♂Roger Poher

Roger Poher, or le Power, was the seventeenth great-grandfather of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006), through his son John Poher.

Origins and lands

Roger belonged to an old Worcestershire family that held lands across the county, and the family was said to have come to England with William the Conqueror.

Marriage and heirs

According to the heralds’ pedigrees of the Pohers, Roger married Maud Thyn, a daughter and heir of Nicholas Thyn and the heir of her brother, Richard Thyn of Ashton. Their son, John Poher, was lord of Wichenford.

Lines of descent

The line to Nancy runs through his son John Poher and John’s daughter Margaret Poher to her grandson John Washbourne of Wichenford (died 1517). It probably runs on through his younger son John Washburn of Bengeworth (died 1547), and from him through several later generations to Nancy.

Notes

Sources

Roger and Maud are known from the Poher pedigree printed by James Davenport in The Washbourne Family of Little Washbourne and Wichenford (1907), in two versions side by side: one from the College of Arms pedigree of the Washbournes, the other from Phillimore’s edition of the pedigrees of the antiquary Thomas Habington^W. The College of Arms version names the couple simply as Roger Power and Maud; Phillimore’s gives Roger le Power and Matilda, “da. and heire of Nicholas Thyn, sister and heire of Richard Thyn, of Ashton”. Both make John their son. The account of the family and its lands is Grazebrook’s, quoting Nash’s history of Worcestershire, which is also the source of the story that the Pohers came over with the Conqueror.

His name

The surname is written Poher, le Poher, Power and le Power.

His parents

Both pedigrees carry the Pohers back several generations above Roger, the College of Arms version to a Henry Power and Phillimore’s to a Hugh le Power, but they do not agree on the names between, and Roger’s parents are left open here.

The line to the Washburns of Bengeworth

That the John named in the heralds’ pedigrees as a younger son of John Washbourne of Wichenford (died 1517), the grandson of Roger’s granddaughter Margaret Poher, is John Washburn of Bengeworth, who died in 1547, is Davenport’s identification, not a record’s; the 1517 will of John of Wichenford names only three of his six sons, and John is not among them. The descent from Roger is therefore given here as probable below that John of Wichenford.