4:2 Gosnold of Otley
John Jegon, the Bishop of Norwich
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JOHN JEGON, the Bishop of Norwich and his connection to the Gosnold Family
There was no one who was more instrumental in establishing English colonies in America than Bartholomew Gosnold. After James I granted the Virginia Charter in 1606 Gosnold was chosen to be vice admiral of the London Merchant's fleet of three ships that sailed on December 30, 1606. At first he opposed establishing a settlement in Virginia but was overruled by Edward Wingfield. Gosnold came from a family of Suffolk, England that was closely allied through marriage with some of the other prominent families of the area. Members of the Golding family, the Wingfields and the Nauntons are all in the illustrious pedigree of Bartholomew Gosnold. Many were investors in the Virginia Company. As has been said before, there was a Thomas Golding or Goulding who in 1519 was Clerk to Richard Nix, the Bishop of Norwich and both were executors to the will of Lord William Cornwallis. Nix was a Conservative Catholic and was the last Catholic Bishop at Norwich before the English Reformation. He took a stand in opposition to the divorce of Henry VIII, a very dangerous thing to do at the time but nevertheless reveals him to be a man of conviction. It is not known for certain which among the many Thomas Goldings of the time who Thomas Golding, Clerk was. I have my suspicion he may have been Thomas "of Poslingford" Golding but without additional information it is impossible to conclusively determine his identity.
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This information pertains to the Gaulding/Goulding/Gaulden family of America in that:
1. There exists a letter written from a Rev. John Gauden to Lord Cornwallis. I have yet to find this letter myself, but it’s existence is mentioned in Dr. Gaulden’s book on page 16. “One interesting family tradition passed to me concerns the Gaulden family and England. The tradition is that the first American Gaulden was working for the government of England and fled to America due to persecution. I cannot verify this tradition though I do see numerous government leaders named Gauden (notice no ‘L’). I found a letter written from a Rev. John Gauden to Lord Cornwallis. This letter involves a complaint of persecution. This may be a different family all together, though the name spelling is very close.” (Gaulden, p. 16)
2. Abner Morse, in his The Genealogy of the Descendants of Several Ancient Puritans also states that Thomas Goulding, Clerk and Richard Nix are both in the will of Lord Cornwallis. "Goulding is an English name” he wrote, “..in distinction from Golding, a name common to the Celtic Irish. It was originally local and borrowed from Goulding on the borders of Wales, anciently Gouldingham derived from “goal” meaning “a bound” and “ham” meaning a hamlet or town. The name is not to be found in the Doomsday Book but it occurs in Rheimer’s Foeder’s, in Burke’s History of the Peerage and on the early rolls of Parliament. In 1519 THOMAS GOULDING, Clerk, with the Bishop of Norwich was appointed executor to the will of Lord Cornwallis...” (Morse, 1857, p. 201)
3. The following article regarding Peter Goulding is from Worcester County, Massachusetts Memoirs, Volume I-II, pg. 350-1 and it pertains to Captain Peter Goulding of Sudbury, Massachusetts. The original data for the book is Ellery Bicknell Crane, ed. Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worcester County Massachusetts with a History of Worcester Society of Antiquity. Vol. I-II. New York, NY, USA: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1907.
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"There were a number of emigrants to New England in the middle of the seventeenth century, but none of them appear to have left descendants by the name of Goulding except Peter. He came from England, probably from Shipdam, six miles from Norwich. He was a descendant of Rev. Thomas Goulding, who was coexecutor to the Bishop of Norwich. He was a saddler by trade, but seems to have been an attorney at law with a considerable practice in the courts. He was not a Puritan, never took the oath of fidelity, nor joined the church. He was a man of morality, as his Puritan critics described his virtues, of talent and rare enterprise and courage. By marriage he was connected with the aristocratic families of the colony. He was in Virginia in 1667. He is said to have become one of the earliest anti-slavery men of Massachusetts, after visiting HIS BROTHER IN THE SOUTH. He was in 1670 attorney for Joseph Deakin, of Boston, in a suit against Thomas Jenner, mariner, for the recover of a negro slave to the sale of whom three years before in Virginia he testified." (Worcester County, Massachusetts Memoirs, Volume I-II, 1907)
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This text seems to suggest that Peter Goulding of Sudbury, MA was a direct descendant of Thomas “of Poslingford” Golding (not confirmed) and to the Suffolk branch of the Golding Family of England, cousins to Arthur Golding the Translator.
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There was another clergyman and his name was John Jegon. Like Richard Nix, he was the Bishop of Norwich.
