Back to PearsallsPearsalls Pedigree:England
Edmond Pearsall (Pershall)
Edmond Pearsall was born in1531 and died in April 1629. He changed the name
of his family when he entered into business in London in 1552. Thereafter,
the family name was spelled "Pearsall". He was a Merchant of the
Staple and an officer in the Grocers Guild, the largest financial backer
of international trade and shipping. His name is on the list of supporters
of the charter for the second Virginia Colony. It was there the family tobacco
fortune was made. After a series of land and finance frauds committed by
his brother Robert and Robert's heirs against Edmond and his family and
business, both Edmond Pearsall and his son Edmond died in Fleet Street debtor's
prison. Edmond Pearsall was the son of Richard Pershall.
Richard Pershall
During the reign of Henry VIII it was wise for those not associated with
the Church of England to avoid having to do with the courts. Consequently,
little record exists of this generation. Richard Pershall (Peshall) was
recorded as living at Swinnerton in the Muster Roll of 1539. He was the
son of John Peshall.
John Pershall
He was born in 1485. His crest was a wolf's head erased. His family motto
was "Bien venu ce que ad viendra" He inherited the estates of
Horseley, Peshall, and others. (De Walden Library vol. Ii)
He was Keeper and justice of the Peace 1509-1547. (Staff. Hist. Col. Vol.1912,
p.320)He was married to Helen Harcourt, a descendant of Bernard the Dane,
guardian of young William Longsword in long ago Normandy.He was the son
of Humphrey Peshall
Humphrey Peshall
He acted as esquire to his father, Sir Hugh, at the Battle of Bosworth Field
when they fought beside Richmond who became King Henry VII. The Horsely
and Ranton branches of our family were for Lancaster. The Kinlet branch
were for Richard the III and York.
Humphrey Peshall married Helena Swinnerton, a descendant of the Swinnerton
branch of our family. He was the son of Sir Hugh de Peshale.
"It tells quite eloquently of the force of the onslaught made by King
Richard III that Sir Hugh died in three years, and his son died in four
years after this[Bosworth Field] battle." (Pearsalls v. 2 p.808)
Sir Hugh de Peshall
He was among Richmond 's (Henry VII) bodyguard when Richard III advanced
on them seeking to engage his adversary in single combat. It is probable
that the bodyguard (rather than Henry himself ) were the ones who actually
defeated King Richard and killed him. Hugh Peshall was among those knighted
on the field by King Henry. He was the son of Hugh de Peshall.
Hugh de Peshall
Son of Nicholas de Peshall supported the Lancastrian side in the Wars of
the Roses. Lived on the family lands in Staffordshire.
Nicholas de Peshall
He was sheriff of Staffordshire in 1436 and took part in the war between
Staffordshire and Northumberland which became the Wars of the Roses. He
was the son of Sir Thomas De Peshall.
Sir Thomas de Peshall
A large estate owner and knight, he was a supporter of Lancaster and Arundel
in the local wars. He was the son of Sir Richard de Peshall.
"Sir Richard de Peshall
Sir Richard de Peshall was sheriff 1374-1376 and was made a knight in 1376.
He was the son of Adam de Peshale,
Adam de Peshale
Sampson Eardswicke says this Adam married one of the daughters and heirs
of John Caverswall and had the manor of Bishop's Offley as a result. At
that time, his father Adam gave him Horsley to better his standing for this
advantageous marriage. Another source says it was that marriage to Joan
de Eyerton, heiress to the de Cresswalls which was the advantageous match.
This marked the return of the family to Staffordshire. He was Sherriff of
Staffordshire and Shropshire in 1341.
He had a manor and flocks of sheep at Himley near Eccleshall. He was killed
by enemies Jan. 8, 1346. They justified the murder by claiming falsely that
he had been outlawed and that his property was forfeit to the King. The
widow had to fight the King's claim in court. This battle continued for
many years. Adam de Peshale Died @1348
"The same chain of circumstances that made his brother a prisoner in
the Tower of London, made Adam de Peshale a party to the lawlessness and
rioting warfare in Staffordshire. In the days when men who disagreed as
to political policies each maintained his personal views by the power of
his sword, we see the Barons under Montfort waging actual and successful
against their king and afterwards acting as though they had all the time
been faithful law-abiding subjects. This view had extended to the courts
of justice...."
