The prayer book of Capt. Thomas Carter / The ancestry of Maj. Edward Dale: Edward 5 Robert 4 William 3 Robert 2 Robert 1 / Chronology of the last years of Edward and Diana (Skipwith) Dale
According to Capt. Thomas Carter’s panegyric (or epitaph) of Major Edward Dale in Carter’s prayer book:
“Mr. Edw: Dale Departd this life on ye 2d Day Feb: 1695 and Mrs. Diana Dale on ye last day of July.
Hic Depositum Spe Certe Resurgendi in christo quicquid habuit Mortale EDWARDUS DALE, ARMIGER. Tandem honorum et Dierum Obiit 2d Febry: Anno Dom: 1695. He descended from an Ancient Family in England & came into ye Colly of Virga after the death of his Unhappy Master Charles ffirst. For above 30 years he enjoyed various Employments of Public Trust in ye Coty of Lancaster wch he Dischargd with great Fidelity & Satisfacn. to the Governor & People. As Neighbor-father-Husband he Ex celled and in early yeares Crownd his other Accomplishments by a Felicitous Marriage wth Diana ye daughter of Sr Henry Skypwith of Preswold in ye coty of Leicester Bart. who is left a little while to Mourn Him.”
(Image from Thomas Carter’s prayer book, held by the Virginia Historical Society.)
I see no discrepancy in the death dates for Edward Dale in the two sections; that is, as 2 Feb in the preamble, and 20 Feb in the body of the panegyric, as is often supposed.
The “0″ in “30″ is written as a full character, so what’s been interpreted as “20 Febry:” is really ”2d Febry:”, as only the bottom half of the “d” is visible. The image in that section is faded, and it’s unlikely Thomas Carter erred in the space of a few sentences. That makes Carter’s death date for Edward Dale as 2 Feb 1695.
Diana (Skipwith) Dale died the following 31 Jul. Though the year of her death is not explicitly stated, undoubtedly that’s the meaning.
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The following is the Dale pedigree from The Visitation of London 1568 (with later additions). Maj. Edward Dale of Lancaster Co., VA was of this family, having used the arms of William Dale of London and Brigstock, Northamptonshire. (Brigstock is an ancient market town.) “Usurpation of arms”, i.e., using arms to which one had no right, was a serious offense and such individuals were “disclaimed.”
You must examine the specific circumstances of each visitation in order to adjudge its value. So what are we actually looking at here? The Dale chart appears on page 94 of Harleian Society Vol. 1. The original visitation was taken in 1568 by Robert Cooke, Clarenceux King of Arms. Nicholas Charles made a transcription of the visitation, which at Charles’s death was sold to William Camden, who served as Clarenceux King of Arms from 1597 to 1623. Cooke, who was accused of corruption, but died in 1593, didn’t make the notation that William Dale was granted a coat of arms in 1613. Nicholas Charles served as Lancaster Herald under Camden and was living in 1613. It would take some scholarship to determine how much of this visitation is respectively the work of Cooke, Charles, and Camden, but Cooke didn’t have a part in the Dale pedigree. That’s either the work of Charles or Camden. William Dale’s arms were granted in 1613. Pedigrees were entered at the time arms were granted. Note that Roger Dale was a lawyer. None of William Dale’s children are shown with spouses or children.
The next chart, from The Visitation of Cheshire 1613, p. 70, adds a little to the above. Since Mary Dale married James Rudyard (not James Reade) ca. 1619, and three of her children are in the chart, this material must date to the mid–1620s at the least.
The Dale pedigree doesn’t appear in Harleian Society Vol. 15 The Visitations of London 1633, 1634, and 1635 Vol. 1, but on p. 32 (see below) there’s a note that “Charles Atye of London merchant 2d sonne 1633 = Elizabeth da. of Wm. Dale of London Grocer,” which means that Charles Atye, merchant, second son (of Sir Arthur Ayte and Judith daughter of – Hungerford) was living in 1633 and had married Elizabeth, daughter of Wm. Dale, Grocer. Wm. Dale the Grocer is the same William Dale in the Dale chart. (There’s a will dated 17 Jul 1639 for William Dale “apothecarie” of London which is a different William Dale.)