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The Gosnold Family
Robert Gosnold I, the son and heir of Otley Hall in Suffolk married Ursula, the 3rd daughter of William Naunton. Their son was Robert Gosnold II, heir of Otley who married Amy the daughter of William Forth of Hadleigh. Their son was Robert Gosnold III who married Anne the daughter of Sir Lionel Tolemache. Their son was Robert Gosnold, heir of Otley Hall and he married Dorothy, the only daughter of Dr. John Jegon, the Bishop of Norwich.
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Bishop John Jegon:
“JEGON, JOHN (1550–1618), bishop of Norwich, born in 1550, was son of Robert Jegon of Coggeshall in Essex, and Joan White, his wife, both of humble condition in life. On 25 Oct. 1567 he matriculated at Cambridge as a student of Queens' College. The statement that he belonged to St. John's College appears to be without foundation. He graduated B.A. in the Lent term of 1571–2, was elected a fellow of Queens' College in 1572, and filled successively the offices of college tutor, proctor in the university, and vice-president. In 1590 the fellows of Corpus Christi College received royal letters recommending Jegon to the mastership, then vacant by the death of Dr. Copcot (Cal. State Papers, 1581–90, p. 682). The fellows, who were desirous of electing one of their own number (Mr. Dix), complied reluctantly, and in a letter to the chancellor of the university, Lord Burghley, stated that they did so, ‘for that our statute so in part requireth, and your last letters seem to command.’ Jegon, however, who brought with him several of his pupils at Queens' College, soon justified the royal choice. He freed the college from financial difficulties, and raised the standard of instruction (cf. Masters, Hist. of C. C. College, ed. Lamb, p. 146). In 1593 he signed the formal protest against William Barret's sermon attacking Calvinistic doctrine. He filled the office of vice-chancellor during the academic years 1596–7, 1597–8, 1598–9, and 1600–1, and vigorously maintained the rights and privileges of the university against the town. By the townsmen he was much disliked, and in his letters to Burghley he more than once complained of the treatment he received at their hands. (Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900: John Jegon)
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Another book called John Robinson and the English Separatist Tradition records the following on page 60:
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"The 1590's would prove to be a decade of entrenchment for the Puritans, of attrition and exile for the Separatists. In the meantime another generation of non-conformists, Puritan and Separatist, was in the making. But long before lines of demarcation were drawn, 'before we conceived the least thought of separation' as Robinson put it, they shared a fellowship of learning and piety as students at Cambridge.
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Robinson was admitted to Corpus Christi on April 9, 1592 as one of the "sizartores" and given for his tutor, Thomas Jegon. Thomas Jegon was the younger brother of John Jegon, Master of the College, a man portrayed by a contemporary as 'short of stature, somewhat corpulent, and of no very pleasing countenance.' The elder Jegon was to serve as Vice-Chancellor of the university (1596-1599) before becoming Bishop of Norwich, in which capacity Robinson would have dealings with him a decade later. Corpus was one of the older foundations at Cambridge, established in 1352 by the union of the guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Among the most illustrious alumni of the sixteenth century were Matthew Parker, Master and benefactor of the College, Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal and Christopher Marlowe." (George, 1982, p. 60)
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The text recorded in the Dictionary of National Biography continued:
“On 22 July 1601 he was installed dean of Norwich, and 18 Jan. 1602–3 was elected bishop of that see, being consecrated at Lambeth on 14 May 1603. On his resignation of the mastership of his college, Archbishop Whitgift was anxious that his own chaplain, Dr. Carrier, a senior fellow of the society, should succeed. But Jegon, although professing himself in favour of the archbishop's scheme, contrived to bring about the election of his own brother, Thomas Jegon, also a fellow of the college. Whitgift, in his chagrin, wrote to Sir Robert Cecil, the chancellor, declaring that ‘Jegon hath, in my opinion, greatly abused both you and me.’
In his diocese Jegon was unpopular, partly on account of the rigour with which he sought to enforce conformity, and partly because his liberality was not proportionate to his reputation for wealth. Masters tells us that he was ‘so noted for a monied man, that the king sent to borrow 100l. of him by way of loan.’ In his latter years, his health failing him, he petitioned for leave of absence from parliament, and a proxy was appointed. He died at Aylsham in Norfolk 13 March 1617–18, and was buried in the chancel of the church. His will is in the prerogative office at Canterbury. He left a widow named Lilia, who in 1619 was married to Sir Charles Cornwallis, knt., of Beeston in Norfolk; also two sons, Robert and John, the former of whom built a large house upon the estate at Buxton, and resided there many years. The latter was buried near his father in 1631. Jegon's only daughter, Dorothy, married Robert Gosnold of Otley in Suffolk.
