Towerson als Pearson, Henry (1620-1651)

 

Towerson als Pearson, Henry (1620-1651)


Beginnings

 

The illegitimate son of Henry Towerson and Agnes Pearson, baptised 26-01-1619/20 in Dean.

Henry was son of Anthony (-1625) and Ellen (-1632) Towerson of Ullock in Dean, baptised 24-06-1589. Agnes was daughter of John (1573-1650) and Isabel Pearson of Ullock in Dean, their first child, born between 1599 and 1602.

So she would have been about 20 and he about 30 when the sexual encounter took place. This may not have been entirely an accident - it was a Cumbrian custom to allow sex before marriage, and marriage negotiations between yeoman families could be protracted and not always come to fruition. Or maye the couple were simply pushing their luck, hoping that a pregnancy would force a marriage. It's interesting that Henry doesn't marry until Agnes is put out of his reach, which rather suggests this was an affair rather than a one-off tumble in a haystack.


Parental Marriages

 

The landscape changed in 1624 when Janet, the wife of Thomas Marshall of Branthwaite Edge, died. Thomas had two sons under the age of 8 years, and Agnes was an unmarried mother with a four-year old. At some point, probably late 1624, they married, and had a daughter Elizabeth.

Henry Towerson married Janet Bowman 02-07-1625, probably a much better catch than Agnes. His father Anthony, most likely the chief impediment to a marriage with the Pearsons, was buried 07-12-1625. His widow Ellen went off to live at Branthwaite Edge with her grandson, where she died in July 1632. 

Part of the problem may have been that Henry was probably a younger son, and his father more level-headed about his prospects than he. He needed an heiress rather than just an eldest daughter.


Branthwaite Edge

 

The Marshall farm was presided over by Elizabeth Marshall, Thomas' widowed mother. She died in 1662, in her eighties or  nineties. All three of her sons had families and all remained at the Edge. And some Towersons joined them there.

So Henry Towerson als Pearson would have been surrounded by 'family'; but, illegitimate as he was, with competing demands on family resources, he had few prospects of much inheritance from Towerson or Pearson, and none at all from Marshall.

Not surprisingly he became a soldier - or so it appears. He spoke his will 08-10-1651, which suggests that he was close to death, and his probate states that he died in Scotland, a 'singleman'. Monck had taken Dundee in September and spent the next few months mopping up any remaining Royalist resistance. It seems more likely that Henry and his friends, Leonard Allason and John Fearon (both Dean surnames), were soldiers than traders.

His inventory was dated 1660 and valued at £16 - all debts owed to him. £6 was owed by his cousin Anthony Towerson. So, though he didn't have a property inheritance, he does appear tio have had at least one family bequest (even if it never reached him!).