BERRINGTON / BARRINGTON ancestry in Datchet, Buckinghamshire, UK

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Before our Barrington line settled in Kent, they were in Datchet, at that time Buckinghamshire but now Berkshire. This page outlines what is known of their ancestry there. At that time, they were documented in the records by the name of Berrington rather than Barrington.

The Datchet origins of the Kent Barringtons came to light as a result of the new information described on the update page. The Datchet genealogical data on this page is due to Douglas Richardson's 'The English Ancestry of the Merwin and Tinker families of New England', New England Genealogical Register, 1995, p 425 - 429. This is a thoroughly professional research job which has examined numerous sources, and I am exceptionally grateful for how it illuminates Neil's family history. The commentaries here are my own, as are the genealogical data that do not relate to Datchet.

Neil's earliest confirmed 'Barrington' ancestor was Thomas I in the tree on the right. His existence is known from his marriages, the baptisms of his children and his will, all of which spelt his surname with an E rather than an A, as Berrington rather than Barrington. There is more on this on the pages about Barrington as a given name and Robert who seems to have been the first to use both spellings.

All the records place Thomas I in Datchet, at that time in Buckinghamshire and now in Berkshire, the other side of the River Thames from Windsor. He was probably born just before 1538, the date when parish records started being kept by law, but he seems not to have been born in Datchet as no other Berringtons of his generation or earlier were recorded in the parish. The origins of his parents and ancestors are considered on another page.

It is worth pausing to consider quite how early the Datchet Berrington/Barringtons take Neil's family history back. Thomas I was born in the reign of Henry VIII, and by the time he was 20 he would have seen the reigns of Lady Jane Grey and Mary I, with Elizabeth I set firmly on the throne of England. By the time he was 50, he would have lived through the execution of Mary Queen of Scots and the Spanish Armada.

Thomas I was recorded as a husbandman, i.e. a farmer. He clearly owned land as various deeds of sale exist.

Thomas I married the widow, Dorothy Mathew, on 26 Oct 1563 at Datchet. Her birth surname has not been found. She gave him the following children, all girls:

• Alice was baptised on 30 Jul 1564 at Datchet. She married Henry (or Harry) Bowry (or Bowery)
• Elizabeth was baptised on 7 Nov 1566 at Datchet and buried there on 7 April 1575.
• Agnes/Anne Berrington was baptised on 10 Oct 1568 at Datchet and buried at New Windsor, Berkshire on 5 Dec 1600. She married Robert Tinker at New Windsor on 14 February 1590/91. Her descendants emigrated to New England which probably stimulated Douglas Richardson's research.
• Sarah Berrington was baptised 8 Mar 1570 and probably died young because she was not mentioned in her father's will.

No unambiguous death record for Dorothy has appeared. However, by 16 Oct 1576, Thomas I was certainly a widow, as on that date he married again in Datchet. This wife was Neil's ancestor, Elizabeth Pitt(s). In 1579 Thomas I benefited in the will of her father, Roger Pitt(s). Her mother was an Alice.

Elizabeth gave Thomas I the following children, of whom only the eldest was male:

• Thomas II, Neil's ancestor, was baptised in Datchet on 20 April 1577. His first marriage on record was on 29 June 1598 in Datchet to an Elizabeth, widow of Lawgher West. She did not live long. Thomas' next wife was a Margaret, date of marriage unknown, buried at Datchet on 31 July 1633; his last wife, Neil's ancestor, was Margaret Perryman, who Thomas II married on 5 December 1633 at Datchet. The children of Thomas II and Margaret Perryman are listed as siblings on the page of their youngest son Robert, who is in Neil's line. Robert described Thomas II for the Middle Temple records as a 'gentleman', i.e. of independent means. Another record showed him as a churchwarden. Thomas II was buried at Datchet on 9 March 1643 or 4. The date of death of wife, Margaret Perryman is unknown.
• Luce was baptised on 4 Feb 1578 in Datchet. She married Francis Perryman (or Perriman or Periman) there on 9 February 1609 or 10. No information is available about Luce's death.
• Elizabeth was baptised at Datchet on 6 February 1580 or 81 and buried there a few days later on 17 February 1680.
• Joan was baptised on 4 Apr 1582 at Datchet. She probably married William White, and died before 1624.
• Dorothy was baptised on 20 Aug 1584 at Datchet and married Thomas Crump there on 15 October 1616. She was buried there, childless, on 16 March 1653 or 4.
• Sibyl was baptised on 29 Apr 1588 and married into the Cowley or Cowly family. The family lived in Datchet for a while but then moved to Upton.

Thomas I was buried at Datchet on 29 March 1603, and his will, somewhat surprisingly, seems to have been signed and dated on the same day. It named "Robert Tynker begotten uppon the bodye of Agnes my daughter" whose descendants emigrated to New England and seem to have stimulated Douglas Richardson's research. Also named were Thomas I's wife, Elizabeth, son Thomas II, daughters Sarah, Luce, Joane, Dorothie, and Sibbel; and the children of Henry Bowrie who married his daughter Alice. "Brother" [brother-in-law in modern teminology] John Pitt, was an overseer.

Thomas II's widow, Elizabeth, lived another 20 years. She was buried at Datchet on 23 February 1624 or 5.

It is interesting to speculate where the two Thomases got their money from. Judging by the deeds of sale in existence and the education in the Middle Temple of Robert, they were comfortably off. Did they inherit money? If so, it could say something about the Berrington origins before Thomas came to Datchet. Or did they simply benefit from marrying well to women who fortuitously died such that they could marry well again? Robert himself certainly went on to marry well.

It is also interesting to speculate on where Thomas I's parents came from. Douglas Richardson notes that although no Berringtons contemporary with Thomas I were in Datchet, they did exist in surrounding parishes, in particular Upton. Upton also appears more than once in his genealogy data.