The Estes are one of the great pioneer families of the United States. Numbered in
their thousands they are are to be found in most parts of the country and a selection of their life histories would amply illustrate the history of America. They are to be found in the annals of the American Revolution, the expansion westwards and the Civil War and are representative of the whole social fabric from log cabin to Whitehouse! Though not among the great politicil families they produced a vice-presidential:candidate in Senator Estes Kefauver and a son-in-law on the bench to President Harrison, and they produced their own brand of tycoon in Billie Sol Estes. They were trail blazers, slave-owners and freers, Quakers. Episcopalians, Presbyterians and Baptists. They drowned in frozen rivers and were captured by Indians as children. They fought on both sides in the Civil War and nursed their dying countrymen in that conflict. Their traditional Biblical names shared place with those of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson and their family name, which is hardly known elsewhere, has become very much an American surname.
While it is known that the ancestors of the American Estes came from Kent in England and while there is a strong belief that the family was ultimately of Italian origin, very little has been written about the English ancestors and the English branches of the family. Indeed, a great deal of speculation and incorrect information has been circulated over the last hundred years, both in America and England. Largely due to the researches of an English genealogist employed by Charles Estes.
The American families have been exposed to the belief that they descend from a family named Este which, in turn, descended from the Marquis Francesco d'Este of Burgundy who settled in England after the death of his friend and patron Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. The story has some credibility in that Francesco, a trained diplomat, may well have been in the service of the Duchess, widow of Charles, who was an English princess and known to be sympathetic to the English pretender Lambert Simnel who claimed to be her nephew. Nevertheless it seems strange that no record of Francesco appears to survive in the English State Papers.
The English Estes, most branches of which had adopted the Eastes spelling by the mid-eighteenth century, perpetuated another variant of this story though they had Francesco's descendants remaining in Europe where some of them became Protestant-. a,-id fled to England to escape persecution. In garbled form of this story was given false authority by another English professional genealogist in the mid-nineteenth century who stated that two brothers, sons of the Baron d'Este, a descendant of the Marquis d'Este, were Huguenots and fled to England after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. As the families of the two brothers can be traced back much earlier in Kent the story only makes sense if those who fled to England did so in the mid-sixteenth century when hundreds of Walloon and Fleming refugees fled from the Spanish Netherlands (the former Duchy of Burgundy) to escape the Inquisition. It makes even greater sense when we recall that the Flemings and Walloons were commonly referred to as Huguenots in later times.
What we know of the English Estes is pieced together from a thorough examination of the parish registers and bishops transcripts available for Acrise, Ashford,
Bucldand, Canterbury, Deal, Dover, Elnam, Folkestone, Guston, Hythe, London, Lydden, Margate, Nonington, Northbourne, Ringwould, Ripple, Rotherhithe, St Margarets at Cliff, Sandwich, Sholden, Waldershare, Walmer, West Langdon, Wingham and Wooton. The greatest linking was only achieved in recent years by an experienced English researcher, Donald Bowler, but other researchers have contributed in fitting the genealogical jigsaw together.
The Estes of Kent were described as a "maritime" family and this may explain why the earliest appearances of the name are found scattered about the southern coast from Morwenstow in Cornwall (1558) to Harwich in Essex.' There was probably a link between the Estes of Harwich and Deal, both centres of Walloon refugee settlement, as the registers of St Leonard, Deal, list the burial on 31 August 1621 of Hugh 'Estie' of Harwich who was bound from Germinie [Netherlands] in a ship called the Sion of London [Zion, a typical Protestant name]. It is clear from the records of St Leonard that all variants of the name were used interchangeably, the earliest instances being as follows: Eastes (1581), Este (1601), Estis (1618) and Eastis (1726). John Estye, who became a freeman of Canterbury by purchase on 27 June 1562, was a shearman or maker of shears, an occupation closely associated with the Walloon textile industry. He was no doubt the same John Estey or Estye who was a clothworker mentioned in Canterbury records between 1571 and 1593.