For those fond of historical trivia, Sir Arthur Atye (d. 1604), father of Charles Atye husband of Elizabeth Dale, was secretary to Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. Dudley was the intimate of Queen Elizabeth I. Atye wrote a famous letter to William Cecil dated 9 Dec 1589 regarding Dudley’s debts.
A grocer (derived from the French word “grossier”) was a wholesaler in dry edibles like spices, pepper, sugar, tea and coffee. It was a lucrative profession. Often the beef, mutton, and pork in the Elizabethan and Stuart era was not what we today would consider fit for consumption, and was liberally treated with spices to render it palatable. Grocers were second in precedence among the livery companies (trade groups) of London, behind Mercers and above Drapers.
There is, in connection with this family, a will (termed a “Memorandum”) of Robert Dale, “of the Sittie of London Grocer,” dated 13 Mar 1596 (Prerogative Court of Canterbury PROB 11/87 Drake Quire 1-52 pp. 148-149). Like a lot of wills in this period, it doesn’t contain much information, and seems to concern burial arrangements. The “Decimo tertio” section is boilerplate Latin. This cannot be the son and heir of William Dale, as William Dale the Grocer married in 1583 (see below). How or if this individual is related to William Dale the Grocer is at present unknown.
The first Dale chart doesn’t show any grandchildren. The pedigrees of William Dale’s brothers Robert Dale and Roger Dale list only their heirs.
No birth or christening record for Maj. Edward Dale has yet been located in the parish registers of England. The Family History Library of Salt Lake City has a website at:
which has abstracts of English parish registers. The website has improved its interface, making searches for vital records in England much simpler. Bear in mind that names like Dale were common, with the same given names repeatedly used. It’s possible to find father/son combinations in English parish registers that are chronological contemporaries of one another. It appears Maj. Edward Dale of Lancaster Co., VA named his eldest daughter Katherine after his great-grandmother.
I want to suggest a possibility that will horrify some genealogists researching colonial VA ancestors: VA was a long way from England, gentry families had many branches, and not all of them were equal in terms of ancestry. We have to concede it’s possible some colonists misrepresented who they were, and may have even used arms to which they weren’t entitled.
However, Maj. Edward Dale and his son-in-law Thomas Carter (who is thought to be of a London merchant family) were well-educated men, and that indicates a relatively affluent background. Maj. Edward Dale would fit in with the William Dale family—but is it the right family? In my view, even though we don’t have a verified birth or christening record, if Maj. Edward Dale was using William Dale’s arms legitimately, he must have been a grandson of William Dale. If Maj. Edward Dale wasn’t a descendant of William Dale, then he wasn’t an “armiger” as Thomas Carter claimed, and his use of William Dale’s arms was illegal. Collateral branches of the Dale family had no right to use William Dale’s arms. Maj. Edward Dale cannot have been a son of Roger Dale the lawyer because he didn’t use Roger Dale’s arms and is not listed among Roger Dale’s descendats. Either Maj. Edward Dale was the descendant of William and Elizabeth (Elliott) Dale, or he was a fraud.
Given that the Skipwith family was levels above Maj. Edward Dale’s in status, and Diana Skipwith’s brother Sir Grey Skipwith was a friend of VA governor Sir William Berkeley, one would expect that either Sir Grey Skipwith or Sir William Berkeley would have caused an inquiry into Dale’s family. If Maj. Edward Dale had ”usurped” his arms, he chose a family on the lowest rung of the armigerous ladder. These Dales were true plebs.
According to the first chart, Robert Dale was William Dale’s heir. There was a son named Richard Dale (who pre-deceased his mother; of him, see below), not shown in the two Dale charts, but this Richard wasn’t his father’s heir. Carter’s reference to King Charles I as Dale’s “Unhappy Master” certainly implies Maj. Edward Dale had served in the royalist forces during the English Civil War, although he held the title of “major” for his service in the Lancaster Co., VA militia. The English Civil War ended in 1649, so we’d look for Maj. Edward Dale to have been born after, say, 1620.
