The St. John Genealogy Project

Origin and Ancestry DNA Database & Electronic Archive

Oliver de Port-St. John, Esquire of Marlborough; 'Black Oliver'

Oliver de Port-St. John, Esquire of Marlborough; 'Black Oliver'

Male 1561 - 1615  (54 years)Deceased    Has 639 ancestors and 12 descendants in this family tree.


  • Name Oliver de Port-St. John 
    Suffix Esquire of Marlborough; 'Black Oliver' 
    Birth Jul 15, 1561  St Martin Orgar and St Clement Cheapside, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Fact Nov 14, 1580  Lincoln's Inn Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 19 years)  
    Oliver St. John, Wilts. Late of New Inn admitted to Lincoln's Inn

    https://archive.org/details/recordshonorabl05englgoog/page/90/mode/2up?q=%22St.+John%22 
    CAUS Oct 11, 1614  Marlborough, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 53 years)  
    Author of the letter to the Mayor of Marlborough. Lord Bacon describes him as a gentlemen of ancient house and name, and as being a principal person and a dweller in that town (Marlborough), and one whom the mayor considered likely to give both money and good example. In this public letter, Oliver declared, to the Mayor of Marlborough, that the King, in asking his people for a free gift of money, was violating his oath, commiting a perjury more gross than that for which an English monarch has lost his crown. (St. John to Mayor of Marlborough, Oct. 11, 1614, R.O.) Imprisoned in the tower in 1615 and 1616. 
    Name "Black Oliver"
    - Clarendon states of the "latter" (assuming he was the Lord Chief Justice?) that Oliver "was a lawyer of Lincoln's Inn, reserved and of a dark and clouded countenance, very proud, and conversing with very few, and those men of his own humour and inclinations." -- a swarthy complexion seems to have been hereditary in this family. Leland, Itinerary, vi. 27, speaking of "Olyver Saynt John, sonne to the excellent duchesse of Somerset" (as he is designated in his will, printed in Nicolas's testaments Vetusta, and in Jacob's Peerage, and which will is dated in 1494), describe him as "a black and big felow that died at Fonterabye in Spayne, when the late Marquise of Dorset was there." This Oliver was the founder of the family of Lydiard Tregoze. (Letters from George Lord Carew to Sir Thomas Roe, ambassador to the court of the Great Mogul. 1615-1617 - George Carew Earl of Totnes, Sir Thomas Roe Edited by John Maclean, F.S.A.) 
    Death aft. 1615 
    Siblings 2 Siblings 
    Patriarch & Matriarch
    Oliver de Port-St. John, of Fonmon (ANCESTRY NOT CERTAIN BEYOND THIS POINT),   b. 1300-1326, Fonmon Castle (Welsh: Castell Ffwl-y-mwn), East Aberthaw, Glamorgan, Wales Find all individuals with events at this locationd. aft. 1372, Fonmon Castle (Welsh: Castell Ffwl-y-mwn), East Aberthaw, Glamorgan, Wales Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 47 years)  (4 x Great Grandfather) 
    Joan / Jane Skynner, Henbury, Smallwood, de Port-St. John,   b. abt. 1530   d. Oct 29, 1562, St Mary, Lambeth, Surrey, England Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 32 years)  (Mother) 
    Headstones Submit Headstone Photo Submit Headstone Photo 
    Person ID I10020  St. John Origin and Ancestry DNA Database | St. John Generation One - Raoul de Sancto Johanne
    Last Modified May 20, 2022 

    Father Oliver de Port-St. John, of Lambeth, Surrey,   b. abt. 1508, Lydiard Tregroze, Wilshire, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Apr 19, 1571, St Marys, Lambeth, Surrey, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 63 years)
    Other Partners: Anne Stokes (?)  m. bef. 1559;   Alice Roydon  m. Aug 03, 1563;   Eleanor Burbage  m. Jul 10, 1567  
    Relationship Birth 
    Mother Joan / Jane Skynner, Henbury, Smallwood, de Port-St. John,   b. abt. 1530   d. Oct 29, 1562, St Mary, Lambeth, Surrey, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 32 years)
    Other Partners: William Henbury  m. abt. 1547;   Robert Smallwood  m. Apr 16, 1554  
    Relationship Birth 
    Marriage Jul 03, 1559  St Margarets, Westminster, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F743  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 1 Jane de Port-St. John, Nicholas, de Port-St. John,   b. abt. 1561   d. Apr 03, 1608, St. Mary the Virgin, Marlborough, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 47 years) 
    Other Partners: Robert Nicholas  m. bef. 1601 
    Marriage Feb 14, 1606  [1
    Family ID F3519  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified Oct 19, 2023 

    Family 2 Margaret Love,   b. abt. 1561, Of Winchelsea, Sussex, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Sep 19, 1606, St Mary's, Marlborough, Wiltshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 45 years) 
    Marriage Jun 02, 1588  England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
     1. Nicholas de Port-St. John, Esquire,   b. abt. 1589, Wiltshire, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. aft. 1660, Wiltshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 72 years)  [Father: Birth]  [Mother: Birth]
    Alice Goddard  m. Jun 13, 1614;   Bridget Sadler  m. Oct 08, 1655
    +2. Oliver de Port-St. John, m. Millicent Parker of Virginia Company,   b. abt. 1590   d. Oct 29, 1626, Lydiard Millicent, Wiltshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 36 years)  [Father: Birth]  [Mother: Birth]
    Millicent Parker  m. Dec 20, 1609
     3. John de Port-St. John,   b. abt. 1591   d. aft. 1615 (Age 25 years)  [Father: Birth]  [Mother: Birth]
    Family ID F744  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified Jul 22, 2023 

  • de Port-St. John Probate Media (Log in)Media (Log in)

  • Reference  St. John, Suzanne. "Oliver de Port-St. John, Esquire of Marlborough; 'Black Oliver'". The St. John Genealogy Project. https://stjohngenealogy.com/getperson.php?personID=I10020&tree=OSA0001 (accessed March 29, 2024).

  • Sources  Sources (Log in)  Sources (Log in)


    1. This site powered by The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding v. 14.0.3, written by Darrin Lythgoe © 2001-2024.

      The St. John Genealogy Project - created and maintained by Suzanne St. John Copyright © 2001-2024 All rights reserved. | Data Protection Policy.



      Creative Commons License
      This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

      This site is dedicated to the memory of James Jacob St. John (1932-2008)


      DISCLAIMER:

      This site is free to use for those interested in St. John Family History for the purposes of personal genealogical research, academic research, and other educational and learning purposes. User accounts are free to obtain in order to log into this site to access all available features contained herein including access to watermarked media and source material. Media and source material on this site may be subject to copyright and other restrictions. Users acknowledge by accessing this site using their login credentials that it is their responsibility to obtain proper use permissions to reuse anything found herein. All commercial uses are prohibited. If you wish to submit a commercial use request, please send a detailed email to the site administrator. Do not put this information in public sites such as Ancestry, Wikitree, FamilySearch, etc. without proper citation and credit to this project. Hundreds of people have provided their family records and DNA to support this project in addition to pursuing years of primary record research. Respect their contributions.



      Last Updated 21 Oct 2023 by Suzanne St. John - profile.