The first progenitor of the Deal family for whom we have reasonable records was
Henry Este or Eagtes (b. about 1549 in Deal) who made his will as Henry Eastice, fisherman of Deal, on 13
April 1590. His widow Mary/Maria Rand Este (b. before 1575) was buried at St Leonards on 19 June 1601. The
available evidence suggests that Henry and Mary had the following children:
1. Richard of Deal, born 1578
2. Henry of Deal, bapt. St Leonards 6 April 1581
3. Mary, bapt. St Leonards 15 January 158617, buried St Leonards 29 December 1587
4. Aron, bapt.. St Leonards 6 July 1589
Henry left his 'pinasse' (two masted vessel) and other property to be shared equally between his three sons Richard, Henry and Aron who were all very young. His executor was his brother Robert who was probably the founder of the Ringwould branch. Robert of Ringwould had links with Deal through his son Matthew, the marriage of his grand-daughter Ellen with Moses Estes, grandson of Richard of Deal, and the fact that some of his family became mariners, like the Deal family.
Robert of Ringwould married Ann Woodward at Sholden on 2 December 1591. He probably died about 1616. His widow Annie's will, dated 21 April 1630, was probated 9 June 1630 and gives certainty to the next generation. Their children were as follows:
1. Matthew, bapt. Sholden 11 June 1592
2. Sylvester,, bapt. Ringwould 26 September 1596
3. Alice, bapt. 26 March 1597, married at Ringwould, 28 October 1628 Thomas Beane
4. Matthew, born 1601, married at Deal 23 November 1620 Margaret Johnson
and buried Deal 4 June 1621
5. Robert, bapt. Ring-would 29 May 1603
6. Thornas, bapt. Ring-would 2 June 1605 Susan, bapt. Ringwould 30 October 1608
8. John, bapt. Ringwould 3 March 1610
9. ?, an infant who died in 1616
Most of the American families appear to descend from the eldest surviving child Sylvester and the fourth surviving child Robert, although the family of Richard Estes of Deal (born 1578) also had American connections. Several persons named Estes or one of its variants arrived in America before the Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in England. A John Estes was brought to Virginia by Theodore Moyser in 1637 and another of that name was transported in 1659. Thomas Estes and his .wife Jane nee Jones were living in Westmoreland County, Virginia, in 1654 and James Estes or Estasse, probably a relation of Thomas, was living there in 1658. The early Estes could have come from the West Country rather than Kent though the most suitable candidate for Thomas would seem to be the second son of Robert of Ringwould, born in 1636.
Sylvester Estes of Ringwould, sometime church warden, married Ellen Martin of Great Hardres on 24 November 1625. Ellen was of Waldershare according to her will of 1649. Sylvester had died before December 1667 when his daughter Ellen married. He left a large family:
1. Robert, Senior, of Waldershare,bapt. Ringwould 10 September 1626, buried
Waldersha're 23 June 1692 (ancestor of the Estes of Waldershare)
2. Anne, bapt. Ring-would 25 November 1627
3. Silvester (a daughter), bapt. Ringwould 31 May 1629 (afterwards Mrs Nash)
4. Susan, bapt. Ringwould, 30 March 1631
5. Thomas, bapt. Ring7would 20 January 1633 (ancestor of Estes of Acrise, etc.)
6. Richard, bapt. Ring-would 5 October 1634 (ancestor of Estes and Eastes of Dover, West Langdon, St Margaret at Cliff and Guston)
7. Mary, bapt. Ringwould 2 October 1636
8. Anne, born in 1637
9. Nicholas of Wingham, bapt. Nonington 9 December 1638
10. Elizabeth, b. c.1640
11. Ellen, bapt. Nonington 11 December 1642, married at Deal, 23 December 1667, Moses Estes of Deal as his second Wife.
12. John, bapt. Nonington 29 December 1644
13 Abraham, born in 1647
The youngest child Abraham is an obvious candidate to be founder of the Virginia family. He was mentioned in his mother's will in 1649 and was a linen weaver in the old Walloon town of Sandwich, aged 25, when he married Ann widow of John Burton at Worth on 29 December 1672. Presumably Am died and he started a new life in Virginia. Family members who did not realise that Silvester was a woman could have assumed that Abraham was the youngest of seven brothers which may account for the American tradition that seven brothers had gone to America. The original claim was probably that Abraham was 'one of seven brothers' which later family members misconstrued to mean that they all came. That Abraham, son of
Sylvester of Ringwould, was the Virginian ancestor is partly supported by the fact that Abraham Estes of Virginia named his son Sylvester as his executor, a position usually filled by the eldest son who was invariably named after his paternal grandfather.
