♂John Wike

John Wike of Wike is known only as the father of the wife of Thomas Denton, of the Denton family of Apleton and Eaton in Berkshire. Through her he was an ancestor of Thomas Dudley^W, later governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony^W. He was the nineteenth great-grandfather of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006) by two separate lines of descent, both through his daughter, the wife of Thomas Denton.

Family

He was probably a knight: the heralds’ pedigree of the Dentons calls him Sir John Wike of Wike. It does not say where Wike was, and it names neither his wife nor any other child. His daughter’s given name is not recorded either. She married Thomas Denton, the son of John Denton, the first of the line, and their son was John Denton of Fifield in Berkshire. The pedigree dates John Wike’s great-grandson Thomas Denton of Fifield to the eleventh year of the reign of Richard II, 1387–1388, so John Wike most likely lived in the fourteenth century.

Lines of descent

Both lines run through his daughter, the wife of Thomas Denton. One passes from her to her son John Denton of Fifield, his son Thomas Denton, that Thomas’s son Thomas Denton, his son John Denton, John’s daughter Alice Denton, her son Edward Purefoy, Edward’s daughter Mary Purefoy, Mary’s daughter Susanna Thorne and Susanna’s son Thomas Dudley (1576–1653), and on through the Dudleys to Nathaniel Dudley (1763–1844). The other reaches Nathaniel’s wife, Anna Smith (1764–1825). The two lines meet again in their daughter Sarah Dudley (1795–1839), on the side of Nancy Jane Blanchard’s father, Kenneth Blanchard (1897–1975).

Notes

The only source

The Denton pedigree in the Oxfordshire heraldic visitation^W (The Visitations of the County of Oxford, 1566, 1574 and 1634, Harleian Society vol. 5, 1871, p. 228) is the only source for him. It is headed “Denton of Apleton & Eaton in com. Barks.” and runs from “John Denton.” to “Thomas Denton.= . . . daur. to Sr John Wike of Wike.”, then to “John Denton of ffifield in Com. Berk.”, and then to Thomas Denton of Fifield, “A°. 11. R. 2.” The heralds drew it up some two centuries after his lifetime.

His dates

The pedigree gives no date for him. His great-grandson Thomas Denton of Fifield is dated to 1387–1388, three generations below him, which most likely places him in the fourteenth century.