GODSCHALL

AND

GODSCHALL JOHNSON

FAMILIES IN

ENGLAND

 

The following history falls into periods each roughly covering 250 years.

 

Firstly that of the Godschall family from 1533 to 1793, and secondly that of the Godschall Johnsons descended from the Godschalls in the female line, from 1700 onwards.

 

The name of Godschall has been written in a great many different ways, some almost unrecognisable, but for greater clarity the most usual form, spelt “Godschall”, will be used in these notes. Wherever found in sources, it has always retained the hard sound made by the "sc" being pronounced “sk”. The name is formed by two words “Gott” or God, and “Schalk”, meaning servant, i.e. servant of God.

 

The earliestt reference found to the family name is contained in a book published in 1914 Chronicles of Three Cities, Hamberg, Bremen and Lubeck, by E. King. There it is stated that, in the year 1066, one Godschalke, an able and powerful man, forged for himself a kingdom by uniting several principalities in Holstein and east of the river Elbe, countries lying on the shores of the Baltic in north western Europe. This land was peopled by Wends and Slavs who were then heathen. Godschalke was himself a Christian, possibly baptised by his friend Adalborb, Archbishop of Bremen, and became an ardent missionary forcing his heathen subjects to accept Christianity. His people eventually rose against him and killed him. His wife, a sister of King Swayn of Denmark, fled with her two sons to Denmark.

       

The surname Godschalke continues upon the Continent to this day and particularly in Belgium. A coat of arms over 900 years old is attached to the name Godschalke from Lisse in Belgium. The coat is probably the original of the subsequent Godschall Coat of Arms used, and added to, in England, by additional “supporters” from various linked families.

 

It is recorded in Stow's History of London written in 1600 that, in 1282, Henry Wales, Mayor of Hamden, was in dispute with merchants of the Hanse League over the repair of Bishopsgate, a gate of the city of London leading to the northeast of the country, and therefore used by merchants from the Baltic Ports. The Manse League was a very powerful Guild of Merchants, chiefly from north-eastern European cities, who had obtained great trading privileges from Edward I, and succeeding sovereigns. They had their own Guildhall (the Steelyard), in London, and officers resided in the city. In return for these privileges, their officers had certain duties and obligations. One of these was the maintenance of Bishopsgate.

 

As a result of this dispute, several of their merchants and guildhallers were called into question, one being Godschall, Burgess of Triven, a city on the River Moselle in Germany.

 

One hundred years later, in 1384, the City of Aubesly, a Manse League City, was commanded in a revolt under a Baron Godschall.

 

The ancestor to be concentrated on here is a Jan Godschall of Utrecht. No connection with the eminent users of the name is claimed, but the surviving records are mentioned for their intrinsic interest.

 

Certainly there are recorded very early usages of the name.

 

The name is still found in parts of northern Europe.

 

In the year 1558, Queen Elizabeth I came to the throne of England, succeeding her half sister Mary, a fervent Catholic, who had married Philip II, King of Spain. Elizabeth I remained unmarried and was known as the Virgin Queen.

 

On the abdication of his father, the Emperor V, Philip II inherited, in addition to Spain, the Burgundian Netherlands, known also as the Spanish Netherlands, or Low Countries, which included the State of Flanders.

 

Flanders, by reason of its exploits at sea, and vast cloth trade, was a very rich country. Its merchants were sturdy and independent, and had adopted the Protestant faith. They became a thorn in the flesh of the Catholic rulers, by whom they were greatly persecuted.

 

Philip, King of Spain, claimed the English throne, both as the husband of Queen Mary, and by descent from John of Gaunt. Thus Catholic Spain became the enemy of England. Whilst keeping the enemy at bay, it was Elizabeth's policy to encourage Spain's rebellious Flemish subjects.

 

Flemish merchants had for a long time traded with England, importing most of its wool, and sending in return cloth and other woollen goods. When, therefore, religious persecution flared up in Flanders, Elizabeth took the opportunity to invite the harassed Flemish merchants to settle in England. By so doing, she gained not only cloth and other trades and skill of Flemish weavers, but was able to call upon the rich merchant émigrés for large monetary loans.

 

It was natural that Flemish families which had for generations traded with England, should land on the south and east coasts. We find settlements of “strangers”, as they were called by the local populace, in such places as Norwich, Colchester, Canterbury, Sandwich, and Southampton, as well as in the merchant heartland of London.

 

Records of these places refer to them as “strangers fled for their Faith”.

 

They were not popular with the English merchants who were naturally jealous of the privileges bestowed on them by the Queen’s favour, and frequent squabbles took place.

 

The following is a typical broadsheet of protest circulated by the apprentices of London:

 

“Be it known to all Flemings and Frenchmen that it is best for them to depart out of the realm of England between this and the 9^th of July next and if not then to take which follows. There shall be many a sore strife. Apprentices will rise to the number of 2336 and all apprentices and journeymen will down with the Flemings and Strangers. Doth not the World see that you beastly brutes, the Belgians or rather drunken drones and faint-hearted Flemings and you fraudulent fatted Frenchmen by your cowardly flight from your own natural countries have abandoned the same into the hands of your proud cowardly enemies and have by a feigned hypocrasy and counterfeit show of religion, placed yourselves here in a most fertile soil under a most gracious and merciful Prince, who hath been contented with great prejudice to her faithful subjects to suffer you to live here in between and in more freedom than her own people.”

 

Amongst the “Strangers” who came to England at this time were many whose names later became well known in every walk of life, particularly in the City of London, and are now household words across the country.

 

With these people from Flanders came several families, men, women, and children, bearing the name Godschall. Amongst them was Jan Godschall and his cousin Joon (Joos or Joas) Godschall who will be mentioned later.

 

Jan Godschall was the ancestor of the Godschall lineage dealt with extensively herein.

 

In the Netherlands, 5 miles west of Utrecht, is the small town of Maarssen. As the name implies, it lies in damp marshy country, and is on land washed by the delta of the River Rhine.

 

It was at Maarssen, in the year 1533, that Jan Godschall was born, In the following year, 1534, was born a female child, to be named Margaret, who was later to become Jan’s wife. Her surname has not been discovered, and may be lost in the provenance and providence of time.

 

Both appear to have come from wealthy merchant families and to have married within the parameters of their defined social class, as was the custom of the time.

 

They were married by or before 1561. In that year, with their infant son, James, they emigrated to England. They probably brought servants with them, and certainly money, and landed at Sandwich in Kent.

 

A number of refugees from religious persecution were living in the district. There was a church for them in Sandwich as well as at other places in the south and east of England. Records of several of these congregations have been published by the Huguenot Society of London.

 

Margaret, wife of Johan Godschalshe, was a member of the Sandwich Church of which Johan Utenheve was the Minister.

 

In 1563, the family of Jan Godschalshe, later referred to as John Godschall, moved to London. Margaret made application for admission to membership of the French Church there, but was refused because she had not paid her dues to the Church of Sandwich.

 

This particular Church, in London, had been granted a Charter by Edward VI, and was established in Threadneedle Street in the City. Its successor was the Protestant Church in Soho Square which continued to display its original charter, and from whose Archives was derived the minute of the records relating to Margaret and John Godschall.

 

The Dutch or Flemish Protestants had their own church granted to them in 1550, in the former church of the Augustinian Friars in the City of London. It is known now, as well as the district around it, as Austin Friars. It still has the Dutch Church, which was rebuilt after World War II.

 

To this Church, the Godschalls paid allegiance. We particularly find names associated with the family of Joos Godschall amongst its officers. John, and his descendants, frequented the English parish church as well, and after several generations, gave up the Dutch Church, although they still left legacies to the poor there.

 

Amongst those granted naturalisation and Letters of Denization (permission to dwell), in 1562 is the name of John Godschall “from the kingdom of the King of Spain”. About the same time, he and his wife, and their son James, all originally from Flanders, with two daughters born in England, and their maidservant from Flanders, were all living in Walbrook Ward of the City of London, in the house of Henry Richardson, a draper. They were making their living by selling Bayes, a kind of woollen cloth.

 

John Godschall was exempt from paying the Lay Subsidy levied in 1561. It was customary for the Sovereign to demand subsidies from her lay subjects from time to time apart from Parliamentary taxes, but John Godschall was exempt from paying Lay Subsidy levied in 1561, probably because he had already given a large “loan”.

 

Two years later, in 1563, the family had a house of their own in the Parish of St. Mary Abchurch (rebuilt after the Fire of London in 1666).

 

According to Stow, who wrote his History of London in 1600, this part of the City had been in Edward III’s reign much frequented by weavers of woollen cloth brought out of Flanders, but was, at the date he wrote, “possessed by rich drapers sellers of woollen cloth, etc”.

 

At that time, merchants lived above their warehouses, and it is still possible to picture the Godschall’s first London home in the narrow winding Abchurch Lane which runs from Lombard Street to the Thames, having on its west side the small Church of St. Mary, which stands on slightly raised ground that was once its graveyard, but is now an open paved court.

 

There was a picture by Franz Hals, the Flemish artist from Utrecht (1580-1666), once in the National Gallery of London, of just such a wealthy Flemish family, as the Godschalls no doubt were.

 

John Godschall lived, traded in wool and cloth, and to all intents as can best be judged, prospered. He certainly found himself in a position to acquire land, houses, and gardens, in Abchurch Lane, and without Bishopsgate.

 

He married twice. His first wife was Margaret, whom we have already mentioned. Her surname cannot be ascertained. She was born in Maarssen in 1534. The couple married there, at least before 1560, when they emigrated to England. She bore John two daughters in England, and died on a date before 1571.

 

John and Margaret had at least three children, a son and two daughters, living at his death in 1587.

 

John’s second wife was Hester. Again it has not been possible to ascertain her maiden name, nor her previously married name. She was actually a widow, probably with a daughter also named Hester.

 

John Godschall's Will is to be found at the Central Registry, Somerset House, London, under reference P.C.C. Spencer 69.

