59. Roger Conant – Further Reading!

 

 

 

Just one of the many books which mention Roger Conant

Our Roger Conant Club in East Budleigh, Devon, UK, is planning to launch a website devoted to the founder of Salem. I suggested that a section should include books, articles and website material devoted to Roger Conant, so I was invited to make a list. Well, I started, and this is what I have so far. There may be the odd mistake, and I’m sure that there could be many more items to be added. Please let me know if you think I’ve missed something.

I wonder whether the character of Roger Conant appears in a film.

Anyway, here’s my list:

Manuscripts and other documents:

The Conant Family papers are archived at the Peabody Essex Museum near Salem

https://www.pem.org/

Books

Bailyn, Bernard – The Barbarous Years, The Peopling of British North America: The Conflict of Civilizations, 1600-1675, New York: Alfred A. Knopf  2012

Bartlett, Sarah S. Roger Conant in America: Governor and Citizen, An Historical Address Delivered at the Conant Family Reunion, Hotel Vendome, Boston, June 13, 1901. See Roger Conant in America as Governor and citizen by Sarah Bartlett  

https://ia800200.us.archive.org/14/items/rogerconantiname00bart/rogerconantiname00bart.pdf

Bradford, William – History of Plymouth Plantation. Edited, with notes, by Charles Deane, Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1856

[Does Bradford refer to Roger Conant, Book II, p.170?]

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015014559044&view=1up&seq=198

Conant, Frederick Odell – A history and genealogy of the Conant family in England and America, thirteen generations, 1520-1887, Portland 1887.

https://archive.org/details/historygenealogy00cona/page/n4

Conant, Thomas – Upper Canada Sketches, Toronto: William Briggs, 1898 [pages 9-20]

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/64749/64749-h/64749-h.htm

Endicott, Charles M. (1847) Memoir of John Endicott, first governor of the colony of Massachusetts Bay  (John Endicott and Roger Conant co-led Salem Village after John Winthrop moved the capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony to Dorchester.)

https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/public/gdcmassbookdig/memoirofjohnende00endi/memoirofjohnende00endi.pdf

Felt, Joseph B. – Annals of Salem, Salem: W. & S.B. Ives; Boston: James Munrow & Co., 1845

https://www.noblenet.org/salem/reference/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Annals-of-Salem-Felt-v.1.pdf

Gardner, Frank A. – Roger Conant: Salem, 1626. The Leader of the Old Planters, Salem, Mass: Roger Conant Co-operative Bank, 1926

Gardner, Frank A. – Roger Conant, Family Edition Supplement. Contents: A Visit to East Budleigh, by Wallace B. Conant; The Old Planters’ Grant of 1635: Notes communicated by Grace Patten Conant; collaboration in research by Alice G. Lapham; The Old Planters’ Path and the First Landing Place on Bass River, Salem, Mass [?], n.d.   

Hubbard, William – A General History of New England, Boston, 1848

https://archive.org/details/generalhistoryof00hubb

Lapham, Alice Gertrude – The Old Planters of Beverly Massachusetts and the Thousand Acre Grant of 1635, 1930, Carlisle, Massachusetts: Applewood Books

Leavitt, E.W. (1890) A Genealogy of One Branch of the Conant Family, 1581-1890 (printed privately)

https://archive.org/details/genealogyofonebr00leav_0)  

Little, George Thomas – Genealogical and Family History of the State of Maine, New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1909

http://dunhamwilcox.net/me/me_bio_conant.htm

Rose-Troup, Frances –  John White, The Patriarch of Dorchester, Dorset and The Founder of Massachusetts, 1575-1648, With An Account Of The Early Settlements In Massachusetts, 1620-1630, New York & London: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1930

Shallop, Benjamin - The Founding of Salem: City of Peace. Paperback, 144 pages. The History Press, 2022

Sheppard, Lilian – Raleigh’s Birthplace: The Story of East Budleigh, Budleigh Salterton: The Granary Press, 1983 [pages 45-46]

Shipton, Clifford K. –  Roger Conant: A Founder of Massachusetts, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1944.

