Eltonhead family

In 1607 at the age of 25, Richard Eltonhead married Ann Sutton, daughter of Edward Sutton of Rushton Spencer, Staffordshire, England. They were blessed with four sons and ten daughters. The youngest was Alice -- born in 1630 -- destined to be an ancestor of General Robert E. Lee of the American Civil War.

In the 1640s the British Civil War comes. The Eltonheads have to fight on the side of the royalist Earl of Derby. Historically they owe the Earl of Derby a knight's service and two gauntlets. The royalists lose and Charles I has to part with his head. Are there five suitable single men in Lancashire to marry five young women whose father can't afford dowries?

Richard's brother William, an official in Maryland for Lord Baltimore, found husbands in Maryland and Virginia in the 1640s for Richard's five younger daughters. They married middle-aged planters who were satisfied that their youth and the fertility record of their parents made up for not having a dowry. Three became young widows in the 1650s. Now they had property and they married three of the most prominent men in Virginia. ... more

• A1. Nicolas Eltonhead, m. N. Harington;  ==>  Harington family
  • B1. John Eltonhead, m. Margaret Lancaster;
    • C1. John Eltonhead, m. Elizabeth Birkenhead;
      • D1. Richard Eltonhead, m. Jannet Gerard;
        • E1. William Eltonhead, m. Anne Bowers;
          • F1. Richard Eltonhead of Lancaster, lvd:1582/1664, m. Anne Sutton;  ==>  Sutton family
            • G1. Eleanor Eltonhead, m. William Brocas;
            • G2. Jane Eltonhead, b:1622, m. Cuthbert Fenwick;
            • G3. Agatha Eltonhead, b:1623, m. Sir Henry Chicheley;
            • G4. Alice Eltonhead, m. Rowland Burnham;
            • G5. Martha Eltonhead, lvd:1628/1653, m. Edwin Conway;  <==  Conway family