October Ancestry Challenge – Sir Thomas Culpeper

Posted on October 11, 2013 by Lori Crane

The October Ancestry Challenge 2013 is 23 posts in 23 days about 23 ancestors.

Ancestor #9 – Sir Thomas Culpeper of Hardreshull, Bayhall, and Exton

***** or *****

We’re All Connected, but Don’t Tell My Trophy Husband!

I’ve studied genealogy since I was a teenager, and am constantly stunned that my trophy husband only knows his grandparents and great grandparents and doesn’t care to know any more than that. He said his great grandfather came over from England and for reasons unknown, took the surname Dallas (photo). He told me, “You’ll never trace my family because no one knows who Grandpa Dallas really was.”

Well, I take that as a direct challenge.

A day later I asked him, “Would you like to know who your Dallas really was? Yes, I found him. His name was Stanley and he was the son of Captain Edmund Stanley.”

As a side note, I’ve spent years and years tossing it in his face that I come from Nobility. I have Lords and Sirs all over my family tree and there’s even a good chance I descend from King Charlemagne himself.

So anyway, I traced the Stanleys way back and found my trophy husband’s 16th great grandfather was Sir Thomas Culpeper of Hardreshull, Bayhall, and Exton. WAIT! SIR THOMAS WAS MY GRANDFATHER, TOO…he’s my 17th great. So, hubby and I are related waaaayyy back when. That’s cool.

But do I stop there? No! …I should have stopped there.

I found that Sir Thomas had two wives. I descend from the second wife Joyce Baynard, and trophy hubby descends from the first wife, Lady Alianora de Greene.

Sir Thomas and Lady Alianora had a daughter also named Alianora (Eleanor) who married Sir Reginald 3rd Lord Cobham.

(photos are Alianora and Sir Reginald, Church of St Peter and St Paul in Surrey)

Alianora and Sir Reginald had a daughter, Elizabeth Cobham who married Richard LeStrange. These LeStrange guys are all Barons. For you “Cousin’s War” fans, are any of these names starting to ring a bell yet? Ok, we’ll continue.

Elizabeth and Richard had a son named John LeStrange who married Jacquetta Wydeville. I’m sure THAT name rings a bell.

Jacquetta’s mom was Jacquetta de Luxembourg. Her first husband was John of Lancaster Duke of Bedford (photo), who was King Henry V’s brother. Jacquetta was a cousin of the Holy Roman Emperor and the marriage was meant to strengthen ties between England and the Holy Roman Empire. When the Yorks defeated the Lancastrians in 1461, both Jacquetta’s husband, John of Lancaster, and King Henry V were killed in the battle. Edward IV of York became king.

Jacquetta de Luxembourg soon married Sir Richard Wydeville Baron Rivers (photo) and went from being a Duke’s wife to being a Baron’s wife. I don’t know if that’s a step up or a step down. They had 14 children including the young Jacquetta Wydeville.

Their eldest daughter Elizabeth Wydeville (photo) soon married King Edward IV(photo) and became Queen of England, giving birth to the Tudor era, as she was the grandmother of King Henry VIII.

So, seeing that Jacquetta of Luxembourg and Sir Richard Wydeville are my trophy husband’s 13th great grandparents, I guess he actually has more blue blood than I do. But, please, please, don’t tell him.

October Ancestry Challenge – How far back can you go?

Posted on October 10, 2013 by Lori Crane

The October Ancestry Challenge 2013 is 23 posts in 23 days (Monday through Friday) about 23 ancestors.

We’re ending week two!

Ancestor #8 – Zachariah Prickett

How far back can you go?

I’ve traced my roots so far back, there is some evidence that I am descended from King Charlemagne. The cool thing about that is his family is traced very accurately back to sometime in — wait for it — BC. Yes, Before Christ. Yes, a really, really long time ago.

But as far as my American roots go, as far as I can tell, I am a 13th generation American.

Most of my family came to America from England in the 1600s, and they all seem to have migrated south in the 1800s when the U.S. Government started selling off large plots of land to get the country settled. Someday I’ll sit down and figure out the exact numbers of generations and how far back each go, but when you get up to your 10th greats, there are 2048 of them!!! I just don’t have that kind of time.

I have a lot of 10th, 11th, and 12th generation American ancestors, including a 12th generation on my dad’s Crane side. My 9th great grandpa John Weldon’s (1626-1711 Massachusetts) great grandson’s granddaughter, Mary Polly Weldon, married Jeremiah Crane in 1801. They were my 4th greats.

