The Jernigan/Jerningham Line

Having established our connection to the Somerleyton Jernigans, let’s look a little closer at the Jernigan/Jerningham (often used interchangeably, after a point) line, which extends unbroken as far back as the 1100s (and even a bit earlier, depending on who’s telling the story). They are said to have arrived in Norfolk sometime in the 11th Century from Denmark as Viking settlers; as of the late 1100s, Sir William Jernegan/Jerningham had settled in Horham, Suffolk. Our lineage proceeds from there through William’s son, Sir Hubert FitzJerningham of Horham-Jernegan:

1. Sir William JERNEGAN/JERNINGHAM of Horham-Jernegan (d. 1187) m. Isabel ASPALL
2. Sir Hubert FITZJERNINGHAM of Horham-Jernegan (d. 1203)
3. Sir Hubert JERNEGAN of Horham-Jernegan m. Maude/Margery HARLING
4. Sir Hugh JERNEGAN of Horham-Jernegan (d. 1272) m. Ellen INGLETHORPE
5. Sir Walter JERNEGAN of Stonham-Jernegan and Horham-Jernegan (d. Abt. 1300) m. Isabella FITZOSBERT
6. Sir Peter JERNEGAN of Somerley Town, Stonham and Horham (b. Abt. 1270) m. Matilda HERLING
7. Sir John JERNEGAN of Somerley Town (d. 1375) m. Joan KELVEDON
8. Sir John JERNEGAN of Somerley Town (b. Abt. 1363/d. 1405) m. Margaret VISDELOW
9. Sir Thomas (or John) JERNEGAN of Somerley Town m. Joan APPLEYARD
10. John JERNEGAN of Somerley Town (d. 1474) m. Agnes DARRELL
11. John JERNEGAN of Somerley Town (b. 1440/d. 26 Oct 1503) m. Isabel CLIFTON

And if we want to see what I mean by “superhighway,” let’s pause here at Isabel Clifton and trace just one of her lineages to Roger de Montgomery (also seen as ‘Monte Gomerii’), which is as far back as I’m comfortable going given that everything preceding him takes us back to a whole lot of mythological kings, capped off by Odin himself. So:

1. Roger de MONTGOMERY (d. 7 Feb 1055), Seigneur of Montgomery and Vicomte of the Hiémois (Normandy)
2. Roger de MONTGOMERY (d. 1094), 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, Earl of Arundel, Sussex
3. Sibyl de MONTGOMERY m. Robert FITZHAMON (d. Mar 1107), Seigneur de Creully (Normandy), Baron of Gloucester, Lord of Glamorgan (Wales)
4. Mabel FITZROBERT (b. Abt. 1100/d. 29 Sep 1157), Countess of Gloucester, Lady of Glamorgan, Dame of Sainte-Scholasse-sur-Sarthe, Dame of Evrecy, Dame of Creully m. Robert FITZROY (b. Abt 1090/d. 31 Oct 1147), also known as Robert de Caen, 1st Earl of Gloucester
5. Maud of GLOUCESTER (d. 29 Jul 1189), Countess of Chester m. Ranulf II, 4th Earl of Chester (b. 1099/d. 1153), also known as Ranulf de GERNON
6. Hugh de Keviloc de MESCHINES (b. 1147, poss. Cyfeiliog, Montgomeryshire, Wales/d. 30 Jun 1181, Leek, Staffordshire), 3rd Earl of Chester, also known as Hugh of Cyfeiliog
7. Agnes de MESCHINES m. William II de FERRERS (b. Abt. 1168/d. Abt. 1247), 4th Earl of Derby
8. William de FERRERS (b. Abt. 1193/d. 28 Mar 1254), 5th Earl of Derby
9. William de FERRERS (b. 1240/d. 1287) of Groby
10. William de FERRERS (b. 30 Jan 1271/d. 20 Mar 1324), 1st Baron Ferrers of Groby
11. Anne FERRERS m. John de GREY (d. 28 Oct 1323), 2nd Baron Grey de Wilton
12. Henry de GREY (b. 28 Oct 1282/d. 10 Dec 1342), 3rd Baron Grey of Wilton
13. [possible missed generation] Agnes de GREY m. Robert de CLIFTON (d. Bef. 1391)
14. John de CLIFTON (d. 1403), knight banneret
15. Gervase CLIFTON (d. 1453), knight
16. Isabella CLIFTON m. John JERNEGAN of Somerley Town (see above)

There are 30 generations of my grandmother’s family accounted for in this one line, and if we take a small detour at Robert de Caen, we bump right into King Henry I of England (b. Abt. 1068, Yorkshire/d. 1 Dec 1135, Saint-Denis-en-Lyons, Normandy, France), of whom Robert was the (likely) eldest illegitimate child. “Henry” would, of course, be Henry, son of William I (b. Abt. 1028, Falaise, Duchy of Normandy/d. 9 Sep 1087, Priory of Saint Gervase, Rouen, Duchy of Normandy), King of England, Duke of Normandy, and better known as William the Conqueror.

Again, to make it clear, there is nothing unusual in this kind of lineage; the only (comparatively) unusual thing is that we happen to dovetail fairly late in the game with a particularly well-documented and well-connected family, making it much more straightforward to trace ancestry back to those historical figures from whom all people with Western European ancestry descend. Certainly much easier than with almost all of my family’s other ancestors, who tended to get lost somewhere in the Carolinas, never to surface again.