The story of the Cromwell Family is rich in history.
When I was growing up, I was told that our family line had been traced back to a connection with Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England. When I began my research in the 1990s, I was able to get back as far as the late 1700s when the United Empire Loyalists came to Canada in 1783. I also did research from Oliver Cromwell backwards several generations through the Welsh connections. I was still missing the 150 years from Oliver and Richard Cromwell to Henry Cromwell in New Brunswick.
In 2011, Bert and Mary Wood provided the connecting information, filling in the missing links to have a complete tree back to the 1100s. What a thrill that has been as I have continued to add information and background information. I am the 14th generation from Sir Philip Cromwell (1578-1630), the brother of Robert Cromwell who was the father of Oliver Cromwell who became Lord Protector of England. This begins the 150 year link that was missing from my research for many years.
The Cromwell kindred got their name from the village of Cromwell which is about five miles north of Newark in Nottinghamshire. With my interest in royalty, I have included a chapter on the Sovereigns of Britain from William the Conqueror to the present Queen Elizabeth and interconnect them with the Cromwells living during their reigns.
When monasteries, abbeys and priories were suppressed and their broad acres and immense wealth seized by King Henry and his minister Thomas Cromwell, his nephew Sir Richard and his heirs secured the possession of extensive estates and manors in the county of Huntingdon by royal favor. Sir Richard’s wife was Frances, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Thomas Murfyn, Lord Mayor of London, and by her he had a son Henry. Henry succeeded his father and married Joan Warren, daughter of Lord Mayor of London, Sir Ralph Warren, a wealthy London merchant who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth. By this marriage the wealth of the family was further augmented. Upon account of his great wealth, liberality in bestowing gifts, and hospitality, Sir Henry was called “The Golden Knight”. When he died he left the bulk of his estates to his eldest son Oliver, while providing five hundred pounds a year in land for each of his other sons, Robert, Henry and Philip. Shortly after Oliver had entered upon possession of his estates at Hinchinbrook, he was called upon to entertain King James I on his way from Scotland to London to be crowned King of England; for his generous hospitality the king, as a mark of royal favor, conferred upon him the honor of knighthood. Three members of the family were knighted by three successive sovereigns – Richard by Henry VIII, Henry by Queen Elizabeth, and Oliver by James I.
Come and discover the interconnections throughout history tying the family into historical events that helped shaped the English world.
