The Will of Rev. THOMAS CALVERT *5* of Heysham, Lancashire, dated 3 Aug.,
1638. (Abstract; copy of will in full in Md. Hist. Soc. Mss. Coll. )
THOMAS CALVERT, Masters of Arts, Rector of parish church of Heysham; "my
great age"; to be buried in the said church of Heysham; leases in Cockerham
and Pillinge or elsewhere in Lancashire; wife ELIZABETH; son JOHN; youngest
son THOMAS; youngest daughters "yet unproffered, " CLEMENCE and GRACE; to
GEORGE CALVERT, f20; to son OLIVER CALVERT; to son WILLIAM CALVERT; to
grandchild THOMAS GARDNER; "loving friend and ancient acquaintance"
NICHOLAS WILLIAMSON; Referee, THOMAS CARUS; Executrix, wife ELIZABETH;
Overseer, son OLIVER; Witnesses, THOMAS CARUS, RICHARD DANIELL, ROB;T
ATKINSON, NICHOLAS WILLIAMSON, WILLIAM WEST." (Archdeaconry Court of
Richmond, Kendal Deanery; filed at Somerset House, London. No Probate
Act).
*5* The Rev. Thos. Calvert ( -1638), father of John Calvert of St.
Andrews Holborn (1609-1689), was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge,
1586. Trinity held the advowson of Heversham, Westmoreland, and Thomas
Calvert was its vicar (1604-1638) as was he rector of nearby Heysham, Lanc.
(1606-1638_. The Rev. Oliver Calvert of Christ's College, Cambridge,
presented unsuccessfully as the Rector's successor at Heysham in 1638 and
vicar of Heacham, Norfolk, from 1638 to his death in 1661, was quite
possibly the son Oliver named in the will above. Rev. Thos. Calvert had a
son, Rev. Wm. Calvert, bapt. Heversham, 8 May, 1612, admitted to Christ's
College, Cambridge, in 1631, ae. 19, who was vicar of Cockerham from 1649.
His daus. Grace and Mary are named in their uncle John Calvert's will,
1688.
One of the Rev. Thos. Calvert's daus. had m., before 1638, a Gardiner and
was then already the mother of Thomas. The Gardiners of Lancashire were a
well-known family, some of whom settled in Norfolk and were prominent
there. Another daughter of Rev. Thomas Calvert m. a Caton, which is
interesting in view of the fact that Richard Caton, founder of the Maryland
family, is said to have come from Heysham, Lancashire (Md. Hist. Mag., Vol.
XVI, p. 300).
The Calvert had been in Cockerham parish, Lancashire, since 1363, at
leasr, when the Abbot complained that one Adam Calfherd had cut down some
of his trees. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the parish was
divided among many small proprietors, the Daltons of Thrunham and the
Calverts of Cockerham being the principal residents. The name is invariably
Calvert, spelled in a variety of ways, but none of them approaching
Calverley. John Calvert of Cockerham, Esq., however (whose relationship to
the Rev. Thomas has not been traced by the writer) gave St. George, the
Herald an elaborate pedigree in 1613, claiming descent from the important
family of Calverley of the north of England, whereupon he was given
permission to use the Calverley arms. Indeed he went so far as to sign the
pedigree "John Calverley." Careful writers seem never to have taken this
claim seriously, however, and the names are indexed quite separately.
Benedict Leonard Calvert (1700-1732), the antiquarian Governor of Maryland,
did some research pon his family and told Hearne that he believed himself
descended from the "Calverts or Calverleys of Lancashire." Considering the
pronouncement of St. George that the Kipling Calverts were recently out of
Flanders, this surmise of the Governor's is interesting. It would not be
surprising if historians were obliged in time to discredit this tradititon
of a Flemish descent for the founders of Maryland, perticularly as the name
is an ancient one throughout the North Counties of England.
Father Charles Calvert (1620-1651) was of the Cockerham family who
believed themselves to be Calverleys, but just how these converts to
Catholicism were related to the foregoing clergymen of the Established
Church does not appear ( English Province of S.J., General Statistics,
Vol. I, pp. 110, 661).
Father Calvert's mother was Jane Pershall, a sister of Mrs. Richard Brent
of the Maryland connection.
The Dict. of Nat. Biog. describes a gifted family of North Country
Calverts, one of whose members was Frederick Baltimore Calvert, the actor
(1793-1874). They seem to have descended maternally from the German family
of Raiseley which settled in Coniston, Lanc., and they were long in the
employ of the Howards, Dukes of Norfolk (Trans. Cumb. and Westm. Antiq. and
Arch. soc., new series, Vol X, pp. 375, etc.).
Rev. John Calvert (1671-1739), said by the Gent. Mag., 1739, to have been
a " near relative of Lord Baltimore, " was a s. of George Calvert and
Johanna Meale of Colebrook parish, Bucks. Gyll (Hundred of Wanting) says
they were of the Hertfordshire family (Victoria Hertfordshire Families, pp.
53, et seq). Some of the existing accounts make Ann Calvert Rolt a daughter
of this house. She was, however, the daughter of the fourth Lord Baltimore
(Md. Hist. Mag., Vol. XXII. pp. 14,15; Hearne, Diary, Vol.IX,p. 272;
Gibbons and Davey, Wantage, p. 119; Clarke, Hist. of Wanting, p. 197).
Cecilius, Lord Baltimore, had some connection with Samson Calvert of St.
Dunstans in the West, London in 1645. Samson had entered Oxford, 1623 ae.
20, and was the s. of one George Calvert and a bro of Thomas Calvert of All
Hallows in the Wall, London, whose estate was administered 1637 by his
widow Judith and his brother Samson. This George Calvert may have been of
the Cockerham family in which the name George sometimes appears (Cal. State
Papers, Comm. for the Advance of Maney, Vol. I ,p. 514; Year Books of
Probates, P.C.C., Vol.II, p. 142).
The identity of Gov. Charles Calvert of Maryland (1688-1733/4) still
remains a mystery and this writer has found not the slightest suggestion as
to his origin. His mother, Countess Henrietta Calvert, followed her s. to
America and d. here circa 1728 (Md. Hist. Mag., Vol. II, pp. 220, 321). His
aunt's death is recorded thus in the Register of St. Ann's Church,
Annaplois: " 8 Aug., 1722: Madame Margaret Lazenby, aunt to our presetn
Governor, Charles Calvert, Esq." She was presumably the mother of that
Charles Calvert Lazenby to whom land was granted in Maryland in 1701. There
were Lazenby's who survived her in Maryland, who were probably her
kinsfolk. Charlotte Calvert Brerewood calls Gov. Charles " our cousin the
Captain" and he may conceivably have been a Calvert cousin from the North
Country, who will be identified when the Yorkshire family background or Sir
George is eventually clarified. There was a family of gentry named Lazenby
in Catterick Parish, Yorkshire, close by the village of Kipling (Victoria
Youkshire, North Riding; Md. Hist. mag., Vol.I pp. 289-90).
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Vicki K. txcalvert(a)texinet.net
http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/s/p/e/Vicki-K-Spencer
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