Is the Dale pedigree stalled at Robert and Katherine Dale? You’ll recall that William Dale married Elizabeth Elliott, daughter of Thomas Elliott, Esq., of Surrey. It turns out that Harleian Society Vol 43, The Visitations of Surrey 1530, 1572, and 1623, pp. 23-25 contains an extensive pedigree of the Elliott family of Surrey, extending well into the 15th century. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to make out which Thomas Elliott in the Surrey chart is the father of Elizabeth Elliott, but it’s a promising new line of inquiry. However, Hylton B. Dale’s chart (see below) adds the information that Elizabeth’s father was “Thomas Elliott of Surrey, Esq. & of St. Magdalen, Milk st. parish,” and that may help identify him.
It almost looks like we’ve finished, doesn’t it? But this entry in Notes And Queries Ninth Series Volume 11 pp. 267-268 indicates we haven’t reached the end after all. In 1602, Roger Dale of Collyweston, Northamptonshire (William the Grocer’s lawyer brother) entered a pedigree claiming descent from one Theodorick de Dale, allegedly a knight during the reigns of King Edward III and King Richard II. Roger Dale was the son of Robert Dale and Katherine Legh of Wincle near Macclesfield in Cheshire. Katherine (Legh) Dale was the daughter of Legh of Bagulegh. Bagulegh doesn’t refer to a location, but rather to the branch of the Legh family that descends from Sir John Leigh who married Ellen, daughter of Sir William Baguley. William Dale who married Elizabeth Elliott was also the son of Katherine Legh, even though the above chart doesn’t give her maiden name. The query was posted by R.M. Dale in 1903, who expressed confusion as to what arms were born by Robert Dale, father of Roger and William. Robert Dale of Wincle didn’t have arms, so we’re dealing with two different grants, as Roger’s arms are not the same as William’s. Roger Dale’s pedigree to Theodorick de Dale must be the “ancient family” to which Thomas Carter alluded in his epitaph of Dale.
Then who were the Dales? Roger Dale, the lawyer, was rather wealthy. When he died in 1623/4, a carving was commissioned which appears near the altar at St. Luke church in Tixover, co. Rutland, showing Roger Dale and his third wife, Margaret. Roger Dale had previously been married to Elizabeth Toste, who was probably his first wife. The Reliquary Quarterly Archaeological Journal And Review, Vol. XXI, pub. 1880–1, pp. 222–224, discusses the acquisition of Tixover in some depth. Tixover, co. Rutland wasn’t a Dale family estate. Roger Dale purchased the manor of Tixover (or Tekesore) in 1604. Although there were Dales in Rutland in the 15th century, their connection to the family of Maj. Edward Dale is unclear. According to Hylton B. Dale, William Dale the Grocer used their arms—but I’ve found no confirmation of that statement. Since Dale is a very common surname, I would view any extended pedigree with skepticism. However, one would expect Roger Dale to know who were his grandparents.
And he did—at least one of them. In connection with Roger Dale, who was the genealogist of the family, there is this, from the The Pedigree Register, Vol. 2:
I’ll get to the pedigree Hylton B. Dale provided The Pedigree Register in a moment. These Parts correspond to the letters in that chart. In Part A he discusses Roger Dale’s pedigree, which showed Roger Dale’s grandfather as Robert Dale, who claimed descent from Sir Theodoric Dale, but no further information regarding this Robert Dale was given. In Part B he states that Roger Dale’s father Robert Dale died ca. 1587, and Katherine (Leigh) Dale was living in 1589. The contents of “certain cases” are not given. In Part C he discusses Roger Dale’s brother Robert Dale, who married Elizabeth Brassey, but has no date or place of death for him. In Part D he said he was unable to learn any particulars regarding Robert Dale, son of Robert and Elizabeth (Brassey) Dale, but implies he was born ca. 1579. In Part E, he states that he can find no will or administration for William Dale, son of Robert and Elizabeth (Brassy) Dale. In Part F, in discussing the pedigree of William Dale, brother of Roger Dale, he is in error: there were no visitations of London or Northamptonshire in 1613. The London pedigree of 1613 was an addition to an earlier visitation. The closest visitation of Northamptonshire was in 1618, and William Dale doesn’t appear in it. He mentions that in 1614 there is an administration of a Wm. Dale of Westminster to his widow Elizabeth. Finally in Part G, he remarks that Richard Dale survived William and Elizabeth (Elliott) Dale, and died without issue; but then in the chart, he shows that Richard Dale was “dead apparently s.p. by Nov. 162-.”
