Texas History, Family History, and Scratching the Itch - #3

                                        Day Three:  Meeting Bill Schleede

March 7th was the third and last day of my trip.  Today I was to visit with Bill Schleede.  I had contacted Bill the week before about getting together and I had called him Wednesday evening to set up a time to meet. He graciously invited me to have breakfast with him at his home.  William Rudolph Schleede #3 is my first cousin once removed. His grandmother and my great-grandmother is Maria Theresia (Eigel) (Meixner) Schleede. Theresia's first husband, Frank Meixner, died in 1890 and she married William Rudolph Schleede #1.  Their only child was William Rudolph Schleede #2 and he is Bill's father.  I used #1 etc. because I do not know if they actually had the designation of I, II, and III or first, second, third.  I'll have to ask Bill the next time I talk to him.

Bill is in his late 80s and still lives on and runs his farm, which is located near the old home place where he grew up.  He lived next door to his grandmother Theresia until he was eight.  The old home place was passed down to his father and then to him.

Bill Schleede in front of his home March 7, 2013.  Photographs property of Moody Meixner and are to be shared only by family.

I arrived at Bill's farm at 8:00 am as he had suggested.  His home is a very nice brick home he and his wife built.  Unfortunately his wife passed away several years ago.  Bill welcomed me and invited me inside.  Bill is slight in build, not as stocky as I remember my dad and granddad Meixner but about the same height. When I shook Bill's hand I could feel the strength in his handshake that only comes from a life filled with long days of hard work.  Also, I must say I was surprised when I met Bill because he does not look or act anywhere close to his age.

We drove by his old home place, but we were not able to drive out to it in my car.  You can see where his old house was located by the windmill right in the center of the photo, just above the tree line.

I expected that I would stay a couple hours at Bill's home but I ended up staying nearly six hours.  Bill busily worked at frying eggs and bacon and making toast while I sipped coffee.  Bill had many stories I had not heard before.  He is the only living person I know that knew great-grandmother Theresia personally. Theresia died many years before I was born.  I had always had the impression great-grandmother Theresia did not speak English, but Bill said she communicated with him in English quite well. He had many fond memories of his grandmother.  (I know it is confusing referring to my great-grandmother and his grandmother but hopefully you understand that I am referring to the same person, Theresia.

I have to say, Bill makes a great breakfast.  We ate and talked some more.  He talked about his grandparents and his parents.  Bill said his grandfather, William Rudolph Schleede #1, worked for my great-granddad Frank Meixner at Three Forks in Bell County.  He said Frank had been a butcher in the old country and he taught Rudolph how to butcher. From this story it makes sense to me that Rudolph was close to the family and it is easy to see why, when Frank died, Rudolph and Theresia married.  He was someone she knew and at this time in history a women's only avenue, after her husband died, was to get re-married as soon as possible.  Rudolph bought a farm soon after their marriage near Salado and the family moved there. Theresia and Rudolph only had one child together, Rudolph.  There were four Meixner children still at home.

In the coming years one daughter passed away in 1899.  As for the remaining children, Bill said, "The Schleede farm was small." and "There were few opportunities..." [there in Bell County].  Consequently, Frank (Jr.) had already left and moved to Elm Mott, sister Minnie married and moved to Levelland with her husband.  In Bill's words, "It was often in those days for young men to head for West Texas."  So Harmon went west to Concho County and Henry followed a few years later.  Bill also stated that it was not long before Harmon and Henry had a falling out and Henry moved away from Concho County.  All the Meixner children had left home by 1911 when Rudolph #1 died.  Rudolph #2 , only 17 years old, was the only child left at home.  Theresia was left with a farm with a mortgage and a 17 year old son to help her make ends meet. Rudolph #2 married five years later and lived, with his family, next door to his mother the rest of his life and took care of the farm.