But the farthest back I can trace my American roots is on my mom’s side. He was my 13th generation, 10th great grandpa Zachariah Prickett, born in Burlington County, New Jersey in the mid to late 1600s. Burlington County is just east of Philadelphia, south of Trenton, northwest of Atlantic City.

Zachariah married a woman named Ellipha in 1699 and had at least four children: John, Zachariah Jr, Hannah, and Elizabeth.

The line from Zachariah to me is:

13. Zachariah Prickett

12. John Prickett

11. Capt Jacob Prickett. This was his home built in 1781. It was located just past Prickett’s Fort State Park in Fairmont, West Virginia. It was destroyed by arsonists on March 7, 2005. Jacob was a Revolutionary War soldier.

10. Josiah Prickett

9. Sarah “Sally” Prickett, who married William Howington

8. Herod Howington

7. Nimrod Howington

6. James C Howington – Civil War soldier <<<

5. John Thomas Howington

4. Mary Elizabeth Howington who married John Patrick “Pat” Burke <<<

3. Ina Inez Burke (Ancestor #7) who married Earl Wilmar Culpepper

2. Linda Faye Culpepper, my mother <<< who married my daddy, Andrew Frank Crane V V V

1. and…..ME!

October Ancestry Challenge – Ina Inez Burke Culpepper

Posted on October 9, 2013 by Lori Crane

The October Ancestry Challenge 2013 is 23 posts in 23 days (Monday through Friday) about 23 ancestors.

We’re in week two!

Ancestor #7 – Ina Inez Burke Culpepper

My maternal grandmother Ina Inez Burke Culpepper.

I called her Mamaw. That’s her holding me in 1966.

She was born Feb 8, 1915 to John Patrick “Pat” Burke and Mary Elizabeth Howington and was the eldest of seven children. The family always thought there were six children total until last year when I visited the family cemetery and found a headstone for Rudolph Owen Burke 1916-1917. I researched all her dad’s brothers and her brothers, but none of their ages fit to have a child born in 1916 except her parents. Also, the middle names of all her brothers were Otho, Otis, and Olen, so Owen seems to fit in there nicely.

Mamaw married Earl Wilmar Culpepper on August 1, 1936 at the age of 21. They live a quiet life in and around Meridian, Mississippi and had two daughters, one being my mother. She worked as a seamstress and could sew anything by looking at it in the store for a few minutes. I’m positive she made the dress she’s wearing. If she were young today, I’d make her go on “Project Runway.”

She died following open heart surgery in 1975 at the age of 60. She came out of the surgery just fine, but no one told her to NOT take aspirin once she got home. I guess in those days, when you were in pain, you popped aspirin. She awoke unable to breathe and my grandfather said her neck was swollen and black and blue. She died of “complications of aortic valve replacement/respiratory arrest/laryngeal hemorrhage and edema/anticoagulation.”

She is buried with her husband, parents, and paternal grandparents at a little cemetery in the middle of nowhere in Newton County, Mississippi – Liberty Baptist Church Cemetery.

The best part of the story:

I couldn’t trace her mother’s family, the Howingtons. Her mother (my great grandmother) Mary Howington Burke was a brick wall for a long time. One day, I saw an obituary for her husband Earl’s mother (yes, my other great grandmother Annie Culpepper – Ancestor #1 blog). It said Annie was survived by a daughter named Mae Howington. I knew my grandfather’s little sister was Zeffie Mae, but who was this Howington she was married to?

Turns out, it was the man I always knew as Uncle Sug (as in Sugar). Melton “Sug” Howington was Mary Howington’s little brother. Mamaw’s uncle. Since he was married to Earl’s little sister, that also made him my mother’s uncle. Long story short, I traced Melton and found the whole Howington clan! Yay!

So, in closing, I just want to tell you that what they say about the south is true, and it is possible I’m my own cousin!

October Ancestry Challenge – Joel B Culpepper

Posted on October 8, 2013 by Lori Crane

The October Ancestry Challenge 2013 is 23 posts in 23 days (Monday through Friday) about 23 ancestors.

We’re in week two!

Ancestor #6 – Joel Bluett Culpepper

My great great grandfather Joel Bluett Culpepper was born in 1845 in Clark County, MS and died 11 Nov 1911 at Beauvoir Confederate Soldiers home in Biloxi, MS.

