Looking for Henry Reed Stiles' "History of the Regicides"

Question

There are some claims that William Throop or Throope who emigrated to Barnstable, Mass before 1657 and then moved to Bristol, in what is now Rhode Island, was once a person named Adrian Scrope or Scroop who was seen in Hartford, Connecticut in 1660. This Adrian Scrope was said to be the son of Adrian Scrope the Regicide who signed the death warrant of Charles I (although he didn't have a son named Adrian) or another close relative of the Regicide.

The book America Heraldica (E. de V. Vermont, pub 1887 New York page 48) says: 

Among his [Lord Scrope of Bolton] descendants was Colonel Adrian Scroop, the regicide, who was executed at Charing Cross in 1660. His son, Adrian, insecure in his person and property, with the paternal past following him everywhere, fled to Hartford, Ct., in 1660, and assumed the name of William Throop, to escape pursuit from his father's enemies. He changed, at the same time, the Scrope arms [azure, a bend, or] for the arms we reproduce here. Later, the emigrant settled at Bristol, R. I

A reference is given as "The History of the Regicides" by Henry R. Stiles. Henry Reed Stiles wrote a fair few books and articles but I have not been able to find the original book or article, or any other reference to "The History of the Regicides". It is not listed in the Library of Congress catalogue.

Does this book/article really exist or is this a fabrication? 

Answer 1

Mathew Jenkinson, in his recent book "Charles I's Killers in America" goes to great length to list and evaluate all the histories and other works that have accreted to the Goff/Whalley matter.  The only Stiles he mentions is Ezra.

Comments

Thanks for looking Lois. I saw that Ezra Stiles had written "A history of three of the judges of King Charles I. Major-General Whalley, Major-General Goffe, and Colonel Dixwell..." which is full text here - you kindly found the Scrope reference for me. Ezra Stiles published this book in 1794, whereas Henry R Stiles was writing in the second half of the 19th century.

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Jenkinson also has nothing to say about Scrope.

Answer 2

Here is a link to an interesting piece that discusses the tradition, mentioning the book by Ezra Stiles, whose analysis it criticizes.

Winchester Finch, "The Thorpe Family and the Scrope Tradition," The New York Genealogical and Biographical Register, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 118-134, https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_New_York_Genealogical_and_Biographic/cZUyAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=adrian+scroop+regicide+william+connecticut&pg=RA1-PA120&printsec=frontcover

Maybe he just crossed his Stiles?

Comments

I like the pun Roger!

It's interesting that we have found a Stiles writing about the Throopes (but the wrong Stiles), and no article/book by Henry Reed Stiles written about the Regicides as claimed in "America Heraldica". I'm think this may be a fabrication.

Edit: to clarify it's the wrong Stiles.

Answer 3

Some years ago I wrote an article, explaining the probable origin of the Scroope/Throop myth.  I focused on Rev. Benjamin Throope as the fable mentioned the far-flung descendants who knew and believed this myth.  Yet the story and Scrope naming of children was focused in his one branch of the Throop family.  As I explained, the book on the 3 regicides by Stiles, then president of Yale as I recall, would have been tea-party conversation in New Haven among the several widows and other unattached females related to Rev. Throop.  When asked for his opinion of any possible connection between Throope and Scroope, the reverend apparently gave the tea-party bunch enough to go on with the myth of a name change. Of course, a reverend would not lie--although Benjamin was known for telling good stories!

Comments

Louise, do you know if the book / article by Henry Reed Stiles "The History of the Regicides" actually exists?

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Jo, you are seeking Ezra Styles' book, "Regicides. A history of three of the judges of King Charles I. - Major General Whalley, Major-General Goffe and Colonel Dixwell, who, at the restoration, fled to America, and were secreted in Massachusetts and Connecticut for near thirty years .." which is in the library of Yale University.   Ezra (b. 1727 d. 1795) was 7th president of Yale.

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Louise, I am aware of Ezra Stiles/Styles work. I am looking for any hint of the existence of "History of the Regicides" by Henry Reed Stiles. It is quoted as the first reference in the Throop entry in "America Heraldica"

If it does not exist, then the whole Throop entry in this book may be a fabrication.