As I stated earlier, Bill lived next door to Theresia and was present when she died in 1932.  Bill was only eight but still remembers it vividly.  Theresia had been working that day.  He said she shucked a whole tub of corn and was peeling pears.  She was standing at the door of her home with a bowl of pears in her hands. Suddenly she yelled and threw the bowl in the air.  Bill's dad ran to her and helped her to her chair and sent for the doctor.  Of course it took at least 45 minutes to notify the doctor and for him to get to the house out in the country.  Bill said, however, that she died in her chair long before the doctor arrived.  She apparently suffered a heart attack.  Theresia's funeral was held at the local Methodist Church.  A friend held the service and she was buried in the Salado Cemetery.

In 1934 Bill's dad used the lumber in Theresia's old house and built a new one for him and his family there at the same location.  This was the house Bill would grow up in.  He remembered it had no electricity and only cold water in the tub and sink.

Theresia Schleede's Family Bible.  Photographs property of Moody Meixner and are to be shared only by family.

Old tin match box.  Photographs property of Moody Meixner and are to be shared only by family.

Old lock.  Photographs property of Moody Meixner and are to be shared only by family.

Beaded piece with Rudolph Schleede's initials dated 1875.  Photographs property of Moody Meixner and are to be shared only by family.

Pair of old glasses.  Photographs property of Moody Meixner and are to be shared only by family.

Along with the great stories and conversation, Bill brought out his grandmother's old family bible.  It was so fragile I did not attempt to even touch it but it was very interesting to see.  He did however, have several pages from the bible with information about the family that Theresia had written.  The pages were laminated and I was able to capture the pages with my portable scanner.  He brought out letters Theresia had kept that she received from her grandchildren.  He very generously said for me to keep the Meixner grandchildren letters.  I am extremely proud to have them and I have shared some with my cousin Claudia.

Copy of pages from Theresia Schleede's family bible.  Photographs property of Moody Meixner and are to be shared only by family.

This is a sample of the letters written by Theresia's grandchildren that she saved.  Photographs property of Moody Meixner and are to be shared only by family.

I wish I had taken a tape recorder with me on my visit.  I know I did not get everything written down that Bill and I talked about.  I had a fantastic day with Bill and I hope to get by to see him again soon. We ended our visit by driving to the Salado Cemetery and visiting the graves of his grandfather, Rudolph, and his grandmother Theresia (our common ancestor).  

The old step stone from Bill's old home where he grew up.  Photographs property of Moody Meixner and are to be shared only by family.

William Rudolph Schleede on March 7, 2013.  Photographs property of Moody Meixner and are to be shared only by family.

I dropped Bill back by his house and he invited me in for a sandwich but I really needed to get going.  He showed me a rock on his front walkway that had been a stepping stone at his old home place.  I think it makes a nice reminder of his early life and I am sure it brings back many fond memories.  I took Bill's picture and shook his hand and headed out toward home.  I left with a great feeling. What a wonderful day!  So much great information, but most of all I had discovered a new relative and a new friend.

Texas History, Family History, and Scratching the Itch - #2

                             Day Two:  Liberty Hill, Georgetown, Belton, Temple

When I originally planned my trip, my second day included a stop in Georgetown and a short visit with a friend that I had worked with for many years at Mercedes Benz Credit. He retired the same year I did and I hadn't seen him in a long time.  Unfortunately he had already planned a trip out of town so I had to modify my plans.  As I was talking to Kay on the phone on the morning of day two, I mentioned to her my planned route.  This was March 6, 2013.  (The anniversary of the fall of the Alamo by the way.)  I told her I was going to go the back roads to Belton.  She looked at the route on her map and suggested I go a different route, one that led directly to Georgetown and then up I35 to Belton.  As I looked at the map I agreed that would be a good route.  I could stop off in Georgetown as originally planned but instead of a visit I could do a little family history work.  Georgetown is where my dad went to college at Southwestern University, completing both his undergraduate and Masters degrees there.  This is where my mom lived and worked and where mom and dad met, fell in love, and got married.

So as I looked along the route on the map, a funny thing happened, or as I like to say, I experienced a case of serendipity.  I like this word because it is fun to say:  S-e-r-e-n-d-i-p-i-t-y!  But, also, it is one of the most fun and exciting things that happens once in a while in genealogy.  Per Merriam-Webster the word means: "luck that takes the form of finding valuable or pleasant things that are not looked for", or as Wikipedia puts it: "happy accident" or "pleasant surprise".

