The First Family Tree

The Farndale Family from about 1230 to about 1500

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We cannot know the precise relationships between the individuals who comprised our early ancestry before the sixteenth century. From the thirteenth century, surnames were only starting to be used to define families in a modern sense and the records did not record details of births, deaths and marriages.

However the rooting or our name to a small valley in rural Yorkshire, provides us with a beacon linked to a particular place. This focuses our search geographically. The uniqueness of the name also helps searches of the medieval records. It turns out there are numerous sources in the medieval records which tell of multiple events tied to many different individuals, which help to piece together our story. Occasionally the records even tell us the make up of small family groups.

Using that evidence it is possible to build a plausible model to fit the evidence of which we know.

It appears that the earliest members of our family who took the Farndale name were the settled inhabitants of Farndale itself; their restless sons who poached in the royal forests; and the pioneers who later left Farndale not so long after its early cultivation, to settle in new places.

The genealogical table below is a likely model, based on extensive medieval evidence, of how our early family might have looked. It will not be completely accurate. You can change assumptions and find a different model to define our early ancestors’ relationships to each other. However it is the result of careful analysis of the known facts. We have documentary evidence of each of these individuals and their stories. The aspect of this model that might be subject to some fluidity, is how they mesh together.

With only a few exceptions, the evidence we have does not provide dates of birth or death, but provides snapshots in time which help to build their stories. The dates below are therefore provided as estimates, but are generally the subject of interpretation of the evidence we do have.

					The Farndale Story The Farmers of the lands around Kirkdale of Anglo-Saxon-Scandinavian descent
	Nicholas de Farndale c1230 to c1310 Bailer of his son Alan in 1280 Possible farmer of Eller lands in Farndale in 1301				John the Shepherd of Farndale c1233 to c1315 Paid taxes in the Eyre Court in 1280				Gilbert de Farndale c1235 to c1310		Alfred de Farndale c1239 to c1315
Alan de Farndale c1263 to c1330 A poacher in Pickering Forest in 1280	Simon the Miller of Farndale c1264 to c1335 The Miller of Farndale The wealthiest tenant in Farndale in 1301	De Willelmo de Farndale c1255 to c1325 A smith of Farndale Tenant in Danby in 1301	Walter de Farndale c1270 to c1327 Murdered in Cayton, south of Scarborough by Hugh de Faulkes of Lebreston	De Johanne de Farndale c1273 to c1345 Egton in 1301 Cropton and Rosedale in 1314 Miller of Farndale in 1334	Richard de Farndale c1275 to c1345 Had a gift of land in Marton in 1300 Excommunicated for poaching and contempt of the authority of the church in 1316	Thomas of Farndale c1276 to c1345 Excommunicated for poaching and contempt of the authority of the church in 1316	Nicholas de Farndale c1280 to c1350 Gave bail for Roger, son of Gilbert Farndale in 1334	Adam de Farndale C1281 to c1350	Roger de Farndale c1255 to c1340 A poacher in Pickering Forest in 1280 (with his cousin, Alan?) and a miller and poacher in 1335	Peter de Farndale c1260 to c1320	Roger de Farndale c1275 to c1340 Roger bailed John, son of Abba in 1334
Adam of Farndale c1290 to c1352 An appeal against him for the death of John de Maunby in 1320 Poacher in Pickering in 1323	Robert de Farndale c1295 to c1360 Poacher in Pickering in 1332 and 1335 He may have been Robert the Smith of Farndale	William, Smith of Farndale c1285 to c1360 Poacher of a hind and a calf in 1330 and repeat offender in 1336	Walter de Farndale c1300 to c1370 Vicar of Haltwhistle, Lazonby, Illisahaghe hospital, Upmeadon, Chelmsford	Nicholas de Farndale C1302 to c1370	John de Farndale C1303 to c1375	Johannes de Farendale c1303 to c1372 Excommunicated for poaching in 1324 Paid taxes in Crofton de Artoft in 1327 and 1333 (possibly Crofton near Pontefract) A debtor in Hovingham in 1347 Saddler and freeman of York in 1363	Richard Farndale C1305 to c1375 Indicted for hunting in 1334 and 1335		Roger Milne (Miller) of Farndale c1295 to c1370 Slew a soar in Pickering Forest in 1330 and evaded justice for several years	Robert de Farndale c1296 to c1360 Fined for poaching in Pickering Forest in 1332
John Farndale c1305 to c1375 Indicted for hunting in 1335	William, Smith of Farndale The Younger C1306 to c1380 William stole deer and other goods at Egton in 1348 and assaulted the locals		William Farndale c1332 to c1397 A Chaplain of Derleye in 1358 William Farndale of Caleys was pardoned for the death of John de Spaldyngton (south of York) in 1370 Sheriff Hutton	William Farndale c1330 to c1415 Vicar of the Parish of Doncaster from 1397 to 1403 Landholder at Loversall	Nicholaus de ffarnedale c1332 to c1400 Paid the 1379 Poll Tax in Doncaster and married Alicia			Johannes de Farndall c1334 to c1405 Freeman of York by patrimony in 1397
John Farndale c1335 to c1400 Joined a commission to investigate dilapidations at a priory in Shropshire
John Farndale c1365 to c1450 Involved in a significant cattle and horse rustling expedition in 1384 and a trespasser in Stillington near Stockton in 1445	Richard Farndale c1357 to c20 December 1435 Sheriff Hutton Veteran Soldier with Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V in Scotland and France	Helen Farndale c1359 to c1420 Sheriff Hutton	Agnes Farndale c1361 to c1420 Sheriff Hutton	William Farndale c1365 to c1440 Sheriff Hutton and Gowthorpe		John de Farondell c1352 to c1425 Archer in the wars with Scotland in 1383 to 1389 Likely lived in York Butcher and freeman of York in 1408 Likely trader in the Medieval Shambles, the street of butchers	Henry Farendon c1354 to c1414 Man at Arms with Thomas Mowbray in the wars with Scotland in 1389	William Faryndon c1356 to c1416 Archer with Thomas Mowbray in the wars with Scotland in 1389
Margorie Farndale c1409 to c1480 Sheriff Hutton Witness to the Wars of the Roses from the lands of the Nevilles and Richard III	Agnes Farndale c1411 to c1482 Sheriff Hutton Witness to the Wars of the Roses from the lands of the Nevilles and Richard III	Alice Farndale c1413 to c1483 Sheriff Hutton Witness to the Wars of the Roses from the lands of the Nevilles and Richard III		William Farndale c1425 to c1490 In 1493, his widow Rose Farndale sued for a tenement, garden and two fields in Doddinghurst, Brentwood, which she said had been bought by William from John Reignold	???		???
				Robert Farndale c1460 to c1530 Rector at South Stoke, Sussex in 1500 and presented to the College of the Holy Trinity in 1508	The Modern Farndale Family The Kirkleatham Skelton Line		Thomas fyndaille c1484 to c1554 In Lythe in 1524

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