https://www.seekingmyroots.com/members/files/G001153.pdf  

Stone, Edwin Martin – History of Beverly, Civil and Ecclesiastical: From Its Settlement in 1630 to 1842, Boston: J. Munroe, 1843

https://archive.org/details/historyofbeverly00ston

Thornton, John Wingate – The Landing at Cape Anne or The Charter of the first permanent colony on the territory of the Massachusetts Company, Boston; Gould and Lincoln; New York: Sheldon, Lamport and Blakeman, 1854  

https://archive.org/details/landingatcapean00thor

Webber, Charles H. & Nevins, Winfield S. – Old Naumkeag: an historical sketch of the city of Salem, and the towns of Marblehead, Peabody, Beverly, Danvers, Wenham, Manchester, Topsfield, and Middleton, Salem: A. A. Smith & company; Boston, Lee & Shepard, 1877

https://archive.org/details/oldnaumkeaghisto00webb/page/n8

Roger Conant as depicted in fiction:

Olson, Charles – The Maximus Poems, New York: Jargon/Corinth, 1960

Hawthorne, Nathaniel – Main Street in The Snow-Image and other Twice-Told Tales, 1852

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/513/513-h/513-h.htm

 

Articles

Daniel, David – Why did Jeff Conant fly 5,286 miles from Berkley, CA. to visit us last month? in Otter Valley Association Newsletter, vol.38.1 (January 2017), pages 7-8.

https://www.ova.org.uk/sites/default/files/common/Newsletter%202017-01.pdf

Downes, Michael – A tribute to East Budleigh's other hero in Otter Valley Association Newsletter, Summer 2022, pages 13-15.

Sabine, Lorenzo - Report on the Principal Fisheries of the American Seas, in Cod and Whale Fisheries: Report of Hon. Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State, United States. Department of the Treasury pages 108-113, 293-298. Originally published in 1853.

https://shareok.org/handle/11244/35684  (House-32-2-Executive-23.2-Serial-676.pdf)

 

 

Websites

https://augustinesalley.wordpress.com/ [Joseph Bolton]

https://www.ova.org.uk/article/east-budleigh-%E2%80%93-historical-sketch  [Vivien Brenan – East Budleigh – Historical Sketch]

 http://www.lyndon-estate.co.uk/history/index.html

[Lyndon Conants, UK]

https://conant400.blogspot.com/2022/07/conant-connections-past-and-present-at.html  [Michael Downes]

https://climbingthemooneytree.wordpress.com/2018/02/05/roger-conant   [Kelcey Mooney]

 

Gloucester historian Mary Ellen Lepionka kindly contributed the following three essays to my blog site, as follows: 

Roger Conant on Cape Ann Part I: The Dorchester Company [12 March 2019]

https://conant400.blogspot.com/2020/01/roger-conant-on-cape-ann-part-i.html 

Roger Conant on Cape Ann Part II: The Rescue Party [January 2020]

https://conant400.blogspot.com/2020/02/roger-conant-on-cape-ann-part-ii-rescue.html

Roger Conant on Cape Ann Part III: Conant at Naumkeag and Salem Village [February 2020]

https://conant400.blogspot.com/2020/02/roger-conant-on-cape-ann-part-iii.html

http://miller-aanderson.blogspot.com/2011/07/roger-conant-1592-1679.html  [Jim McAllister]

https://mises.org/library/what-really-happened-plymouth  [Murray N. Rothbard]

http://www.opcdorset.org/fordingtondorset/Files/DorchesterRevJohnWhite1575-1648.html  [Michael Russell]

https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/conant/458/   [Lawrence Taber, 2003: Roger Conant Tree: A Must See]

http://sites.rootsweb.com/~nyterry/hubbard/willhubjr_chron.html  [N.Y. Terry]

http://www.dustyhills.net/aqwg74.htm [Tim Farr - see section on Roger Conant]

https://www.johnwashingtonartist.com/blog.html  [John Washington - see Summer 2020: the story of the painting 'Blessed Are The Peacemakers'.] 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

57. Conant connections: Colyton town

 

 

A Monmouth rebel greets you at the car park in Colyton  

Most Devonians know that East Budleigh was the birthplace of Sir Walter Raleigh, and by now, I hope, quite a few more know that it was also where Roger Conant was born.

Less than 20 miles north-east of the village is the attractive little town of Colyton. Like East Budleigh it’s noted for its picturesque old buildings but is more celebrated as ‘the most rebellious town in Devon’ because of the role that many of its inhabitants played in the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685 during the reign of the Catholic King James II.

The town was one of the main areas of religious dissent in East Devon. When the Protestant Duke of Monmouth, an illegitimate son of King Charles II, landed on the coast of Dorset in June that year, 105 men from Colyton - more than any other Devon  town - chose to follow him rather than remain loyal to the Crown.  