 

It is in the form of a Declaration made before certain reputable City merchants and officials; their names show their Flemish origin, although the names are still known in the City of London today.

 

The witnesses, whose ages and callings were given, together with the Public Notary, were gathered at the “Dwelling House in Abchurch Lane of John Godschall of London, Merchant Stranger”, on the 21^st of October, 1587, when he, John, being “sick in body but in good and perfect sense and remembrance”, made his Declaration.

 

Though he was only 54 when he died, he would have been considered an old man for those times.

 

Probate of his Will was granted on the 3^rd of November 1587, to his only son, James.

 

Particular mention is made in the Will of houses and gardens in the Parish of St. Botolph-without-Bishopsgate, abutting on “Three Tonnes Allee”.

 

The whole of this District was later covered by railway and goods yards, belonging to Liverpool Street station.

 

In one early map, there was a plot marked “Godschall’s Garden”. In earlier times, this land had belonged to the Priory of Canons, but it passed to the City of London at the time of the Dissolution of the Abbeys by Henry VIII. There was built there the first Bethlehem Hospital for the Insane, from which became known the term “Bedlam”.

 

The first two theatres, specifically for the production of plays, were built close by in 1577. They were known as The Theatre and The Curtain, and were later utilised by William Shakespeare and his companions.

 

John Godschall lived at his house at Abchurch Lane, and his two daughters probably lived there also, at least till their marriage, if not after.

 

Suzanna, the elder of the two, married before her father’s death in August 1587. She married Hendrick Hoevenaer. The name Hendrick Hoevenaer, and the names of his children, appear several times in the Dutch Church registers.

John’s second daughter, Sara, was baptised at Austin Friars in August 1571, and was married there in December, 1589, to Hans de Behout, who was referred to in her father, John’s Will, as being “of Sandwich”.

 

A third child, Hester, was living in 1587, and named in John Godschall’s Will. But by the wording of the reference, it is not clear if she was his daughter by his second wife Hester, or her child by her former deceased, husband.

 

Both Sara, and Hester, were of non-age in 1587.

 

Several relations were mentioned in the Will, as well as friends.

 

Amongst them was his sister Anna and her family, in respect of whom he had evidently lost touch. They may have remained in Flanders.

 

Other beneficiaries were his cousin Joos, and his son, John.

 

The name, Joos or Joce, is the equivalent of George, in Flemish. Joos was a prominent member of the Dutch Church at Austin Friars. His pedigree, and Arms, are given in the Visitation of London made by the Heralds, in 1633 to 1635. The Arms do not appear to have been granted by the English College of Arms. Possibly there were recognised, or given mutual recognition, as being of valid foreign extraction. Two hundred years later, the descendants of John Godschall valued their heritage in this regard quite highly.

 

The term “cousin”, was, at that time, in general use in respect of a first cousin; the term “kinsman” was used for more distant relatives.

 

The names of members of both Joos’ family, and John’s family, appear as joint witnesses in the register of baptisms and marriages, in the Dutch and French Protestant Churches.

 

Joos was the son of Daniel Godschall of Neuchink in Flanders. Daniel Godschall was possibly, or even probably, the brother of John Godschall's father, of Maarssen.

 

Joos married, in England, Ann, daughter of John Caronell, a family who originated from France. The name, Caronell, appears several times in the registers for the French Church, and later, was to be found in Essex, a County which still has many names of émigré background.

 

The name of Joos’ son, John, to whom John Godschall left a legacy in his Will, does not appear in the relevant passage from the Visitation of the Heralds of the College of Arms in 1633-35, giving rise to the suspicion that he may have died by this time. But a son of this John, named James, was his heir, and James had a daughter, Abigail, who was baptised in 1606. Abigail eventually married a John Rushout and left descendants who may be found under the Barony of Northwick in Burke’s Extinct Baronies.

 

Joos served the Dutch Church in Austin Friars as an Elder in 1611 and 1617, and was later responsible for the distribution of monies collected for needy members of the congregation.

 

The Church still possesses the silver Communion flagon presented to it by Joos Godschall. It bears the following inscription:

 

Dono Bedit Joos Godschalk Senior 1635 ... Londino Belgicae,

as well as the Godschall Coat of Arms.

 

It bears the London date letter for 1628, and the maker’s mark, R.B., in a shield with a mallet. The maker's name has not been identified, but other pieces made by him are known.

 

Joos’ son, James, was probably the Minister of the Dutch Church, whose burial there is one of the first burials recorded. He married there, in 1603, Catalyne van den Bende of Brussels.

 

James, and his infant son, died suddenly of the plague in 1607. Their deaths are entered, with a note as to their place of burial, in the registers of St. Helen’s, Bishopsgate.

                                                          **

We return to James Godschall, son of John Godschall.

 

James Godschall was born before 1560 at Maarssen, in Flanders. He was brought to England as an infant, by his parents, and was of full age at his father’s death in 1587, and took probate of his father’s Will.

 

In one of the Returns of the Strangers of London, he is said to have “served his father”, so that we know that he too, dealt in “Bayes and Sayes”- that is, woollen cloth of various qualities.

 

His first wife was a Jeanne or Jane. Her surname is not known. The marriage occurred sometime before 1587. His first wife bore him four daughters and a son. Her death is presumed at some stage thereafter.

 

His second wife was a Rachel Bowman. Rachel was described as a widow. There were no further issue by James and Rachel. Rachel survived her husband and lived until 1652. She appears to have had a daughter, a Suzanne Beck.

 

The eldest daughter of James and Jane Godschall was baptised Jane Godschall at Austin Friars in 1587. She married there in 1602, Jean de Rue or Veriun, and, in 1626, Abraham de Couter, leaving de Couter issue.

 

The second daughter of James and Jane Godschall was Elizabeth Godschall. Elizabeth married at Austin Friars, in 1601, a Daniel Herinchoke. She bore him a son, Peter Herinchoke. The name Herinchoke, in various guises, appears in the registers of the Dutch church for several generations. Elizabeth Herinchoke was a widow in 1636.

 

The third daughter, Judith Godschall, was baptised in 1596 at Austin Friars. She was married there in 1615, to a Jan Pollard of Colchester, and left no issue.

 

The youngest daughter was Marie Godschall. In 1600 she married Henrik Cuijl, by whom she had a son, Henry. Henry was baptised at Austin Friars in 1602. Marie was left a widow, and married again in April 1605, Nicholas Houblon, the second son of Jean Houblon and Marie de la Fontaine. The Houblon family were an émigré family from France who came to England a little later than the Godschalls.

 

Nicholas Houblon and his wife Marie, neé Godschall, had a number of children, but Marie was again a widow by 1616.

 

The eldest brother of Nicholas Houblon, was Pierre. Pierre and his wife died, leaving a family of young children, who were brought up by Nicholas and Marie. Amongst them was James Houblon, who was the grandfather of Ann Houblon. Ann Houblon became the wife of Henry Temple, 1^st Viscount Palmerston.

 

The son of Henry and Ann Temple, neé Houblon, was Henry Temple.

 

The latter Henry Temple died during his father’s lifetime, and so did not succeed to the Viscountcy, but had married Jane Barnard whose mother was a Godschall.

 

There was a note in a family Bible of the Godschall Johnson family stating that there was at least three links with the Temple family. The connection through the Houblons could be said to be the first of those links. James and Jane Godschall had four daughters, which have already been mentioned, namely, Jane, Elizabeth, Judith, and Marie.

 

They also had a son named John.

 

John was born about 1587, possibly at Colchester. He was the only son Jane was to bear to her husband James.

 

James Godschall died in 1636, leaving his second wife, Rachel, a widow.

 

His Will is at Somerset House, indexed under P.C.C. Lee 35. It is dated 17 November 1636. Besides property in the County of Essex (Stock, West Hanningfield, and other places), and in Bethnal Green, he mentions Bishopsgate property which belonged to his father as in “Angell Alley”. His son in law, Abraham de Couter, is named as an executor, and his son, John, was granted probate.

 

In addition to the property and money left to his son, there is a legacy to “My sonne John Godschall, the sum of 6 (pounds) to buy him a silver bowl”. This bowl or silver cup, remained a treasured possession of the family until 1800. It is mentioned in the Day Book of William Man Godschall, husband of Sarah Godschall (she was the last of the family to bear the surname by birth). On the death of Mrs. Younger in 1757, her aunt, formerly the widow of Sir Robert Godschall, it was returned to Sarah. It was called "the old Godschall Cup", and was recorded, amongst the silver upon which death duty was paid, as weighing 20 ozs 14 dwt, and noted up as “old family silver cup with cover... Jno. Godschall my sonne". The cup was probably made or commissioned in 1636, the year of James’ death, in accordance with the specific legacy in that regard. Its eventual disposition cannot be traced.

                                                           

**

 

 John Godschall was the only son of James Godschall and his first wife, Jane. He was born about 1587. His place of birth may have been Colchester.

 

His Banns of Marriage were proclaimed at Austin Friars in 1617, as being in respect of one born in Colchester, although this may refer to his wife.

 

The entry is “1617 John Godschall of London to Elis Basel, widow of Thomas Welthers of Colchester”.

 

The name Welthers could possibly be Ultres, a Flemish name. The name Elis was at times written as Alice.

 

John Godschall and his wife lived in Colchester in the Parish of St. James.

 

They had five sons and two daughters.

 

The eldest son was named John.

 

The name of the second son is not known, and he may have died at childbirth.

 

Then there was James, who was born in 1620. James entered Colchester Grammar School in 1637.

 

Then there was Richard, who was born in 1628. He was also educated at the Colchester Grammar School.

 

Then there was Samuel who was born 1637. He entered the Colchester Grammar School in 1648.

 

James, Richard, and Samuel, are described in the register of the Colchester Grammar School, as being the sons of John Godschall, Merchant, and Alice, his wife, and was born in St. James’ Parish.