Although most of the listings of the children of Abraham and Barbara Estes do not place Sylvester first the most logical arrangement is that worked out by Margaret
M. Hayes of Illinois, based on a close study of the Virginia records. It is as follows:
1. Sylvester, b. c.1684, living in 1720
2. Samuel, b. c.1686, married Rebecca
3. Thomas, b.c.1688, d.1744, married c.1717 Ann Rogers who d. 1745
4. Mary, b. c.1690 (Mrs. Thomas Watkins)
5. Susanna, b. c.1692 (Mrs Thomas Poore)
6. Robert, b. c.1695, d. Lunenburg Co. 13 April 1775, married c.1725 Mary
7. Abraham, b.c.1697, d. before Feb. 1759, married (1) before 1717 Ann
(2) c. 1740 Elizabeth Jeeter who d. 1774
8. Richard, b. c.1699, d. Feb. 1774/5, married c.1727 Mary Yancy
9. John, b. c.1701, married Elizabeth
10. Elisha, b. c.1703, d. Henry Co. Virginia 1782 married before 1735 Mary Ann
11. Sarah, b. c.1705, unmarried in 1720
12 Moses, b. c.1710, d. 1788, married c.1731 Elizabeth.
13. Barbara, b. c.1712, d. unmarried 1729
We now return to Robert (b.1603), the English progenitor of the Estes of New
England. Robert Estes of Ring-would married at Ringwould 31 January 1634
Dorothy, daughter of Thomas Wilson. Her sister Joan married Robert's brother
Thomas on 21 November 1636. Robert and Dorothy had the following children.
1. Robert, bapt. Ringwould 27 February 1635
2. Thomas, bapt. Ringwould 23 October 1636
3. Sylvester, bapt. Ringwould 9 September 1638
4. Sarah, bapt. Ringwould, 22 March 1639/40
5. child, b. 1643
6. Matthew, b. Dover 28 May 1645, d. Salem, Massachusetts July 1723 (ancestor of one branch of the New England Estes)
7. Richard, b. Dover 16 March 1647, d. (ancestor of the second branch of the
New England Estes).
Matthew Estes, a master mariner and master.of the Scituate-built sloop Unity of Boston in 1697-98, was already living in Dover, New Hampshire, when he married Philadelphia, widow of Edward Hayes, daughter of Ronald and Ann Jenkins, on 14 June 1676. He was living in Lynn as early as 1695 and died there on 9 July 1723. He was a member of the Society of Friends or Quakers." His brother Richard was also a Quaker and came to New England in 1684 where he married Elizabeth Beck at Dover , New Hampshire, on 23 April 1687. He lived mainly at Lynn and Salem though he is regarded as the founder of the Estes family of Hanover through his eldest son Matthew.
The third family to have American connections was that of Richard of Deal. Richard
married Agnes Dove at Ringwould on November 16 and was buried at St
Leonards, Deal, on 21 February 1625/26. They had the following children.
1. Richard, Junior, bapt. St Leonards, Deal 13 October 1605
2. Annis, bapt. St Leonards 26 July 1618, married at Northbourne 1645 John Bowen
Richard Estes, Junior, of Deal, married (1) at St Leonards 8 October 1627 Sara
Norman, and (2) 31 March 1673 Mary Hyle or Hild, a widow. He was buried at St
Leonards 31 May 1673. His will dated 27 May 1673 was probated 23 June 1673.
