The question of descent from royalty is often asked in genealogy. Clearly it is an issue of interest to many people, as websites use it to promote their businesses and journalists like to write about it. How do we find and analyse evidence in family history for such claims?
Claims of royal ancestry
Earlier this year, the Who Do You Think You Are magazine claimed that ‘Royal ancestry is one of the most exciting discoveries most people imaging when starting their family tree.’ [1]. I personally do not care much whether some of my ancestor were royal, except that it is relevant to the accuracy of one particular line in my family history.
Similarly, an article on the MyHeritage website claims that it is ‘one of the more exciting finds you might hope to make’ [2]. This article suggests that it is easy to find out, just by doing your research well. It also claims that ‘it’s actually pretty unlikely that you don’t have royal ancestry. It’s simple math’.
The Who Do You Think You Are article also states that, ‘If you have Caribbean ancestry and you can trace your family to a white plantation owner there is a good chance that you can also claim royal ancestry, as sons of gentry often emigrated to the Caribbean to seek their fortune.’ My own supposed connection to royalty is through Jamaican plantation owners. But the question is, was he really a son of gentry?
Analysis of the evidence in family history
As good genealogists, we need to be careful not to make, or accept, sweeping generalisations such as the statements quoted above. We need evidence to support the conclusions we reach.
As another genealogist, Graham Holton, stated in an article on the BBC News website, statistically it may be likely that you are descended from royalty but in actuality it can be very difficult to substantiate claims with solid evidence. [3]
Royal relationships are often in the very distant past. My own supposed connection is my 22x great grandfather, King Edward I (1239-1307). It is true that royal lines are better documented than non-royal, but over many generations the potential for error or fabrication in a family tree is quite high.
In my case, the evidence for this family line has many holes, and none larger than the point where an Englishman moved to the Caribbean.
It appears that my 9x great grandfather, John Lawrence, married Jane Collins in Cornwall, Jamaica in 1676 and died there after 10 May 1690. About 130 years later, their 3x great granddaughter Mary Scarlett married Joseph Brissett in England. Mary and Joseph were the 2x great grandparents of my paternal grandmother, Winifred Saywell. I won’t cite all the sources for this lineage, as it would clutter the blog post unnecessarily, but instead I will focus on the weaknesses in the evidence chain.
One of the techniques that I teach in my genealogy courses is using the Tree Health Assessment Tool to examine and document the strength of the evidence for each identity and relationship in your direct line. Green represents a substantiated relationship, yellow indicates that there is some evidence and pink indicates that a relationship is unsubstantiated.
The evidence
On this family line, the relationships are well supported by evidence back as far as my 6x great grandmother, Elizabeth Anglin. Baptism records support the conclusion that she was the daughter of Colonel Philip Anglin and Mary Lawrence. [4]
Summary table created using Tree Health Assessment Tool
Evidence exists for the next two generations, but it is not as strong. I have not found baptism records for Mary or her father John.
Some evidence is provided by a painting reproduced in the Caribbeana, entitled ‘Mary, daughter of John Lawrence of Fairfield Estate and wife of Philip Anglin of Paradise Estate, Jamaica. Born later than 1700 and married in 1723. Grandmother of the first Lord Abinger.’ [5] The date of marriage may be an error, as her daughter Elizabeth was born in 1747. The Caribbeana and Historic Jamaica name Mary’s parents as John Lawrence and Susanna Petgrave, and claim that she was born in 1713. [6] The Caribbeana also claims that Mary was the great granddaughter of Henry Lawrence, President of Oliver Cromwell’s Council (Caribbeana, p.131).
This claim of a relationship to Henry Lawrence is where the evidence chain breaks (shown pink in the table above).
The Caribbeana states that Mary’s grandfather, John, was born in 1636 in Isleham, Cambridgeshire to Henry Lawrence and Amy Peyton. He is reported as having left England, landed in Barbados, then arrived in Jamaica in 1676 where he married Jane Dunn nee Collins. This story is also reported in Burke’s Landed Gentry, where Lawrence is listed as of Wiltshire England and of Fairfield Jamaica. The use of the Lawrence crest in Jamaica is cited as evidence of the relationship. [7]
Is my connection substantiated?