 

Besides the entry in Samuel’s name, in 1648, there is a note to say that Samuel's father was lately deceased.

 

The third son mentioned above, namely James, died, unmarried, in 1656. His Will is at Somerset House under the reference P.C.C. Berkeley 341.

 

The daughters of John Godschall and Elis, or Alice, were Alice and Elizabeth.

 

Alice married Henry Lambe, an apothecary, of Colchester, and died before 1648, leaving four children.

 

Elizabeth, the second daughter, married John Worsnam, and had four children.

 

Both the Lambe and Worsnam children are mentioned in the Will of their grandfather, John Godschall.

 

The Calendar at Somerset House spells the name as John GodScall.

 

John Godschall died in 1648. He left a Will made out in 1646. For reference purposes, it is unnumbered in the Calendar P.C.C. Essex. The original Will, is however, available.

 

In it, he mentions three sons, and his son, John’s wife, Elizabeth, other relatives and friends, as well as the poor of St. James’ Parish, Colchester, and of the Dutch Church there.

 

Colchester had a large “Dutche” population of early emigrants from the Low countries. The old Dutch merchants' houses are today a great feature of this Essex town.

 

                                                          **

 

John Godschall, the eldest son of John and Elis, was probably born in Colchester, but his name is not in the register of Colchester Grammar School where his brothers were educated.

 

His first wife was named Elizabeth. Her maiden name has not been ascertained.

 

They were married at some stage before 1648. By her, he had four sons and two daughters. His sons were John, James, Robert and William. William was buried at East Sheen (Mortlake) in 1667.

 

The daughters names were Jane and Selina.

 

Jane died unmarried in 1684.

 

Selina was born in 1661. She married Edward Frewen, at Mortlake, in 1684.

 

Edward Frewen later became Sir Edward Frewen. The descendants of Sir Edward and Lady Selina Frewen can be found in Burke's Landed Gentry under Frewen of Northiam.

 

They were a family of Puritan Divines, two of them bearing the names of Accepted and Thankful.

 

Selina Frewen died in 1723, leaving children, some of whom were baptised at Mortlake, and are mentioned in the Will of their grandfather, John Godschall.

 

The second wife of John Godschall, (the eldest son of John Godschall, now into grandfather status), was Jane Williams. John and Jane appear to have had no children.

 

Jane died in 1700, and was buried at Mortlake.

 

Her Will is at Somerset House under reference P.C.C. Noel 99.

 

Her husband, John Godschall, son of John Godschall (who had died in 1648), died himself in 1693, so that his second wife survived him by 7 years.

 

John’s Will is recorded under P.C.C. Coker 156. He is described as of the Parish of Christ Church, Newgate Street. He left property there, in the County of Hampshire (Southampton), and at Colchester and Sheen, which is part of Mortlake.

 

The Hampshire property was Westover Farm, Wherwell, close to Romsey, a famous sheep raising centre, no doubt a useful possession for a wool and cloth merchant.

 

The Colchester lands were known as Battlewick, a manor now extinct.

 

It was later known as The Firs, and stood in Sheen Lane, which leads from the Thames, west of Mortlake Church, to Richmond Park. The house was on the left side of Sheen. It was occupied as a family residence by the Godschalls for many years. Later neighbours were the Temple family. Many years later, Sir Philip Francis was a neighbour. Both these families were connected to the Godschalls by marriage. The house and grounds were sold by William Man Godschall in 1801, but the house was standing until 1949, when it was pulled down, having been damaged by enemy action in 1944. Firs Road, and local government offices now cover the site.

 

All of the bequeathed properties mentioned above, eventually descended to John's great grand daughter, Sarah Man Godschall.

 

In John’s Will, he mentions as beneficiaries, his immediate family, and his cousin, John Potter, of Colchester, as well as the poor of Mortlake Parish.

                                                           

**

 

John Godschall, the eldest son of John Godschall, and his first wife, Elizabeth, was born in 1647, and married at Westminster Abbey on 27 September, 1681, Bethia (sometimes spelt Elthia or Elthiah), the eldest daughter, and co-heiress, of Nicholas Charlton of the family of Charlton, of Chiswell, Nottinghamshire (see Burke's Landed Gentry).

 

In the marriage register, Nicholas Charlton is described as a merchant of London, which is also the occupation given for the bridegroom, John Godschall.

 

Bethia was born in 1662, and was therefore fifteen years younger than her husband.

 

For the first time, one can see what members of the family looked like. There were portraits of Bethia, and of her eldest son Nicholas, painted by John Godschall, at Broadlands, in the possession of the heirs of Countess Mountbatten.

 

They were left in the house in 1865, when the 3^rd Viscount Palmerston bequeathed the estate of Broadlands, near Romsey, Hampshire, as well as the contents of the house, to his stepson, William Cowper, the second son of Earl Cowper, his wife's former husband.

 

William Cowper took the name of Temple on succeeding to his stepfather's property, and in 1880, was created Baron Mount Temple.

 

He died without issue in 1886, leaving Broadlands to his sister Emily, Countess of Shaftesbury.

 

Lady Shaftesbury was the great grandmother of Countess Mountbatten, to whom Broadlands and its contents eventually passed.

 

Lord Palmerston was connected to the Godschall family through his grandmother, Jane Barnard, and his mother, Mary Mee, as well as an earlier link, which has previously been mentioned.

 

John Godschall’s portrait of his wife, Bethia, was painted in 1695, when she was aged 31. It is three quarter length with the face turned over the right shoulder. She is wearing her hair over her left shoulder, and could be said to have a fine neck. Though the portrait gives the impression that she could not particularly be described as good looking, one critique expressed is that she had a bold face.

 

The two portraits of Nicholas, their son, show him as a boy of 5, and later on as a man.

 

John and Bethia had three sons and four daughters. The sons Nicholas, John and Robert will be dealt with separately.

 

The eldest daughter was Sarah, the ancestor who began the Godschall Johnson line. Her line will be followed in detail.

 

The second daughter, Bethia, married at St. Mary-at-Hill on 30 June 1715, George Lowen, and was a widow in 1725.

 

The third daughter, Jane, was baptised at St. Dunstans-in-the-East on 15 March, 1687. She married at St. Mary-at-Hill on 5 October 1708, John Barnard, a merchant, later to become Sir John Barnard, Lord Mayor of London in 1737.

 

John Barnard was, at the time of his marriage to Jane Godschall, a Member of Parliament for the City, and a most eminent citizen and personage therein. Sir Robert Walpole was the Prime Minister at the time.

 

Sir John Barnard’s life is fully documented in the Dictionary of National Biography, and many other books. His portrait in Mayoral robes by Highmore, hung in the Guildhall Library, to which it was presented by Lady Mountbatten in 1957. Sir John was born in 1685. He was a merchant and politician, and an alderman of London between 1728 and 1756. He was Sheriff of London in 1735, Lord Mayor in 1737, knighted in 1732, MP for the City of London between 1722-61. He was recognised as a high authority on financial questions. A Statue to him was erected on the Royal Exchange by his fellow citizens in 1747. His publications include A Present for an Apprentice, published in 1740. He died in 1764.

 

Sir John had no pretence to good looks, but gives the impression of a well satisfied City magnate.

 

He lived at Clapham in his later years. Jane Barnard, neé Godschall, died in 1747, during Sir John’s mayoralty. Both Jane, and her husband, Sir John, are buried at Mortlake.

 

Sir John and Lady Barnard left sons, but their male line is now extinct.

 

Their elder daughter, Sarah, was married at St. Antholin’s, Budge Row, to Sir Thomas Hankey. There are references in Burke’s Peerage and Landed Gentry under Hankey and Barnard Hankey.

 

The younger daughter of Sir John and Lady Barnard, Jane Barnard, acted as Lady Mayoress during her father's term of office, and was married at St. Antholin’s in 1747 to Henry Temple, the eldest son of Henry Temple, 1^st Viscount Palmerston, by his wife, Anne Houblon, already referred to.

 

Henry Temple died during his father's lifetime, but their only child, also Henry Temple, succeeded his grandfather as 2nd Viscount Palmerston: see Burke's Extinct Peerages.

 

The Temples were near neighbours of the Godschalls at East Sheen.

 

This was the second connection between the two families mentioned in the Godschall Johnson family Bible, in a note written in by one of the Francis cousins.

 

The fourth, and youngest, daughter of John and Bethia Godschall was Catherine. Catherine Godschall married Jonathan Hogg, and was a widow in 1725.

 

Recapping, John Godschall was born in 1647. He died in 1725. He was noticed in the Gentleman’s Magazine in that year. His wife, Bethia, predeceased him in 1720. Both are buried at Mortlake. His Will, proved by his son, Nicholas, in 1725, is at Somerset House, under reference P.C.C. Romsey 210.

                                                          **

 

Of the three sons of John and Bethia Godschall, namely Nicholas, John and Robert Godschall, the two younger will be dealt with first, because they left no issue.

 

John, the second son, was baptised at St. Dunstan-in-the-East on 28 August, 1690. He joined his father and brother in the trade of Turkish merchants, and was sent to the Far East, where he travelled to Antioch in 1715.

 

Several letters to him from his brother, Nicholas, have been copied into the Day Book of his nephew, William Man Godschall. They cover the years, 1715-1717. As well as referring to family affairs and friends, they throw an interesting light on the shipping of their bales of cloth to the Levant, and the purchasing of Carpets and Byes in Antioch and other places in Turkey and Spain.

 

John Godschall married Jane Wilson, daughter of Henry Wilson, of London, and St. Mary le Savoy. John died, without issue, within 10 days of his own father's death in 1725. He died intestate, and is described as of St. James’s Carlickhithe, a Parish and Wharf in the City of London.

 

His widow, Jane, neé Wilson, remarried in 1734. Her second husband was the Rev. The Honourable William Carmichael, second son of the 2^nd Earl of Hyndford, who later became Bishop of Clonfert, and, for six months before his death in December 1765, Archbishop of Dublin. Jane Carmichael, formerly Godschall, neé Wilson, herself died at Bath in 1782, without issue.