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Jegon was short in stature and somewhat corpulent, and his countenance, judging from his portrait in the lodge of Corpus Christi College, was far from pleasing in expression. Fuller, while attributing to him ‘the seriousness and gravity becoming a governor,’ says that he was ‘at the same time of a most facetious disposition, so that it was hard to say whether his counsel was more grateful for its soundness, or his company more acceptable for the pleasantness thereof.’ (Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900: John Jegon)
[Strype's Life of Whitgift; Masters's Hist. of Corpus Christi College, ed. Lamb; J. B. Mullinger's Hist. of Univ. of Cambr. vol. ii.; Brydges's Restituta, ii. 241.]”
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John Jegon (1550-1618), Bishop of Norwich by an unidentified painter, artuk.org. Public domain. Source: Wikipedia, “John Jegon”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jegon#/media/File:Bp_John_Jegon.jpg
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There were two clergymen by the name Goulding who were ordained by John Jegon. They were William Goulding, who was the vicar of St. Andrew in Ilkittishall and Bartholomew Goulding who was ordained in 1617 as a Priest and was a Preacher to South Elmham, Sancti Petri (St. Peter). That information came from the Clergy database. (The Clergy Database uk)
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WILLIAM GOULDING
1. Goulding, William (1603-1618)
· CCEd Record ID: 198774
· Linked to person: Goulding, William 1603-1603
· Liber Cleri Record Goulding Forename William
· Event Type Date 6/8/1603 Office/Status Vicar Location Sancti Andree in Ilkittishall (St. Andrew in Ilkittishall)
· Other Information Source BL, Harleian MS 595 (Clerical Survey)
· Ordinary / Jurisdiction Jegon, John/Norwich 1603-1618
Note the death date is not given for William Goulding
St. Andrews in Ilkittishall – Ilketshall St. Andrew is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. It is one of the parishes of the "Saints" area that includes St. Andrew, St. Laurence, St. Margaret and All Saints Mettingham that is close to Bungay. Thses parishes make up what is known as the "Seven Parishes."
There are two churches in St. Andrew, Ilketshall and both are built in the flushwork style of architecture. The St. Andrew Church where William Goulding was the clergyman dates from the 12th century and sits at a bend in the road of School Road and as is common in parts of East Anglia it has an octagonal shaped bell tower. The graveyard has no clearance of older gravestones but in 1810 there was a screen between the body of the church and the chancel and that was destroyed in December 2001, revealing a series of wall paintings with images depicting the theme of the "Wheel of Fortune" and the unpredictable nature of human affairs. The church is still in operation.
Source: Wikipedia, "St. Andrew Ilketshall", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilketshall_St_Andrew
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The church of St. Andrew in Ilketshall St. Andrew dates from the 12th Century. William Goulding was the vicar here in 1603.
Ilketshall St. Andrew is located in Suffolk and is in the Diocese of Norwich. Bury St. Edmunds is between Ilketshall and Cambridge.
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BARTHOLOMEW GOULDING
2. Golding, Bartholomew (1617 - 1678)
· Education Events: priest : 12/03/1617 (Jegon, John/Norwich 1603-1618): Preacher : South Elmham St Peter (02/06/1627 ): Curate : South Elmham St Peter (09/07/1633 )
· Rector : South Elmham St Peter (25/02/1678 - 25/02/1678 ): Rector: South Elmham St Peter (15/08/1662): Death Events: Death (25/02/1678)
DETAILS:
Ordination - 12-3-1617, Ordained as a Priest, Bishop: Reynolds, Edward of Norwich 1661-1676; Ordaining Bishop: Jegon, John of Norwich 1603-1618.
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Edward Reynolds (1599-1676), Warden of Merton College, Oxford and Bishop of Norwich. This image is in the public domain. Unidentified painter - https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/edward-reynolds-15991676-warden-222407.
Edward Reynolds was born in November 1599 and he died 28 July 1676. He was the Bishop of Norwich from 1660-1675.
· Appointment - 2-6-1627, Appointed as a Preacher to South Elmham Sancti Petri. (St. Peters) Ordinary/Jurisdiction of Reynolds, Edward of Norwich (1661-1678). He was licensed by Samuel, bishop of Norwich.
St Peter South Elmham is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. It is located south of Bungay. St. Peter South Elmham and St. Andrew in Ilketshall are literally only a few miles from each other.
GPS coordinates of St Peter South Elmham
Latitude : 52.40953 Longitude : 1.43399
· Appointment - 9-7-1633, Office: Curate Location: South Elmham Sancti Petri. Ordinary Jurisdiction of Reynolds, Edward of Norwich 1661-1676. He was licensed by Clement Corbett, LLD.
· Vacancy Evidence Record - Cleric Detail: Title - Clerk. Reason: Natural death Date: 2-25-1678
· Office/Status: Rector Location: South Elmham Sancti Petri Ordinary Jurisdiction: Sparrow, Anthony of Norwich 1676-1685
· Subscription Evidence Record - 8-15-1662 Office: Rector Location: St Peters in Southolm Hundred, Suff; Already in office in 1662. Ordinary Jurisdiction: Reynolds, Edward of Norwich.