At any rate I saw on the map the town of Liberty Hill.  I knew mom had graduated from Liberty Hill High School but in the back of my mind I had always seemed to think of it as the name of a high school, but not the name of a town.  Well, there it was, located right on my route to Georgetown. Now I could stop there and spend some time as well.

I had spent the night in Marble Falls, so Liberty Hill was only a short drive away.  Located on Highway 29, about halfway between Burnett and Georgetown, Liberty Hill seemed to me to be one of those small towns that was in that in-between stage of being small but being transformed into being large.  It is 15 miles from Georgetown and 33 miles from downtown Austin.  In the last 15-20 years it has grown from a population of 300 to around 1600 and is home to a 3-A high school and lots of construction.

The old downtown area of Liberty Hill.  I didn't visit the new area but I'm sure they have one.

As I drove past the city limit sign, I realized I had no idea where to go or what to do. Luckily I wandered into the old downtown area.  Of course other areas are growing and the old downtown is standing still.  I took some photographs of the old buildings and continued on.  A small sign on the side of the road alerted me to the direction of the United Methodist Church so I headed that way.  Founded in 1854 on a site a short distance away, construction started on this beautiful building in 1870 with additions being made in 1905, 1916, and 1954.  (Information from the Historical Marker.)  I'm thinking mom and her family went to church here.  There were some beautiful old homes around as well.

Liberty Hill United Methodist Church.  

Beautiful old home located in Liberty Hill, TX.

I tried to find the high school but I didn't have any luck.  Actually that isn't true, I did find the high school.  It was a big beautiful new high school and definitely not the school where mom went in the 1930s.  So, I gave up, thinking that the old school was most likely gone anyway, and started toward Georgetown.  But then I thought better of it and pulled to the side of the road.  I thought, "Darn it, I am here so I should work harder to find the school."  I turned around and headed back to town.  Just approaching town from the east I noticed a real estate office on the left side of the road so I pulled in.  What better person to know where things are than a real estate person.  I walked in and two very nice young ladies greeted me and asked how they could help me.  I told them that I had a strange request.  I said I was looking for the old high school where my mom (and some of her siblings) had attended high school back in the 30's.  One of the ladies said she would call her mom at home, saying she had lived there a long time and might know where the school had been. Indeed her mom did know and she gave me the information and the directions.  In addition they gave me directions to the library and said the librarian would have information about the history of the town.  It is always so nice to encounter friendly, helpful people.  I did not retain their names but if you every need help with real estate in Liberty Hill, stop by that little office on the south side of the road on the east side of town. It is right near the new high school.  You can't miss it.

Site of the old Liberty Hill High School in the 1930s.  In March of 2013 it was an Intermediate School.

The site of the old high school was the site of the present day Intermediate School.  They were still using this school in March of 2013.  In looking at the web site for Liberty Hill ISD it appears they have opened up a new intermediate school now.  I could not tell if there were any parts of this school that might have been a part of the building from back in the 1930s.  The main part of the school looked like it had been constructed maybe in the 50s but I am not much of a historian of architecture so I don't know for sure.  Maybe that first picture above is from the old building.  Frankly I didn't hang around the school taking pictures but only a few seconds.  I wasn't sure how it might appear for some old man to be loitering around the school all alone like that.  I could just see the police screeching up at any second.  It was still satisfying to just feel like I was at least at the location where mom went to school.

My mom's (Avis Galbreath) graduation announcement from Liberty Hill High School. Her brother G.J. Galbreath graduated the same year.

Liberty Hill High School Senior's class play, May 5, 1934.  Mom was Leonora Blackstone, a medium, per the above program.  Her brother G.J. was William Grayson, a millionaire broker.

Commencement and Baccalaureate programs for Liberty Hill High School, 1934.

