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 (23)
JOHN FRAUNCEIS. Our knowledge of the early Fraunceis family is derived from Burke’s Landed Gentry. [1]
‘“The family of Frances,” says Prince in his Worthies of Devon,[2] “were a knightly and gentile progeny, living at Killerington (now Kildrington, and sold to Sir T Acland by Francis Gwyn) about two sons, Sir Henry Fraunceis Knt, who m Catherine, dau and co-heir of Sir Hugh de Valetort, Knt, but dsp [died without progeny] and John Fraunceis.’
Killerington is today known as Killerton. Killerton House is a National Trust mansion in the parish of Broadclyst, 6 miles NE of Exeter. The house is Georgian. Just south of it lies Francis Court Farm. This is the house that the Aclands acquired in 1752 and was earlier the home of the Fraunceis family. The farmhouse is 15th century, with later additions. John Fraunceis’s home must have been an older building.
Francis Court Farm [3]
The National Trust records say: “ Francis Court can be traced back to 1241 when it was known as Kildrington and was held by William Geraund. In 1243-44 it was passed to John Le Fraunceys “the Frenchman”, this is thought to be how it become Francis Court.” [4] “Frenchman” may refer to Norman origins.
The date 1243-44 places its acquisition by John Fraunceis in the reign of Henry III. It was 18 years after the re-issuing of Magna Carta and 18 years before the Barons War. The latter was caused, in part, by resentment of foreigners. We do not know whether John “the Frenchman” would have been numbered among them.
We have no information about John’s parents, his wife, or his date of death.
[1] Burke’s Genealogical and Historical History of the Landed Gentry, Vol 1. “Gwyn of Ford Abbey”.
[2] Prince, John, Worthies of Devon. 1712.
[3] https://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/04/27/95/4279534_11dacbe4.jpg
[4] https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA105162
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