He left the following children:
1. Aaron, bapt. At St. Leonards 11 December 1631, a mariner, married at St Leonards 11 Apn'l 1653 Susanna Whetstone and had issue six children before he died about 1664. The eldest for the West lndies' and left Nicholas, also a mariner, was born in 1653 and married Elizabeth Sprusham at Canterbury in 1677.2 He is probably the same Nicholas Estes who was Lieutenant of the fireship Vulture in Her Majesty's Service who made his will on 20 June 1707 when'outward bound his real and personal estate to his wife Elizabeth." Aaron's fourth child Elizabeth was baptised at St Leonards 3 September 1660 and married Nathaniel Hatch of Boston, Massachusetts, at Deal on 9 October 1684, founding another American family.
2. Sara, bapt. St Leonards 10 June 1633, married 4 December 1651 Stephen Mumbray
3. Mary, bapt. St Leonards 28 June 1635, married 18 February 1656 Jeffrey Saffery of Lower Deal.
4. Richard, junior, of Deal, bapt. St Leonards 19 February 1636, buried St Leonards 30 May 1663. He married Sarah Bridger of Sandwich in 1656 and had issue four children.
5. John, bapt. St Leonards 18 November 1638, buried St Leonards 23 May 1646.
6. Ann, b. in 1641, died young
7. Moses, bapt. St Leonards 12 November 1643
8. Samuel, also a mariner, bapt. St Leonards 14 December 1646, married Elizabeth Sillary at Ripple in 1666
9. John, also a mariner in Her Majesty's Service, bapt. St Leonards 2 September 1649, buried St Leonards 27 November 1695. He married Sarah Banes at St Leonards 2 March 1673 and had eight children
10. Ann, bapt. St Leonards, 16 November 1651, married at St Leonards 4 November 1669 John Bowen, a seaman, probably her cousin.
The seventh child, Moses, is probably ancestor of Moses Estes who settled in Virginia in 1783. He married (1) at St Leonards 30 November 1663 Mary Mumbray who was buried St Leonards 29 November 1664 leaving an infant daughter Mary who died soon afterwards. He then married Ellen or Ella Estes, daughter of Sylvester and Ellen Estes of Ringwould and presumably full sister of Abraham Estes of Virginia." Moses died at Deal 19 March 1707/8 and was buried at St Leonards where there is a Memorial headstone carved with a skull and cross-bones and an hourglass." Ellen was buried at St Leonards 26 December 1729. Moses and Ellen had the following children:
1. Richard, bapt. St Leonards 29 January 1667/8, buried St Leonards
December 1668
2. Constant, bapt. St Leonards 28 December 1669. She was buried at St Leonards 20 November 1708 where she was commemorated on her father's headstone
3. Aaron, bapt. St Leonards 7 February 1671
4. Samuel, bapt. St Leonards 28 February 1674/5.
Samuel Estes married Ann Reed at St Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury, London on 25 October'1704 and died in 1745. He had the following children:
1. Moses, bapt. St Dunstans, Stepney on 22 August 17 1027
2. Ann, bapt. St Dunstans, Stepney on 22 December 1713
3. Samuel, bapt. St Leona.rds, Deal 25 November 1719
4. Thomas, bapt. St Leonards 27 October 1721.
Other Estes may have come independently to America but they did not proliferate like the original pioneers. Early this century a family of Eastes of Dutch nationality arrived from Holland; they were descendants of a Richard Eastes from England who had settled in the Netherlands. This sequence of events gives a strange twist to the myth of family origins.
The English Estes family was not lawfully armigerous since none of them had registered Arms, and there is no evidence of an Estes family bearing Arms before the establishment of the College of Arms in 1483. There is evidence, however, that the Eastes of Kent used armorial insignia (a garb and three fleurs-de-lys) which
tends to support their Walloon or Flemish origins, since burgher arms (i.e., arms assumed by the citizenry) were proudly displayed in the Netherlands. Many of the old Walloon and Herriing families introduced this custom to England though it was never officially recognised unless the bearers applied for registration. Usually these burgher arms had the simplicity of trade signs tending to symbolise the occupation of the bearer. A garb or sheaf, for instance, could be an indication that the bearer was a brewer. Robert Eastes who became a freeman of Canterbury by redemption in 1681, was a maltster." The Crest used by the Eastes of Ashford was Issuant from three fleurs-de-lys: a garb."