 

The Battle of Sedgemoor is often referred to as the last pitched battle fought on English soil.  The four playing cards from this commemorative pack of 1685 illustrate incidents in Monmouth’s rebellion and were evidently produced as government propaganda: the ‘King’ card depicts devils in the air bewitching Monmouth’s army. Image © The Trustees of the British Museum

Monmouth was defeated at the Battle of Sedgemoor on 6 July. It’s not known how many Colyton men were killed in the battle, but thirty-three were taken prisoner. Twenty-four were sentenced to be transported into slavery, and fifteen were hanged.

Just over a century earlier, Colyton people showed a similar independence of spirit during the reign of Henry VIII. But the circumstances were less bloody and the events are very much part of Roger Conant’s story.

 

Henry Courtenay, KG, shown 2nd from left wearing a mantle displaying his arms, detail from procession of Garter Knights in the Black Book of the Garter, c.1535. Image credit: Royal Collection, Windsor; Wikipedia

Much of the land in Devon and Cornwall was owned by Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter and Earl of Devon, who was a cousin and friend of Henry VIII. But the religious and political upheavals of the English Reformation in the 1530s led Courtenay into rivalry with Thomas Cromwell.

 

Portrait of Thomas Cromwell in 1532-3 by Hans Holbein the Younger. Image credit: The Frick Collection; Wikipedia

As Henry’s chief minister, Cromwell had sufficient influence at Court to destroy his enemies, and in November 1538, Courtenay was arrested on suspicion of treason. After a brief trial he was beheaded on 9 December at Tower Hill in London. His lands were seized by the Crown and the Earldom of Devon was declared forfeit.

 

 

Old Church House near St Andrew’s Church dates from 1612, and is a three-storey building formerly used by the Colyton Feoffees. Feoffee is an ancient word meaning a trustee who holds a 'fief', i.e. an estate in land for the use of the beneficial owner.   

A group of 20 Colyton merchants saw an opportunity to create, with royal agreement, a form of self-government in the town, and travelled to Westminster to state their case in 1546.

The King agreed to the sale of Courtney’s estates in the town – ‘the manor of Coliton’ – subject to the proceeds being used for ‘good, godly and commendable uses’.  On 6 January 1546, the Colyton Chamber of Feoffees was established.

The door of Old Church House

Colyton is still run by the Feoffees, who now meet in this Tudor revival style building, dating from around 1927.

 

Not just any old town council building. The inscription above the front door proudly states that it is the Feoffees Town Hall

 

The front of Colyton Grammar School in 2013. The School moved in 1927 from Colyton to its present site in the nearby village of Colyford Image credit: Bookwork72; Wikipedia  

The English Reformation had a major impact in the area of education. What has become known as the Dissolution of the Monasteries was followed by a surge in the number of grammar schools. By 1540 all the abbeys, friaries and other religious houses with their cloister schools had been abolished.

Nine miles west of Colyton, at Ottery St Mary, the choir school established by Bishop Grandisson in 1335 was replaced by a grammar school and named The King’s School in 1545.

One of the first acts of the Feoffees was the founding of Colyton Grammar School ‘for the goodly and virtuous education of children in Colyton forever’.  

This Grade II listed building, next to St Andrew's Church in Colyton, was built in 1835. For a time it was used by Colyton Grammar School before the move in 1927. Thanks to Jane Dauncey for this information. Jane organises walking tours of Colyton. See www.colytonhistory.co.uk/colyton-history-tours.php

The astute Colyton merchants during their visit to London may even have suggested that the new school be named in the monarch’s honour like Ottery St Mary’s grammar school. They would have guessed that following suit would be an obvious way of flattering King Henry to achieve their aim of self-government.

Prominent among these merchants who travelled to London in 1546 was John Clarke, whose daughter Agnes would marry Roger Conant’s father, Richard.  Clarke’s importance in the town is evident from the entry in parish records following his death:  

"John Clarke, the elder of Coliton, merchant was buried IX of Aprill, who in his lyfe time was the cheffest traviler of the purchas of the manor of Coliton, and the markets, with other lyberties pertaining the same, as aperieth by the pattent - and deceased the VI day of Aprill 1585."

A walking tour of Colyton might include all the buildings that would have stood in John Clarke’s time. No doubt Roger Conant would have been familiar with them during visits to his grandparents.

 

Brerewood House

On the west side of St Andrew’s Church stands Brerewood House, currently the vicarage. It was the home of Dr Thomas Brerewood, who was Vicar of Colyton from 1524 to 1544 and Chancellor to John Veysey, Bishop of Exeter from 1519 to 1551.