If you’re not familiar with Beauvoir, it was the home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and following the Civil War, it was turned into a home for Confederate veterans. It is now a historical site and I have sat on that porch many, many times. The first photo is pre-hurricane Katrina. The second is me on the rebuilt front steps in December 2012.

Joel was born to Rev. Joseph M Culpepper and Nancy Yarbrough along with 3 brothers and 2 sisters. His paternal grandparents were Simeon Culpepper and Elizabeth Bluett. That’s where his middle name came from. It’s an old southern tradition to give maiden names of mothers and grandmothers to son and grandsons.

Joel signed up for the 63rd Alabama Infantry Co K, stating that his residence was in Choctaw Co, Alabama. His brother Benjamin signed up for the 40th Alabama Infantry Co C. I have no idea why the boys signed up in Alabama or if they were actually living there at the time. The answer may lie in their father.

Their father, the Rev Joseph M, signed up for the 37th Mississippi Infantry on April 11, 1862 and died on August 15th of the same year in a battle at Columbus, Mississippi. Joel was only 17 at the time and Benjamin was 18. They may have been sent to Alabama to live with relatives following their father’s death and signed up for the cause to honor him. The enrollment date on Benjamin’s war documents is October 1863 in Sumter County, Alabama, but the date is not visible on Joel’s document, but it was definitely before Benjamin signed up.

Prior to Benjamin signing up, on April 9, 1863, Joel was captured by Federal Forces and held prisoner at Fort Massachusetts on Ship Island until the end of the war. He was an 18-yr-old boy.

In 1870, Joel married Mary E “Mollie” McFarland and they had six children, one of them being my great grandfather William Samuel “Sam” Culpepper who married Annie Josephine Blanks. I wrote about her in my Ancestor #1 blog.

Mollie died in 1908, and Joel moved in with his daughter for a time until it was decided he would enter Beauvoir under his rights as a Confederate soldier. He lived there for 10 months preceding his death. The records on file name him as James B Culpepper. He and Mollie are laid to rest at Zion Cemetery in Kemper County, Mississippi.

October Ancestry Challenge 2013 – John Culpepper the Rebel

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Lori Crane

The October Ancestry Challenge 2013 is 23 posts in 23 days (Monday through Friday) about 23 ancestors. It’s still not to late to join us. Come on, you can catch up.

Ancestor #3 – John Culpeper of Culpeper’s Rebellion

Culpeper’s Rebellion took place in 1677 in Albemarle County, Province of Carolina—which later became North Carolina.

Long story short, the people were fed up with the government and fought back—a story we’ve heard a hundred times. This story, however, is different because John Culpeper, the leader of the rebellion, was my uncle. He was brothers with my 9th great grandfather Henry, sons of my 10th great grandfather John Culpepper the Merchant, who was the subject of my Ancestor #2 blog.

The government of the Carolina colony, set up by His Royal Highness King James I and ruled in 1677 by His Royal Highness King Charles I, consisted of eight Lords Proprietors, the head being deputy governor Thomas Miller, who was also the tax collector. The people were increasingly unhappy with Mr. Miller as they had been taxed nearly to death, and he was severely limiting their freedoms. The final straw came when England passed an act regulating and taxing the shipping of goods to and from the colonies. It sounds like we’re leading up to the Boston Tea Party, but not yet. That didn’t happen until 1773—almost 100 years later. Maybe the people who currently tax us should take a look at history and see the results.

Anyway, young whippersnappers John Culpeper and George Durant, captured and imprisoned Thomas Miller and the members of his cabinet and held them in prison for two years while John stepped in and acted as governor. Fortunately King Charles was too busy partaking in pleasures to worry about those disorderly colonies, so they were free to convene their own legislature and exercise all powers and duties of their own government.

No one cared much about the governing of the colonies, but when the Crown heard rumors that John was acting as tax collector/treasurer and was handing the money inappropriately, he was summoned to England to plead his case. One shouldn’t embezzle from the Crown. When he arrived, he was arrested for treason and embezzlement. He was put to trial, but he was found not guilty as he was acting under the orders of a properly elected assembly …namely his own cabinet. huh? It probably didn’t hurt that daddy was a lawyer and highly esteemed in the colonies.

Culpeper’s Rebellion was a step towards American independence, fanning the flames that would 100 years later become the Revolutionary War.