Next I went by the library and had a very nice conversation with Sandy, the librarian.  She introduced me to a lady that was there working on genealogy.  This lady's brother was kind of the unofficial historian of Liberty Hill. She said she would have him look to see if he had an annual from that time frame when Mom was in hight school.  (Unfortunately this wasn't to be.)  I later sent them scans of graduation programs etc. shown above.  I hope they will become a part of the historical items they are gathering.

All in all a very nice morning in Liberty Hill, Texas.  I enjoyed very much being where mom spent part of her growing up years and visiting with the friendly people of Liberty Hill.  

Then I was off to Georgetown.  I located the courthouse and the square.  I ate a late lunch at Gumbo's at 701 South Main Street, on the northeast corner of the square.  (If I remember correctly.)  The food was excellent and great service.  Having been revived with a full belly of good food, I then toured the beautiful old courthouse.  I also visited the Williamson County museum located on the southwest corner of the square.

Williamson County Courthouse.

Williamson County Courthouse.

Williamson County Courthouse.  I wonder if my parents didn't have to come to the courthouse to get their marriage license.  I would think that they did.

Four sides of the Georgetown downtown square around the courthouse.  If I remember correctly, the top photograph shows the museum, which is located on the West  side of the square in the building on the far left.

Next I found Church Street and attempted to locate the house where mom lived with her family. Unfortunately, at the address for the house a new house had been built.  I must say it was not nearly as pretty and interesting as the old one.  Nor did it have any character.  Oh well, time moves on.

Galbreath family photograph in front of the old house on Church Street, Georgetown, TX. circa late 1930s.

Next I drove onto the Southwestern University campus and took some photographs. Also, went by and looked at the beautiful United Methodist Church.  Southwestern was the catalyst for my mom and dad meeting and eventually getting married.  Mom worked for a professor at Southwestern and dad was working on the campus when they first met. Dad also went to school with and was friends with some of Mom's brothers so he new they family as well.  Mom also worked at a Federal Government Sewing Room project and for a burger joint called Uncle Ed's.  I wish I could find these two locations but for now I have no idea where they are located.

Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX.

First United Methodist Church in Georgetown, TX.  Founded in 1849, this building was built in 1891-1893.  (From the Historical Marker above.)

Avis Galbreath and Harmon Meixner above on a date at the San Gabriel River in Georgetown, TX, in 1940.

Mom and Dad, Harmon and Avis (Galbreath) Meixner, on their wedding day 1940.

I made one last stop at a coffee house, again back on the square, (north side) called Cianfrani Coffee Company and picked up some coffee to go.  Sandy had recommended it to me when I told her I was going to Georgetown when I left Liberty Hill.  The coffee was good and kept me going strong the rest of the day. Now it was time to head north to Belton.

I can't resist taking a photo of the great old courthouse in Belton anytime I drive through downtown.

Belton is about 33 miles north of Georgetown.  I cruised into Belton and went downtown. I walked around a little taking some photographs and then I accidentally discovered the Bell County Museum.  I took a tour through the museum and found it to be very interesting.  By chance there was a traveling exhibit on President Abraham Lincoln at the museum that was down to the last day or two to be there.

From Belton I headed out on the 8 mile trip to Temple.  I checked into my hotel and decided I had not had enough for the day so I grabbed a bite to eat and some how found my way to the Temple Library.  Kay will be laughing as she reads this.  She knows that I never know where I am going, have a terrible sense of direction, and hate to stop to ask for directions. It was night and it took some doing for me to find the library but I did.  I had been told by some reliable folks the Temple Library had a good genealogy department and it did not disappoint.  I gathered some really good information on my Whiteley ancestors and kept at it until they shooed me out the door at 9:00 pm.  Well, actually they didn't have to run me off.  I was really tired by this time and I was ready to hit the hay.

Next time I will tell you about day three and my visit with Bill Schleede.  

