The Alley Family

Many Americans alive today, such as the actress Kirstie Alley, can trace their Alley line back to a man named John Alley. I'm one of those Americans.

John Alley was born around 1460 in Great Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. Very little is known about John. He's the oldest verifiable person in that line (though there are two candidates that could potentially be his father: John de la'Lee -- various spellings -- of Brittany and, in my opinion, the more likely Willelmus Alley of Great Wycombe). Some sources suggest that John, like his son William, was a mayor of Great Wycombe, which might have been so. Still, I haven't yet independently verified the assertion.

In the 1480's, John married a woman called Agnes (last name unknown). John was believed to have died after August 11, 1506 in Chipping, Bucks, England. There was a will floating about of John's; I saw it a long time ago. When I find it again, I'll post a copy; wills provide amazingly accurate information about a family, because it comes from their own mouths.

My descent from John Alley is as follows:

John Alley m. Agnes

Mayor William Alley (b. c. 1487; d. aft 1550)

Bishop William Alley of Exeter (b. 1510; d. April 15, 1570) m. Sybil Bodleigh (b. 1515)

Archdeacon Roger Alley of Cornwall, Vicar of Pyeworthy (b. 1535, Devonshire; d. 1610)

Jerome Alley (b. 1560, Devonshire; d. 1635, England)

Thomas Alley (b. November 27 1581, Oxford; d. 1656, Oxford)

William Alley (b. 1605, Oxford; d. aft 1632, Salem, Massachusetts)

Henry Alley (b. 1630, Oxford; d. c. 1690, Haverhill, Massachusetts)

Abraham Alley (b. c. 1670, Virginia) m. Winnifred James (b. 1670, England)

Abraham Alley (b. c. 1690, Prince William, Virginia; d. 1760, Brunswick, Virginia) m. Mary

Drury Alley Sr. (b. July 1, 1724; d. 1797) m. Winnifred Alley (his sister)

Shadrick Alley (b. May 1, 1751, Iredell, North Carolina; d. March 1835, Iredell) m. Mary Price (b. 1754)

Howell Lafayette Alley (b. June 26, 1779, North Carolina; d. Aug, 1864, Iredell) m. Ann Turbyfill -- alternate spellings: Turbeville, Turbyville -- (b. c. 1781)

Hamblin Alexander Alley (b. 1799, North Carolina; d. June 1, 1879, Mississippi) m. Martha Ann Turbyfill, relative of his mother (b. 1813, North Carolina)

Miles Glenn Alley (b. December 1841, Tennessee; d. 1929, Texas) m. Canarisa "Caney" Louisa Bell (b. June 8, 1848; d. December 6, 1932, Dyer, Gibson, Tennessee)

Mary Agnes Alley (b. December, 1882, Tennessee; d. November 14, 1949, Dyer) m. Bobby Happle Ramsey (b. August 14, 1879, Tennessee; November 4, 1945, Dyer)

Glenn Newton Ramsey (b. July, 1908, Dyer; d. 1998, Florence) m. Ida Ellen Renaud-Cole (b. 1916; d. October 19, 1972, Florence, Alabama)

Glenn and Ida are my great-grandparents on my mother's side.

As I said in an earlier post, I plan on doing updates on my Scottish heritage. I'm still adding names, links, etc. right now, so I wanna get to a stopping place before I post it here.

Until then.

The Tudors and The Bells: Is it Fair to Take Liberties with Historical People's Lives for the Sake of Entertainment?

Has anyone ever watched The Tudors? 'Cause I have been lately. And I got to say, the show, entertainment-wise, is phenomenal. As for the historical accuracy, some things are very spot-on, such as their portrayal of Sir Thomas More in the early part of the first season. I can't testify to later portrayals of his character, as that's as far as I've gotten in the series. But the rest? Some inaccurate stuff is bothering me, such as the melding of Margaret and Mary Tudor (called Margaret on the show, the king's sister).

This annoys me greatly, because I'm a direct descendant of Margaret Tudor. She and Mary were separate people and it was Mary who married Brandon, not Margaret. And Mary wasn't the queen of Portugal, but the queen of France. (She was married to Francis' father, Louis. Margaret, in fact, was married to the Scottish king.) Furthermore, Margaret/Mary didn't kill her husband.

I understand that for the sake of entertainment, it's almost completely impossible not to take some liberties. But at what price? Is it fair to slander someone who's too dead to defend themselves?

Take my relation, John Bell, for instance. In the movie, An American Haunting, he's portrayed as an incestuous daughter-raper. If he was a daughter-raper, I would know about it, being a rather close relation. To go further still, his wife Lucy, in the extend/unrated version (whatever, I'm not sure, so don't quote me -- it could've been in the main film shown in theaters, but I don't remember it) is shown to have killed him. This did not happen. No one knows exactly what killed him, but I'm certain it wasn't his wife. There was a lot of interest in the Bells at the time. If she had done it, she would've been caught and prosecuted.

Again, is it fair to label John Bell a daughter-raper and Lucy Bell a murderess when they, like Margaret Tudor, are too dead to defend themselves? Those who think it's fine to do so would probably use the argument that it's all in good fun, for entertainment purposes, but what's the price? After all, these people have real, living relatives and descendants. Is it fair to tarnish our family -- my family -- like this? Remember: the majority of people watching this show and this movie thoroughly think that what they are watching are accurate portrayals of what really happened. Is it fair to purport ridiculous things for the sake of good viewing?

Don't get me wrong. I absolutely enjoy The Tudors and An American Haunting. I think the storytelling, acting, and direction is phenomenal. I enjoy it even more when I remember it's all in good fun. But still, there's always that nagging voice in the back of my mind that can't help but be offended when faced with made-up events that put my relatives in a less-than-stellar light.

Ancestor Spotlight: Matilda of Flanders

Quick Facts

Name: Matilda of Flanders

Lifetime: 1031-November 2, 1083

Height: 4'2" (127cm)

Interesting Fact: England's shortest queen ever.

Spouse: William the Conqueror

Anecdote: Thought she was too highly born to marry William, who was of less than reputable birth. So, he smacked her around a bit until she agreed to marry him.

How she's related to me: She's my 30th great-grandma (meaning she's my great grandma, thirty generations back). Her descendants married into the de Warrenes, whom I mentioned in my previous post.

Mary Warren, my closest ancestor bearing the Warren name, married Thomas Burgess in Orange County Virginia in 1735. My descent from them is as follows:

Mary Warren m. Thomas Burgess
Nancy Burgess m. William Stuart
Agnes Stuart m. Henry Burch
Agnes Jane Burch m. John Newton Bell
Canarisa "Caney" Louisa Bell m. Miles Glenn Alley
Mary Agnes Alley m. Bobby Happle Ramsey
Glenn Newton Ramsey m. Ida Ellen Renaud-Cole and produced my grandmother

What's interesting is: the females in my family have all been short and I have to wonder if it has anything to do with Matilda of Flanders' genes. After all, at 5'5" (165cm) I'm the tallest female of the bunch on that side (my mom's side). Granted, my dad is also a descendant of William and Matilda (but that's a different story).