Biography
John Exley, son of John of Rawdon and Sibyl Harper. Married Mary Fawcett in 1710. His son William (b.1727) was the ancestor of Victor Exley; his brother Robert’s son Thomas was the ancestor of the NZ branch.
Date and Identity Discrepancies
This note conflates data from two sources that disagree significantly:
Birth date: The Exley Chronicle (Typed) gives 25th August 1679. Meryll’s Hand-Drawn Family Tree gives 1685. The Chronicle date is preferred as it cites parish registers.
Wife: The Chronicle gives Mary Fawcett (m. 1710). Meryll’s tree gives “Mary Plesser”. These may be transcription variants of the same surname, or two different wives.
Children: The Chronicle lists children born 1710-1721 (Thomas, Daniel, Samuel, Patience, Hannah, Elizabeth, Mary). Meryll’s tree lists children born 1727-1748 (Mary, John, Samuel, Thomas, Robert, Dorothy, Sarah, Anne) with very different names. Meryll’s children overlap suspiciously with the Chronicle’s children of Robert of High Royds (Thomas 1732, Robert 1734, Dorothy 1736), suggesting Meryll may have conflated John with his brother Robert.
Thomas of High Royds: Meryll’s tree showed Thomas (1732-1807) as John’s son. The Chronicle clearly places Thomas as the son of Robert of High Royds (John’s younger brother). Thomas has been removed from this note’s children list.
William (b.1727): Victor’s pedigree sketch shows William (b.1727) as Victor’s direct ancestor, at the same generational level as Thomas (b.1732). William is tentatively listed here as John’s son, as he does not appear among Robert’s children in the Chronicle, and his birth year (1727) fits the gap between John’s Chronicle children (ending 1721) and Robert’s children (starting c.1730). This may indicate a second marriage producing later children, or William may belong to a different sibling.
Children (from the Chronicle)
| Name | Born | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Thomas | 1710 | |
| Daniel | 1713 | |
| Samuel | 1715 | |
| Patience | 1721 | |
| Hannah | — | |
| Elizabeth | — | Possibly “Elizabeth Swainson” |
| Mary | — | |
| William | 1727 | Victor’s direct ancestor (tentative attribution) |
Evidence
- Exley Chronicle (Typed), page 3: “John b. 25th August 1679. m. Mary Fawcett in 1710. Their children were: Thomas (1710-?), Daniel (1713-), Samuel (1715-), Patience b. 1721, and Hannah; also Elizabeth Swainson [?] and daughter Mary.”
- Meryll’s Hand-Drawn Family Tree: lists John (1685-1763) with different children and spouse “Mary Plesser”
- Victor Exley Pedigree Sketch: “1727 William → my line, 1732 Thomas → Lionel’s line”
Open Questions
- Was there a second marriage producing William (b.1727) and possibly other later children?
- Is “Mary Plesser” (Meryll) the same as “Mary Fawcett” (Chronicle), a second wife, or a transcription error?
- Death date of 1763 comes from Meryll’s tree only; no corroboration in the Chronicle