Armistead Family History #3 - Armisteads in England (Part 2)

                                                      Early Armisteads

Have you ever heard the old saying "The faster I go, the further behind I get"? Actually my favorite way of saying it is "The hurrier I go the behinder I get". (Don't look those two words up on spell check, they aren't there.)  That phrase describes me the last few weeks.  The more I researched England, Yorkshire, and the royal families during the 16th and 17th Centuries, the more information I found and the more information I wanted to put in this post.  That in turn led to more research to better understand what I had just learned. After many attempts to cram it all in, I finally concluded that I have gone way beyond the scope of this blog. So, I tried to rein myself in, cut out a lot of history, and get back to writing.  My goal was to get this posted nearly three weeks ago, so you get the jest of what I'm saying.

On a personal note.  I wrote the last sentence above on Jan 29th.  On the 30th my wife's mom had a stroke. She passed away 9 days later.  It has been a difficult 4 weeks.  My family has always been very important to me.  Maybe that is why I enjoy genealogy so much.  Losing a loved one feels like losing a little part of myself.  Our families play such a big role in making us who we are.  Take the time to love, cherish, and appreciate your family.

The darker shaded area in the map above is Yorkshire.  This view gives you an idea of the area and also some of the towns.
http://www.itraveluk.co.uk/maps/england/yorkshire/

This map shows the outline of each of the four riding's in Yorkshire.
http://comestaywithus.com/england1/yorkshire.html

Yorkshire has been a very important part of England's history.  From the website www.yorkshire-england.co.uk, David Simpson writes, "This region formed what was historically the largest county in England and today the county of North Yorkshire still holds that honour. Yorkshire is a vast and varied region of more than three and a half million acres and a population of almost 5 million." (Yorkshire) "is home to vast swathes of unspoilt, beautiful countryside, littered only with picturesque villages and genteel towns. Yorkshire's smaller places range from solid stone hamlets in the dales, fine brick-built coaching towns in the vales to lovely red-roofed cottages in captivating coastal settlements that hug the coves of the shore."  He also writes,  "There are ancient cathedral and abbey towns like Selby, Beverly and Ripon and to top it all we have one of the most historic cities in England in the shape of the wonderful City of York." (1)  Mr Simpson describes Yorkshire so beautifully that I thought it best just to quote him in his own words and his own spelling. Please go to the website for more history as well as current information about the area and the major cities and towns.

Below are a few photographs of the beautiful countryside in Yorkshire.

Description:  Thornborough Henge
Date:  21 June 2005
Source:  From geograph.org.uk
Author:  Tony Newbould
Permission(Reusing this file):  Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike license 2.0
Camera location 54° 12′ 37.62″ N, 1° 33′ 52.27″ W View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap - Google Maps - Google Earth info British Isles all.svg
This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. See this photograph's page on the Geograph website for the photographer's contact details. The copyright on this image is owned by Tony Newbould and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.w:en:Creative Commons attribution share alike  This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
Attribution: Tony Newbould
You are free:  to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work to remix – to adapt the work Under the following conditions:  attribution – You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
share alike – If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one.

Description:  Upper Nidderdale, looking up-dale
Date:  27 October 2005
Source:  Own work
Author:  Chris R (user Cyclopaedic)
Permission(Reusing this file):  I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following licenses: Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled GNU Free Documentation License.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Upper_Nidderdale.JPG

Summary:  Fountains Abbey ruins seen from Southwest.
Author:  own photo, Klaus with K
Camera location 54° 06′ 33.8″ N, 1° 34′ 56.6″ W   View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap - Google Maps - Google Earth info Licensing
I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following licenses:
GNU head.  Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled GNU Free Documentation License. w:en:Creative Commons
attribution share alike.  This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
You are free:  to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work to remix – to adapt the work
Under the following conditions:  attribution – You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
share alike – If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one.
This licensing tag was added to this file as part of the GFDL licensing update.

Description:  View from Richmond Castle's keep.
Date:  2004-10-31 (original upload date)
Source:  Transferred from en.wikipedia; Transfer was stated to be made by User:PurpleHz.
Author:  English: Personal photograph taken by Mick Knapton on 16/2/2004Original uploader was Mick Knapton at en.wikipedia
Permission(Reusing this file):  GFDL-WITH-DISCLAIMERS; Released under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Licensing:  Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.Subject to disclaimers.