 

The youngest son of John and Bethia Godschall, was Robert Godschall. Robert was born in 1691. He was a wine merchant, and a member of the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers. He was Alderman of Bishopsgate Ward in 1732, and Sheriff in 1736, and Tory Member of Parliament for London in 1741. He was a Director of the Royal Exchange from 1729, until his death, and was elected Lord Mayor of London in 1741.

 

Robert Godschall married Catherine Tryon, daughter of Nicholas Tryon, of Fenwell, Kent, an old French émigré family: Burke’s Peerage, Tryon of Burnford. They left no issue.

 

In 1729, Robert Godschall bought the Manor and estate of Weston Gomshall Albury, near Guildford.

 

Robert Godschall died during his year of office in 1741/2, and is buried in the old church at Albury, where there is an heraldic memorial to him.

 

Robert’s widow, Catherine. remarried the Rev. Richard Younger, Vicar of Guildford (1720-1757), but was always known as Lady Godschall.

 

Catherine Younger, formerly Godschall, neé Tryon, died in 1755 at Guildford, where there is a memorial to her and her second husband in St. Nicholas’ Parish Church.

 

The estate of Robert Godschall, upon his death as aforementioned, in 1741, was left to his only surviving brother, Nicholas Godschall.

                                                           

**

 

Nicholas Godschall was the eldest son of John and Bethia Godschall.

 

Nicholas was baptised at St. Dunstan-in-the-East on 24 January 1686.

 

Nicholas was named after his maternal grandfather, Nicholas Charlton, London merchant and landed gentry, father of Bethia Godschall, neé  Charlton.

 

Like his forebears, Nicholas Godschall was a merchant dealing chiefly in wool, woollen goods, carpets and byes imported from the Near East.

 

Nicholas was a member of the Levant or Turkey Company, and the writer of several letters to his brother John, who was travelling in Turkey and Spain. From these letters, it would appear that he was taking his father's place as head of the family business, though his father was still living.

 

Nicholas married, in 1727, Sarah Onley of the Essex family now represented by Savill Onley: Burke’s Landed Gentry.

 

Nicholas and Sarah Godschall had two daughters. The first daughter was Jane. Jane died as an infant, and is buried at Mortlake, where the family lived in the old Godschall house at East Sheen. The second daughter was Sarah. Sarah was baptised at Mortlake on 15 February 1729.

 

Sarah eventually became heiress to her grandfather, John Godschall.

 

Nicholas Godschall inherited Weston Manor from his brother, Sir Robert Godschall (P.C.C. Strachan 177), who died in 1741.

 

Nicholas Godschall died in 1748.

 

His wife, Sarah Godschall, neé Onley, died in 1750, two years later than her husband.

 

Both Nicholas and Sarah Godschall are buried at Mortlake where there is a memorial to them.

 

Their daughter, Sarah Godschall, was left a considerable heiress at the age of 22.

 

Sarah Godschall was married on 26 September, 1752, at Albury Church in which Parish Weston Manor was situated, by licence, to William Man, of Clapham.

 

William Man's father was also named William Man, or, to put it more accurately, William Man's father conferred upon his son, his own christian name.

 

William Man, the bridegroom to Sarah Godschall, was also the brother of Elizabeth Mee, neé Man. Elizabeth Mee, neé  Man, was the wife of Benjamin Mee, whose daughter Mary Mee married the 2^nd Viscount Palmerston.

 

On marrying Sarah Godschall, William Man took the name and Arms of Godschall. He became known as William Man Godschall.

 

For the whole of their lives, William and Sarah Man Godschall lived at Weston Manor, Albury, where William administered his wife’s estates.

 

The house is shown in one of the plates in Manning Bray’s History of Surrey. It has been demolished, but it stood not far from Albury Place, and had its own Manor Court, which met from time to time.

 

William Man Godschall left a large manuscript Day Book, a custom of the time. Its entries date from 1753 to the year of his death in 1802. It later passed into the possession of Wm Floyd, a member of the Bray family of Shere, connected by marriage with the Rev. Samuel Man Godschall, the son of William and Sarah Man Godschall.

 

As well as the notes relating to the care of Weston, he mentions relations, friends, and public events over a period of fifty years.

 

He was in close contact with his own relatives, the Mees and Kemps, as well as with the Temples and Lord Palmerston (2^nd Viscount), who was his nephew as well as his wife’s first cousin once removed.

 

He also mentions the Godschall Johnsons, the Barnards and Hankeys of Godschall descent, and the Thorntons of Clapham and Albury Place, where Samuel Thornton was his nearest neighbour.

 

Thorntons were later to marry wives of Godschall blood.

 

Among the Godschall portraits at Broadlands were pastels of William Man Godschall and his wife Sarah Man Godschall, neé Godschall.

 

The pastels are by John Russell, R.A., and were drawn about 1701.

 

William is said to appear as a dapper little man with very bright eyes, and Sarah, a larger woman wearing an immense frilly cap. She is said to have the very pronounced eyebrows, said to be characteristic of the Godschall Johnson family. They both appear to be about 60.

 

There were three sons of the marriage of William Man and Sarah Godschall, namely William, Barnard, and Samuel.

 

The eldest son, namely William Man Godschall, died unmarried in 1798.

 

The second son, Barnard Man Godschall, died as an infant.

 

The third son, Samuel Man Godschall, entered the Church.

 

William Man Godschall, the father, previously William Man before marriage and assumption of the Godschall surname, himself died in 1802 at Weston Manor.

 

Sarah Man Godschall, neé Sarah Godschall, had predeceased her husband in 1793.

 

They are both buried in the family vault in Albury Church, where there is a memorial to them.

 

The memorial bears the Godschall Arms impaling Onley.

 

Sarah Godschall left a very long Will based upon a marriage settlement. It is at Somerset House (P.C.C. Dodwell 446), and was administered by her husband.

 

Extensive property inherited from her grandfather, John Godschall, her father Nicholas Godschall, and her uncle, Robert Godschall, are listed.

 

As well as Weston Manor, and the old Godschall family home at East Sheen in the Parish of Mortlake, she mentions land and houses in the City of London, in Essex, Battlewick Manor in Colchester, Stock and West Hanningfield in Hampshire, and Westover Farm, Wherwell.

 

She left legacies to her cousins William Temple, 2^nd Viscount Palmerston, John Johnson and his sister Mary, and Jane Johnson and Catherine Warner. On his death in 1802, William Man Godschall left everything, except a few small legacies, to his only surviving son the Rev. Samuel Man Godschall. His Will is at Somerset House under Man in the Calendar (P.C.C. Kenyon 915).

 

The Rev. Samuel Man Godschall was Vicar of Ockham, Surrey.

 

He married Lucy Malthus, and died without issue in 1821 (P.C.C. Mansfield 415). Very little of the Godschall property seems to have descended to him, and he sold Weston Manor.

 

On the death of his widow Lucy Man Godschall, neé Malthus, in 1823, she left legacies to the remainder of her Malthus relations, and bequeathed the Godschall portraits from Weston Manor to Lord Palmerston at Broadlands.

 

With the death of Samuel Man Godschall and his wife Lucy Man Godschall, the name of Godschall as a surname comes to an end, and with it, the possession of all Godschall property collected by the family for two and a half centuries.

                                                           

**

 

The second part of this history now deals with the Godschall Johnson family.

 

It begins with Sarah Godschall, the eldest daughter of John Godschall and Bethia Charlton.

 

Sarah Godschall was born in 1682/3, and married in 1707/8 in one of the City churches, William Johnson, a London merchant.

 

William Johnson appears to be the son of William Johnson, also a merchant, and his wife Suzanna.

 

There is a baptism of a son William in the registers of St. Dionis Backchurch on 16 May 1686.

 

The registers of St. Dionis contain earlier Johnson references. There is, for instance, the name of Otwell Johnson, and his son, Israel, in 1547.

 

There are also entries for the surname Tryon; a Tryon, previously mentioned intermarried with the Godschall family, when Robert Godschall youngest son of John and Bethia Godschall married Catherine Tryon, daughter of Nicholas Tryon, in the early 1700’s. There is also a registered entry for a Godschall burial in 1604.

 

Otwell Johnson and forebears, are the subject of a book, Tudor Family Portrait, by Barbara Winchester, published in 1955.

 

Their connections with the Tryon and Warner families may be noted as pointing to a link with the family of William Johnson.

 

William and Sarah (neé Godschall) Johnson lived in the Parish of St. Gabriel, Fenchurch Street, close by St. Dionis’ Church.

 

Their first three children were baptised at St. Gabriel’s, and after 1712, they lived in St. Dionis Parish where other children were baptised and an infant daughter buried.

 

Both churches have been demolished and their parishes combined with neighbouring churches, but their sites are marked by plaques on the street walls.

 

The Johnson Family Bible came into the possession of Ralph Johnson of Mackay, Queensland.

 

The sheet containing the earliest records of the Godschall family had been pasted into this Bible from an earlier Bible, and then further entries were added. The names, dates of birth, and baptisms and Godparents of each child are in the handwriting of either William Johnson or his wife Sarah Johnson (neé  Godschall). As it was the custom of the time for grandparents to be described collectively as father and mother, and sisters-in-law, and brothers-in-law, to be described as “sister” or “brother”, it is not possible to say which parent undertook each entry.

 

The issue of the marriage of William and Sarah Johnson consisted of two sons and five daughters.

 

The sons were William and John.

 

The daughters were Sarah, Bethia, Mary, Jane and Catherine. Mary died before 1726.

 

William Johnson, the eldest son, was born on the 1^st December 1709. A note besides his name in the Bible, written by his nephew some years later, says that he died unmarried in 1740.

 

John Johnson, the second son, was born on 6 September 1712. He was baptised at St. Dionis on 14 September 1712.

