Biography
Samuel Exley of Rawdon (1630-1675). Second generation from Robert Exley of Halifax (d.1647). Fourth child and second son of Samuel of Manningham and Anne Illingworth.
On 17th February 1651 [the Chronicle gives 1656 elsewhere; date uncertain] Samuel married Mary Harrison, daughter of John Harrison whose family had lived in the Airedale and Wharfedale Districts.
In a 1650 deed he is described as an “Inhabitour of Cowpland” in a sale between Anthony Foxcroft of Halifax and Robert Lamson of Northowram, with “Samuel Exley of Rawdon” as party.
In 1673 Samuel Exley’s name appears among those who paid hearth taxes.
He founded the Rawdon branch of the Exley family, from which the NZ emigrants and ultimately Andrew Exley descend.
Victor Exley’s pedigree sketch identifies Samuel of Rawdon as the crucial link: he was the son of Samuel of Manningham, whose father Robert (m. Mary Lister 1588) connects the Rawdon line back to the main Exley Hall pedigree through John (m. Eliz. Tonge 1555).
Evidence
- Listed on Meryll’s hand-drawn tree (Meryll’s Hand-Drawn Family Tree)
- Victor’s pedigree shows “1598 Samuel of Rawdon” with records in Bradford, Rawdon & Guiseley Registers (Victor Exley Pedigree Sketch)
- Exley Chronicle (Typed), page 2: biography as second generation from Robert of Halifax
Open Questions
- Victor’s pedigree dates Samuel of Rawdon to 1598, while Meryll’s tree gives 1630-1675. The 1598 date on Victor’s sketch may refer to a birth/baptism record for the earlier Samuel (his father, Samuel of Manningham). The Chronicle confirms Samuel of Rawdon was Samuel of Manningham’s son.