Richard Sheldon

circa 1440 - after 1494

All that is known about Richard is taken either from the Visitation of Derbyshire in 1662 ⁽¹⁾, or from J Gardner Bartlett's research ⁽²⁾, I have verified no original sources. However the few sources of Bartlett's that I have verified for later generations appear to be substantively correct.

Richard was probably born around 1440 in Monyash. In 1465 he was apparently married to an Elizabeth ⁽²⁾, however the visitation pedigree gives his wife's name as Joane ⁽¹⁾, so he may have married twice. Three of his children are known. The elder Hugh was probably born around 1465, followed by John, then Richard.

The last known reference to Richard was in 1494, when he surrendered a cottage and 4 acres in Ashford to his son John.

• Hugn was born in Monyash in about 1465. He married Parnell Bereforde in about 1491, but she died young and he married again, in about 1495, to a woman called Alice. He had a son Denys by his first wife, and sons Hugh and Henry by his second. He probably died before 1525.
• John has his own page.
• Richard was probably born around 1475 in Monyash. In 1514 he and his brother John were fined 2d for brewing. Its unclear whether this was by way of a punishment or a license. Richard (alone) was fined again 4 more times over the next 5 years. Nothing moree is known of him.

1. The Visitation of Derbyshire 1662 published by the Harleian Society 1989, contains the pedigree of the Sheldons of Monyash, as claimed by Richard Sheldon in 1662. The first few generations which are of interest to me are :

   [SHELDON OF MONYASH]
   18 Martiij 1662
   The proofe of the Armes is respited till Easter Terme
   Noe proofe made
   All this upper part taken out of a Monumentall Inscription in the Chapell of Money-Ash in y^e parish of Bakewell
   

   I.	RICHARD SHELDON has issue
   II.	HUGH SHELDON mar Anne and had issue
   	1. Richard of whom below (III)
   	2. William; 3. Thomas; 4. Henry; 5. John
   III.	RICHARD SHELDON mar Joane and had issue
   IV.	HUGH SHELDON mar Katherine and had issue

2. The Sheldons of Bakewell, Derbyshire, England, and Isaac Sheldon of New England by J Gardner Bartlett, in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register contains a genealogy of the Sheldon family and includes this section on John Sheldon:

   RICHARD ³ SHELDON (Hugh ², Richard¹), of Monyash, in Bakewell, co Derby, was born about 1440, he married Elizabeth ____. He appears as his father's successor in the third generation of the Sheldon pedigree in the Visitation of 1662.

   On the Thursday next after the Feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross, 5 Edward IV [8 May 1465], Richard, son of Hugh Scheladon and Elizabeth his wife, conveyed to William Smyth a cottage and 7 acres of land in Monyash, co Derby. (Derbyshire Charters, vol 2, no. 16)

   On 12 Nov 1494 Richard Sheldon surrendered to his son John Sheldon a cottage and 4 acres of land in Asheford, co Derby. (Vide infra, No 5)

   Children:
   i. HUGH, b about 1465.
   ii. JOHN, b about 1470.
   iii. RICHARD, b about 1475. On 4 Oct 6 Henry VIII [1514] John John Sheldon on Monyash and Richard Sheldon, his brother, were fined 2d for brewing. Also on 12 Apr 6 Henry VIII [1515], 15 Oct 8 Henry VIII [1516], 25 Nov 10 Henry VIII [1518], and 26 May 11 Henry VIII [1519], Richard Sheldon of Monyash was fined 2d for brewing. (Court Rolls of the Manor of High Peak Hundred, co Derby, 41/423, 424.)