Fay Sampson’s Family History
This site is a work-in-progress. There is a massive amount to cover. I have included both male and female lines, and some go back 30 generations. Keep coming back for more.
I have numbered the generations working backwards from my own as (1)
JOHN FRAUNCEIS (22)
JOHN FRAUNCEIS. Burke’s Landed Gentry tells us that John Fraunceis was the second son of an older John Fraunceis. [1] We do not know his mother’s name.
In 1243-44, John Fraunceis senior bought the property now known as Francis Court Farm, near the present mansion of Killerton House in the parish of Broadclyst, 6 miles north of Exeter. We do not know when John junior and his brother Henry were born, but they probably grew up at Frances Court in the 13th century.
Killerton estate [2]
John appears to have been the younger son. Burke tells us that his brother Henry was knighted and married Catherine, daughter and co-heir of Sir Hugh de Valetort. These were probably the Valletorts of Tawton in North Devon. He does not tell us who John married.
Burke tells us the name of one son, also named Henry.
As the elder son, the older Henry inherited Frances Court.
We have few dates for these earlier generations. Though born in the reign of Henry III, it is likely that John lived on into the reign of Edward I ( 1272-1307). In 1285 the Statute of Winchester decreed that every man under 60 had to arm himself at his own expense to defend the kingdom and help maintain order.
John appears to have died before his brother. When Henry died without a child to inherit his estate, his heir was not his younger brother but his nephew Henry, John’s son.
[1] Burke’s Genealogical and Historical History of the Landed Gentry, Vol 1. “Gwyn of Ford Abbey”.
[2] http://www.relishrunningraces.com/resources/IMAG0053.jpg
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