 

The eldest daughter was Sarah Johnson. She was born on 3 November 1710.

 

She was baptised at St. Gabriel’s on 12 November 1710. She married a Dr. Fullerton, and had one daughter, Catherine Fullerton. She made her home close to the old Godschall house at Mortlake, and later at Richmond.

 

The second daughter was Bethis (Bethiah) Johnson. Bethis was born on 6 October 1711. She was baptised at St. Gabriel's on 14 October 1711. In the register for St. Gabriel’s, her name is spelt Bethia. Bethis died unmarried. Both the names Sarah and Bethia now disappear from the record as family names.

 

The third daughter, Mary Johnson, was born on 5 September 1713, and was baptised at St. Dionis on 10 September, 1713. She also died unmarried.

 

The fourth daughter was Jane Johnson. Jane was born on the 3^rd February 1714/15, and was baptised at St. Dionis on 12 February. Jane never married. She is mentioned in William Man Godschall’s MSS day book on many occasions and lived to the age of 82. She was buried at Mortlake on 14 September 1795.

 

The fifth and youngest daughter was Catherine. Catherine Johnson was born on 3 April 1716. She was baptised at St. Dionis on 15 April 1716. She married at St. Margaret’s, Lee, Kent, on 22 September 1746, Edward Warner, of St. Mary-le-Bow Parish. In the register, Catherine is described as being of Eltham, and Edward Warner, as a merchant.

 

Edward was the son of Colonel Edward Warner, and the brother of John Johnson’s wife, Elizabeth Ann Warner.

 

The marriage of Catherine and Edward was solemnised by the Rev. Francis Byam (Burke’s Landed Gentry), of a family closely connected with Antigua where both Edward Warner and John Johnson had plantations.

THE WARNER FAMILY:

 

The Warner family of Suffolk and Essex, although they do not appear in Burke's, have a very long pedigree set out and illuminated in a scroll which fell into the eventual possession of Sir Pelham Warner.

 

Members of the Warner family appear in the abovementioned book, in St. Dionis’ Parish registers, and in a number of City records.

 

They were early settlers at St. Kitts, and other West Indian islands, of which Sir Thomas Warner was Governor in 1625.

 

The Warners held large sugar plantations in Antigua, one of the West Indian Islands where the Byams and Waldronds connected with them were also established.

 

Sir Thomas Warner was probably the first identifiable West Indian Warner. He was born in Suffolk, and was a Captain in the Guards of James I. He visited Surinam (Dutch Guiana) in 1620, and conceived the idea of a West Indian settlement. He founded a colony in St. Kitts in 1624. In 1625 he visited England, and in the same year, 1625, he was appointed governor of St. Kitts, Nevis, Barbados, and Monserrat. In the Spring of 1626, he commanded a privateer in the English Channel. Sir Thomas then returned to St. Kitts in autumn 1626. He is recorded as having trouble with the French settlers during the years 1627-1635, and with the Spanish filibusters in 1629. He visited England and was knighted in 1629. He arranged for the colonisation of Nevis in 1628, and Antigua and Monserrat in 1632. He attempted the colonisation of St. Lucia in 1639-1641. He made another visit to England in 1636, and returned as Parliamentary Governor of the Caribbean Islands in 1643. Sir Thomas died at St. Kitts in 1649.

 

One of Sir Thomas’ sons was Thomas Warner. Thomas was born in 1630, and was nicknamed “Indian Warner”, because he was the son of Sir Thomas Warner and a Carib woman. Thomas joined the Caribs and fought against the whites in 1645. He was Governor of Dominica between 1664-1675. He was held as a prisoner by the French in 1666-67, and was treacherously killed by his brother Philip Warner, but, according to another account, he fell in a fight with the English.

 

The other brother mentioned, Philip Warner, was a younger son of Sir Thomas Warner, Philip commanded a regiment in the reduction of Dutch and French Guiana in 1667, and in Antigua in 1671. He was appointed Governor of Antigua in 1672. He was sentenced to prison in London between 1675-1676 for a massacre of natives in Dominica. In 1677 he was dismissed from the King's service. In 1679, he became Speaker of the Antigua Assembly. Philip died in 1689.

 

Edward Warner was another son of Sir Thomas Warner. Edward was born in 1632. Edward became Deputy-Governor of St. Kitts in 1629, and Governor of Antigua in 1632. In 1640 his wife and children were kidnapped by Caribs.

 

Into the nineteenth Century, the most notable Warner was Sir Pelham Warner. Pelham Francis Warner was born in 1873 in Trinidad. He was educated at Harrison College, Barbados, Rugby, and Oriel College, Oxford, where he took a cricket blue in 1895. He played for Middlesex against W.G. Grace and for Gloucestershire in 1894. He was called to the Bar (Inner Temple) in 1900. Pelham made his first tour abroad to the West Indies with Lord Hawke in 1897. He was selected to captain the English Test team in Australia in 1903-4, and recovered the Ashes from the Australians. He was selected again as Captain in 1911-12. England won that series against the Colonials. Pelham served in the Inns of Court Officers’ Training Corps during the 1914-18 War. He captained Middlesex between 1908-20. He excelled as Captain rather than as a batsman. Although handicapped by poor health, he amassed over 30,000 runs, including 60 centuries. He began writing for the Sportsman in 1897. He was invited by J. A. Spender to write for Westminster Gazette in 1903. He was the cricket correspondent for the Morning Post between 1921 and 1933. He became editor of the Cricketeer in 1921. His publications included My Cricketing Life, published in 1921; Cricket Between Two Wars, published in 1942, Lords, 1787-1945, published in 1946; and Long Innings, published in 1951. He was Chairman of the Test Match Selection Committee in 1926, and between 1931 and 1932, and 1935 to 1938. He was joint manager of the Touring Side to Australia in 1932-3. He was involved in the "body-line" controversy. He became President of the MCC in 1950, awarded the MBE in the 1919 Honours' List, and Knighted in 1937. A stand at Lords was named after him in 1958.

 

Catherine Warner:

 

Catherine Warner died in 1780, without issue.

 

The three daughters of William and Sarah Johnson which were mentioned in Sarah Man Godschall’s Will were Mary, Jane, and Catherine.

 

Sarah Johnson, neé Godschall, died in August 1719, and is buried in the Great Vault in the Chancel of St. Dionis, Backchurch.

 

John Johnson died in August, 1725. His Will is at Somerset House (P.C.C. Romney 174).

                                                           

**

 

 John Johnson, the second but only surviving son with issue of William and Sarah Johnson, was born on 6 September 1712, and was baptised at St. Dionis on 14 September 1712.

 

He married at St. Margaret’s, Lee, Kent, Elizabeth Ann Warner, daughter of Colonel Edward Warner referred to in Chapter VIII.

 

She is described in the Parish register as being of East Greenwich, and John Johnson as of Lawrence-by-Guildhall, a church now known as St. Lawrence Jewry.

 

In a note beside the marriage entry in the Family Bible, later written by their son, she is described as “daughter and co-heiress of Col. Edward Warner”.

 

Not much is known about John and his wife. He was in partnership with his brother-in-law, Edward Warner, in the sugar plantations of Antigua, of which Savannah was one.

 

They employed slave labour on the estate, and when the Act for the Abolition of Slavery came into force in 1833, a large sum of money was paid to his heirs as compensation for release of slaves employed on the estate.

 

John Johnson and Ann Warner had a son and a daughter. He may have had other children by a second wife.

 

The son was named Godschall Johnson. The daughter’s name was Sarah.

 

Sarah married in 1767 Walpole Eyre, Godson of Sir Robert Walpole: see Burke’s Landed Gentry under Eyre of St. John's Wood.

 

The Eyre name is also connected to the Jamaica mutiny of 1865: an insurrection occurred in October 1865 whose supporters were responsible for a number of deaths. Governor Edward Eyre turned the army loose on the population and allowed the troops to hang hundreds of men, and shoot others indiscriminately. Men and women were flogged at random, some with whips made of piano wire. A thousand Jamaican homes were burnt by soldiers as a warning to future troublemakers. Edward Cardwell, the Colonial Secretary, recalled Governor Eyre back to England, but nothing was done.

 

Eyre Peninsula in South Australia is also named after a member of the Eyre family.

 

The descendants of the Eyre family owned a large part of St. John’s Wood.

 

Walpole Eyre died in 1773 after only six years of married life, from food poisoning at a public dinner after which several guests died as the result of partaking of turtle soup left overnight in a copper saucepan.

 

Sarah Eyre, neé Johnson, married a second time, this time to Colonel Jeremiah Hodges, the Uncle of Godschall Johnson's wife (see below). Colonel Jeremiah Hodges eventually succeeded to Boulney Court.

 

Sarah Hodges, formerly Eyre, nee` Johnson, had no children by her second husband, Colonel Jeremiah Hodges, but left one daughter and three sons by her first husband, Walpole Eyre.

 

The three sons were Henry Samuel Eyre, Walpole Eyre, and John Thomas Eyre. These names occur in later Johnson letters.

 

As a young woman, Sarah Johnson, later Eyre, still later Hodges, is said to have been a good looking woman: Sir Joshua Reynolds is said to have declared her the “most beautiful woman” he had ever seen.

 

A vivid description of her in later life at Boulney Court is given by her niece, Elizabeth Godschall Johnson, in the Francis letters.

 

John Johnson died in 1775. His second wife died in 1786.

                                                           

**

 

Godschall Johnson was the eldest son of John Johnson and Ann Warner.

 

Godschall Johnson was baptised on 12 September 1745 at the Church of St. Lawrence Jewry and St. Mary Magdalene, Milk Street, London.

 

He succeeded to the Antigua estates upon his father's death in 1775.

 

His heirs received a large compensation payout for the release of slaves after the passing of the Abolition of Slavery Act in 1833.

 

Godschall Johnson married on 28 March 1779, at St. Marylebone Parish Church, Elizabeth Hodges, second daughter of Anthony Hodges.