October Ancestry Challenge 2013 – John Culpepper the Merchant

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Lori Crane

The October Ancestry Challenge 2013 is 23 posts in 23 days (Monday through Friday) about 23 ancestors. It’s still not to late to join us.

Ancestor #2 – John Culpepper the Merchant

My 10th great grandfather was John Culpepper, whom we refer to as John Culpepper the Merchant. He was born in 1606 in Kent, England to John Culpepper of Astwood and Ursula Woodcock, and some say he may have died in Virginia around 1674. I say “may have” because there is some genealogical confusion as to which John Culpepper was which. There were fathers, sons, and brothers all with the same name confused further by very sketchy records. Through my research, I have come to believe the John Culpepper who died in 1674 was actually his nephew, son of his brother Thomas.

Anyway, we do know John married a woman by the name of Mary and had sons named Henry (my 9th great grandfather), Dennis, James, Robert, and John of “Culpepper Rebellion” fame. At this point in history, female children weren’t noted, so between the five male births from 1635ish to 1645ish there may have been daughters born also. There is some evidence he had daughters named Hannah and Susannah, which sounds to me like a Dr. Seuss book, but the more I look at them, the more I’m convinced they were not his daughters. There is also further evidence of another girl named Abigail. I haven’t examined her records (or lack of them) yet.

A few years ago, my cousin Warren Culpepper visited England and attempted to get pictures of John’s childhood home, the Culpepper manor, Astwood in Feckenham, but they were asked to leave by the owner. These photos are as close as they got.

John is thought to be the ancestor of most American Culpeppers. He and his brother had ties to Virginia, so between the boys running back and forth to England (who kept VERY good records) and colonial America (who kept very poor records) we kind of lose track of him.

The few other details we know is that he was baptized in Harrietsham, England at St. John the Baptist Church (built in the 11th century) on 6 Oct 1606; he was admitted to Middle Temple (a law school) to be trained as a lawyer on 7 May 1621, listed in the records there as the second son of John Culpepper of Astwood, Esquire; and he probably didn’t like being a lawyer, because he took up a career of merchant instead. Darned kids never do what you want them to do.

Before 1633, he became part owner with his elder brother of a merchant ship called the “Thomas and John,” which was involved in trade between England and the colonies. Merchants of colonial America left very few records, so our research suffers, but it would appear he and his brother owned a trading company with points of presence in England, Barbados, New England, and Virginia. Maybe this is where my love of tall ships comes from.

Even though we don’t have a lot of records about John Culpepper the Merchant, we can tell he was obviously a brave man, sailing back and forth across the Atlantic like that. Ahoy, sailor!

October Ancestry Challenge 2013 – Annie Blanks Culpepper

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Lori Crane

The October Ancestry Challenge 2013 is 23 posts in 23 days (Monday through Friday) about 23 ancestors. Hop on the ancestry train and join us.

Ancestor # 1 – whew, 23 is a long way to go!

I was going to post in chronological order, but I’ve decided to be completely random. With that being said, here is…

…my great grandmother.

Josephine Annie Blanks Culpepper was born 10 Nov 1877 in Kemper Co, MS and died 15 Nov 1961 in Mobile, AL.

Annie was the daughter of William Henry Blanks III and Martha Lettie “Mattie” Carpenter. She was the fourth of seven children. There was only one boy in the bunch and sadly, he died at the age of five, when Annie was only three, so she never knew him. She grew up with five sisters.

I often wonder about the emotional health of Annie’s family of origin. Her mother, Mattie, lost her own father in the Civil War when she was fourteen, and the family not only lost a half dozen men to the war but another dozen family members to typhoid which was running through the county the winter of 1862/63. I imagine Mattie’s mother was probably emotionally shut down for a long period of time following all those deaths, so Mattie probably did not get the emotional support an adolescent girl needs, therefore it is possible she did not pass that maternal nurturing down to Annie and her sisters, because she never got it herself. I could be completely mistaken, though.

Annie married William Samuel “Sam” Culpepper at the age of 21 in 1899. She said about Sam that he was “handsome with rosy cheeks and teeth as white as pearls.” Sam worked as a sawyer and followed the sawmill business, so Annie was left alone on the farm with the children for great lengths of time. They had nine children between 1900 and 1921, with five being boys and four being girls. All but one of their children lived to a ripe old age.

