10) Harry Billingsley (1604–?1608). Grandson of William Billingsley & Elizabeth Tuthill by Martin Billingsley and Elizabeth Balleyden. "Either this Harry or the 1605 Henry died in 1608." - no WikiTree profile found 9/25/2016
  11. (11) Henry Billingsley (1605–?1608). Grandson of William Billingsley & Elizabeth Tuthill by Martin Billingsley and Elizabeth Balleyden. "Either this Henry or the 1604 Harry died in 1608." - no WikiTree profile found 9/25/2016
  12. (12) Henry Billingsley (April 1615–aft 1627). Grandson of a William Billingsley of Felmersham, Bedfordshire by Henry Billingsley ("not clear yet who this William and Henry are"). "This Henry is only known from the admission register for the Merchant Taylors School in the City of London", which he joined in 1627 and that included his birth as April 1615. - no WikiTree profile found 9/25/2016
  13. (13) Henry Billingsley (1625–?). "Son of Francis Billingsley of Astley Abbots and Eleanor Kerry. The fate of this Henry is not identified. One of his brothers, Edward, went to Ireland and it might be that this Henry is the same as Henry (15) below." - no WikiTree profile found 9/25/2016
  14. (14) Captain Henry Billingsley (alive in 1642). "This Henry Billingsley was involved in the First Army Plot in May 1641 but it is not clear which Henry this was." - no WikiTree profile found 9/25/2016
  15. (15) Henry Billingsley (?–1663). "A Henry Belleingsby, Esq., died in Dublin in 1663. This is almost certainly another Henry Billingsley but unfortunately the only evidence for this comes from a printed register of Irish Wills and Inventories and the original inventory for Henry was destroyed in the uprising in 1922 so it is not clear which Henry this was. It might be Henry 10, 11, 12 or 13, or even be a completely unidentified Henry." - no WikiTree profile found 9/25/2016
  16. (16) Henry Billingsley (c1630–?). "A Henry Billingsley was head of a family living at Petworth, Sussex, in the 1660s. Judging from the dates of birth of his children he would have been born around 1630. One of his daughters born at Petworth was a Barbara Billingsley. If this is the same Barbara who married Arthur Prior in Westminster in 1698, then this Petworth Henry can be identified as the Henry Billingsley who died in Clerkenwell, London, in 1704, and whose brother was Edward Billingsley who died at Great Stanmore in Middlesex in 1714." - no WikiTree profile found 9/25/2016


Son Francis Billingsley

Several sons of Henry Billingsley immigrated to America. Circumstantial proof that the mother of John Billingsley was Agatha Houtmans is given in his profile. That her husband and father of the brothers who went to America was named Henry (not John) is discussed in this profile and on hers.

In 2016, there were three Francis (or Frances) Billingsleys on WikiTree who may have represented the same or several different people:

  • Francis Billingsley 74 died in 1684. Wikitree currently shows him born in Shropshire in 1620 to John Billingsley and Agatha Cooper, married to Ann Hale (existing in two versions), born Netherlands 1622 and parents of John born 1647 and Edward born 1658. Text suggests the parents may be different.
  • Francis Billingsley 137, died June 10, 1695 and buried in the Quaker Burial Grounds at the Clifts, Calvert County, Maryland. Unsupported facts in Wikitree currently includes birth Shropshire 1620 but no parents shown, marriage to Susanna Gover, and daughter Rebecca born March 23 1676.
  • Francis Billingsley-423 Unsourced. Data field shows birth 1624 in Shropshire, parents John Billingsley and Agatha Cooper, marriage to Ann Hale-928, born Netherlands 1622, and son Francis-422, born Calvert County, Maryland 1653.

Questionable Davis Information

Most of the Billingsley profiles in WikiTree appear to have been created based on Colonel Davis's seminal work The Billingsley Family (Billingsly - Billingslea) in America, by Harry Alexander Davis, Washington, D.C., 1936 (The Billingsley Book). Most of this profile's citations are to Davis or Lundgren, who cites Davis.

The link to the book was a dead link Feb. 3, 2017; the link was captured by archive.org's WayBack Machine

Davis's book has been found to be inaccurate in numerous family lines & especially lacking in documentation for the family in England. Davis was constrained by space and time - he did not, apparently, conduct research in England of the Billingsley family. Luke Potter has (for example, see Luke's post discussing his research about the two Johns in this Genealogy Forum post).

For Francis, the problem was (and still is, pending documentation) his parents.

Parents Henry and Agatha (Houtmans) Billingsley were previously attached, having replaced parents Agatha Cooper and John Billingsley, son of Francis and Bridgett (Vernon) Billingsley, who Davis has as Francis's grandparents, through John m Agatha ____. (See their profiles for additional information.)
From The Billingsley Book: "John was the third son of Francis & Bridgett Vernon. They became Quakers & moved from England to Holland in the 1630s, after their children were born."
  • Davis reports that Francis "moved to Holland with his parents". The move to Holland was a different Francis Billingsley than the son of John, son of Francis and Bridgett Vernon (see specifically this Genealogy Forum post and this Rootsweb discussion).
  • That Francis and Bridgett (Vernon) Billingsley were John's parents has been questioned by some Billingsley researchers (see specifically the notes section on this page of a user-submitted Pedigree tree in FamilySearch, in which researcher Maurice Lewis states that the releationship is disproven).
  • That any Billingsley became a Quaker in the 1630s is not feasible: "Historians mark 1652 as the beginning of the Quaker movement." (per George Fox University, accessed May 14, 2015)






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