People search
(married name will be ignored if broad check is ticked;
a broad check includes a search for nicknames, married names and other alternative names)Where were they from?
Search for places, see all people in the tree with events in that place, and (where added) see places marked on a map with photos, links and other information about the location.
John GOTHAM
Est 1552 - 1639 (~ 87 years)
Has 2 ancestors and 28 descendants in this family tree.
Set As Default Person 
-
Name John GOTHAM Relationship 
with Teresa Ann GOATHAM Born Est 1552 (possibly), Wolborough, Devon, England 
- A VERY approximate estimate - based on the estimate of the year of birth of John who may be his son!
Gender Male Bequest 1577 Bowe Land, Staverton, Devon, England In the will of his step-father Robert Hayman - In his step-father's will John was to receive the right to Bowe Land for the remaining years of an agreement, after his mother Sidwell's death.
The land was held of Phillip Steere Esquire and Henrie Luscombe gent.
Phonetically Bowe Land is clearly very similar to Bulland; I can't find Bowe Land on a map and whilst it could obviosly have changed its name between 1577 and 2015 I suspect it is the same as Bulland where a John Gotham, who I think was this John, was farming in 1631.
It could be that this land had been John's father's, and that Robert Hayman had acquired it through marriage to John's mother.
Robert Hayman also bequethed 6/8 to a servant John Gotham, probably this John
Occupation 21 Jan 1576/77 Servant - Servant to his step-father Robert Hayman
(Both links from the will of Robert Hayman, I am assuming they refer to the same John Gotham. This seems likely given that the reference to John as servant is in a bequest to John of a noble, which is immediately followed by the bequest of a noble to Johan Gotham who he names as his his step daughter - except that it was immediately preceeded by a bequest to another servant, left the same amount as John and Johan Gotham).
Tax 1588 Staverton, Devon, England Lay subsidy - John Gotham was assessed at xli in goods
(Devon Assoc Trans - see a few pages back for more info)
Property 1619 Pridhamsleigh, Staverton, Devon, England Purchase of a share in a cottage and fulling mill - In the Devon Heritage Centre (DRO):
STAVERTON, ASHBURTON Bargain and Sale 17 James I
(1) Henrie Aisheford of Aishford, esq.
(2) John Gotham of Staverton, yeo.
Quarter of a cottage and fulling mill, being parcel of the manor of Priddomsleigh.
Consideration: £100.
Date: 4 October 1619
(catalogue entry - I have not yet seen the document, ref. 48/14/121/2)
Occupation 1619 Yeoman - At the time of buying a share in a cottage and fulling mill
Occupation 1631 Bulland, Staverton, Devon, England Yeoman - A Court of Chancery case in 1631 (TNA ref. C 2/ChasI/H22/37) describes him as a yeoman of Bulland [c. half a mile east of Pridhamsleigh] at the time a marriage agreement was drawn up for his son John to marry Barbara Austen. Bulland is also in Staverton Parish.
Buried 20 Feb 1638/39 St. Andrew’s Church, Ashburton, Devon, England - From PR entry (image on FMP, viewed 17 Nov 2014)
"Johes Goteha de Staverto sepult: fuit o__ 20:" - under heading 'February.'
Siblings1 sister Patriarch & Matriarch 
John GOTHAM, [? Forename Uncertain], b. Est 1520, Devon, England, d. Bef 1572 (Age ~ 51 years) (Father) 
Sidwell, b. Est 1527, (probably), Wolborough, Devon, England, d. Aft 1577 (Age ~ 51 years) (Mother) Notes - (Research):** Whilst it is a bit of a guess that Thomas is the son of John, a property transaction in 1625 does show that there was then a yeoman John with a son and heir Thomas, and a Court of Chancery Case in 1631 shows that a yeoman at Bulland in Staverton, John, has a living son Thomas and dead son John. **
I am also guessing that the John who was left the right to land in Staverton in the will of his step-father Robert Hayman was this John.
And I am suggesting that John of Staverton was the John who married Mary Collard in Wolborough in 1584/5, having been widowed when his wife Joyce died in 1582/3. Even if he moved to Staverton when his stepfather died it is quite likely he would have chosen a bride from Wolborough, where he grew up. She appears to have been buried there in 1587, but John appears to have been in Staverton in 1588. Clearly he could have moved in this time, but there are other possibilities:
I have observed that married women dying young were often buried where they came from, possiby with parents or siblings?