· Death: 2-25-1678
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The following is from British History Online
“The Church comprises a nave and chancel only, with a good square tower of flint-work: it is of Norman construction, but evinces a total neglect of architectural purity in its later embellishments. The tower, which contains three bells, opens with a fine arch into the nave, over which is laid a good oak roof. The door to the rood-stairs, a broken piscina and sedilia, are remnants of papistical observances, happily gone by.
There are a few old floor-stones without legends, but no modern memorials, in the interior. Against the north wall of the chancel is the lower part of a sculptured altartomb, which, probably, covers the remains of one of the Tasburghs, though their burialplace was in a north aisle or chantry; which, falling into decay, has been recently pulled down. John Tasburgh, Esq., by his last will, dated 1473, desires to be buried in the chapel of our Lady Mary Virgin, on the north side of the church of St. Peter, before the image of our Lady. He gave the "glasses" of a window, at the west end of the steeple: a table of alabaster for the said chapel; and further wills "that William Rust have 3 acres of land, called Hillys land, and the hows thereon builded: and after the decease of the said William, I will that the foreseyd hows go to poor folks to dwell in without end; and the land to go to his heirs to repair the same hows." (fn. 30) Margery Tasburgh, his widow, by her last will and testament, dated February 16th, 1484, leaves her body to be buried in the chapel of the blessed Virgin Mary, in the parish church of St. Peter, near the body of John Tasburgh, her late husband. (St. Peter South Elmham)
Rectors of St. Peter South Elmham
· John Birkenshaw – 1625
· Bartholomew Golding – (1633)
· John Woolmer – 1677
· John Woolmer - 1684
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I inserted the year 1633 because it was missing from the British History Online record. Bartholomew Golding was vicar there beginning in 1633 and continued until 1677 when John Woolmer took over. That was one year before his death. Bartholomew Golding/Goulding was a generation behind William Goulding.
Source: Suffolk Churches, St Peter, South Elmham,
http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/selstpeter.html
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A little information about Thomas Jegon, the younger brother of John Jegon:
Thomas Jegon, D.D. (1575–1626) was a priest and academic in the late sixteenth and the early seventeenth centuries.
Jegon was born in Coggeshall. He was educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, graduating B.A. in 1584; and M.A. in 1587. He was appointed Fellow in 1587; and Master in 1603. He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge from 1608 to 1609.[2] He held livings at Sible Hedingham and Ashen. He was Archdeacon of Norwich from 1604 until his death on 2 March 1618. (Thomas Jegon)
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I next did a search on ancestry to see how many men named Golding or Golden were listed as alumni of Cambridge University before or slightly after the year 1600 and the following results came up. See file.
Cambridge alumni for Golding
.docx
Download DOCX • 28KB
Legal Colleges at Cambridge:
Lincoln’s Inn - The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln's Inn is recognized as being one of the world's most prestigious professional bodies of judges and lawyers.
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Of the various people named Golding or Goulding mentioned above, I am particularly interested in Rev. Thomas Goulding who according to Sherwood Anderson went to Dorchester, Massachusetts around 1620 and William “the Clergyman” Golding who attended the Sunday lecture. William Golding was of Bermuda and later of Eleuthuria Island and his is a long and very interesting history. His only descendant John Golding began his life in Bermuda and ended up in Huntington, New Jersey where he left a long line of descendants.
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To set the stage in England I must begin with the story of Arthur “the Translator” Golding and his fall from greatness through his personal relationship with the great House of De Vere.
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References
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(n.d.). Retrieved from The Clergy Database uk: https://theclergydatabase.org.uk/jsp/persons/CreatePersonFrames.jsp?PersonID=144720
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Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900: John Jegon. (n.d.). Retrieved from WikiSource: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900/Jegon,_John
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George, T. (1982). John Robinson and the English Separatist Tradition. Macon, Georgia, USA: Mercer University Press. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/johnrobinsonengl0000geor/page/n9/mode/2up
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St. Peter South Elmham. (n.d.). Retrieved from British History Online: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/suffolk-history-antiquities/vol1/pp229-232
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Thomas Jegon. (n.d.). Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jegon
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Worcester County, Massachusetts Memoirs, Volume I-II. (1907). In E. B. Crane (Ed.). The Lewis Publishing Company. Retrieved from https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6489/images/6489-1-1-1-000351640?ssrc=&backlabel=Return&queryId=551987fbd9cdc02bae56b2abf88ec357&pId=351&rcstate=6489-1-1-1-000350640%3A2106%2C2530%2C2223%2C2556%3B1333%2C2562%2C1472%2C2595%3B1447%2C2632%2C