The tombstone of Thomas and @lary Eastes in Guston Churchyard, Kent, erected in 1743, displays a coat-of-arms which was once thought to be that of the family: A chevron between two {fleurs de lys} in chief and a garb in base. For crest An arm holding a [fleur de lys]." On close inspection, however, these arms appear to be those of the Worshipful Company of Tylers and Bricklayers granted on 3 February 1569: Azure a chevron or, in chief a fleur-de-lys argent between two brick-axes palewise or, in base a brush also or. For crest On a wreath or and azure a dexter arm enibowed vested party per pale or and gules, cuffed argent, holding in the hand proper a brick-axe or.
Anyone unacquainted with the Guild arms could be excused for confusing the brush in base as a garb as it is not a common heraldic charge. It was in fact a bundle of laths which are evidently indispensable in the tiling of roofs. Also the brickaxes (larger than the central fleur-de-lys) are so nondescript as to resemble the central section of the fleur-de-lys. Why the Arms should include a fleur-de-lys at all is not
Clear except that they are often a symbol of the Blessed Virgin Mary who may have been the saint to whom the
early members of the fraternity made their VOWS.
Thomas Eastes, son of Thomas and Mary, became a Freeman of Canterbury by marriage and as a Citizen and Bricklayer he would have believed himself entitled to use the Guild Arms on his father's tombstone especially as the Company had relaxed its rules after the Great Fire of London in 1666 to allow non-freemeil to enjoy all its City Privileges. It is possible, of course, that a misreading of the Arms on Thomas Eastes headstone was responsible for the family using armorial insignia displaying a garb and three fleurs-de-lys.
Other families did not adopt Arms until the mid-nineteenth century, when they were made aware of the Arms of the Estes of Ferrara displayed on the coinage of Niccolo d'Este. The Eastes of Whitstable and Sydney assumed the quarterings of Niccolo and Leonello d'Este: 1 and 4. Azure three fleurs-de-lys or (bestowed upon the family by Charles VII in 1432) and 2 and 3. Azure an eagle argent, beaked, membered and crowned gules. These were substantially the same Arms used by the Marquis Francesco in Burgundy as on the reverse of his portrait by Roger van der Weyden in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, though the lily quarterings were surrounded by a bordure 'double indented or and gules'.
It is intriguing that the Este arms assumed by some of the American families in modern times not only features the fleurs-de-lys quartering .vith the double indented bordure but also a garb." These arms are blazoned in Burke's General Armoury as
follows: Azure, three fleurs-de-lis or, within a bordure parted per bordure dancetee
over all, exterior argent, interior gules. For crest - A garb or, banded gules. These would appear to be the legitimate arms of a well-known family of Este in England whose ancestor was in the court of James I and changed the spelling of his name from East to Este at the king's suggestion because of the belief that they were a branch of the Estes of Ferrara." In the eighteenth century the head of this family was the Reverend Charles Este, a nephew of Dr Charles Este, Bishop of Waterford, and a noted literary figure described as 'the most extraordinary character of his time'." His eldest son Charles Lambton Este (1775-1841), a naval surgeon and fidend of Lord Nelson, moved to Paiis where he married Sophie Charlotte, the daughter of the banker Sir. Robert Smyth, fifth baronet and friend of Tom Paine, in 1803, and assumed the style and title of Charles Edouard, Baron D'Este.
Although all the male members of this family have been styled Baron D'Este, the direct succession has been as follows:
1. Charles Edouard, Baron D'Este 1775-1841
2. Charles Michel Oscar, Baron D'Este 1809-1879
3. Beresford Alfred, Baron D'Este,' born 1840
4. Charles, Baron D'Este, born c.1873
These assumed Barons remained loyal to the Church of England, took English brides and were even assumed to belong to the nobility of France being given an entry, for instance, in the Annuaire General Heraldique edited by Jules Wigniolle (Paiis, 1904). They no longer used the English arms, however, replacing them with the antique blazon of the Italian family: Dazur, a 1'aigle d'argent armee dor.
