Robert Foote (abt. 1553 - 1608)

Born about 1553 in Royston, Hertfordshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Joan (Brooke) Foote — married 18 Jun 1576 in St. Leonard's, Eastcheap, London, Middlesex, England

Descendants

Died 28 Jan 1608 at about age 55 in London, Middlesex, England

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Biography

Robert Foote was born in Royston, Hertfordshire, England, about 1555. He was the second of four known children of John Foote, tallow chandler in Royston and Helen Warren of Bassingbourn, a nearby village in Cambridgeshire.

Birth

Birth: ABT 1550, probably in Royston, Hertfordshire, England ^[1]

"Royston is a village in the extreme northeastern corner of Hertfordshire, on the border of Cambridgeshire... about forty miles north of London."^[2] The town of Royston is about 2/3 in county Hertfordshire, and 1/3 in Cambridgeshire, which may explain why some biographers of Robert Foote give his birthplace as "Royston, Cambridgeshire, England" and others as "Royston, Hertfordshire, England". Unless someone finds a primary source to the contrary, we may as well agree with the Foote Family Association, and list his birthplace as Royston, Hertfordshire. Although Robert Foote is called "Robert of Shalford", this indicates the place he established his home in the country. Robert's father lived at Royston, (about 28 miles east of Shalford), and Robert and his brother John were "probably" born there.

As is commonly known, a Yeoman in old England was a Freeholder, next under the rank of Gentleman, and in the early times a person who owned a small house lot with attached lands. Robert Foote of Shalford was such a man. He owned property in both towns of Shalford and Royston. He was the older brother of John Foote of London, and the father of Nathaniel Foote who migrated to the New World in 1633.

He married first to Joan Brooke, the daughter of John Brooke of London, a member of the leatherseller company of London on June 18, 1576 in St. Leonards, Eastcheap, London, England.(1724)

Occupation: Citizen and Fishmonger of St. Mary Boettals in Thames Street, London^[3][4]

Their nine children in chronological order:^[5]

1. Robert Foote b: ABT. 1577 in Shalford, Essex, England
2. Elizabeth Foote b: ABT. 1579
3. James Foote b: ABT. 1580
4. Mary Foote b: ABT. 1585
5. Francis Foote b: abt 1587, listed as a son in Robert's will (see "Will", below)
6. Joseph Foote b: ABT. 1588
7. Daniel Foote b: 1590
8. Joshua Foote b: abt 1591
9. Nathaniel Foote b: 21 SEP 1592 in Shalford, Essex, England

Not children of Robert and Joan (Brooke) Foote:

>Phebe Foote b: ABT. 1602

>Samuel Foote b: ABT. 1605

>Caleb Foote b: ABT. 1595

>Pasco Foote b: 1597

>David Foote b: 1587

One source states "Robert Foote married second, Elizabeth-----. she survived her husband. London, 1599" without providing any further info to support this sentence.^[6] Robert died February 1608/1609 in London, England, at age 52.

Robert died between 27 Jan, the date he signed his will, and 15 Feb 1608, the date of probate. Joan Brooke ^[7]

Burial: 16 FEB 1608, St Andrew's Church, Shalford, Essex, England^{[8] [2] [7]}

Will

Robert made a will 27 Jan. 1608/9 at Shalford, Essex^[9] proved 15 Feb. 1608/9 ^[9]

Note: there is a conflict between TAG Vol 55 page 203, which states Robert made his will and died at Shalford, and TAG Vol 53, page 201, which states Robert made his will and died at London, but was buried at Shalford.

Robert Foote, of Shalford, Essex, yeoman, 27 Jan. 1608, proved 15 Feb, 1608. To the poor in the parish twenty shillings. To the poor in Wethersfield twenty shillings. To my well beloved wife, Joane, during her natural life, all such yearly rent as to me is reserved out of my lease of certain tenements which I hold for divers years yet enduring by the grant of Sir Robert Chester, knight, and lying and being in the town of Royston, the yearly rent whereof to me reserved is at this present eight pounds. I give her also one annuity of four pounds to be paid during her natural life to my son Robert. To my son James fifty pounds. To son Daniel forty pounds at four and twenty. The same each to sons Nathaniel, Francis, and Joshua at like ages. To daughter Elizabeth Foote forty pounds at day of marriage or at age of thirty. To son Joseph my lease and term of years in a certain hopground called Plomley which I hold by lease from Mr. Josyas Clarke and --------- his wife. Other gifts to him. Certain household stuff to wife. Elizabeth Ormes my maidservant, ------- Tibbet, the wife of William Tibbet, five shillings in recompence of her pains she hath taken with me. To Mr. Richard Rogers preacher of God his Word twenty shillings. The wife of George Elsing, Thomas Cott. To my son Robert my free tenement or mansion house wherein I now inhabit, with the lands, etc. and the stock of hop poles upon the ground, he to pay the legacies, etc. The residue of my goods etc. to all my children. If it happens my daughter Mary Hewes to be departed then her part to be paid to her children. For the execution of this will I do ordain, nominate and appoint my well beloved son Robert Foote to be my sole executor and I do desire my well beloved brother John Foote of London grocer and my son-in-law John Hewes of Royston to be supervisors and assistants to my executors.^[10][11]