There are a few things that strike me about Annie. First, I never met her as she died the year before I was born. Next, she lived through a fairly good time in history. The Civil War was long finished before she was born, and I imagine living in the back country of Mississippi, she wasn’t too affected by WWI or WWII. She grew up in a time before televisions and cars, and witnessed a technological growth of astounding proportions. I imagine the first television or automobile caused great excitement in the family.

Following Sam’s death in 1939 at the age of 66, Annie moved to Mobile, Alabama, and spent her golden years with two of her sons who had previously moved there. She died in Mobile at the age of 84 and her remains were returned to Mississippi to be buried next to her husband at Mt. Nebo Cemetery in Newton County, Mississippi.

Obituary November 16, 1961

Mrs. Annie Culpepper

Funeral arrangements were being completed today for Mrs. Annie Blanks Culpepper, 84 of Mobile, a former resident of the Martin community who died yesterday at Mobile.

Mrs. Culpepper was a member of the Duffee Baptist Church and had been active in its various organizations until she suffered a broken hip three years ago.

Her two daughters are Mrs. Mae Howington of Meridian and Mrs. Aaron Spears of Enterprise. She is also survived by five sons, Joe Culpepper of Susqualena, Earl and Clinton Culpepper, Meridian; Fred and Frank Culpepper, Mobile; and two sisters, Mrs. Woodie Logan and Miss Velma Blanks of Laurel.

The body was to arrive in Meridian this afternoon and will be at Stephen’s.

The services will be held at 2 o’clock tomorrow at the Mt. Nebo Baptist church with Rev. Herman Pilgrim in charge, assisted by the Rev. Vernon Blackburn.

Interment will be in the Mt. Nebo cemetery.

October Ancestry Challenge 2013

Posted on September 12, 2013 by Lori Crane

I was looking for a blog challenge in which to participate in October and didn’t come across anything I liked, so I decided to create my own challenge. Do you study genealogy? Do you have tons of ancestry info and no place to share it? If you read further and decide you’d like to join me, please do so. Help yourself to the official banner and let me know that you’d like to participate. I will post a link to your page as a participant on the “official kick-off blog” the weekend of Sept 27 and update it as anyone joins us.

The October Ancestry Challenge 2013 will be 23 posts (Monday through Friday) in October about a different ancestor each day. If you can find 23 ancestors, you can rock this challenge. It will also be a lesson in history, clothing, culture, and world events. You may include yourself and your parents if you choose.

I’m going to blog about the Culpeppers. I have 25 Culpepper ancestors ranging from my maternal grandfather Earl Culpepper who died in 1994 in Mississippi…

all the way back to my 23rd great grandfather John Culpepper who was born around 1140 in Kent, England.

(This was his house called Bayhall Manor in Pembury, Kent. Remains of the building were visible until 1960, when one of the national newspapers told a rather exaggerated story of its being haunted. People coming to see it made themselves such a nuisance and rendered it so unsafe, that the owner of the land cleared the ruins away. The ghost was supposed to be that of Anne West, the last person to reside in the mansion. See? It’s already an interesting ancestry blog.)

My Culpepper ancestors lived through the 2nd Crusade, Genghis Kahn, Marco Polo, gunpowder, the Bubonic plague, Joan of Arc, Henry VIII, Christopher Columbus, Isaac Newton, The Revolutionary War, The War of 1812, Napoleon, Louis Pasteur, Charles Darwin, railroads, The American Civil War, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Model T, Albert Einstein, WWI, airplanes, Titanic, WWII, Vietnam War, not to mention, Victorian dresses, Hobble skirts, ragtime music, smoking jackets, and the first television.

I’m looking forward to putting together these blogs beginning with my grandfather and working back in time. Please join me beginning October 1st to participate and/or to visit.

A to Z Challenge – T is for Tradition

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Lori Crane

Blogging from A to Z April 2013 Challenge

T is for Tradition

What better way to preserve history and honor those who have come before than to be an active member in societies? I never understood what societies did until I became a member of a few. What they do is preserve and honor tradition. They don’t allow ritual and sacrifice be forgotten. The groups I belong to are service organizations, dedicated to promoting patriotism and history, and they follow strict rules of tradition.

I belong to the United States Daughters of 1812 under my 4th great grandfather Hays Rodgers who fought for the Mississippi Militia. He was assigned to Capt Evan Austill’s company of volunteers in Maj Sam Dale’s Battalion to fight against the hostile Creek Indians.