It would be interesting to know what pedigrees they possess and whether or not there is any connection between them and the English and American Estes. The garb in their crest suggests that they may originally have come from the Netherlands also. There is always the possibility of course that Este was plain East (as West is West) or that Estis was Eustace.
Niel Gunson is a historian by profession and holds the position of Senior Feflow in Pacific Histo a The Australian National University in Canberra. His earliest Australian ancestors (a great gre grandfather) arrived in 1842. His mother's family arrived in 1853. His maternal grandmother was the last to arrive from England in 1889 and it is through her that he is descended from the Estes (Eastes) family. He grew up in the Victorian countryside before going to school and university in Melbourne. He has always been interested in family history and has been a member of the Genealogical Society of Victoria (of which he is a Fellow) since 1949. He was editor of its magazine for 20 years and was also instrumental in founding the Heraldry and Genealogy Society of Canberra in 1966. He has written or edited several books relating to the Pacific and also a local history.
NOTES
I am greatly indebted to Donald Bowler of Canterbury, England, and Margaret M Hayes of Illinois for assistance with this paper. 1 would also like to thank Ma'ry Estes Beckham, Audrey Chappell, Tabitha Driver, Jesse Estes, Michael F. Gibbons and Mtty Estes Savage for their contributions.
1. David Kirkpatrick Estes (1786-1876), Judge of the Superior Court of Ohio, married Lucy Harrison in 1819. Their last remaining descendant, Louise Harrison Reynolds, died in 1972.
2. See 'Estes: Three-Sided Country Slicker', Fortune, July 1962, 166-70, 269-70, 275-76, 2-J S, 281.
3. Col. John L. Vivian of London. Charles Estes, Estes Genealogies (Salem 1894), x, )dii. Two glaring typographical errors in the Introduction have been repeated in later histories of the family and should be corrected. Esteuse (p.viii) should read Estense and Ericolo (p.ix) should read Nicolo.
4. The most complete account of Francesco in English is to be found in 'The Este Portrait by Roger van der Weyden' by Ernst H. Kantorowicz in his Selected Studies (New York 1965), 366-80.
5. Apparently the antiquarian D. Benham who possessed a coin of Niccolo d'Este displaying the Este arms. The results of the 'research' were forwarded to Charles Eastes of Sandgate by his father William Eastes, of East Cliff Academy, Folkestone in a letter franked at Sandgate 3 April 1858. For more detail see Niel Gunson, 'The Obsession of the Estes', Ancestor 5 (1966) no.4, 111)8-46; 6 (1967) no.2, 45-49.
See Niel Gunson, 'Boat People of the Sixteenth Century: the transformation of a multi-cultural society', The Ancestral Searcher vol.13 no.1 (March 1990), 4-19; John Peters, A Family From Flanders (London 1985).
7. Unless otherwise indicated all genealogical details that follow are taken from parish registers.
8. Joan Eustes of Deal, buried in 1561, was probably of this family. The name appears at Sholden as Esties (1591) and Estise (1592).
9. I am indebted to Donald Bowler's notes on the freemen of Canterbury.
10. According to his mother's will he was aged 20 when he died which suggests that the first born Matthew did not survive infancy.
11. Early Estes arrivals in America have been documented by Kitty Estes Savage
12. N.E. Snow and M.M. Jillson (Snow-Estes Ancestry 2 vols. Hillburn, New York 1939, II, 3) incorrectly confuse Sylvester with his grandson of the same name who died in January 1692/3. Ellen Estes' marriage records make it plain that she was a 'maiden, age 24, whose parents are dead in Deal'.
13. Snow and Jillson incorrectly attach the Waldershare family to Robert (born 1635), the eldest brother of Matthew and Richard of New England.