Parts C, D, and E not shown in chart below:
We can now begin to assign some dates. According to the chart Part F, William Dale married Elizabeth Elliott in May of 1583. Their daughter Agnes married Charles Parker 28 Nov 1615; their daughter Elizabeth, who was married twice, married her first husband, Abraham Butler, in 1619; and their daughter Mary married James Rudyeard in 1619. There’s no marriage date for their daughter Joane. The birth order of the daughters is unclear. Given these facts, we can eliminate William and Elizabeth (Elliott) Dale as the parents of Maj. Edward Dale of Lancaster Co., VA. Therefore, he must be their grandson, and a son of Robert Dale or Richard Dale.
I’m mystified as to the the note in Part F. Evidently Hylton B. Dale was confused about the arms used by William Dale. According to him, these arms belonged to Dale of co. Rutland, and shouldn’t have been confirmed to William Dale. Whether or not William Dale was correctly or incorrectly granted these arms doesn’t matter at this juncture: those arms are what his descendants used, and if the children of his daughters wrongly quartered them, that’s a matter for the College of Arms to set straight. Obviously the arms weren’t used by William Dale’s father Robert Dale or Robert’s father; if so, it would have been unnecessary for Roger Dale to obtain his own grant of arms. Perhaps at the College of Arms there’s justification for William Dale’s grant.
Hylton B. Dale cites an administration for a Wm. Dale in 1614, but in the chart shows William Dale, husband of Elizabeth (Elliott) Dale, died in 1616. I haven’t examined the 1614 administration for Wm. Dale. However, in 1615, John Bramston of the Middle Temple assigned his interest in a house in St. Mary le Bow churchyard to Elizabeth Dale of London, widow of William Dale, late citizen and grocer; she transferred her interest to John Knight. Therefore, William Dale didn’t die in 1616, as Hylton B. Dale indicates, and it’s quite likely that the 1614 administration he cites for Wm. Dale is William Dale the grocer.
In an effort to clarify matters, I obtained a copy of Elizabeth (Elliott) Dale’s will. The first page is pro forma; it’s not until the 9th line of the second page that she begins her list of bequests. (1) The first named is her daughter Mary, to whom she leaves 500 pounds, part of which to come from the estate of Richard Dale, and part from her, and arrangements for their five children; (2) to Charles Parker, son of her daughter Agnes, to whom she gives 50 pounds upon reaching age 21; (3) to Elizabeth Parker, sister of Charles, who is to receive 100 pounds at age 21 or upon her marriage; (4) to Elizabeth, wife of Charles Atye, who is to receive 300 pounds; (5) to Arthur Atye, Edmond Atye, and Judith Atye, children of Agnes, to each of them 50 pounds at age 21; (6) to her daughter Joane Reade, 300 pounds from the estate of Richard Dale; (7) to Mathew Reade, son of Joane, 50 pounds at age 21; (8) to the parson of St. Peters church, 5 pounds; (9) to the the preacher of her funeral sermon, Nathaniell Tyrwhitt; (10) 10 pounds to a hospital; (11) to godson Raph Tyrwhitt; (12) to the poor of St. Peters parish and to the poor of St. Mary Magdalene in Milk Street; and various small bequests to friends and widows; (13) 20 pounds to the Grocers of London; (14) a bequest to St. Peters of a silver flagon; and she finishes her will with a string of bequests to friends and in-laws.