 

Elizabeth Hodges was said to be of Boulney Court, near Henley-on-Thames, Oxon. Her father had died before witnessing his daughter's marriage. He had died four years earlier, in 1757. Elizabeth Hodges’ mother was Elizabeth Gordon.

 

Elizabeth Hodges was born on 16 July 1757, a few days before her father’s death. She had an elder sister, and a brother, also named Anthony Hodges, who made a most unfortunate marriage with Anna Maria Sophia Aston, daughter of the Rev. and Hon. Hervey Aston, son of the 1^st Earl of Bristol, who took the name of Aston on marrying the heiress of Sir Thomas Aston: see Burke’s Extinct Baronetcies.

 

Sophia was a lady of promiscuous habits, whose several children were, by her own admission, by different members of the peerage, one of whom was said to be a royal person, and none by her husband who took her abroad from the house in which she was living in Pall Mall, but who disclaimed paternal parentage of any of her children.

 

On Anthony Hodges’ death, he left his brother-in-law, Godschall Johnson, his executor. The latter was involved in a long and acrimonious lawsuit with the widow over the payment of the marriage settlement. It was finally agreed that an annual payment should be made to Mrs. Hodges during her lifetime.

 

The only child who survived with issue was known as Caroline Wyndham. In 1802, Carolyn Wyndham married the Rev. Fitzroy Stanhome. Their descendants became the Earls of Harrington.

 

                                                          **

 

Both Godschall Johnson and his wife Elizabeth Johnson, neé Hodges, were said to be very handsome. He was nicknamed "Beau".

 

There was a portrait of him in existence, of which only a photograph thereof is known to have survived.

 

The portrait was a miniature. It showed Godschall Johnson as a man of about 50, with a heavily built and lined face, large eyes and the very pronounced eyebrows which may be traced in many of his descendants. He is wearing his own hair, which is dressed in rolls on either side of his face.

 

I (Lady Thornton, the original author of this manuscript), have in my possession a miniature of Elizabeth. It was painted about 1786. She is shown as having rather petite features, with grey eyes, and wearing her hair dressed high on her head and powdered.

 

By this marriage, Godschall and Elizabeth Johnson had three sons and two daughters.

 

The sons were Godschall, Henry Anthony, and Ralph Botoler

Godschall Johnson.

 

Henry Anthony Godschall Johnson

 

Henry Anthony Godschall Johnson was born in 1783. His godparents were Henry Lord Palmerston, Martyn Fonnereau, and his grandmother, Mrs. Elizabeth Johnson, neé Warner. He died an infant, aged four, of whooping cough in 1787.

Ralph Botolier Godschall Johnson

 

The third son of Godschall and Elizabeth Johnson (neé Hodges) was Ralph Botoler Godschall Johnson.

 

The middle name Botoler, is interesting: it is the French form of Butler, although it is more commonly transcribed as Botolier.

 

Ralph Botoler Godschall Johnson was born on 15 February 1785.

 

One of his godparents was Sir Ralph Payne (later Lord Lavington): see Burke’s Peerage under Payne Galway. Just as his older brother, Henry, had derived his Christian name, Henry, from his most eminent godparent, Henry, Lord Palmerston, so too was Ralph named after his eminent godparent Sir Ralph Payne, later Lord Lavington. The Christian name of Ralph as a family name started here.

 

In the family Ralph was pronounced Rafe.

 

It appears quite frequently in the later history of the Godschall Johnson family, and has been said to have survived 200 years of family usage.

 

The other godparents to Ralph Botoler Johnson were John Palmer Botolier of Henley-on-Thames, and Mrs. Woodley, wife of General Woodley.

 

All of the children were inoculated against smallpox, so prevalent at that time. It was administered by Dr. Joseph Warner, a member of their grandmother’s family, and a well known physician at Guy’s Hospital.

 

Ralph Botoler Godschall Johnson went with his nephew Francis Godschall Johnson, to Canada, where he married, and is buried there. It is not known whether he had any family.

 

Elizabeth Jane Godschall Johnson

 

The elder of the Godschall Johnson’s two daughters by his first wife was Elizabeth Jane Godschall Johnson (neé Hodges), born at Mortlake in 1781. Her godparents were George Stainforth, the Hon. Mrs. Jane Temple, Lord Palmerston’s mother and her father’s cousin, and Catherine Fullerton, her own first cousin.

 

Elizabeth Jane married in 1805, Philip, the only son of Sir Philip Francis K.B., the probable author of the famous Letters of Junius, dealing with political matters, which at the time created a great deal of interest, and whose authorship has always been a matter of speculation.

 

Philip Francis and Elizabeth Jane Francis left a large family and from them are descended Herbert Francis and all the Francis cousins.

 

There are portraits of Philip and Elizabeth Jane in the Francis Letters, collected by Beata Francis and Eliza Kearney, which were published by Hutchinson about 1880. That book contains a number of letters written by Elizabeth Jane Johnson and other members of both families.

 

Emily Godschall Johnson

 

The second daughter of Godschall and Elizabeth (neé Hodges) Johnson, was Emily Godschall Johnson, born in 1788 in Bloomsbury, and privately baptised.

 

There is no note of her godparents probably because she was born eighteen days before the death of her mother.

 

She seems always to have been a very lively and uncontrolled child, and was no doubt spoiled by her brothers and sister.

 

On her father’s second marriage to Mary Francis in 1792, the daughters by the first wife, Elizabeth Hodges, were brought up by their aunt, Sarah Hodges, formerly Eyre, neé Johnson, and their great aunt Mrs. Fullerton (Sarah Johnson, wife of Dr. Fullerton), who lived at Richmond.

 

A very entertaining series of letters, published in the Francis Letters from Elizabeth Johnson to Catherine and Elizabeth Francis, daughters of Sir Phillip Francis, were written from Boulney Court 1804, describing their aunt, Sarah Hodges, and her very lively young sister, Emily Johnson, then aged 15 years.

 

In 1805, when Emily was just 16 years, she fell in love with a handsome and dashing young officer stationed at Richmond. Richmond was, of course near Mortlake and Sheen. He was Captain Edward Darvall. Her great aunt Mrs. Fullerton, was accused of fostering the romance.

 

Emily’s father was dead, and the consent of her stepmother and brothers was sought, but was refused, upon grounds of her extreme youth and irresponsibility, and that no-one knew anything about Captain Darvall’s family. It was decided, therefore, to remove Emily to her brother Godschall's house at Halliford-on-Thames, as Captain Darvall was stationed at Richmond where she had been staying with Mrs. Fullerton.

 

At the beginning of June, after staying at Halliford for a month, Emily eloped with Captain Darvall.

 

A vivid account is given of their pursuit by Emily's brothers and a Rev. Runner. The runaway couple got a good start. They were accompanied by two of Captain Darvall’s fellow officers, and took the road to Oxford, changing horses at Henley. They were 16 hours ahead and were presumed to be heading for Holyhead and Ireland, but were eventually found several days later at Carlisle, where they were staying after what was called a mock ceremony at Gretna Green.

 

The young couple were quite unrepentant, and blamed Emily’s family for their opposition. There was a later marriage ceremony in London, at the end of June. After a time, Captain Darvall was accepted into the family, and was found to be a very desirable husband for the headstrong Emily.

 

In 1839, the Darvalls and their children sailed to Australia aboard the Alfred where they made their home at Ryde, Sydney in New South Wales. Emily did not survive long in the Colony, and died in 1841.

 

Her own daughter, Emily (junior), who was to marry, in 1840, Robert Johnstone Barton, a retired East India Company Captain, left an interesting account of their voyage.

 

The Darvalls left numerous descendants. Among them in Australia were Darvalls, Katers and Baileys.

 

Edward and Emily Darvall had children: George Edward Darvall, John Bayley Darvall, Frederick Orme Darvall, Emily Darvall, Eliza Darvall, Rose Darvall, and Horace Darvall.

 

George Edward Darvall married Sofia Docker, and was employed in the East India Service.

 

John Bayley Darvall married F. Shapland, and from their lineage came the Sir John Bayley line, written of by Lady Halliday.

 

Frederick Orme Darvall married Lucy Shapland, and was the first Auditor General for the State of Queensland after 1859. His wife, Lucy Shapland, was born in 1822 near Calcutta. They had children: Lucy Elizabeth Darvall, Edith Flora Darvall, Frederick Orme Darvall and Ralph Shapland Darvall.

 

Frederick Orme Darvall later died in England.

 

His eldest daughter, Lucy Elizabeth Darvall, who was born on 17 January 1843, married in 1860, George Orme Weston Wood, and had a son Waveney Weston Wood, who married B. Deakin, and had a daughter, Helen. Lucy Elizabeth married a second time, George Cresswell Crump, but had no further children.

 

The second daughter of Frederick Orme Darvall was Edith Flora Darvall. She was born in 1844 and was the bridesmaid at the 1861 wedding in Brisbane of her cousin Fanny Godschall Johnson to the Rev. John Sutton.

 

The eldest son of Frederick Orme Darvall, was Frederick Orme Francis Darvall.

 

Frederick Orme Francis Darvall was born in 1846 at Penrith and married Deborah North in 1870 at Fernie Lawn, near Ipswich. Deborah North was born on 31 August 1848, the daughter of Lieutenant J. North. Frederick Orme Francis Darvall and his wife Deborah North had 11 children: Edward Orme Darvall, born 1872 in Brisbane, Frederick Joseph Dundas Darvall, born 1873 in Brisbane, Edward Horace and Edith Lucy Darvall, twins born in 1874 and who died in 1875, Guy Francis Darvall, born in 1875 (and who later married Nell Asmus), Cecile Deborah Darvall, (Molly) born in 1875, Cholmondeley Burnett Darvall, born in 1880, Marion Dundas Darvall and Winifred Darvall, again twins, born in 1882 (Winifred dying in 1883), Roy Darvall, born in 1884, and Frederica Lucy Darvall, born in 1886 (and who died in 1981).

