The Complicated Norwood Family of England and Massachusetts

698 Washington Street in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
This new house stands where the Norwood home once did.

When I lived in Los Angeles, there was a commonly held idea that a person could arrive in L.A. and completely reinvent themselves. It was a place where one's past didn't necessarily matter. You could create a stage name, an exotic backstory, and remake yourself into whatever persona you desired. This isn't completely true, of course, especially in a modern era with a digital footprint, but the sense of this possibility lingers. I thought of that while researching my 10th great-grandfather, Francis Norwood. After much reading about this man, he remains an enigma to me, and I have no concrete proof of who he was or where he lived before he arrived in Colonial Massachusetts. Was Francis Norwood even his real name? Was he peddling a story about his life that had anything to do with reality, or did he use his emigration as an opportunity to reinvent himself and create mystique?

The man known to his neighbors as Francis Norwood was born in England and emigrated to the American colonies in the mid-1600s. He first appears in records in Lynn, Massachusetts in the 1660s. At that time, he was a witness to an indenture, and he apparently ran a tavern. Given this, Francis would seem to be a humble man. However, if you Google Francis Norwood, or search his name in genealogy databases, the stories that pop up suggest he was a nobleman, born to a great and important English family, was possibly the heir to the Leckhampton Court estate in Gloucestershire, and the descendant of Joan Plantagenet, the daughter of King Edward II. Now, I always roll my eyes when public family trees loudly proclaim royal connections, because most of the time they are rubbish and there is no actual proof attached to the claims. The names and titles attached to Francis Norwood's supposed ancestors do raise an eyebrow, however. If Francis was indeed so esteemed, what was he doing running a tavern in Lynn?

He [Francis Norwood] purchased six acres of land in Gloucester on 23 Mar 1664: “Given unto Francis Norwood at the Towne meeting, six akers [sp] of upland liinge [sp] bye Goose Cove." He built a house there by August, 1664. He would eventually accumulate 170 acres. The family residence at 698 Washington Street was passed down the family line until 1878 when it was purchased by Alpheus Hyatt. Alpheus [a highly regarded zoologist and paleontologist] started a marine biology research center in the house which later moved to Woods Hole. (source)

Goose Cove was the childhood home of Francis' wife Elizabeth Coldham, daughter of the much reviled Clement Coldham. Francis and Elizabeth married on October 15, 1663 and had at least ten children together in Gloucester. 

As mentioned in my recent article about Clement Coldham, there has been a suggestion by modern historian Christine Heyrman that Clement was relieved of his militia rank due to negative feelings about his son-in-law, Francis, and the role the Norwood family may have played in the English Civil War. However, it's just as likely that Clement's fellow militia officers just didn't like him, as by all accounts he was a difficult individual. The idea of Norwood political missteps in England seems to swirl around Francis, though. I hoped to get to the bottom of this. 

An engraving depicting Leckhampton Court, by Johannes Kip, 1712

Many accounts of the Norwood family suppose that Francis was the son of Francis Norwood, Sr. and the grandson of Richard Norwood, all of whom were born at the Norwood estate, Leckhampton Court. While this is often believed to be true, there's no actual proof of it beyond a surname. Before discussing the possible parentage of Francis Norwood, here is some history related to Leckhampton Court, which looms large in the imagination of Norwood descendants. The earliest version of the house dates to the 11th century, and it passed through the Despenser and Giffard families, while also being used as a monastery for a time, before becoming the home of the Norwoods. 

When... John Giffard dies in 1486, the manor passes to his daughter Eleanor, who marries the wealthy John Norwood, who is credited with building the timber-framed southern wing, and possibly the stone cottage-like building at the end of the northern wing, with twisted red-brick Tudor chimneys.

The Norwoods retained their wealth and connections, and one Henry Norwood was to marry Katherine Throckmorton, daughter of Sir Robert Throckmorton and Muriel Berkeley, the daughter of Thomas Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley. This marriage gave the family connections at court, as the Throckmortons were a powerful family, and were relations of Catherine Parr, the sixth and final wife of Henry VIII, Catherine, Henry Norwood's wife being a first cousin, once removed, of the queen. (Wikipedia)

Part of Leckhampton Court in the modern day

These Norwoods were royalists during the English Civil War. When their cause was defeated and King Charles I was executed, they suffered for having chosen the losing side. The family ran into serious financial difficulties. Francis Norwood, Sr. could no longer afford to keep up Leckhampton Court and sold it to his cousin Henry Norwood. Henry Norwood was a soldier and a staunch royalist during the English Civil War. When the royalists were defeated, Henry continued to be involved in Royalist uprisings, and as a result, spent years imprisoned in the Tower of London before fleeing England for Virginia. He was able to purchase Leckhampton Court from his cousin Francis, and when the monarchy was restored and King Charles II took the throne, Henry returned to England and returned the glory to his family name, becoming the Mayor of Gloucester in 1672, and a Member of Parliament in 1675. Henry had no children, though, and when he died, Leckhampton Court returned to the possession of Francis Norwood Sr.'s branch of the family. Francis had also died in the intervening years, so the estate passed to his sons. My tenth great-grandfather was already in America at that time, so even if he was the son of Francis Norwood, Sr., he would not have been in England to inherit the estate.  