14. Family Bible entries rarely gave details of the marriage of siblings so a younger generation would only see the names.
15. Others argue that Robert (b.1603), father of the New England pioneers, had seven sons, though this is equally hypothetical.
16. Samuel's wife's name is given by Dr Lucille Dillinger Alexander, The Estes Family of Virginia, Southern Kentucky, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas... Wayne N.J. 1990), 89.
17. Dr Alexander (Estes Family, 88) is less certain about the identity of Thomas's wife but suggests Ann or Eliz. Ann Rogers. Several sources suggest that Thomas died in 1774 and cite Thomas's will in Crozier's Record of Spotsylvania Co VA, vol.i, 305.
18. The name of Elizabeth Jeeter was supplied by Deborah J. 1Gzer, a descendant of the second marriage.
19. See generally Charles Estes, Estes Genealogies.
20. A check of the surname indexes to the Digest Registers of births, marriages and burials at Friends House, London, by Tabitha Driver reveals that there are no Estes/Estis/Eastes entries for Kent Quarterly Meeting or for Hereford, Worcester & Wales Quarterly Meeting and no births or marriages for London & Middlesex Quarterly Meeting.
21. See John S. Barry, Historical Sketch of the Town of Hanover, Mass. '97ith Family Genealogies (Hanover 1853), 307-10, and Jedediah Dwelley and John
F. Simmons, History of the Town of Hanover, Mass. (Hanover 1910), 176-84.
22. Snow and Jillson (Snow-Estes Ancestry, II, 2) has Nicholas maldng a second marriage and dying in 1681 even though his sister Susanna mentions him in her will in 1697. Nicholas Estes of Thannington was probably Nicholas of Wingham.
23. Original will in MS Collection, Society of Genealogists, London.
24. For Moses Estes (b. 1732) and his descendants see Estes Trails, Vol. 11 no.4 (Spring 1991), 4-7.
25. He was probably her second cousin once removed.
26. Duncan W. Harrington, ed., Monumental Inscriptions ... St Leonard's Church, Upper Deal, Kent (Kent Family History Society Publication No.16, 1983), 28.
27. Tlis family, like that of Robert and Dorothy of Dover, appears to have left Kent. American traditions suggest Wales as a temporary place of residence.
28. Information from Alrs Amelia Jones of Alberquerque, New Mexico, 26 September 1988. Her father, William Thomas Eastes, came to New York from Holland in 1914.
29. This Robert (1654-1704) was a grandson of Sylvester and Ellen, and a nephew of Abraham.
30. Examples include the stationery of James Smith Eastes of Fairlawn. The Eastes of Ashford also had brewing connections.
31. As blazoned in 1928 in Jekyn file, Elwyn Papers, MS Collection, Society of Genealogists.
32. This discovery was made by Mrs Donald Bowler of Canterbury.
33. John Bromley and Heather Child, The Arniorial Bearings of the Guilds of London (London 1960), 248.
34. See Kantorowicz, Selected Studies, 370 and plate 36.
35. See, for instance, May Folk Webb and Patrick Mann Estes, Cary-Estes Genealogy (Rutland, Vt 1939 R1979), 79 and armorial dustjacket.
37. Charles Este published his autobiography, My Own Life, in 1787.
38. The precedent for name changes by Este, East and Eastes families was probably the adoption of the D'Este surname by the Duke of Sussex for his children by his morganatic wife in 1794. The following are some of the name
changes: George Eastes of Bradford to George D'Este (1865), Herbert Hinton
East East of Boughton House, Moreton-in-the-Marsh, Gloucestershire, to H.H.
D'Este East (1895), Albert Victor Eastes to A.V. D'Este Eastes (after 1918),
Clarence Sydney Stock, heir of the Eastes of Walthamstow, to C.S. d'Este
Stock (@-.fter 1918), Da,.,id Eastes of North Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia, to
David William D'Este (after 1946).
39. Beresford D'Este, known as the Baron D'Este, was a planter and justice-of-the-peace in Fiji from 1870 until he returned to France.
Email: shirleyjean@sbcglobal.net