 

Ralph Shapland Darvall, second son of Frederick Orme Darvall, did not marry.

 

Godschall Johnson

 

Godschall Johnson, on the death of his wife in 1788, remained a widower until 1792, when he married at St. James, Piccadilly, Mary Francis, the fourth daughter of Sir Philip Francis and his wife Elizabeth Macrabie.

 

Sir Philip, not at that time a knight, was living in St. James' Square.

 

The marriage was solemnised by the Rev. Samuel Peach, of Mortlake.

 

Mary Francis was only 22 years at the time of her marriage, and was therefore considerably younger than her husband.

 

Her brother Philip Francis, the younger, afterwards married his sister, Mary's, step-daughter, Elizabeth Jane Johnson.

 

By his second wife, Godschall Johnson had two daughters, Mary Elizabeth and Catherine.

 

Mary Elizabeth Godschall Johnson

 

The elder daughter, Mary Elizabeth Godschall Johnson was born in April 1796, in London, and baptised in June 1796, at Putney, where Godschall Johnson and Mary lived. Her godparents were Philip Francis, her grandfather, Elizabeth Francis, and Mrs. John Julius Angerstein.

 

The Angersteins lived in St. James’ Square, and were friends of the Francis family. The famous Angerstein Collection of pictures used to hang in the British National Gallery.

 

Catherine Godschall Johnson

 

The younger child, Catherine, was born in 1798, at Putney. Her godparents were John Julius Angerstein, Lady Palmerston (Mary Mee), and her aunt Catherine Francis, who later became the second wife of George James Cholmondeley referred to later.

 

Mary Elizabeth Johnson was the favourite niece of her aunt, Catherine Cholmondeley, and spent much of her time with the Cholmondeleys.

 

George James Cholmondeley was the son of the Reverend and Honourable Robert Cholmondeley and his wife, Mary Woffington.

 

Mary Woffington was the sister of the well known actress, “Peg” Woffington.

 

George James Cholmondeley was first married to Marcia Pitt, daughter of George Pitt. Marcia died in 1808, leaving her widowed husband, George James Cholmondeley, with two sons and a daughter. The daughter and eldest son were dead by the time of the second marriage of George James Cholmondeley to Catherine Francis, another daughter of Sir Philip Francis. The only surviving son was Horace George Cholmondeley.

 

Horace Cholmondeley was about the same age as Mary Elizabeth Johnson, his stepmother's niece.

 

Horace George Cholmondeley entered the Church. He and Mary Elizabeth Johnson were married at St. Marylebone Church on 31 August, 1825.

 

Of this marriage there were born two daughters. Mary Louise Cholmondeley was born about 1827. The second daughter was Jane Elizabeth Cholmondeley.

 

Jane Elizabeth Godschall Johnson

 

Jane Elizabeth died, unmarried, at Hurley near Marlow, in 1891. She was affectionately known as “Aunt Janey”, who did so much to help all her relations, the Pitts and Godschall Johnsons.

 

The name, Cholmondeley, was subsequently used as a Christian name by several generations of Godschall Johnsons, and related families, the Thorntons and Darvalls.

 

Hurley was given as a name to a beach in Queensland, at Redcliffe, but it was later changed to Suttons Beach in honour of the Rev. John Sutton, who had originally bestowed the name Hurley Beach in his Plan of Subdivision.

 

Mary Louise Cholmondeley

 

The eldest daughter of Horace George Cholmondeley and Mary Elizabeth Johnson, was Mary Louise Cholmondeley. Mary Louise Cholmondeley married, in 1847, the Rev. Francis Vansittart Thornton, who was, at the time, Vicar of Misham near Marlow. The history of the Thornton family, and of the descendants of Francis Thornton and his wife Mary Louisa Thornton, were recorded in the records kept by their grandson, Reginald Thornton.

 

Later in life, the Rev. Francis Thornton, held a living at Callington with Southill, Cornwall, where they lived in a very large house, and he carried out an experiment in bringing higher education to the young people of the villages, who were, at that time, offered only a primary education in the local parish schools.

 

Catherine Francis Godschall Johnson

 

The younger of the two daughters of Godschall Johnson and his second wife Mary Francis was Catharine Francis Godschall Johnson. She was born in 1798, two years after her sister, Mary Elizabeth Godschall Johnson.

 

A version of accounts different to the one given above has her as the one who married George J. Chomondeley, not Catharine Francis “another daughter of Sir Philip Francis.”

 

George J. Chomondeley was born in 1752.

 

Catharine Francis Chomondeley neé Godschall Johnson, died in 1822, and her husband George J. Chomondeley was to die in 1830.

 

Godschall Johnson died in 1830, and his second wife, Mary, daughter of Sir Philip Francis, in 1842.

                                                           

**

 

Godschall Johnson

(1780- 1859)

 

Godschall Johnson, eldest and only surviving son of Godschall Johnson and Elizabeth Hodges, was born in 1780 at Charles Street, Cavendish Square (now known as George Street).

 

His godparents were his grandfather, Anthony Hodges, Senior, William Culverden (who was married to Lady Palmerston’s sister), and Jane Johnson, his great aunt.

 

Godschall Johnson had a career that involved a Commission as an officer in the 10^th Royal Hussars and later British Consul General to Belgium. He appears to have retired from the Army (usually one then sold their Commission) after his marriage to Bedfordshire where he resided at Oakley House near the County centre of Bedford.

 

Godschall Johnson’s first marriage was to Lucy Bishop. They married in 1802. Lucy Bishop was the daughter of Sir Cecil Bishop, 8^th  Baronet, of Parhem Park, Pulborough, Sussex. Lucy was a sister of Col. Cecil Bishop, who lost his life on the Niagara frontier during the War of 1812-1814.

 

The fine house at Parhem Park was built before 1600 and came into the later possession of the Pearson family. It was opened to visitors as one of England's Stately Homes. It contained a number of Bishop family portraits from the 17^th and 18^th Centuries.

 

The Bishop Baronetcy is extinct, but their descent is to be found in Burke’s Extinct Baronetcies, and also under the ancient Barony of Zouche in current peerages.

 

Ann Bishop, daughter of Sir Cecil Bishop, 6^th Baronet, and Lucy’s sister, married Robert Brudenel, third son of the 4^th Earl of Cardigan. They were the grandparents of Thomas Brudenel, the 7^th Earl of Cardigan, whose exploits at Balaclava during the Charge of the Light Brigade in 1854, stand as a great moment in English military history.

 

It was recorded that, on an occasion in 1860, Lord Palmerston and Lord Cardigan, met at a friends house, William Butler Godschall Johnson, the grandson of the Godschall Johnson being dealt with in this chapter.

 

William Butler Godschall Johnson was then a schoolboy, and remembered both of them telling him they were his cousins through his grandmothers, and Lord Cardigan telling him about the Battle of Balaclava.

 

James Thomas Brudenel, seventh Earl of Cardigan, was born in 1797. He entered the army and became a Lieutenant-General. He was said to have become involved, by virtue of his domineering temper, in constant wrangles with his brother Officers. He was MP for Marlborough between 1819 and 1829. In 1830, he became a Lieutenant Colonel by purchase of Commission. He became MP for Northamptonshire in 1832. He commanded the 15^th Hussars in 1832-3, and the 11^th Hussars between 1836 and 1847. In 1837 he succeeded to the Earldom, becoming then the 7th Earl of Cardigan. In 1847 he became a Major-General (field commission). He commanded the Light Cavalry in the Crimea. The contributor to the National Biography phrases it: “and destroyed it (the Light Cavalry) in the famous 'charge”, in 1854. That controversy raged, and, in part, continues. He became a Colonel of the Dragoon Guards in 1859, and of the 11^th Hussars in 1860, becoming Lieutenant-General in 1861.

 

Godschall Johnson and Lucy had a very large family, comprising thirteen children, and when his first wife died, his second wife had eleven children.

 

The thirteen children of Godschall Johnson and his first wife Lucy Bishop, were:

1-4	the first four children died either at birth or early infancy
5	Lucy Godschall Johnson;
6	Godschall Johnson;
7	Frederick Godschall Johnson;
8	Cecil Godschall Johnson;
9	Ralph Edward Godschall Johnson;
10	William Godschall Johnson;
11	Anna Maria Godschall Johnson;
12	George Godschall Johnson;
13	Francis Godschall Johnson.

 

Most of these children appear to have been born at Oakley House in Bedfordshire; certainly a number were christened at the Church of St. Mary in Bedford, Bedfordshire.

 

Oakley House is in the Parish of Oakley, 4 miles north-west of Bedford, as it was in those days. Oakley House was always the scene of the Oakley Hunt. The House itself stood well back in well-wooded grounds on the north bank of the Ouse River, southwest of the village of Oakley, but on the north bank of the river, which was spanned by Oakley Bridge, an old five arched stone structure, bearing an inscription to mark the height to which the great flood of 1823 arose. The House was often the residence of the agent for the Duke of Bedford, who, was the figurehead for the Bedfordshire Regiment.

 

Lucy Godschall Johnson

 

Lucy Godschall Johnson married Jules Denis.

 

Godschall Johnson

 

Godschall Johnson married and had a child, one, at least. His fate is a mystery.

 

One source has it that Godschall Johnson “married and with his son lost all trace of in the bush”. Another source phrased it as “married and with his son disappeared into the bush”.

 

“Bush” is a typical Australian term, although it has also been applied to South Africa.

 

Frederick Godschall Johnson

 

Frederick Godschall Johnson was baptised on 25 September 1811 at the church of St. Mary, Bedford, Bedfordshire.

 

There is a cryptic note in the source against this name, that he had no issue. However he is probably the Uncle Fred, who with his wife, Fanny, lived in Ireland, and raised Frederick Flower Godschall Johnson for a number of years.

 

Cecil Godschall Johnson

 

Cecil Godschall Johnson was baptised on 6 July 1814 at the Church of St. Mary, Bedford, Bedfordshire.