That is one version of the story. 

An English genealogist named G. Marion Norwood Callam wrote a three-volume set of books entitled "The Norwoods," and in it she claimed that Francis Norwood was the son of Captain Thomas Norwood, Thomas was a part of the Leckhampton Court Norwood family, but on a different line than Francis Norwood, Sr. 

The execution of King Charles I at Whitehall in 1649.

There is another possibility, as well.

In the early 1800s, Francis Norwood's descendant Ebenezer Pool wrote a letter to his grandson explaining the Norwood family's history. In it, he claimed that Francis' father was a judge and a "regicide," a term used for someone involved in the killing of a monarch. This story was that Judge Norwood was one of the advisors who decided to put King Charles I to death after the royalists lost the English Civil War. When the monarchy was restored and Charles II took the throne, Judge Norwood was imprisoned and his Essex estate was confiscated. His family fled England, fearing for their lives, and having lost all their property. If this is correct, then Francis was not the son of Francis Norwood, Sr., for that Francis was a royalist and not a judge. He was also not the son of Captain Thomas Norwood, another royalist associated with Leckhampton Court.

This third version of events is supported by author John J. Babson in History of the Town of Gloucester: Cape Ann, Including the Town of Rockport:

Francis Norwood, according to a tradition in the family, fled from England with his father, at the restoration of Charles II, on account of the trouble in which the father feared they might be involved for the part he had taken in the civil wars of that period.

While this version of events makes sense, there is no direct evidence of it. In fact, no Norwood appears on the official lists of those involved in the execution of Charles I. There were 59 judges who signed papers condemning Charles I to death, and many associates who also faced consequences when the monarchy was restored. None of them were named Norwood.

The arrival of DNA research in modern times has further complicated (or perhaps clarified) the matter. This discussion on Geni.com explains the testing that has been done in some detail on groups of Americans with the surname Norwood. Of all the different family groups that were tested, only one, the descendants of William Norwood of Virginia, appear to have a connection with the Norwoods of Leckhampton Court. The result:

We have several unrelated families and some researchers want to show they have a common ancestor and they do not. At least seven different families in America descend from an ancestor that took the name Norwood independently. But the genetic evidence proves that they are not descended from the same Norwood ancestor and the genealogy is incorrect.

Francis Norwood was almost certainly not the son of Francis Norwood, Sr. of Leckhampton Court, given the DNA evidence. So, who was he? It's possible he was the son of a judge with the surname Norwood, but almost certainly not a judge who sentenced Charles I to death. It's possible he was descended from some other, less notable, Norwood. It's also plausible that he simply adopted the surname Norwood and created a tale around it, happy to let his Massachusetts neighbors believe he had a more colorful ancestry than he actually did. At this point in time, there's no way to know. Francis Norwood arrived in Lynn, Massachusetts from England, ran a tavern and raised a family in Gloucester, and his backstory is lost to history.

A modern view of Gloucester, Massachusetts

Francis married Elizabeth Coldham on October 15, 1663 in Gloucester, Massachusetts. This would have been a socially advantageous marriage for Francis. His new father-in-law and his family had established strong roots in Gloucester and were serving in leadership roles in their community. For Francis, who had arrived in the New World alone and with questionable roots, marrying a Coldham gave him a little more legitimacy. 

In 1664, Francis bought six acres of land in Goose Cove and built a house there. He and Elizabeth had ten children between 1664 and 1689.

1. Thomas Norwood (b. 1664; m. Mary Brown; d. 1755)

2. Francis Norwood, Jr. (b. 1666; m. Mary Stevens; d. 1709)

3. Elizabeth Norwood (b. 1668; m. John Potter; d. 1709)

4, Mary Norwood (b. 1672; m. Samuel Sargent; d. 1718)

5. Stephen Norwood (b. 1674; m. Elizabeth; d. 1703)

6. Deborah Norwood (b. 1677; m. (1) Benjamin Harraden (2) Joseph York; d. 1742)

7. Hannah Norwood (b. 1679; d. 1679)

8. Joshua Norwood (b. 1683; m. Elizabeth Andrews; d. 1762)

9. Caleb Norwood (b. 1685; m. Alice Donnall; d. 1735)

10. Abigail Norwood (b. 1689; m. Nathaniel Elery; d. 1711)

Nine of Francis and Elizabeth's ten children lived to adulthood, and all of those surviving Norwoods married. This means Francis and Elizabeth have many, many descendants. Perhaps the true story of the Norwood origins passed down along one of those branches and will someday be shared. It's also entirely possible that Francis Norwood arrived in America determined to reinvent himself, and the truth of his origins died with him.

Francis Norwood passed away on March 4, 1709, at the age of 74. Elizabeth survived him, dying two years later, in 1711.