"That our ancestor survived until he had sons and that we are in existence
is simply because he and his sons were warriors of unusual prowess: brave,
true and efficient." (Pearsalls v. 1 pp.511-512) He was the son of
Walter de Peshale.
Adam de Peshale, sr.
He first appeared in court records in 1280. He owned a part of the original
manor of Peshale and had a house on it. He had a tenant who lived there
and farmed it. He was the son of Walter de Peshale.
Walter de Peshale
Walter de Peshale resided in Shropshire and was very closely associated
with the family of Fitz Alan (ancestors of the Stuarts). He is mentioned
in the will of Fitz Alan, Lord of Arundel as Master Walter de Peshale, indicating
at that time that he was a doctor of medicine. He married the daughter of
William Fitz Alan III, Lord of Clun He was the son of William de Peshale
William de Peshale
He was a tenant of the Barons of Wemme in Shropshire and may have been a
military consultant to him. He was the son of John de Lumley de Peshale
John de Lumley de Peshale
He was married to a daughter of Robert Fitz Alan of Swynnerton. The deed
naming him as the heir of his father Robert is in the British Museum (Collectanea
Genealogica ex Cartiis Antiques, collected by R. Holmes, Harleian Mss. No.
1985) The purpose of this bequest was to give him standing as the husband
of the heiress to Swynnerton and a member of the Fitz Alan family. The manor
of Lumley passed to the husbands of later descendants. The family was still
among those considered "Scots" as they had come south from Northumbria.
These families were not dispossessed by the advent of their cousin William
the Conqueror.
"On his deathbed the Conqueror confessed that he never trusted any
of the family of those whom he had injured. So perhaps it was a lucky incident
in our family history that our ancestor was located way out of the Conqueror's
sight in the midst of the great woods of Staffordshire and near the Welsh
border. Out of sight and out of mind, perhaps he could survive until the
great destroyer h ad passed away. The records of this and succeeding generations
were kept in large locked boxes called chartularies. Other than court records
of their wills and court cases, few records exist. It was considered wise
to avoid the attention of the monarch. John de Lumley de Peshale was the
son of Robert de Peshale.
Robert de Peshale
Robert de Peshale was the first to use the name which came from his manor.
He was married to Ormunda, daughter of Osbert de Lumley, (County Durham),
de Stafford and de Swinnerton in Staffordshire. Ormunda de Lumley de Stafford
was descended from and of the blood of all the Bernician Northumbrian kings
(as was Poppa, Rognvald's wife and Rollo's mother). He was the son of Robert
Fitz Gilbert de Corbeil.
Robert Fitz Gilbert de Corbeil
He was the first of our family to win the manor of Peshale. He married into
one of the families who formed the colony of emigrants from Northumberland
and who settled near Stone Priory in Staffordshire.
"At this time Staffordshire was almost an unbroken forest with only
here and there clearings which had been made by the English prior to the
Conquest. Among these clear and cultivated spots in the forest was that
of Peshale which had been forfeited from its English owner and which was
now included in the holdings of Robert de Toesni, de Stafford. The deed
of confirmation discloses that his manor was purchased by Gilbert de Corbeil
for his son Robert Fitz Gilbert de Corbeil. Thither the young man journeyed
with his bride to begin life in a country as undeveloped as was the great
forest of New York and Pennsylvania at the close of the Revolutionary War.
It is known in English History as a wilderness, and the whole country teemed
with wild life from the great wild ox of Brittany and the terrible forest
wolf to the smallest varmint, and there was game in abundance of all kinds
for food for the successful hunter. Instead of the Indians of the American
forest, there was the Welsh-man, who although a white man of good ancestry,
[sic] had been forced to become a lurking savage." (Pearsalls v. 1
p.177)
"It was a principle of the English law down to the reign of Charles
II that a feoffment of land need not be in writing and that its transfer
might be effected by the symbolical delivery of a piece of turf or twig
or a stone and by many other ways and this was the method followed by Robert
de Stafford in granting the manor of Peshale to Robert Fitz Gilbert de Corbeil."
(Ibid. p.179) The confirmatory deed was dated 1068 in this record, but in
other sources, was more probably in 1168. (Ibid p.181) He may not have come
to Staffordshire until as late as 1100. He was the son of Gilbert de Corbeil.