 

Cecil Godschall Johnson married Charlotte Parkinson and had seven children: Charlotte, Georgina, Gertrude, Laura, Arthur Godschall Johnson, Algernon Godschall Johnson, and Cecil Godschall Johnson.

 

Of these offspring, Arthur Godschall Johnson became a civil servant, Cecil Godschall Johnson had no issue, and nothing is known about Algernon Godschall Johnson.

 

Ralph Edward Godschall Johnson

 

Ralph Edward Godschall Johnson was born in England in 1812 (although he claims to have been born in Antwerp).

 

There is a record of his christening on 4 January 1813 in Saint Mary’s Church, Bedford, Bedfordshire.

 

Ralph Edward Godschall Johnson married Ellen or Eleanor Sarah Butler.

 

[May Thornton says that] the marriage occurred in London, [but there does not appear to be a record of their marriage in England. As marriages were scrupulously recorded, for certain legal and historical reasons, it is suspected that they may have been married on the Continent, possibly in France.]

       

Ralph and Eleanor had seven children.

       

It is noted in the French christening records Francis Lucy, Frederick Flower, and Francis O'Neill were christened in France, that Eleanor gave her name on the first record as Ellen Sarah Butler, and on the two ensuing as Ellen.

 

Ralph emigrated to Australia in 1854 after his wife died in 1853, bringing his children with him at various stages. His descendants occupy most of the Australian chapters of this book.

William Godschall Johnson: No information.

Anna Maria Godschall Johnson: No information.

George Godschall Johnson: No information.

 

Francis Godschall Johnson:

 

Francis was born at Oakley House, Bedfordshire, England, on the first of January 1817, the fifth of six sons of Captain Godschall Johnson, formerly an officer in the 10th Royal Hussars and British Consul General to Belgium, and his mother, Lucy Bishop, a daughter of Sir Cecil Bishop.  After attending Harrow, he was sent to a college at Saint Omer in France, and later to Bruges in Belgium. There he acquired an accomplished knowledge of French, which proved most useful to him when he later settled in Montreal, Canada.

 

Francis Godschall Johnson emigrated to Canada in 1837 with his Uncle Ralph Botoler Godschall Johnson, and later became the Chief Justice of Lower Canada. He married twice, and left children by both marriages. He spent his life in Canada. His first wife was Mary Gates Jones, and his second wife, Mary Louise Mills. See the next chapter for his descendants.

 

Godschall and Lucy Johnson

 

 

Lucy Godschall Johnson, ne  Bishop, died in about 1823/24.

 

In 1825, Godschall Johnson married again, to Francis Wetenhall, neé  Tomlinson.

 

Francis was born in 1801 and was to survive to 1847, dying at the early age of 46.

 

Godschall Johnson, as a widower, was to survive his second wife by 12 more years, dying in 1859.

       

There were eleven children by this, Godschall Johnson’s, second  marriage:

 

1	Eleanor Godschall Johnson;
2	Lucy Godschall Johnson;
3	Mary Godschall Johnson;
4	Edward Godschall Johnson;
5	Robert Godschall Johnson;
6	Emily Godschall Johnson;
7	Charles Godschall Johnson;
8	Mary Godschall Johnson
9	James Godschall Johnson
10	Rachael Godschall Johnson;
11	Franklin Godschall Johnson.

 

Godschall Johnson was H.R.H. Consul in Antwerp for many years. He died in 1859, having been predeceased by his second wife, Francis Wetenhall.

 

There was a miniature of Godschall Johnson, which showed him at about the age of 25 years. It was said that he did not have his father's good looks, but his characteristic heavy eyebrows and dark eyes were quite noticeable. He was wearing his own hair, heavily powdered, and is dressed in a high white stock.

 

His children by his second marriage, dealt with in seriatim:

       

Robert Godschall Johnson

 

Robert Godschall Johnson was born in 1829, to Godschall Johnson and his second wife Frances Wetenhall, nee` Tomlinson.

       

Robert Godschall Johnson married, in 1870, his cousin, Emily Sophie Darvall.

       

Robert Godschall Johnson was in the Foreign Office Service, and was a Queen’s Messenger.

       

He and his wife Emily had two children, Franklyn Godschall Johnson and Emily Francis Godschall Johnson.

       

Franklyn Godschall Johnson was born in 1872, and survived until 1913. He died unmarried.

       

Emily Francis Godschall Johnson was born in 1874 and survived until 1950. She was known to later generations as “Emmie”.

       

Robert Godschall Johnson died in 1889.

 

Rachel Godschall Johnson

 

Rachel Godschall Johnson was born in 1830, the daughter to Godschall Johnson and his second wife, Francis Wetenhall, neé  Tomlinson.

       

She died in 1910, unmarried.

 

Emily Sophie Darvall

 

Emily Sophie Darvall was born in 1845.

         

She was a granddaughter of Captain Edward Darvall and Emily Godschall Johnson.

       

Robert Godschall Johnson, her husband, died in 1889, aged 60.

       

Emily survived her husband by 34 years, dying in 1923, and was survived by her daughter mentioned above, Emily Francis Godschall Johnson, but not by her son Franklyn Godschall Johnson, who had died in 1913.

 

Alice Mary Darvall

 

Emily’s sister was Alice Mary Darvall. Alice Mary Darvall was born in 1845. 

       

In 1890, she married the Rev. Herbert Parry Thornton. The Rev. Herbert Parry Thornton was born in 1856 and was the son of the Rev. Francis Thornton and Mary Louise Cholmondeley, mentioned earlier.

       

They left no issue.

       

Alice Mary Parry Thornton, neé Darvall, died in 1913.

       

Her husband, the Rev. Herbert Parry Thornton, survived his wife, dying in 1933.

                                                           

**

 

Francis Godschall Johnson

 

Francis Godschall Johnson emigrated to Canada.

       

There he married Mary Gates Jones.

       

They had seven children:

 

Francis Godschall Johnson,

Ralph Godschall Johnson,

Edward Cecil Godschall Johnson,

Philip Godschall Johnson,

Mary Lucy Godschall Johnson,

Leura Wellwood Godschall Johnson,

Mary Lucy Anna Georgina Godschall Johnson.

       

Francis Godschall Johnson had a second wife, Mary Louise Mills.

       

By his second wife he had two children, Charles Ralph Godschall Johnson, and Frederick William Godschall Johnson.

 

Charles Ralph Godschall Johnson

 

Charles Ralph Godschall Johnson married Amy Wright, by whom he had a son Frederick Godschall Johnson.

Frederick Godschall Johnson

 

Frederick Godschall Johnson married Pauline Forget.

They had two children: Louis Godschall Johnson, born in 1915, and Charles Talbot Godschall Johnson, born in 1921.

 

Frederick William Godschall Johnson

 

The second son of Francis Godschall Johnson and his second wife, Mary Louise Mills, was Frederick William Godschall Johnson.

       

Frederick William Godschall Johnson married Agnes Wuick.

       

They had five children: Frank Charles Godschall Johnson, Vance Godschall Johnson, Olive Godschall Johnson, Harriet Agnes Godschall Johnson, and Violet Godschall Johnson.

                                                           

Ralph Edward Godschall Johnson

 

Ralph Edward Godschall Johnson, was the eldest son of Godschall Johnson, by his first wife, Lucy Bishop.

       

He was born in England, though he claimed to be born in Antwerp, in 1812, whilst his father, Godschall Johnson, was serving as His Majesty's Consul to Antwerp.

         

He married, it was said, in London, (of which there is no confirmatory record), England, in 1832, at age 20, Eleanor Sarah Butler. There is a possibility though, seeing English marriage records were scrupulously kept, for the marriage to have occurred either on the Continent or in Ireland.

       

Ralph and Eleanor Godschall Johnson had seven children, three of whom appear to have been born in France.

       

The eldest was Ralph Cholmondeley Godschall Johnson, born about 1833/4, probably in London, County of Middlesex.

       

The second son was Charles Godschall Johnson, probably also born in London.

       

The third son was Frank O'Neill Godschall Johnson, born about either 1836/7, which is May Thornton's date (in which case he was probably born in London), or 1844 (another source), which places him in the middle of the French period.

       

The fourth son was Frederick Flower Godschall Johnson, born in 1846 at St. Omer in France.

       

The youngest son was William Butler Godschall Johnson, born in 1849, possibly back in England.

       

The daughters of Ralph Edward Godschall Johnson and Eleanor Sarah Butler were Ellen Elizabeth Ann Godschall Johnson and Frances Lucy Godschall Johnson, known as Fanny.

       

Ellen Elizabeth Godschall Johnson was born in 1841.

       

Frances Lucy (Fanny) Godschall Johnson was born in 1842 at St. Omer in France.

       

Eleanor Godschall Johnson died about 1853, leaving Ralph Edward Godschall Johnson a widower with seven children ranging in ages from 5 to 20.

       

Family chipped in to help with the children. Ellen and Fanny lived with the Thornton family at the Rectory at Bassingstoke. Frank, aged 10, and William, aged 5, boarded at a school at Chilton, Andover, four miles away, and spent the holidays at the Rectory at Bassingstoke with the Thornton household. In fact, William had started with that boarding school the year earlier, at the tender age of 4, and it is expected that Frank had already spent a number of years there by the time his mother died.

       

Frederick, aged 8, was billeted in Ireland with other family members, Uncle Fred and Aunt Fanny, where he was to receive further education. The education he received was Catholic, and he was expected to enter the Church, but he refused to take the vows.

       

Ralph Edward Godschall Johnson sailed to Australia in 1854 with his two eldest sons.

       

He took with him his eldest son Ralph Cholmondeley Godschall Johnson, and another son Charles, leaving the daughters and other and younger sons to be educated in England.

       

Author: Lady May Thornton (England)(now deceased)

 

Manuscript completed 1972.

 

Some editing has been effected to the manuscript.