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What page in your reference, America Heraldica??  Strange for a sheep farmer in England to have a coat of arms.......yet "The Throop Tree" had a coat of arms in/on it.   There was a lot of fake research in early 1900s and before; the author E V de Vermont sounds fake too.

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Page 48 (see the original question). The link goes to that page. The Throop(e) family in Nottinghamshire were husbandmen and did not have arms..

Answer 4

The coat of arms attributed to the Throop family in "America Heraldica" is "Gules a bar between two chevrons Argent" and can be found on this page. at the American Heraldry Society. The source given by the American Heraldry Society is William Crozier's "General Armoury" of 1904, but Crozier repeats the assertion in "America Heraldica" that the original bearer of the arms was William Throop of Connecticut in 1660 (no sources given). 

Despite "America Heraldica" implying that these arms were those of Enos T Throop, the Governor of New York, who died in 1874, the arms do not appear on his gravestone (see Find a Grave for his ledger stone). The arms do appear on a memorial to Enos Throop in the Cathedral of All Saints, Albany, NY carved by Louis Hinton, but the foundation stone of this building wasn't laid until 1884, and Hinton spent the next 40 years working on his carvings, so he may have referred to America Heraldica or Crozier for his information.

Is there any other known use of these arms apart from the Cathedral carving? When was the Cathedral carving created?

Edit to make font larger

Comments

Since this source gives William Throop in Hartford 1665 and 1667 [date of witness of CT deed by "Adrian Throope" which bit probably started the Throope/Scroope myth]......so the compilers of this work swallowed the myth.   Only took about 60 years for me to come along and explode the myth [see TAG 57:110-111].   It appears William left Nottinghamshire about 1664/5, when his father remarried.  Check out the dates on that CT deed's witness.

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@Louise, William Throop (or Troop as he was recorded in the Barnstable records) was in Barnstable by February 1657/8 as the boundary of his land is mentioned in a land deed (see William's profile).

There is no evidence for Elizabeth Cook's age at marriage in February 1664/5. Her age isn't mentioned in the parish register when she married William Throop the elder. Or evidence that her LNAB was Cooke. She was probably the widow Elizabeth Cooke who was fined by the Leet Court of Sutton Cum Lound in 1658 for letting her pigs onto the common, and may have the widow of Edward Cook husbandman.

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Jo, you mention two separate issues.  First:  Elizabeth Cooke was bap. St. Bartholomew's Church in Lound on 22 May 1642, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Undy) Coock/Cocke. See the Nottinghamshire Baptisms Index on findmypast.  The widow with the pigs you mention [with no citation] could have been her mother.  Second:  a mention of William Troop in Barnstable land records in 1657/8 [again, with no citation] does not make sense, as he was only 20 years old.  Maybe you meant 1685??  Deed or map citation, please!  William was definitely gone from home by the time of his father's 1669 will, which mentions: "If my son William Throope do return into his native country he shall enjoy an equal portion [of sheep] with the rest of my children."  This will is given in Malcolm Throup's book, "Across Throup's Bridge" (1986) p. 40.

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@Louise - there is an Elizabeth baptised to Thomas and Elizabeth Coock of Lound on 22 May 1642 (sharing image of the parish register), but this doesn't prove that William the elder married the daughter Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth Cooke widow and her appearance in front of the Leet Court is transcribed and referenced on her profile

The 1657/8 land document in Barnstable mentioning William Troop is transcribed and referenced on his profile with a link to the image on FamilySearch.

William Throope's will is fully transcribed here  from the original at Nottinghamshire archives - sons William and Thomas were the only two of the children not to be guaranteed sheep! 

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@Louise - the Elizabeth Cooke (Coock) daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth baptised at Sutton Cum Lound on 22 May 1642, was buried at Sutton cum Lound on 28 October 1646, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Cocke (sharing image of the parish register). 

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Since Gov. Enos Thompson Throop was descended from a Bliss-Throop marriage, and his father was raised by a Throop uncle and used Throop surname, it just might be that the sculptor was misled by the Throop surname.......

Answer 5

I have recently been doing some research on Adrian Scrope the regicide and I have been able to add several previously unknown relationships - a second wife and some additional children and some date improvements - but there was no evidence to support the Throope legend.

Comments

Thank you Peter. Kudos for your work on Adrian Scrope's second previously unrecorded wife.