The will doesn’t mention her son Robert Dale, who was William Dale’s heir. As William Dale’s heir, Robert Dale would have received his property through entail. That Elizabeth (Elliott) Dale distributed Richard Dale’s estate to her daughters indicates Richard Dale died without children. Richard Dale’s estate was modest, perhaps acquired through some industry of his own. I think Hylton B. Dale, in Part G above, erred: what is meant is that Elizabeth (Elliott) Dale’s daughters were co-heirs of their brother Richard Dale, a quite different matter than being co-heirs of their father, although not all of the daughters received money from the estate of Richard Dale through her will. Elizabeth (Elliott) Dale didn’t die possessed of a great fortune, her net worth as specified here being considerably less than 2000 pounds; all of it money or household effects, and not all of that money being hers, but much of it coming from the estate of Richard Dale.
The will was proved P.C.C. 8 Feb 1632/3, but was written in the previous decade. Evidently Hylton B. Dale assumed Robert Dale died without children because he wasn’t mentioned in the will. Elizabeth made no distribution of Robert Dale’s estate as she had done with Richard Dale’s. That Robert Dale was not mentioned in his mother’s will, which is concerned with bequests to her daughters, doesn’t mean he was deceased. Neither visitation recording the Dale family indicates that Robert Dale was deceased or died without children. Since Richard Dale cannot have been Maj. Edward Dale’s father, my conclusion is that Maj. Edward Dale was the son of Robert Dale, and probably not his heir.
Hylton B. Dale thought that this Dale family was in some manner connected to early colonial VA governor Sir Thomas Dale. At present, I see no such connection.
This chart, from The Pedigree Register Vol. 1, pp. 322-323, deals only with descendants of Roger Dale. The chart appears on two separate pages, which I’ve combined (click on image to enlarge it):
(Click on image to enlarge it.)
As for Katherine Legh, a check of A2A shows that the Legh (or Leigh) family of Cheshire had roots into the 13th century. The Cheshire and Chester Archives and Local Studies Service has significant holdings on this family, and there are references to the Dale family as well. There are extensive pedigrees of the Legh or Leigh family in The Visitation Of Cheshire 1580.
I think an intelligent reader will understand that a grandson of a London grocer would not have married in England the daughter of a baronet. He could hardly support her in a manner appropriate to her position. But that same daughter, who found herself fast slipping into spinsterhood in the unkempt wilderness of early colonial VA, found him acceptable if not appealing. Of the identity of Maj. Edward Dale’s first wife, I have nothing. But given the greater numbers of men compared to women in mid-17th century VA, he probably he married his first wife in England. Katherine (Dale) Carter could have been born either in England or VA.
Obviously some of Hylton B. Dale’s information is inconsistent, and he misinterpreted some records. He can be forgiven because he made the first (to my knowledge) systematic attempt to document this Dale family using actual records, even though the source of those records is often not stated. His main source for the family appears to be the will of Elizabeth (Elliott) Dale, which he imperfectly interpreted, and there is additional evidence of which he was unaware.
This is exactly where many genealogists eager to make a connection between a colonist and a family in England go astray, and why slipshod pedigrees inevitably blow up—there is a truth here, and it’s as much logic as evidence. The Dales are a family of parvenus. I see no obvious baronial ancestry in their pedigree, although the Legh family was of knightly stock. It’s an example of upward mobility in the Elizabethan and Stuart eras. William Dale the Grocer was able to educate his children. William Dale’s brother Roger Dale purchased an estate in co. Rutland and played country squire. William Dale was confirmed with a coat of arms, and his daughter Elizabeth married the son of a knight, though that knight was the first of his family. Whatever pretensions the Dales had to be gentlemen was derived from their marriages. If Diana Skipwith was not a beauty, surely her brother’s political connections made her quite attractive to Maj. Edward Dale. We may count him as one of his family’s more successful members, if often his behavior reveals him to be one of its less admirable.
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Book Of Common-Prayer And Administration Of The Sacraments, And Other Rites & Ceremonies Of the Church, According to the Use of the Church of England; Together with the Psalter or Psalmes Of David, Pointed as they are to be Sung or Said in Churches. And the Form and Manner Of Making, Ordaining, And Consecrating, Of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons. London, Printed by John Bill and Christopher Barker, Printers to the Kings Most Excellent Majesty. MDCLXII. [1662] Cum Privilegio.
