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Thomas St. John, King Charles' Secret Service Agent

Thomas St. John, King Charles' Secret Service Agent

Male 1613 - 1698  (85 years)Deceased    Has 1698 ancestors and 351 descendants in this family tree.


  • Name Thomas St. John 
    Suffix King Charles' Secret Service Agent 
    Birth May 30, 1613  St. Olave, Silver Street Parish, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Immigration 1654-1663  Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Name Thomas St. John
    Arrival Year 1654-1663
    Arrival Place Virginia
    Primary Immigrant St John, Thomas
    Source Publication Code 2899.10
    Annotation Date and place of intended destination. Place of origin or last residence and name of ship may also be provided. Extensive historical information is also provided.
    Source Bibliography HARGREAVES-MAWDSLEY, R. Bristol and America, A Record of the First Settlers in the Colonies of North America, 1654-1685, Including the Names with Places of Origin of More Than 10,000 Servants to Foreign Plantations Who Sailed from the Port of Bristol to Virginia, Maryland, and Other Parts of the Atlantic Coast, and also to the West Indies from 1654 to 1685. This List is Compiled and Published from Records of the Corporation of the City of Bristol, England. Baltimore, MD: Cl 
    Residence Jun 28, 1664  [2
    https://archive.org/stream/cavalierspioneer00nuge/cavalierspioneer00nuge_djvu.txt

    CAPT. ANTHONY FULGHAM, Patent Book No. 5, p. 518-519

    1000 acs. Is. of Wight Co., 28 June 1664, p. 383, (429). On a br. of the Black Water., beg. at S.W. cor. of Mathew Tomlins land, running Wly. &c. by a meadow &c. Trans, of 20 pers: Daniell Wilson, his wife, Edwd. Atwood, Robt. Cole, Katharine Diamant, Martha Greene, Wm. Lewis, Robt. Edwards, Jno. Browne, Jno. Fulgham, Anthony Fulgham, Jno. Boron, Eliz. Day, Joseph Butler, Hen. Gough, Jno. Who- man, Eliz. Barnett (or Barrett), Susan Smith, Tho. St. Jno., Jno. Wilson.  
    Fact Apr 1671 
    C. O. 279, 14. ff. 234. 243. Mr. St. John sent with credits for 12,000l at Cadiz. Middleton to Arlington, 2/12th Apr 1671. 
    Marriage Jul 05, 1672  Tangier, Morroco Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Thomas St. John married Mary Carr 
    Fact May 20, 1679 
    In 1679 Captain St. John complained that the inhabitants had been buying his men's "clothes, arms provisions and bedclothes and selling them in shops" a practice which would "be an inevitable ruin to a great many debauched fellows" who would sell their own and stolen goods.

    C.O. 279, 24, 98, 20th March 1678/9 
    Residence 1681  Essex, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    !Thomas St. John lived in Essex Co., VA, and was a "small" planter. He purchased 100 acres of land from William Claiborne Jr. of King and Queen Co., in 1681. This 1681 deed was witnessed by William covington (I) and Thomas Howerton. (Bird Papers: 1696-1810, King & Queen County, VA) 
    Fact 1684  England, UK Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    In any case, as an active commander of a company in the furious, forlorn combat of May 1680, Capt. St. John was "shot throw the shoulder under the plate-bone which makes us feare very much his recovery" (Fairborne's report, 14th May, quoted by Routh, p. 177). He did recover, however, returning to England in 1684. 61.

    https://www.google.com/books/edition/Tangier_at_High_Tide/MUhL86gzJTUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=St.%20John 
    Fact Feb 05, 1684 
    Tangier was officially evacuated, leaving the towns in ruins. Thereafter Kirke's Regiment (i.e., the Tangier Regiment) returned to England. The main force of 2,830 officers and men and 361 wives and children finally completed the demolition of the harbour wall and fortifications, and evacuated the garrison during the early months of 1684. The 2nd Tangier Regiment left late in the second week of February for Plymouth with some six hundred men and thirty wives and children.[52] The Earl of Dumbarton's regiment (The Royal Scots) went into quarters at Rochester, and Trelawney's (Second Tangier) Regiment to Portsmouth.

    Some of the departing soldiers were to be rewarded with large land grants in the newly acquired Province of New York. Thomas Dongan, 2nd Earl of Limerick, a lieutenant-governor of Tangier, became New York provincial governor and William "Tangier" Smith, the last mayor of Tangier, obtained 50 miles of Atlantic oceanfront property on Long Island.

    Others were found in Virginia.

    See: Alexander Spotswood (1676-1740) Lt. Gov. of Virginia 1710-1722 was born in Tangier, Morocco.

    See: Thomas St. John and his wife Mary Carr

    Also see: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ellison-2995 for Carr and Virginia references
    Also see: Henry Norwood https://www.jstor.org/stable/4246552 
    Fact Oct 10, 1690  Essex, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Will Dated

    LAST WILL & TESTAMENT:
    In the name of God Amen, I Thomas St. John of ye Parish of South Farnham in ye County of Rappa:ë being sick & weak of Body but of perfect mind & memory praised be therefore given to ye Almighty God, I do make & ordaine this my present last Will & Testamt. in manner & forme following, that is to say first & principally I comend my Soult into thehands of Almighty god hopeing that I first & principally comend my Soult into the hands of Almighty god hopeing that I may obtaine life everlasting.ë I do committ my body to ye earth & to be buried at ye discretion of my Exex., hereafter.ë First I will that all just debts & funerall charges shall be paid & discharged.

