family snapshot

A morning stop in Guisborough, North Yorkshire.

An ancient market town that is Not Much Today.

But significant for the Dent fam.

Arriving in Guisborough, grim.


Guisborough is located just north of the North Yorkshire Moors.


 It was from here that my great-etc. grandfather John Dent set
off for America in 1658, settling in the new colony of Maryland.


And obviously his descendants were not quite as adventurous
as he, as they are all still in Maryland, ugh.


 But Guisborough is Not That Great Either,
so I understand now why he left.


 The town plunged into an economic depression
in the 16th C., with my man Henry VIII's
Dissolution of the Monasteries.


Gisborough Priory was the fourth-richest monastic house in
Yorkshire by its dissolution in 1539-40, and a main source of
jobs for the local community.  Its loss was devastating.

This economic depression undoubtedly led John to emigrate to
America at age 18, accompanying his uncle Thomas Dent.


Pretty courageous, but I will still never forgive them.


Thomas achieved success in Maryland, becoming a
justice, sheriff, coroner, alderman, and assemblyman.
He also purchased a tract of land in Charles County,
which he named "Gisbrough."


John Dent, along with his Maryland-born wife Mary Hatch,
was a well-known liberal in 17th C. Maryland.
He participated in the overthrow of Lord Baltimore in 1689,
and sent one of his sons back to England
to receive an education at Cambridge.

How cool is our coat of arms ?
Quarterly, 1 and 4, argent, on
a bend between two cottises engrailed 
sable, three lozenges ermine.  
All surmounted by a fire-breathing white tiger head.


The best part is our motto, patientia et perseverantia.
 With patience and perseverance -- words to live by.


Legend goes that the monks of the Priory planted
these trees in a circle.  {They're really 18th C. but let's ignore that.}
 Felt very pagan to me; love.


In the archway of the Priory, looking out towards the Moors.


Dad under the Priory arch.


The Priory was founded in the 12th C. by the Bruces.
As in the later kings of Scotland.
All that remains is the east end, 14th C.
Imagine that huge east window !


Me under the Priory arch; Yorkshire in my blood.

Parish Church of St. Nicholas, where my ancestors were
baptised, married, and buried.  Sadly closed for a wedding !


So we hit up the churchyard.






The graves have been rearranged.


But I found Dents !


Later than my known seventeenth-century ancestors.


But undoubtedly relations.


Including an Elizabeth Dent.


Difficult to see, so I've underlined it here in teal.




Found some Wilkinsons too, who I thought were also relations.
Thomas Dent married a Rebecca Wilkinson
three years after his arrival in Maryland.
Turns out, however, that Rebecca was Virginia-born, like me.
She was one of the earliest English children born in the colony.
After Thomas's death, Rebecca remarried and moved to England.


In Memory.

 

Although not very exciting, it was cool to see Guisborough.
And being able to understand why John and Thomas left it.
As one of my English friends once said,
"Your ancestors were the adventurous ones!"
I guess that's where I get it from too.
xx