Kay and I were recently introduced to the television series "Downton Abbey" by Kay's cousin Tom.  I know, I know, we are a good four years behind.  Well, Tom loaned us season one to watch on DVD and we watched season two and three on Amazon, Instant Video. We still have some catching up to do on season 4.  I have all of season 4 saved on my DVR, so please, don't tell us what happened this season. Anyway, the point is, Downton Abbey is about a fictional place located in North Yorkshire. The names of the cities and places mentioned in the series are from that area.  You may have noticed these town names on signs or heard them talk about Thirsk, Ripon, Leeds, and York. The castle that is used for exterior and interior shots is Highclere Castle which is located in Hampshire.  All the exterior shots of buildings, train station, etc. are located outside of Yorkshire as well.  Never-the-less I found it makes the series even more fun to watch, since it is set in the very area I have been researching and it is the area where my Armistead ancestors lived.  It may also be the area where I have relatives living today.  If you have not watched the series, Downton Abbey, you should try it, it's great.

Description:  Highclere Castle
Date:  26 August 2007, 10:54:52
Source:  originally posted to Flickr as Highclere Castle 1
Author:  JB + UK_Planet
Permission(Reusing this file):  This image, which was originally posted to Flickr.com, was uploaded to Commons using Flickr upload bot on 14:56, 7 July 2008 (UTC) by Jonjames1986. On that date it was licensed under the license below.
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
You are free:  to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work· to remix – to adapt the work Under the following conditions:· attribution – You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).

Now back to the Armisteads of England:  ROBERT, JOHN, and ROGER.  I talked about these three men in my last post. These Armisteads were farmers.  ROBERT was listed as a Yeoman.  This means he owned his farm and his farm was larger than that of a Husbandman.  ROGER was listed as a Husbandman so his farm was a little smaller. ROGER was born c. 1556 in Yorkshire, and died in November of 1596.  He married EPHAM about 1575. This is the first time we have a wife's name listed. EPHAM was born c. 1558 in England, and died Sep. 4, 1607, in Yorkshire. Their known children are Oswald, b. 1576, Margaret, b. 1578, Alice, b. 1580, Thomas, b. 1583, Robert, b. 1583, and ANTHONY, b. 1587. (2)

ANTHONY Armistead, was born in 1587 and he died in November of 1642 in Kirk Deighton, Yorkshire. He married FRANCES Thompson in August of 1606.  She was born in 1588 and died in June of 1634. Her father was WILLIAM Thompson.  Together ANTHONY and FRANCES had 12 children:  WILLIAM, born in 1610, was christened in Kirk Deighton, July 3, 1610, Robert, b. 1612, Elizabeth, b.1614, Epham, b. 1616, John, b. 1618, Jane, b. 1620, Margaret, b. 1622, John, b. 1624, (The earlier John had died so the name John was used again, as was the custom of the time.) Joseph, b. 1626, Henry, b. 1628, Adam, b. 1630, and Rachel, b. 1632.  The same year Rachael was born, 1632, the oldest son, WILLIAM, who was listed as a Yeoman, married ANNE Ellis, spinster, of Giggleswick.  (Giggleswick is a parish located in Craven District about a mile from the town of Settle.) (3)  I'll write more about WILLIAM, "The Immigrant" and ANNE a little later.

Below is North Yorkshire outlined in green with the districts separated by purple.  The Armisteads are from Harrogate District.  Between Leeds and York is a little town that is hard to read called Whetherby.  It is located right on the line between North and West Yorkshire.  Just a few miles northwest of there is Kirk Deighton.  That is the parish the Armisteads are from.  You can also locate Craven District  and the town of Settle on the left middle of the map.



