Many of our namesakes – Eustace, Eustice, Eustis – can trace their ancestry to
Cornwall
.
Cornwall
is a duchy (county)
occupying the southwestern most area of
England
.
It is a peninsula bounded by the
English Channel
on
the south and the
Atlantic Ocean
on the west and
north and terminates in a point on the west called
Land’s
End
. It shares a border with only one other county, namely
Devon
to the east. The
Scilly Islands
,
located just offshore to the west, are also part of
Cornwall
.
Anciently, the Cornish were a Celtic people, related to the ancient
Irish, Scottish, Welsh and Britons, who lived in
Cornwall
since the introduction of farming around 3000 B.C and had their own
language. The old Cornish name for
Cornwall
was Curnow.
Cornwall
has also
been occupied and influenced by the Romans, Saxons and
Normans
.
The Eustis (and variants) family in
Cornwall
divides historically into two main groups. The first family group spans the
Cornwall-Devon border of which there are occasional records from the 13th
century to the 15th. There are wills of the Cornish family in Morval and Menheniot as early
as 1578-1594. From the end of that century, the parish registers show the
presence of the family at St. Sampson and Bodmin.
The l8th century records a number of marriages at Pillaton.
The parish
church
of
Tavistock
is dedicated to
St. Eustachius (the largest of only three so
dedicated in
England
).
A family in St. Budeaux prospered in Elizabethan
times and expanded their land holdings far into north
Cornwall
.
The second group, which may or may not be related to the first, can
be found in western
Cornwall
,
in the parish of Crowan and surrounding parishes.
The earliest documented ancestor of this branch was Richard Eustis.
According to the Protestation Returns of 1641, a Richard Yestes and William Yestes were living in Crowan parish. The Protestation
was an oath of allegiance to the Church of England. A bill was passed in
Parliament in July 1641 requiring those over age 18 to sign. Church wardens, ministers, constables and overseers of
the poor first took the oath then oversaw the taking of the Protestation
oath by their parishioners.
The relationship of William to Richard is uncertain but he was
probably either his father or brother. He is likely the William Eustis of Crowan who married Jane Brothes in Breage parish in 1639. The Hearth Tax of
1660-1664 shows Richard Ustes and John Ustes living in Crowan. As
William is not listed in this roll, it can be assumed that he had died,
moved away or was exempt from the tax.
The seating plan of the parish
church
of
Crowan
for the year 1666 provides further insight into the family’s
structure and social status. Churchgoers were seated according to social
rank, whether by assignment or purchase. The highest ranking pews were
closest to the pulpit, the lowest furthest from the pulpit. Richard Yestes was seated in the second row in the south aisle,
with John Yestes seated in the row behind
him. From this it can be inferred that both were adults by 1666 and
that Richard had a higher social rank than John, suggesting a father/son
relationship. Richard’s wife was seated on the north side in the
fourth seat of the middle row and John’s wife on the south side of
the same row.
Richard and Mary (surname unknown) had a son named John, who was
christened on
30 May 1624
at Crowan. The surname is written as Ustos in the christening record.
(John did not sign the Protestation as he was not yet 18.) John
resided at Kerthen Wood (alternately Kirthen Wood), a settlement or village in Crowan parish near Townshend,
and was married to
Elizabeth
(surname unknown). John died there between
15 August 1692
, when he made his will, and
7 May 1694
, when the will was
probated.
Elizabeth
was buried
in the Crowan churchyard cemetery on
5 Oct 1700
. John and Elizabeth
and had 5 known children, one daughter and four sons, John, Eleanor,
George, Henry and Richard. Many, perhaps most, of today’s Cornish
namesakes descend from one of these four sons, which accounts for the
strong DNA matches among different branches of the Cornish families.
Eustis was the most common spelling of the surname in earlier times, but by
the mid-1800s the Eustice and Eustace spellings
appeared more frequently. Whether still in
Cornwall
or elsewhere in the world, descendants today include those with all three spellings,
though Eustice seems to be the most common of the
three.
It is being circulated that the aforementioned Richard Eustis was a
son of Richard Eustes and Alice Hornabrooke of the parish of Morval and grandson of yet another Richard. This is an unsubstantiated
leap. There is no documentary evidence to support such a connection
– nevertheless the dubious ancestry is spreading rapidly and becoming
incorporated into more and more family trees. Richard’s
ancestors were most probably also from Crowan or
nearby, but due to a dearth of records for this early time period, it is
doubtful his ancestry will be traced further with any confidence.
If Richard did move into Crowan from
elsewhere, there is no evidence that it was from Morval,
which is a great distance from Crowan. Morval parish is located in eastern
Cornwall
not far from the
Devon
border. Crowan parish is in western
Cornwall
– there are at least 20 parishes between them. He more likely would
have come from a nearer parish, as traveling any distance, particularly for
the working poor, was difficult. Even if Richard and Alice of Morval had a son Richard, there is no evidence he was
the Richard of Crowan. Some have assigned
Richard a birth year, but it is an arbitrary guess. Richard could
have been any age between say 16 and 70 when his son was born in 1624 and
thus could have been born anytime between 1554 and 1608. Even if the
all the registers of every parish in
Cornwall
survived for this period – very few do – there would likely be
many Richards born in this time period. Even if Richard’s exact birth
year were known, it could well have occurred in a parish where the register
does not survive – most don’t for this period.
If anyone has documentary evidence to clearly establish that Richard
of Crowan was, in fact, the son of Richard and
Alice of Morval or to document a birth year (from
an age at a dated event), please contact the author or editor and it will
be published in a future issue for everyone’s benefit. Until
then, all should avoid perpetuation of the dubious or fabricated ancestry
by not including the Morval connection in their
family tree.
It has also been asserted that Richard was the brother (rather than
the father) of John and that both were sons of William Eustis who married
Jane Brothes in Breage parish in 1639. However, fragmentary portions of the bishop’s
transcripts (copies of parish registers made yearly for the bishop) for Crowan for the early 1600’s are available on
microfilm. These were examined and the baptism of John Eustis, son of
Richard and Mary was found recorded on
30 May 1624
. This, coupled with the 1666 Crowan parish seating plan satisfactorily establishes
the father-son relationship. The relationship of Richard and John to
William, if any, has not been established with any certainty.
For more information on the descendants of Richard Eustis of Crowan and other Cornwall Eustis (all spellings)
families not yet connected, contact:
Dawna J. Lund
Box 10583, San Bernardino, CA 92423 USA
or Email Me |