Here is the U.S.D. of 1812’s purpose copied from their website:

The U.S.D. of 1812, founded in 1892, is a volunteer women’s service organization dedicated to promoting patriotism, preserving and increasing knowledge of the history of the American people by the preservation of documents and relics, marking of historic spots, recording of family histories and traditions, celebration of patriotic anniversaries, teaching and emphasizing the heroic deeds of the civil, military, and naval life of those who molded this Government between the close of the American Revolution and the close of the War of 1812, to urge Congress to compile and publish authentic records of men in civil, military, and naval service from 1784 to 1815 inclusive, and to maintain at National Headquarters in Washington D.C., a museum and library of memorabilia of the 1784-1815 period.

(photo: Hays Rodgers)

I also belong to the Daughters of the American Revolution under my 5th great grandfather Joseph Culpepper who fought for the 3rd South Carolina (Rangers) Regiment.

A little piece of their purpose from their website includes: The DAR, founded in 1890 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a non-profit, non-political volunteer women’s service organization dedicated to promoting patriotism, preserving American history, and securing America’s future through better education for children.

If that’s not enough to do, I also belong to the United Daughters of the Confederacy under my 2nd great grandfather Joel B Culpepper who fought for the 63rd Alabama Infantry Co K .

The UDC exists to (from their website):

To collect and preserve the material necessary for a truthful history of the War Between the States and to protect, preserve, and mark the places made historic by Confederate valor
To assist descendants of worthy Confederates in securing a proper education
To fulfill the sacred duty of benevolence toward the survivor of the War and those dependent upon them
To honor the memory of those who served and those who fell in the service of the Confederate States of America
To record the part played during the War by Southern women, including their patient endurance of hardship, their patriotic devotion during the struggle, and their untiring efforts during the post-War reconstruction of the South
To cherish the ties of friendship among the members of the Organization

(photo: Joel B Culpepper)

I am honored and blessed to be a small part of these organizations and to carry on the traditions of the women who served before me.

A to Z Challenge – K is for Kin

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Lori Crane

Blogging from A to Z April 2013 Challenge

K is for Kin

I began studying my ancestors as a teen, starting with my mom’s family. My mom was a Culpepper. There are a lot of Culpeppers out there with records dating back to English Lords, Sirs, Sheriffs, and Justices of the Peace, so they are not hard to trace. With the invention of the internet, it became easier and easier.

The Culpepper name, originally Colepeper, is believed to hail from Sir Thomas de Colepeper, born 1170 in Kent, England. ‘De’ meaning of or from; ‘Cul’ meaning bottom (in French); and the family was from Pembury, originally known as Pepenbury, so the full translation is ‘of the bottom of Pepenbury.’ Makes sense. Eventually the ‘de’ was dropped as it fell out of fashion.

Back in the 1990s, I traced back to my favorite Culpepper ancestor. I don’t know why he’s my favorite; he just intrigues me. His name was John Culpepper. He was my 12th great grandfather. He was born in 1530 in Salehurst, Sussex, England and died 20 Oct 1612. He owned Wigsell Manor (pictured below) which he inherited from his father William Culpepper. His mother was Cicely Barrett, and much later in my research I found the Barretts, who married into the Bellhouse and Poyntz families, to be just as interesting as the Culpeppers. They were big in politics and owned enormous estates, making Wigsell look like a little cottage. It’s quite possible Cicely married beneath her. Perhaps she married for love. ♥

There are no records of John’s education. He seems to have lived a quiet life. He married Elizabeth Sedley around 1560 and records show they had about seven children. Records for female children are far and few between, but he did have a daughter named Cicely, named after his mother. He was a Justice of the Peace, and the only public records of him are testimonies in Queen Elizabeth’s Privy Council from 1558 to 1592. Following the chaos of King Henry VIII’s rule, bloody Queen Mary’s rule, and finally Queen Elizabeth’s, the country was in political and religious turmoil. That may be why he lived such a quiet life. If you didn’t, you would surely be beheaded or burned at the stake for something.

He died at the age of 82, considerable for the time, and is buried at Salehurst Church as “Johanes Colepeper, armiger, etatis 82.” The word ‘armiger’ means ‘entitled to the coat of arms.’ The Culpepper Coat of Arms graces the church wall near the front door. (I also have it tattooed on my back.) RIP grandpa Johanes.