This map outlines North Yorkshire with a green line and each of the  districts with a purple line.  The districts are Craven, Richmondshire, Hambleton, Scarborough, Ryedale, Selby, and Harrogate.  (This map is from an article about libraries but I liked the map so much I decided to use it.
http://www.bentham.net/Community/Media/LibraryClosuresMap.jpg

I have not studied the period of the 16th and 17th centuries a great deal and it is easy to think that not much happened in this time frame.  Once I started reading and studying this period, I realized this is a very interesting time and, like most periods, there were some great things that happened.  I mentioned Columbus and 1492, and Martin Luther and the year 1517 last time.  Here are a couple other important events of the early 1500s.  In 1536 Michelangelo started painting "The Last Judgment" in the Sistine Chapel.  He completed it in 1541.  In 1543 Nicolaus Copernicaus published his theory "On the Revolution of Heavenly Bodies" that concluded the sun is the center of the Universe and the Earth revolves around it.  That was quite a controversial pronouncement at the time.  (4)

Artist:  Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564)        
Description:  Last Judgment
Source/Photographer:  Web Gallery of Art:  Image   Info about artwork, Sailko, 2005-10-01
Permission(Reusing this file):  This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason: This work is in the public domain in the United States, and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years or less.
This file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights.
The official position taken by the Wikimedia Foundation is that "faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain".This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain. In other jurisdictions, re-use of this content may be restricted; see Reuse of PD-Art photographs for details.

In 1547 King Henry VIII died.  Henry's only male heir was crowned King Edward VI but, since he was under age, he was placed under the protection of his uncle. Edward only lived six years as king before he died at the age of 16 in 1553. (5)  Henry VIII had two daughters that could have been next in line but behind the scenes manipulations brought Lady Jane Grey to the throne instead of one of Henry VIII's daughters, Mary or Elizabeth. Queen Jane was only 16 years old, had no preparation for being queen, and had no desire to be queen.  After only nine days, she announced her accession.  She became known as the "Nine Day Queen".  (6)

With Lady Jane leaving the throne, Henry's eldest daughter, Mary, was next in the line of succession again. There were no manipulations this time or if there were they didn't work and Mary, the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, became Queen Mary I. One of her first actions, just a few months later, was to have Lady Jane Grey, the recent "Nine Day Queen", beheaded.  Mary's reign as queen would turn out to be a disastrous one.  She ruled for only five years before her death in 1558.  (7)

Artist:  Paul Delaroche (1797–1856)
Title:   The Execution of Lady Jane Grey
Date:  1833
Medium:  oil on canvas
Accession number NG1909
Object history 1902: bequeathed to National Gallery by the Second Lord Cheylesmore
Inscriptions Signature and date
Source/Photographer The National Gallery online
Permission(Reusing this file) This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason: This work is in the public domain in the United States, and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years or less.
This file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights.
The official position taken by the Wikimedia Foundation is that "faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain".This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain. In other jurisdictions, re-use of this content may be restricted; see Reuse of PD-Art photographs for details.

Queen Mary's death left Henry VIII's only surviving child, Elizabeth, next in line for the throne. Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth had a troubled early life. She had been declared illegitimate and deprived of her place in the line of succession. But everything changed when, at the age of 25, she became Queen Elizabeth I.  Elizabeth was well respected as queen.  In the first few months she re-established the Protestant Church in England, established the state Church of England, and restored the debased coinage.  She was a very active Queen and immensely popular.  She loved all kinds of sports, music, and dance.  She loved to watch plays and is credited with creating an atmosphere that allowed literary masterpieces to flourish.  It is generally considered that the English Renaissance reached it's height in England during the Elizabethan era.  Writers such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlow, and composers such as William Byrd and Thomas Morley are just a few of the many that flourished in their respective fields during this period in England.  (8)

   
Artist:  George Gower (1540–1596)
Title:  Elizabeth I of England, the Armada Portrait
Description:  The portrait was made in approximately 1588 to commemorate the defeat of the Spanish Armada (depicted in the background). Elizabeth I's international power is reflected by the hand resting on the globe.
Date:  circa 1588
Source/Photographer:  http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/elizarmada.jpg
Permission(Reusing this file):  This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason:
Public domain This work is in the public domain in the United States, and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years or less.
This file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights.
The official position taken by the Wikimedia Foundation is that "faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain".
This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain. In other jurisdictions, re-use of this content may be restricted; see Reuse of PD-Art photographs for details.