I have done my best to trace back references to this claim and they all seem to originate from an article in the Gentleman’s Magazine for 1815 by a descendant of John, James Lawrence. [8]
That article, unfortunately, lists no sources to back up the claim and my knowledge of heraldry is insufficient to determine whether use of the Lawrence crest is reasonable evidence. The Caribbeana does acknowledge that the evidence was inconclusive and that the family agreed that John’s parentage had not been established (p.131).
In addition, my research into Henry Lawrence has so far failed to find any decent evidence to support or refute that he had a son called John.
The Dictionary of National Biography claims that he had seven sons and six daughters, but does not list their names. [9] Even worse, it cites as its sources the abovementioned article from the Gentleman’s Magazine and another derivative source, Chesters of Chicheley, the latter of which cites, you guessed it, the 1815 article. [10]
My research seems to be going around in circles! A good indication that the evidence is flimsy.
A US publication from 1847 does list Henry’s children, including John, but again there are no sources cited to support the claim. [11]
So, how is this all relevant to my original question about evidence in family history to support a claim of descendancy from royalty?
King Edward I was the 10x great grandfather of Henry Lawrence’s wife Amy. That part of the family line is well documented. However, as the claim that John was their son is still unsubstantiated, I cannot claim to be of royal descent on this line.
More information
For more articles about analysis in family history, go to the Analyse page.
For more of my articles on documenting your family history, go to the Document page.
If you would like to read more about my family history, go to my Rustenivy website.
Citations:
[1] Anonymous, ‘Royal ancestry: How to know if you have royal ancestry’, Who Do You Think You Are,15 March 2023, https://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/getting-started/are-you-descended-from-royalty/ accessed 23 Aug 2023
[2] Daniella Levy, ‘How to find out if you have royal ancestry’, MyHeritage, https://education.myheritage.com/article/how-to-find-out-if-you-have-royal-ancestry/, undated, accessed 23 Aug 2023
[3] Sean Coughlan, ‘How millions don’t know they’re related to royalty’, BBC News, 1 Nov 2021, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-59041055, accessed 23 Aug 2023
[4] Hanover Parish Register BMB I, 1725-1825, p. 49.
[5] Vere Langford Oliver, Caribbeana: being miscellaneous papers relating to the history, genealogy, topography and antiquities of the British West Indies, 6 volumes 1910-1919.
[6] Frank Cundall, Historic Jamaica, Institute of Jamaica, 1915, p. 340.
[7] John Burke, Burke’s Landed Gentry: The Principality of Wales and The North West, originally published 1833.
[8] The Gentleman’s Magazine, Volume 85 Part 1, 1815.
[9] Gordon Goodwin, ‘Henry Lawrence’, Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900 vol. 32.
[10] Robert Edmond Chester Waters, Genealogical Memoirs of the Extinct Family of Chester of Chicheley, Their Ancestors and Descendants, London England, Robson and Sons, 1878.
[11] John Lawrence, A genealogical memoir of the family of John Lawrence, of Watertown, 1636; with brief notices of others of the name in England and America, Boston, Coolidge & Wiley, 1847.
Notes:
Caribbeana is a book of family histories of the Caribbean. The trees in the book are based on parish records and family papers, and many of these parish records are now also available online at FamilySearch. Where available, I have verified the information for my family against the parish records.
Post last updated 15 June 2024
An interesting analysis, however in cases like this it would also be good to know to what extent DNA evidence was supporting the documented research? I know it’s a long way back, but anyone assessing their pedigree these days should be taking DNA into account, as another component of your evidence (GPS: Reasonably exhaustive research). Lower generations need to be supported by autosomal DNA analysis, whilst the more distant lines probably require bringing in mtDNA and Y-DNA evidence through other cousins if necessary. Not easy, but perhaps something we should be aiming for these days? As Leah Larkin pointed out back in 2017, there is almost no chance that in eight generations all of us don’t have a break in our documented line somewhere! https://thednageek.com/mpes-probabilities-and-why-you-need-dna-even-if-you-think-you-dont/
Yes, DNA evidence would certainly be interesting in this case, except that this is my non-biological line so it is not an option for me.