I need to check who had to pay the lay subsidy and on what - would John have paid on land in Staverton even if living in Wolborough?
Robert Hayman had a right to the land (was there a house?) in Staverton in his lifetime but was not living there; just because it passed to his wife (and then stepson, if he outlived his mother) on Robert's death does not mean they lived there, either.
Person ID I300450 All | All in the Goatham / Gotham One-Name Study , All subjects of the Goatham / Gotham One-Name Study Last Modified 18 Nov 2022
Father John GOTHAM, [? Forename Uncertain], b. Est 1520, Devon, England , d. Bef 1572 (Age ~ 51 years) Mother Sidwell, b. Est 1527, (probably), Wolborough, Devon, England , d. Aft 1577 (Age ~ 51 years)
Other Partners: Robert HAYMAN m. 27 Jul 1572Married Bef 1570 - Must have married before 1570 as they'd had time to have 2 children before the widowed Sidwell remarried. If I am close with my estimate for the birth of their son John (which means I need to be right about which John he was, and I am not certain), then must have married by about 1556.
I'm not sure who Sidwella's 'Gotham' husband and the father of Johan and John was. The only 'Gotham' burial I can find in Wolborough that could be Sidwella's husband is Thomas, but he was buried less than two months before her marriage to Thomas Hayman; would she have remarried this quickly?
Had she moved to Wolborough after being widowed, i.e. might her husband have been buried elsewhere? (Or, given the large number of Gothams involved with the sea, might he have died there?)
The fact that it appears that (Thomas?) and Sidwella's son John had a son and heir named Thomas increases slightly the likelihood of Thomas being the right person, but not by much, given how common the name Thomas was amongst the Gothams.
The Thomas who died in 1572 was 'of Rydon' and appears to have been followed there by a John Gotham. Since Sidwella's second husband shows she had a son John Gotham that could be evidence that Thomas was her husband. On the other hand, Sidwella's second husband left property to her son John in Staverton and so her son John may well have been the one who settled there, not the one at Rydon. The dates don't fit well for the two Johns being the same. If anything, it would appear more likely that Sidwella was married to John of Rydon, and Thomas from an older generation.
I think more likely Sidwella's Gotham husband was John who appears in the Staverton muster of 1569, not as an able bodied man but as one of a group required to provide an almain rivet, similar to a corslet but of just a breast plate and apron
Family ID F300296 Family Group Page | Family Chart
Family 1 Joyce, bur. 4 Mar 1582/83, St. Mary the Virgin Church, Wolborough, Devon, England Married Bef 1583 Children + 1. John GOTHAM, b. Est 1580, (possibly), Buckfastleigh, Devon, England , d. Abt 1613 (Age ~ 33 years)▻ Barbara AUSTEN m. 27 Nov 1607Last Modified 14 Feb 2017 Family ID F301802 Family Group Page | Family Chart
Family 2 Mary COLLARD, b. Est 1560, (possibly), Wolborough, Devon, England , bur. 12 Nov 1587, St. Mary the Virgin Church, Wolborough, Devon, England (Age ~ 27 years) Married 20 Feb 1584/85 St. Mary the Virgin Church, Wolborough, Devon, England - From PR entry (image on FMP, viewed 19 Nov 2014)
Children + 1. Thomas GOTHAM, b. Est 1585, (possibly), Staverton, Devon, England , bur. 10 Aug 1660, St. Peter’s Church, Ugborough, Devon, England (Age ~ 75 years)▻ Charity; Susan DEWRING m. 28 Feb 1619/20Last Modified 14 Feb 2017 Family ID F300106 Family Group Page | Family Chart
Family 3 Joan, b. Est 1560, bur. 25 Dec 1630, St. Paul’s Church, Staverton, Devon, England (Age ~ 70 years) Married Aft 1587 - A John Gotham married Mary Collard in Wolborough in 1584/5 - was that an earlier marriage of this John? - I think it probably was, and she or an even earlier wife is likely to have been the mother of John's sons rather than Joan.
Last Modified 14 Feb 2017 Family ID F300149 Family Group Page | Family Chart