Across the ocean, in the Americas, St. Augustine became the first town established by Europeans in the area that would become the United States.  Founded by the Spanish Admiral Pedro Menendez de Aviles in 1565, St. Augustine, Florida is the oldest continuously occupied European established settlement in the United States.  (Note that I underlined European.  Later settlements will also be noted as "first settlements" but you have to take note of the differences that are designated.  The actual first settlements were of course made by the Native Americans.)  (9)

Queen Elizabeth also attempted to colonize America.  In 1584 she chartered Sir Walter Raleigh to establish a colony in North America.  Raleigh sent five ships to establish a colony in 1585.  All the ships did not arrive there but never-the-less the first English Colony in North America was established on Roanoke Island in 1585. When relief supplies did not arrive as planned in 1586, the Colonists abandoned the settlement.  A new group of settlers arrived in 1587 to try and re-establish the settlement.  All the ships returned to England for more settlers and supplies.  Unfortunately for the colonists a war broke out between England and Spain and no relief ships were available to be sent to resupply the colony until 1590.  Upon arrival at the colony no signs were found of the 90 men, 17 women, and 11 children that had been left there three years before. There were no signs of violence nor any indication as to where they had gone.  The mystery of what happened to the people of the colony has never been solved and the settlement is known as "The Lost Colony". No further efforts were made to establish a colony there.  (10)

Scotland was the setting for a drama that unfolded in 1567 that eventually involved Queen Elizabeth. Mary, Queen of Scots, was implicated in the murder of her husband and was forced to abdicate her throne in favor of her one year old son, James.  She was unsuccessful in an attempt to regain the throne and fled south to England.  Mary asked Queen Elizabeth, her first cousin once removed, for protection from her enemies. There were many people in England that supported Mary and believed she had a legitimate right to the English throne. (Too involved to go into here.)  Because of this, Elizabeth saw Mary as a threat and had her imprisoned. Though she was relatively well treated, Mary remained in prison nineteen years.  In 1587 she was implicated in a plot to replace Elizabeth as Queen and was tried and executed.

Description:  Miniature of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots
Date Original:  1578-9
Source:  Cropped from File:MaryQOSmin1.jpg
Author:  Nicholas Hilliard (1547–1619)    
Permission(Reusing this file):  This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason: This work is in the public domain in the United States, and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years or less.
This file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights.
The official position taken by the Wikimedia Foundation is that "faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain".This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain. In other jurisdictions, re-use of this content may be restricted;see Reuse of PD-Art photographs for details.

The next year, 1588, Elizabeth continued to build her reputation as queen by demonstrating how she could lead in war as well as any man.  Elizabeth lead England in defeating the great Spanish Armada that Spain had assembled for it's war with England.

The Elizabethan Era came to an end in March of 1603 when Queen Elizabeth died. Elizabeth never married so she did not have a successor.  Because there was no Tudor successor the Tudor dynasty came to an end upon Elizabeth's death.  After more than 100 years, the Tudor family's reign ended and the throne was passed to a new family, the Stuarts.  (11)  

Next time:  James Charles Stuart becomes king and William "The Immigrant" Armistead heads to the colonies.

References:
1)  www.yorkshire-england.co.uk,
2)  Boddie, John Bennett, Historical Southern Families, Vol II, Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, 1958, pg 3.
3)  Ibid, pg 4 - 5.
4)  http://www.fm.coe.uh.edu/timeline/1500s.html
5)  http://www.tudorhistory.org/edward/
6)  http://www.sgwilkinson.freeserve.co.uk/ljrey.htm
7)  http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon44.html
8)  http://www.elizabethi.org/contents/biography/parttwo.html
9)  http://www.fm.coe.uh.edu/timeline/1500s.html  and  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Augustine,_Florida
10)  http://www.pbs.org/opb/timeteam/sites/ft_raleigh/history.php  http://www.fm.coe.uh.edu/timeline/1500s.html
11)  http://www.elizabethi.org/contents/biography/parttwo.html