    Item.ë I give & bequeath unto my Grandson, Thomas Cooper, a young Mare of a year old with her increase for ever;

    Item.ë I give & bequeath unto my Daughter, Elesebeth Cooper, ye benefit of land to worke upon whare hur Husband, Wm. Cooper, is now a bilding dureing her life time & to have as much priviledg for Timber or aney thing eless as tho the land ware hir owne duaring her life time;

    Likewise my will is that all my Land that I am now possessed with to be equaly devided betweene my Sons, Thomas St. John Junr., & William St. John.ë I do likewise make them both at age at Eighteen years if there Mother should decease or Marry but if not to abide while ye age of one & twenty; I do give & bequeath unto Richd. Covington, Ten Shelings to bey him a Ring;

    Lastly, I give & bequeath unto Wife, Mary St. John, all ye rest &
    remaining part of my Estate both moveables & immoveables dureing hur life time provided that she shall keep hurselfe a Widow & not marrey & after my Wifes decease to be equally devided amoung all my Cheldren, but if my Wife should marrey then my will is that shee should have but ye third part of my Easteat & ye other to be devided amoung my Children.

    I do likewise make my Wife my hole Exex. over my hole Esteat both pasnall & reiall.ë In Witness whereof I the said Thomas St. John to this my last Will & Testament have heareunto set my hand & seale this Tenth day of October one thousand six hundred & ninety.

    Signed sealed & acknowledged in ye presents of us ëWilliam C. Cooperëëë Tho: St. John ëJohn Billington ëEdward Brunn Junr.
    Proved by the oaths of Jno: Billington & Wm: Cooper in Essex County Court ye 10th day of Sept 1698 & truely recorded.

    Source: Essex County Deeds & Wills 1695-1699, pg 37 
    Death bef. 10 Sep 1698  Essex, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Burial bef. 10 Sep 1698  Essex, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Fact Sep 10, 1698  Essex, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Will Probated

    Signed sealed & acknowledged in ye presents of us ëWilliam C. Cooperëëë Tho: St. John ëJohn Billington ëEdward Brunn Junr.
    Proved by the oaths of Jno: Billington & Wm: Cooper in Essex County Court ye 10th day of Sept 1698 & truely recorded.

    Source: Essex County Deeds & Wills 1695-1699, pg 37 
    Generation 20 
    Siblings 11 Siblings 
    Patriarch & Matriarch
    F1329 M3658 PF2622 YSC0001299 V2308 GHIJK-F1329 GHIJK rs9786482 Phylogenetic Ancestral Tree   (62 x Great Grandfather) 
    Joane Pryce (ap Rhys), St. John, Waterman; probably Christopher's second wife,   b. Nov 15, 1579, Addington, Surrey, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. aft. 1669  (Age 90 years)  (Mother) 
    Headstones Submit Headstone Photo Submit Headstone Photo 
    Person ID JLS0010  St. John Origin and Ancestry DNA Database | St. John Generation One - Raoul de Sancto Johanne
    Last Modified Jul 18, 2023 

    DNA Tests  6 DNA tests are associated with Thomas St. John, King Charles' Secret Service Agent 

    Father Christopher St. John,   b. abt. 1581, Uchel-olau (High-light), Gwenfo, Glamorganshire, Wales, Great Britain Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Jun 19, 1629, St. Olave, Silver Street Parish, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 48 years) 
    Relationship Birth 
    Mother Joane Pryce (ap Rhys), St. John, Waterman; probably Christopher's second wife,   b. Nov 15, 1579, Addington, Surrey, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. aft. 1669 (Age 90 years)
    Other Partners: Richard Waterman, a Blacksmith  m. May 29, 1654  
    Relationship Birth 
    Marriage 1604  Addington, St. Mary, Surrey, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    St. John Marriage Records Media (Log in)Media (Log in)
    Family ID F4165  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Mary Carr, St. John, Billington,   b. 1640, Tangier, Morroco Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Jan 16, 1728, Essex, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 88 years) 
    Other Partners: John Billington  m. 1700 
    Marriage Jul 05, 1672  Tangier, Morroco Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
    +1. Elizabeth St. John, Cooper,   b. abt. 1673, Tangier, Morroco Find all individuals with events at this location  [Father: Birth]  [Mother: Birth]
    William C Cooper  m. 1690
    +2. Thomas St. John, Jr.,   b. - 1674, 1683, Tangier, Morroco Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Nov 17, 1719, Essex, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 36 years)  [Father: Birth]  [Mother: Birth]
    +3. William (I) St. John,   b. 1675-1684, Tangier, Morroco Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1721, South Farnham Parish, Essex, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 37 years)  [Father: Birth]  [Mother: Birth]
    Elizabeth Billington  m. 1700
     4. Hannah St. John, m. Edward Harper,   b. 1690-1698, Essex, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location
     5. Tabitha Billington, Perkins,   b. 1690-1698, Essex, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location
    +6. Sarah St. John, Newbill,   b. 1690-1698, Essex, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1784 (Age 86 years)  [Father: Birth]  [Mother: Birth]
    Nathaniel Newbill  m. 1715
    Family ID F4899  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified Jul 18, 2023 

  • Documents Documents (Log in)Documents (Log in)

  • Notes  Notes (Log in)  Notes (Log in)

  • Reference  St. John, Suzanne. "Thomas St. John, King Charles' Secret Service Agent". The St. John Genealogy Project. https://stjohngenealogy.com/getperson.php?personID=JLS0010&tree=OSA0001 (accessed March 28, 2024).

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


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