Sources

1. ↑ Foote Family Association: Robert Foote, Research Conducted by Donna Siemiatkoski http://www.footefamily.org/robert_shalford.html
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Lieutenant Joshua Hewes; a New England pioneer, and some of his descendants, pages 9 - 12.
3. ↑ from RootsWeb Note: He is called "my sonne in lawe Robert ffoote, Citizen and ffishemonger of London in the will of John Brooke.
4. ↑ According to TAG 54, St. Mary Boetalls in Thames Street is not easy to locate. According to "A Plan of London in the Latter Part of the Middle Age," there is no St. Mary's on Thames Street. There was a St. Botolph's (often misspelled Bowtall, etc.) at Billingsgate on Thames Street a few blocks from St. Leonard's. There was also a St. Mary's Bothaw on Cannon Street, four or five blocks from St. Leonard's. The author suggests the christenings of Nathaniel Foote and his siblings might be found in the London area rather than in Shalford or Wethersfield in Essex.
5. ↑ Foote Family Association: Robert Foote, Research Conducted by Donna Siemiatkoski http://www.footefamily.org/robert_shalford.html
6. ↑ Foote family : comprising the genealogy and history of Nathaniel Foote, of Wethersfield, Conn., and his descendants; also a partial record of descendants of Pasco Foote of Salem, Mass., Richard Foote of Stafford County, Va., and John Foote of New York City by Abram William Foote, Original Publication: (Rutland, Vermont, Marble City Press, 1907-1932), Vol II, page 655 https://archive.org/stream/footefamilycompr021907foot#page/655/mode/1up
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} Nathaniel Foote's English Relatives page 201
8. ↑ Lieutenant Joshua Hewes; a New England pioneer, and some of his descendants, by Eben Putnam, New York, privately printed, 1913, citing parish records, contains abstracts of wills from Water's discoveries pub. in NEHGR, https://archive.org/stream/lieutenantjoshua00putn#page/n35/mode/1up pages 9-14
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} The Brookes of London - Maternal Ancestors of Nathaniel and Joshua Foote page 203
10. ↑ Waters, Henry F. Genealogical Gleanings in England.' Volume II' Boston : New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1901. p. 1276, 1277.
11. ↑ This was repeated in: Foote, Abram William. Foote family : comprising the genealogy and history of Nathaniel Foote, of Wethersfield, Conn., and his descendants; also a partial record of descendants of Pasco Foote of Salem, Mass., Richard Foote of Stafford County, Va., and John Foote of New York City. Burlington Vermont, 1932. p. 648

• Lieutenant Joshua Hewes; a New England pioneer, and some of his descendants, by Eben Putnam, New York, privately printed, 1913, contains abstracts of wills from Water's discoveries pub. in NEHGR, https://archive.org/stream/lieutenantjoshua00putn#page/n35/mode/1up pages 9 - 14

• The Brookes of London - Maternal Ancestors of Nathaniel and Joshua Foote, by Janis Greene Valore, Myrtle Stevens Hyde and Glade Ian Nelson in "The American Genealogist" Vol. 55, pages 193-207, New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937 New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 http://www.americanancestors.org/PageDetail.aspx?recordId=143292865

• Nathaniel Foote's English Relatives by George E. McCraken, in "The American Genealogist" Vol. 53, page 193-206, New Haven, CT, D. L. Jacobus, 1937, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 http://www.americanancestors.org/PageDetail.aspx?recordId=258997326

• "Foote family: comprising the genealogy and history of Nathaniel Foote, of Wethersfield, Conn., and his descendants; also a partial record of descendants of Pasco Foote of Salem, Mass., Richard Foote of Stafford County, Va., and John Foote of New York City", by Abram William Foote, Volume 1 (accessed 4 Jul 2006), p. 7 - 22, Original Publication: (Rutland, Vermont, Marble City Press, 1907-1932), https://archive.org/stream/footefamilycompr011907foot#page/n4/mode/1up

• Nathaniel Foote's English Relatives], by George E. McCracken, TAG in "The American Genealogist" Vol 53 (1977), page 201, New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 http://www.americanancestors.org/databases/american-genealogist-the/image/?pageName=201&volumeId=12345

• The Brookes of London by Valore, Hyde and Nelson, in "The American Genealogist", vol 55 (Oct 1979), page 203, New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937 New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 http://www.americanancestors.org/databases/american-genealogist-the/image/?pageName=203&volumeId=12605&rId=143292943

• Ancestors of American Presidents, by Gary Boyd Roberts, New England Historic Genealogical Society; Location: Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA; Date: 2009;

• Moses S. Curtis Descendants and Ancestors, Mildred Bradford, (Baltimore, Md: Gateway Press, 2000). St. Louis County Library, 1640 So. Lindbergh, St. Louis, Mo 63131

• "Thirty-One English Emigrants Who Came to New England by 1662" by Dorothy C. and Gerald E. Knoff. Family History Library in Salt Lake City, UT US/CAN 929.273 Al53k

• Find a grave Robert Foote memorial/125063269 cites:
  1.Thirty-one English emigrants who came to New England by 1662 1 edition By Dorothy C. Knoff
  2. One Life at a Time: A New World Family Narrative, 1630-1960 by R. Thomas Collins, Jr., Joseph S. Wood RavensYard Publishing, Ltd., 1999 - History - 244 pages One Life at a Time: A New World Family Narrative, 1630-1960 on Pg 15 it mentions that Robert wad burned.