♂Thomas Denton

Thomas Denton was an English gentleman of Fifield in Oxfordshire in the early fifteenth century, who married Alison Dauncey, the widow of Richard Wightam of Wytham in Berkshire. Through his son John Denton he was an ancestor of Thomas Dudley^W, later governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony^W. He was the fifteenth great-grandfather of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006) by two separate lines of descent, both through his son John Denton.

Family and marriage

Thomas was most likely the son of another Thomas Denton of Fifield and his wife Agnes, a daughter of William Baldington of Shipton in Oxfordshire.

Thomas married Alison Dauncey, one of the daughters and heirs of William Dauncey. Her first husband, Richard Wightam, had held the manor of Wytham in Berkshire, and after his death Alison held it for life. In 1428 Thomas was holding a knight’s fee^W at Wytham in right of his wife, that is, by her title to the land rather than his own. Alison’s only daughter by her first marriage, Agnes Wightam, was the heir to Wytham; she married William Browning about 1437 and died without children in 1444.

According to the family’s pedigree, Thomas and Alison had a son, John Denton of Wightam, who married Isabel Brome, the widow of Philip Purefoy. The records do not give the date of Thomas’s death. Alison, known by then as Alice Denton, probably died in 1479.

Lines of descent

Both lines run through his son John Denton, John’s daughter Alice Denton, her son Edward Purefoy, Edward’s daughter Mary Purefoy, Mary’s daughter Susanna Thorne, Susanna’s son Thomas Dudley (1576–1653) and Thomas’s son Samuel Dudley (1608–1683). One comes down through Samuel’s son Stephen Dudley (1654–1735) to Nathaniel Dudley (1763–1844), and the other to Nathaniel’s wife, Anna Smith (1764–1825); the two lines meet again in their daughter Sarah Dudley (1795–1839).

Notes

The Denton pedigree

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 Thomas’s parents and for his son. It shows Thomas Denton of Fifield, dated “A°. 11. R. 2.” (the eleventh year of Richard II, 1387–1388), married to Agnes, daughter of William Baldington of Shipton in Oxfordshire; their son Thomas Denton of Fifield “in com. Oxford”, the “3rd. Husband” of Alison, one of the daughters and heirs of William Dauncey; and Thomas and Alison’s son John Denton of Wightam in Berkshire. The same chart places Thomas’s grandfather, John Denton, “of ffifield in Com. Berk.”, so the two generations are given different counties. A visitation pedigree was compiled from the family’s own account, long after the events.

Alison’s marriages

The pedigree says Alison was “first marr. to Wm. Browninge”, then married Richard Wightam “of Barkly”, and took Thomas as her third husband. The Victoria County History of Berkshire (vol. 4, 1924, ‘Wytham’, pp. 427–430, and ‘Fyfield’, pp. 344–349) gives a different order: Alison married first Richard of Wytham, and had by him an only daughter and heir, Agnes, who married William Browning about 1437 and died without issue in 1444; Alison’s second husband was Thomas Denton, who held the knight’s fee at Wytham in right of his wife in 1428 (from the Feudal Aids). William Browning was therefore Alison’s son-in-law, and the pedigree most likely confused the mother with the daughter. This page follows the county history. The same history gives her death, as Alice Denton, in 1479, from her inquisition post mortem^W (Chancery, 19 Edward IV, no. 43).