TOWNLEY - a name born on the battlefield and baptized in the blood of a thousand French Knights
Preface
My original goal here was to try and search back in time and see what info I could find on my ancestors; but the more I searched, the more intriguing information I found; and the more interesting ancestors I run across. Imagine being related to Queen Elizabeth; or George Washington; Robert E Lee and Meriwether Lewis. How about being descendants of Kings; Saints; or Emperors?? If you are a Townley that is highly probable. Check out the links above and see how we all weave together.
So this has developed into a rather large project; so you can feel free to use it to check whatever part of our family tree you are interested in. You may only be interested in your direct, close family members; or, like me, you may want to learn as much as you can about our rich history and famous ancestors. I am hopeful those who are descendants of Leander Townley will be willing to share any info you see missing on your Family pages. You can always contact me here through the Contact Us link. It is my desire to keep this as up to date and accurate as possible. My hope is this will be here long after I am gone, and others can continue on with the research.
As my cousin Cole Younger Townley once told me; one important rule of genealogy is “Share the wealth”. That is what my goal here on this web site is to do.
Cole worked on the Townley genealogy for 40+ years. Putting in many 1000’s of painstaking hours of research; long before there was such a thing as “internet”.
Cole would call me, and we’d talk for hours about our ancestors and what he had been able to find and prove (and disprove) over those many years.
Cole had a government job that often sent him to Europe and he was able to see, and get his hands on physical evidence and records held in churches; libraries, national archives; birth records, wills, and other such items.
He told me he was looking for someone to pick up the ball and continue on with his work; and asked if I would do it. I told him I’d be glad to. He sent me volume one of “The Elusive Man”; a series of books he had written about his work tracking down the surname of Townley.
He was supposed to send me the other two volumes and the remainder of his work; but unfortunately, he passed away suddenly, and I never received that. I am still trying to contact his children and see if they would be willing to share that info...
I am going to try and cover what info he sent me and what info I have been able to add to his research on this site.
He had informed me that I should feel free to continue on with his work and his "Share the wealth" philosophy; by passing along and posting what he had been able to verify and what I was able to add on.
As you look at the ‘family pages’ I have included here on the site; I hope you’ll scroll down and read the “notes” I have been able to find out about our ancestors. There is a lot of interesting info to see I have found. I’m trying to avoid making it a matter of “who; what; and when"; and try to bring these people to life so you understand more about them. They are your ancestors; and everything listed here is all true. All these people actually existed, and the events actually happened. They gave you and I life, and enriched our heritage. We have ancestors that were kings; and one executed for treason.
For my purposes I have divided this into the ancestors of Leander Townley (my grandfather) and the descendants of Leander Townley.
His ancestors have a rich heritage and interesting story; while his descendants provide some interesting story lines also. I am hoping they will feel free to share info about themselves, their parents and children. I am hoping they will provide a brief biography on the same. It just makes this all the more interesting; and I hope this will be available for decades to come, for others working on our great heritage will have proven info to work off of.
Cole was able to find that we are descendants of such people as William the Conqueror; St Arnold; Charles ‘the Hammer’ Martel; King Charlemagne; Alfred the Great; and many others; including Lady Godiva.
Famous relatives that branch off of the main ‘Townley’ trunk that can be verified, include George Washington; first U.S. President - the Queen of England, and Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis and Clark expedition). ALL of these branches come off of the same set of parents.
Colonel Augustine Warner was the son of Mary Townley and Augustine Warner Sr. Augustine Warner Jr. married Mildred Reade and has daughters named Mary; Mildred and Elizabeth.
Mary Warner married Captain John Smith and their descendants would go on to become the Monarchy of England.
Mildred Warner would marry Captain Lawrence Washington. This couple was the grand parents of George Washington
Elizabeth Warner married Colonel John Lewis III; and this couple was the great grandparents of Meriwether Lewis. Leader of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
One other famous person that came off the Townley line is Confederal General Robert E Lee. That lineage backs up to Alice Townley; daughter of Lawrence Townley and Sarah Warner. Alice married Major John Grymes and began the lineage that led to Robert E Lee.
Now I feel I should back up and cover how ‘surnames’ came into being. The origin of surnames came into being in England with the Norman invasion of 1066. Mostly because of economics. Our ancestor, William the Conqueror; now became William I, King of England; ordered a full-scale investigation into the actual and potential wealth of the nation; so he could maximize tax revenues. Imagine that; even back 100's of years ago it was, "all about the money"
The problem at that time was that too many people had the same name; many even changed them when it suited their needs. So, there was no way to track each individual and assess their individual tax liabilities. Thus the ‘surname’ was born. Even after the use of surnames began; you will see in our Family Pages, we have many Townley's with the first name of John; Charles; Lawrence; Thomas, Richard, and Nicholas.
Some family may have had a child named Lawrence (we'll just use that as an example). But if that child died at a very young age; their next child might ALSO be named Lawrence. So accurately tracking down heritage can be misleading and confusing.
Surnames came from various sources. Something to differentiate one “Richard” from a different “Richard”
For example, if your name was Richard and you had white hair; you might become Richard White. Or if you lived in a big house you might be Richard Greathouse. If you lived in a forest you might be Richard Woods.
The Townley surname came from the settlement of Towneley; near Burnley; in the county of Lancashire; or by and clearing in which a farm was situated. The surname Townley thus belongs to both the category of habitation names, which are derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, etc; and also a class of topographic surnames; which were given to people who resided near physical features such as hills, streams, churches or types of trees (also known as locative names).
Now back to land ownership and taxes; The primogeniture (the right of inheritance by the eldest son); must first be understood. It was the foundation of most locative names; using the name of the place where you live as part of your name. During the lifetime of the father who used the locative name, it was uncommon for any other family member to use the same surname.
Upon the father’s death the eldest son would inherit the right; (notice I used the word "right"); to the surname, title; and lands of his father. Remember this was a feudal society, and all lands and titles belonged to the king. The father was only what was known as an “under tenant” of the king. When the father died; the eldest son must either assert his right to inherit through the court; or petition the king directly for his right to the inheritance. If the right was upheld, (and it usually was); the son then became the new under tenant on the lands that had been occupied by his father.
Also this meant that the father’s younger sons must use a different surname (usually a locative name). So often, younger sons had different names from the eldest son. Also making tracing a family somewhat confusing.
To make matters more complicated, upon the eldest son’s death; the right to his inheritance would go to his eldest son. But what if he had no male heir? It goes to his eldest daughter right..?? – WRONG. Primogeniture dictates that if a younger brother exist; he inherits the rights to the name; title and lands. The daughters just have to hope that they marry well. Seems a little unfair, but it was the Norman way of the time.
ONLY upon the death of all male heirs of the line would the daughters be considered as heirs. And then, the titles and lands would be transferred to their husbands upon marriage.
That pretty much covers what you need to know up front; so, let's gets into Chapter 1