Thos: Carter Rappahanke Virga
The 16 pages containing genealogical information in the Thomas Carter prayer book have been microfilmed. Order copies from:
Virginia Historical Society
PO Box 7311
Richmond, VA 23221-0311
or online at:
Manuscript Call Number: Mss6:4 C245:11
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Genealogists working with colonial records will often see dates such as ”March 24, 1672/3.” “March 24, 1672″ is the date in the Julian calendar, while “March 24, 1673″ is the date in the Gregorian calendar. This applies to dates of 1 Jan to 24 Mar in the years 1582 to 1752. 25 Mar was considered the first day of the new year.
“Before 1752, England and its colonies followed the Julian (Old Style) calendar.” [Sturtz/p.183] Use of double-dating which accompanied the Gregorian calendar wasn’t uniformly followed in the British colonies such as in Lancaster Co., VA court records.
According to Edward Dale’s will, it was written 24 Aug 1694 and proved 11 Mar 1695. 11 Mar falls within the double-date parameter.
Price gives a transcription of the inventory of Edward Dale’s estate made 30 Mar 1696, and exhibited 8 Apr 1696. 30 Mar and 8 Apr don’t fall within the double-date parameter, so the dates of the record actually are 30 Mar 1696 and 8 Apr 1696.
Of the deaths of Edward and Diana (Skipwith) Dale, the Thomas Carter prayer book says: “Mr. Edw: Dale Departd this life on ye 2d Day Feb: 1695 and Mrs. Diana Dale died ye last day of July.” No year is given for her death, but Carter goes on to say: “who is left a little while to Mourn Him.” So we know she died the 31 Jul following the death of her husband, but 31 Jul is not within the double-date parameter. If Edward Dale died on 2 Feb 1694/5, then his wife died on 31 Jul 1695. The prayer book itself doesn’t provide the answer.
The inventory could have been made 19 days after probate, or a year later. We have a death date for Edward Dale, but we do not know when he died.
Fortunately, Sparacio: Orders 1695-1699, p. 4 clarifies the matter:
“Lancaster County Court 11th of March 1695/96 p. 334. A Probate of the Last Will and Testament of Major EDWARD DALE [deced] is granted to EDWARD CARTER, his grandone, KATHERINE CARTER his Daughter and ELIZABETH CARTER his Grand Daughter according to the tenor of the Will and THOMAS BUCKLEY, JOHN CHILTON, JOHN MULLIS and JOHN DAVIS are ordered to appraise the Decedent’s estate and to bee sworne by the next justice, an inventory to bee exhibited to the next Court”
That’s the only entry pertaining to Edward Dale’s estate. According to the inventory, it was exhibited on 8 Apr 1696, but there’s no court entry of it. Nonetheless, there is no doubt that the inventory was taken within weeks after probate of the will. But did Edward Dale die on 2 Feb 1694/5, or 2 Feb 1695/6?
If Thomas Carter meant that Dale died on 2 Feb 1694/5, then Carter’s note in the prayer book records the date as it would fall under the Gregorian calendar. Since the county clerk’s practice was to give the date under the Julian calendar if only a single date was indicated, Thomas Carter meant Edward Dale died on 2 Feb 1695/6, conforming to the way official records were dated in Lancaster County and British colonies generally.
We can now construct a chronology of the last months of Edward and Diana (Skipwith) Dale:
{1} Edward Dale wrote his will on 24 Aug 1694.
{2} Edward Dale died on 2 Feb 1695/6. He survived about 17 months after writing his will.
{3} Edward Dale’s will was proved on 11 Mar 1695/6.
{4} Edward Dale’s will was recorded on 17 Mar 1695/6.
{5} The inventory of Edward Dale’s estate was taken 30 Mar 1696.
{6} The inventory of Edward Dale’s estate was exhibited in court 8 Apr 1696.
{7} Diana (Skipwith) Dale died on 31 Jul 1696. She survived Edward Dale nearly 6 months.
If you see a double-date given for a year in which it didn’t apply, it’s the compiler’s error, so check the date against other records.
