Description
Letter from Victor Exley to Angela, dated 6 July 1990, from 7 Acre Crescent. Two pages. Victor explains how the two pedigree sheets (his article/research and the NZ version compiled by Edith Ellen) connect, and identifies errors in the NZ pedigree.
Transcription
7, Acre Crescent 6 Jul. ‘90
Dear Angela,
Don’t put yourself down — I too was baffled when I first received the New Zealand pedigrees & notes from Lionel & Brenda. You say you have two generation sheets with No.1 starting with Wm de Ecclesley of Dewsbury & my article pp.87-89. You should also have the other generation sheet (No. 2) Table 2 p93 pp.87-97 starting Robert Exley died 1647 & going down to Lionel’s family via Rawdon & New Zealand.
These two sheets of pedigree are actually continuous but when Edith Ellen Weatherhead did the original research she didn’t know enough to link the two parts of the pedigree together. She had the same trouble as I had; see the bottom of p.91. I now have proof in the will of John Exley (who married Eliz. Tonge in 1555) that his third son Robert was the same Robert whose son Samuel founded the Rawdon branch of the Exleys. I’ve enclosed a letter from Lionel which explains how the two N.Z. pedigrees came to be compiled & because they contained obvious errors I didn’t take them seriously until you kindly sent me copies of all the notes that Brenda [p2 continues…]
[Page 2:] worked from & then I realised how potent they were. If you compare sheet 1 & p.91 you’ll see that they roughly agree on the way that they both come down from William de Dewsbury — but whereas my Table comes from William, son of Wm de Dewsbury, his comes from Richard, the second son.
One of the N.Z. mistakes is that having tracked Robert of Bankhouse (Skirsote not Bailey Hall) she gives James of Wortley as Robert’s son. He wasn’t, he was Robert’s cousin. I chose to travel via Robert (1245?), John (1470), Richard (1500) and Robert (1518) because they were definitely all of Exley Hall and the petition (c.1519) gives these four as certain four generations of the same line i.e. Robert (1518) was great grandson of Robert (1450). As a few of the links are a bit dicey either pedigree could be right. A combination of both may even be more correct.
The main point is that I had worked back from Bradford to Idle to Rawdon & then to Exley Hall and had the pedigree published years before the unpublished N.Z. version came to my attention & I was grateful that my efforts were unintentionally confirmed by Edith Ellen’s research over 50 years ago. I just wish hers had been available to me when I first started in 1972!
Later in this letter Victor states that “one thing is certain that all Exleys, whether in Yorkshire, the rest of England, USA or New Zealand all originate with the one family living at Exley Hall, Southowram in 1245.”
Extracted Claims
- The two pedigree sheets are continuous — John Exley (m. Eliz. Tonge, 1555)‘s will proves the link
- John Exley’s third son Robert was the same Robert whose son Samuel Exley of Rawdon (1630-1675) founded the Rawdon branch
- The NZ pedigree (compiled by Edith Ellen Weatherhead) contains errors: James of Wortley was Robert’s cousin, not son; Bankhouse is in Skirsote, not Bailey Hall
- Victor’s research and the NZ research independently confirm the same lineage
- All Exleys originate from one family at Exley Hall, Southowram, c.1245