Overseers of Dale's 1619 Will

#1 Overseer of Governor Dale’s Will – William Throckmorton
Governor Thomas Dale named his brother-in-law, William Throckmorton, as one of four overseers in his will. William Throckmorton was one of the original investors of Berkeley Plantation on the James River in Virginia. In 1609, William Throckmorton inherited a property in Saint Briavels Hundred in Monmouthshire named Clearwell Manor from his father-in-law, Thomas Baynum. In a deposition dated 1609, a John Dale gave testimony in which he mentioned that he was the son of an Edward Dale. The only record in this region I could find of an Edward Dale was the possible marriage between Mary Somerset and Edward Dale. Some records suggest that Mary Somerset was the daughter of Edward, 2nd Earl of Worcester. Later research revealed that another Thomas Dale, in 1688, owned Mork Farm and operated a fulling mill and dyehouse adjoining Mork mill just up the road from Saint Briavels Castle and Clearwell Manor. So there apparently was some continuation of the clan in Saint Briavels Parish.

Also near Clearwell in the same parish was Lydney Manor where resided the famous Admiral William Wynter. Wynter’s daughter Mary married Thomas Baynum who left nearby Clearwell Manor to Dale’s brother-in-law, William Throckmorton. Wynter’s son, Edward Wynter, was a very famous soldier who fought alongside Thomas Gates, the second governor of Virginia and good friend of Dale, in the West Indies. Edward Wynter married Anne Somerset, daughter of Edward Somerset, the 4th Earl of Worcester. There was some precedent for marriage into the Somersets who lived just up the Wye River at Raglan Castle.

#2 Overseer of Governor Dale’s Will – William Cooke
Admiral Wynter’s sister, Agnes Wynter (died 1574), married Dr. Thomas Wilson, co-secretary with Francis Walsingham to Queen Elizabeth. Wilson’s birthplace was given as Strubby Manor in Lincolnshire. Wilson and Thomas Dale of Alford, who later owned Strubby, were of similar ages, but I was not able to determine if there was a kinship. Wilson’s second wife was Jane Empson Pynchon, whose daughter by her first marriage married Geoffrey Gates of the same clan from which Governor of Virginia Thomas Gates descended. Jane Empson Pynchon’s sister was Elizabeth Empson Lucy whose descendant Joyce Lucy married William Cooke of Highnam, another overseer of the will of Governor Thomas Dale.

#3 Overseer of Governor Dale’s Will – 3rd Earl Southampton
Wilson’s three children also seem connected to the Dales. Daughters Ann Wilson and Mary Wilson married brothers Robert Burdett (died 1603), and Thomas Burdett. In 1633, there was a legal claim filed in London against the estate of Governor Thomas Dale by a Thomas Burdett and the relict was “unanswering.” We will soon see the Burdett name connected to “Dales Gift” in Virginia. Son Nicholas Wilson married Anne Heneage, whose brother Thomas Heneage married the widow of the 2nd Earl of Southampton, whose son, the 3rd Earl of Southampton, was another named overseer of the will of Governor Thomas Dale.

#4. Overseer of GovernorDale’s Will – Sir Thomas Smythe, Virginia Company