♀Sarah Chelsham

Sarah Chelsham (baptised 5 May 1588 – died 1653 or 1654) was an Englishwoman who raised her family near Henley-on-Thames, in Oxfordshire, and ended her life a widow in Southwark, Surrey. She was the ninth great-grandmother of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006), through her son Rodulphus Elmes (1620–1712). When she made her will in August 1653 she left ten pounds to “my loving sonne Radolphus Elmes (now in parts beyond the Seas)”, to be paid “if hee shalbe living” - most likely the son who had sailed for New England as a boy of fifteen, eighteen years before.

Early life

She was probably the Sara Chelsham, “daughter of Robt Chelsham”, baptized at Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, on 5 May 1588. Her father, Robert Chelsham, was a beer brewer of the town, and her mother was Mary Adnett. Robert made his will in August 1592, when Sarah was four, and named her in it among his daughters, beside a son John and his wife Mary. Her younger sister Elizabeth, baptized at Kingston in March 1589/90, married Robert Sturme there in February 1608/9; Sarah remembered her in her will more than forty years later.

Marriage and family

When and where John Elmes and Sarah Chelsham married is not known. Their children were born near Henley-on-Thames, in Oxfordshire: a son Anthony seems to have been baptized at Henley in August 1611, and four more children - Margaretta, Rodulphus, Jonathan and Henricus - were baptized at Rotherfield Greys between January 1617/18 and March 1624/5, Rodulphus on 27 August 1620. The family is said to have lost two small children, a son John in 1609 and a daughter Sara in 1616.

In April 1635 Rodulphus, then fifteen, was licensed at London to sail for New England in the Planter. By 1648 the family appears to have settled at Kingston upon Thames, Sarah’s birthplace, where John was described as a yeoman.

Widowhood and will

By August 1653 Sarah was a widow, living in the parish of St Saviour in Southwark, as was her widowed daughter Margaret Maries, whose children John and Sarah are remembered in the will too. Sarah’s will, dated 25 August 1653, left five pounds to her son Anthony and ten pounds each to Rodulphus and Jonathan, with gifts to Jonathan’s son Jonathan and to the child that Jonathan’s wife Mary was expecting; her son Henry and his sons are named as well. Her sister Elizabeth Sturmey was left twenty shillings “to buy her a Ring”. She named “Mr John Chelsham”, perhaps her brother, and her cousin Mr Raph Collins as overseers, and made Margaret her executrix and the heir to the rest of her estate. The will was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury^W on 20 April 1654.

Notes

Her maiden name

Her own will does not give her maiden name. It comes from Robert Battle and Henry B. Hoff’s study of the family in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register (2022), which prints the Kingston upon Thames baptism “1588 May 5 Sara Chelsham daughter of Robt Chelsham”. The will supports it: it names her “loving sister Elizabeth Sturmey” and makes “Mr John Chelsham” an overseer, and the same article gives the baptism of “Elsabeth Chelsam daughter Robert” on 4 March 1589/90, the marriage of “Robert Sturme & Elyzabeth Chellsem” on 27 February 1608/9, and Robert Chelsham’s will of 25 August 1592 (proved 21 September 1592), which names his daughters Susan, Mary, Magdalen, Sara and Elizabeth, his son John and his wife Mary. The article calls Robert a beer brewer on the strength of a Kingston deed of 1586. The parentage is probable rather than proved.

Her children

The Rotherfield Greys register names only the father of Margaretta, Rodolphus, Jonathan and Henricus. They are counted as Sarah’s children because her will names sons Radolphus, Jonathan, Henry and Anthony and a daughter Margaret. The baptism of “Anthonie”, son of John, at Henley on 25 August 1611 is known from an index; the two children who died young, and an earlier John baptized at Henley in March 1609/10, are from the 2022 article. That Rodulphus Elmes of Scituate is the son “beyond the Seas” is probable: the rare name, the age of fifteen at the 1635 sailing and the 1620 baptism agree.

Kingston in 1648

The record behind the move to Kingston is a Haberdashers’ Company entry of 8 December 1648, printed in the 2022 article, for “Jonathan Elmes fil[ius] Johnis Elmes de Kingston super Thames yeoman”.

Her death

The will was proved in April 1654, so she died between August 1653 and that date. The 2022 article prints a Kingston upon Thames burial of 29 August 1653 for “Sara Elmes wife of John Elmes”, four days after the will was made; the entry calls her a wife rather than a widow, and whether it is hers is not settled.