GEN-MEDIEVAL-L Archives

From: Nat Taylor <>
Subject: de Courcy ancestry
Date: Thu, 9 Nov 1995 20:57:07 GMT

Yesterday Nietzsche wrote,

> As i have stated, It [i.e. the descent of the Maryland de Coursey family
> from emigrant sons of Gerald de Courcy, Lord Kingsale] is well
> documented in many books, national archives, etc... letters to my family
> here. I know who they came from. what i have been working on is the
> more ancient family. This is where is gets difficult.

However, William Addams Reitwiesner stated last week that

> Gerald de Courcy, Lord Kingsale, member of the Privy Council of
> Charles I, succeeded his father John as Lord Kingsale in 1628. Gerald
> married Helen FitzGerald and died about 1642 leaving one and only one
> child, Mary, who married Sir Patrick Gough. Gerald's successor as Lord
> of Kingsale was his brother Patrick. See the second edition of Cokayne's
> *Complete Peerage*, vol. VII, p. 286.

Based on perusal of the Complete Peerage, I would conclude that Nietzsche
is probably wrong in maintaining that the ancestry in question is "well
documented in many books..." The Complete Peerage is regarded as
something of a standard in the field, and if it has a point of
disagreement with another's assertion, at the very least that indicates
that the point is open to question.

Of course, no printed work is infallible. Serendipitously, yesterday's
postings to soc.genealogy.medieval include an announcement by Eric J.
Thompson of a forthcoming volume of corrections and emendations to the
*Complete Peerage* produced by Peter Hammond. Eric Thompson wrote, on
behalf of Mr. Hammond, that

> if any readers of this newsgroup have corrections to the Complete
> Peerage, and send them to me, I will pass them on.

Now is an excellent opportunity to resolve this conundrum of the link
between the Maryland de Courseys and those of Kingsale. All readers of
these postings would welcome, in a message directed toward Messrs.
Thompson and Hammond, proof of the parentage of Henry de Coursey of early
colonial Maryland, and of his assumed brothers, particularly if they can
be shown conclusively to have been the sons of Gerald de Courcy, Lord
Kingsale, who d. c. 1642. Interestingly, then the Maryland family would
have precedence over the current lineage of lords, who are descended from
Gerald's youngest brother, John de Courcy, through a couple of intervening
generations of humble sailors from colonial Newport, Rhode Island
(according to CP).

Clarification of the parentage of an early American immigrant--a potential
"gateway" ancestor for tracing lineages from the present time back into
the pre-modern period--is firmly within the interests specified in this
newsgroup's charter, and would be enthusiastically welcomed by many
readers.

It goes without saying that such a posting would include citations to or
quotations from worthy evidentiary material. We wouldn't want to see Mr.
Thompson's and Mr. Hammond's offer, which demonstrates faith in the
quality of the material exchanged in this newsgroup, abused.

Nat Taylor

This thread:

• de Courcy ancestry by Nat Taylor <>