#23 Royal Descents, Notable Kin, and Printed Sources: Notable Descendants of Henry Scudder, d.1594-5, of Horton Kirby, Kent
Gary Boyd Roberts
Published Date : October 2, 1987
Last week I wrote about the
notable descendants of four immigrant Stoughton siblings of New England. One of
them, Elizabeth Stoughton, married John Scudder and was the mother of Mrs.
Elizabeth Scudder Lathrop of Norwich, Conn., whose noted progeny I considered in
some detail. It included presidents Grant and FDR, Viscountess Linley among
British "royals," and a host of Revolutionary, political, "tycoon," Boston
Brahmin, British or European, Hollywood, Mormon, and later intellectual figures.
Today I wish to consider my other new noted distant kinsmen, descendants of
Thomas Scudder of Salem, John’s brother, and the father of Thomas Scudder, Jr.,
of Huntington and John Scudder of Newtown, L.I; or of Mrs. Bridget____Very
Giles, whose mother was almost certainly a sister of the elder John and Thomas
and daughter of Henry Scudder, d. 1594-5, and Elizabeth ____ of Horton Kirby,
Kent.
John Scudder of Newtown left a son, John Scudder, Jr., who married
Joanna Betts, a granddaughter of Mrs. Elizabeth Stoughton Scudder and her 2nd
husband, Rev. Robert Chamberlain. As noted last week, Richard Betts Scudder, a
son of John and Joanna, was the grandfather of Sarah Scudder, wife of New Jersey
"signer" John Hart. Thomas Scudder, Jr., of Huntington left sons Timothy and
Benjamin, fathers respectively of Timothy, Jr., and Sarah Scudder, wife of
Epenetus Platt (III).Joel Scudder, son of Timothy, Jr., married his cousin,
Sarah Brush, daughter of Tredwell Brush and Hannah Platt, daughter of the above
Epenetus and Sarah. Sarah Bryant Scudder, a granddaughter of Joel and Sarah,
married Benjamin C. Gould and left a daughter Jeannette who married Jehiel
Grumman, Jr. Their son, George Tyson Grumman, married his cousin, Grace Ethel
Conklin, great-great-great-granddaughter, via Smith, Jarvis, and Carll, of a
sister of Joel Scudder. A son of George and Grace was Leroy Randle Grumman,
1895-1982, the founder and president of Grumman Aircraft. His daughter, Mrs.
Ellis Phillips, Jr., is one of our former trustees and Advisory Council members,
and is compiling a Grumman genealogy for the Newbury Street Press. I was
delighted to find that Mrs. Phillips, a longtime friend, was also related to the
most famous historical figure with roots in Huntington. For Walt Whitman, Jr.,
1819-1892, the poet, was a grandson of Jesse Whitman and Hannah Brush, sister of
the above Mrs. Sarah Brush Scudder.
Mrs. Bridget ____ Very Giles, almost
certain cousin of Mrs. Lathrop and Thomas, Jr., and John Scudder of L.I., left
two children whom I immediately recognized from earlier research into presidents
and prime ministers. Thomas Very, who married Hannah Giles, his stepsister, was
the maternal grandfather of Bartholomew Foster, Jr., of Wallingford, Conn.,
mentioned in the 1997 NEXUS. Lucy Foster, his granddaughter, married
Samuel Jerome and was the great grandmother of Leonard Walter Jerome, the Wall
Street financier, father of Jenny Jerome, father-in-law of British politician
Lord Randolth Churchill, and grandfather of Prime Minister Sir Winston
Churchill, often considered the greatest Anglo-American figure of the twentieth
century. Churchill’s niece married Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden and another
granddaughter of Bartholomew Foster, Jr., married Thaddeus Carter and was the
great-great-grandmother of Antoinette Carter, wife of Chief Justice Charles
Evans Hughes, Republican presidential candidate against Wilson in
1916.
Eleazer Giles, half-brother of Samuel Very, is ancestor no. 228,
via Waters and Torrey families, of President William Howard Taft, son of U.S.
Secretary of War and Attorney-General Alphonso Taft and father of Ohio Senator
Robert Alphonso Taft, "Mr. Republican." These Very and Giles descendants were
first associated with Salem, Mass., and then with Sutton and the area around New
Haven, Conn. Although by no means as large as the notable Stoughton descendants
discussed last week, the L.I. Scudders and their Salem cousins add Walt Whitman,
Grummans, Churchills, and Tafts to the distant kin of Mrs. Elizabeth Scudder
Lathrop and her descendants. A final note is that NEHGS librarian David Curtis
Dearborn is descended from both Mrs. Elizabeth Scudder Bartholomew, daughter of
Thomas Scudder of Salem, and from Samuel Very, this last through a daughter who
married a son of Salem witchcraft victim Rebecca (Towne) Nourse. I hope once
again that this survey of recent research and discoveries has proved of interest
to many readers. When I am invited to speak at summer family reunions, I try, if
there is time, to conduct such a survey of the family on which I am speaking. I
look forward during the holidays to meeting various members and friends in the
Dallas-Fort Worth area, at a afternoon session of consultations on December 29,
at the home of Society Trustee Henry Adams and his wife Corlyn. Happy Holidays,
and I look forward to future columns and your response in 1999.