 

The front entrance to Brerewood House

 

The Merchant’s House

Other houses in Colyton like this building, known as the Merchant’s House, are evidence of the town’s wealth in the past. The elegant plasterwork of the ceilings in the front part of the house dates from the early 17^th century. The building now includes the Colyton Heritage Centre.

 

The Great House

Away from the town centre on South Street is the Great House. It was home to the Yonge or Young family who settled in Devon during the reign of King Henry VII and were prominent wool merchants. The building is largely early 17^th century, but two Tudor fireplaces indicate that it was originally an Elizabethan mansion.

 

The tannery of J. & F.J. Baker & Co Ltd. King Street, Colyton

My tour of Colyton ended at this unprepossessing building next to a nice garden centre. It’s something of a contrast to the town’s ancient buildings but appearances can be deceptive. J. & F.J. Baker is Britain's only remaining traditional oak bark tannery.

Oak bark leather has been tanned here on the banks of the River Coly since Roman times, with a process that has hardly changed for centuries.The long slow tannage ensures that the natural fibres that make up a hide are allowed to remain in their natural weave. This produces a nice firm, hard wearing piece of leather, with good water resistance. Baker's leather is used for bespoke shoe-making and is also ideal for saddlery and harness leathers due to its high tensile strength.

 

The yard is split into 72 pits, each with a progressively stronger concentration of the tanning solution. New hides will spend the first three months working their way up the yard from the weaker to stronger solutions. They’re suspended from sticks throughout their progress to ensure an even colour is absorbed all over each pelt. Image credit: www.colvilleleather.co.uk

I included the Colyton tannery because of Roger Conant’s experience as a salter. Salt was used in so many processes in the past apart from the preservation of food. As I was told at the tannery it was used in the curing of animal hides; the skins were soaked in a saltwater brine.

 

A tannery had been in existence since the 16^th century in East Budleigh, at the house now known as ‘Christophers’, pictured above. It apparently produced buckets for the Tudor navy as well as the usual leather products of boots, shoes and gloves.  

It was located on the village outskirts; tanneries tended to be smelly places. The Conant family would surely have been aware of their economic importance. Did Richard Conant choose an apprenticeship with the Salters’ Company for young Roger having visited such manufacturing sites in East Budleigh and Colyton? Who knows?   

Continued at https://conant400.blogspot.com/2022/07/conant-connections-past-and-present-at.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

56. ‘A whirlwind and wonderful trip’ to Roger Conant’s birthplace

 

Roger Conant’s descendants have been thrilled to learn about the activities of the East Budleigh-based local history group which has been investigating the Devon origins of the founder of Salem, Massachusetts. Roger’s 9x-granddaughter, retired psychologist Luli Graetch, flew with her husband Frank all the way from California to spend some time in the area over the recent Jubilee weekend. They learnt about other aspects of East Budleigh, the village where in the 16^th century two important figures in the history of America were born.

Passing Hayes Barton, birthplace of Sir Walter Ralegh on Hayes Lane, a mile or so west of East Budleigh: the word ‘barton’ simply meaning a farm. The house is not open to the public    

 

Vicars Mead on Hayes Lane, where the young Walter Ralegh and Roger Conant are likely to have received their early schooling from East Budleigh’s vicar   

 

Frank and Luli outside Vicars Mead, which is not open to the public. The Latin inscription ‘Pax intrantibus salus exuntibus’ is often translated into English as "Peace to those who enter, good health to those who depart   

This millstone outside East Budleigh’s Church Hall came from the mill thought to have been leased by the Conant family   

 

A group of local residents have set up the Roger Conant 400 Club. They plan to erect a blue plaque near the millstone commemorating his voyage to America in about 1623 

At East Budleigh’s Jubilee Street Party on Sunday 5 June 2022.Tables were set up the length of the High Street for a community lunch. Naturally the pub provided much of the food and drink

Luli is sitting next to historian and East Budleigh resident Ian Blackwell who is researching for a book about Roger Conant 

East Budleigh is entertained at the Street Party by Exeter Morris Men, the oldest established Morris Men in Devon. Could there have been Morris dancing in the time of Ralegh and Roger Conant? Maybe. The earliest English written mention of Morris dance is dated to 1448

All Saints Church dates mainly from the 12^th and 15^th centuries,  and is where the Ralegh and Conant families worshipped. Roger’s father and grandfather were churchwardens here, as was Ralegh’s father. Photo by Peter Bowler

The churchyard of All Saints seen from the tower. John Conant, Roger’s grandfather, together with his parents Richard and Agnes, were buried here, but the gravestones have long gone. Luli and Frank were given a copy of the excellent guide to the churchyard recently produced by Paul and Penny Kurowski. It focuses on wildlife, but includes a paragraph about the millstone and Roger Conant, as well mentioning some of the graves and memorials, such as those to James Lackington (1746-1815) and Admiral George William Preedy (1817-1894)

Frank and Luli at the porch of All Saints Church

Roger was baptised at All Saints on 9 April 1592, in what is thought to be the original font 

The bench end of the 'Conant pew' bears the arms of Nathaniel Conant, who was knighted in 1813. He was Roger Conant's great-great-great-great-nephew, had never visited America, and probably not East Budleigh 

All Saints is noted for much more ancient bench ends like this one. Does it really depict a Native American? Or, as most historians think, a ‘Green Man’ figure from traditional folk culture?   

And does this bench end really depict a man eating a banana brought back by East Budleigh sailors from across the Atlantic? Or is it telling us that tale bearers and gossips will be punished with swollen tongues?   

A bench end showing a ship is said to have inspired young Walter Ralegh with a love of seafaring. In fact historians tell us that he suffered badly from seasickness   

The list of East Budleigh clergy includes Roger’s nephew Richard Conant, son of Richard Conant the younger, and vicar at All Saints for over 16 years from 1672. He was buried in East Budleigh on 6 December 1688, and was succeeded by Daniel Caunieres, a Huguenot refugee forced to flee his home in France because of religious persecution 

This painting displayed at All Saints is a copy of one of the best known portraits of Sir Walter Ralegh formerly attributed to the 16^th century Italian artist  Federico Zuccaro but now to the monogrammist 'H' (? Hubbard) and dated 1588. It shows Ralegh in court dress at the height of his favour with Queen Elizabeth I. Ralegh had been appointed Captain of the Guard in 1587. Did Ralegh really meet Roger Conant in East Budleigh? It’s a nice story, but no historical evidence has been found for it 

One of the treasures of All Saints, not on public view, is the Elizabethan silver chalice from which the Ralegh and Conant families would have drunk while at church. It was made between 1571 and 1576, possibly by the Exeter goldsmith John Jones. This replica is on display in the Ralegh Room at Budleigh Salterton’s Fairlynch Museum

By chance, while in All Saints Church, Luli met East Budleigh resident Cathy Moyle who has spent many years investigating local history, including leading the restoration of the Salem Chapel on the outskirts of the village    

On the way to the nearby village of Otterton where they were staying, Luli and Frank had a good view of this Dissenters’ chapel, built in 1719. Sadly it is now closed.  Salem Chapel has no connection with the city of Salem, Massachusetts, founded by Roger Conant. ‘Salem’ simply means ‘Peace’ in Hebrew and Arabic 

 

Further towards Otterton, at a crossroads stands the Brick Cross. The brick pedestal was erected in 1743 as a direction post, but the cross dates from 1580 when the Sheriff of Exeter is recorded as having ordered the burning of a witch at the site 

The King’s Arms pub stands on the main street of Otterton. The village is as picturesque as East Budleigh, celebrated for its beautifully thatched roofs and quaint cob and brick cottages 

 

On the other side of the street is Otterton Mill. There has been a working mill in the village since at least Norman times 

Luli and Frank managed to include a visit to the coastal town Budleigh Salterton, which is within walking distance of Otterton, following the River Otter. People interested in stories of British royalty may like to know that Diana, Princess of Wales, is said to have enjoyed walking incognito on Budleigh beach with her lover James Hewitt   

Just a few yards from the beach is Fairlynch Museum, a picturesque thatched building of the type known as a cottage orné. It dates from around 1810 and was built by a local merchant. The Museum's Ralegh Room is located on the 1st floor 

At Bicton, a mile or so from Otterton, Luli and Frank visited the studio of John Washington, the local artist whose painting ‘Blessed are the Peacemakers’ depicts the events of 1625 in New England where Roger Conant played a key role. They also met Stan Roberts, Chair of the Roger Conant 400 Club.  Image credit: Peter Bowler  

Our American visitors had a great time in East Devon. ‘This has been a whirlwind and wonderful trip,’ wrote Luli. ‘Please know how grateful we are to you for bringing our ancestry to life. I can’t imagine not coming back.’  

With acknowledgement to Ian Blackwell for some of the historical details in the text.