THE GENEALOGY OF THE NANCES OF CORNWALL
A Crouch Family Heritage Association Family
Tree page, Nance family line
Quoted from "Genealogy of the Nances in Cornwall" by Martin L.
"Pete" Nance, 1970.
Text excerpted from Dave Nance's Definitive Nance
Genealogy Clearinghouse
I. John Nans was vicar of Maneccan church in 1385, Maneccan Parish,
Menengue (Menenge). Despite the fact that he was apparently a clergyman
before the reformation, John Nans apparently had at least one son:
II. Robert Nans, apparent son of John Nans of Mannecan. No record of
death but he appears to be dead by 1462. After John Nans's death, Robert
Nans went to court to prevent the then vicar of Mannecan from seizing Nans,
Trewince and Martania in St. Martin Parish in Menenge. As one can see by
the date, this would be considered a rather old document, of which I have
been able to receive only a part translation which is rather vague, but
it would appear that these were lands passed to Robert as heir by law and
he had been living at Nans for many years, yet the church was claiming these
three places as church property. Apparently, Robert at least won this suit
in part, as in 1462 his son Lawerence held Trewince and was still its owner
in 1503. Two sons:
III.a. Lawerence Nans of St. Anthony
in Menenge.
III.b. John Nans, D.D. L.L.D., rector of
Glasney College in Cornwall 1497-1501. Pete Nance made an extensive genealogy
of his descendants despite the fact that he was a clergyman before the reformation.
In most cases, the family connections are supported by official documents,
however, when some specific document could not be found for a certain individual,
the tax rolls were generally used to supplement and when this source became
exhausted, all we had left were notations in history books or family traditions.
I have found in the past that these last two sources are not always reliable.
Therefore, the first generation of this genealogy, John Nans, 1385, should
be regarded as tentative, as well as John Nans D.D. L.L.D. of 1500 who was
said to be an uncle of Sir Alexander Nans. Other than these two, the balance
of this Genealogy appears to be reasonably correct.
According to the records, we have two unconnected Nance families: the Menenge
family in the 14th century, with one branch into Illogan, from which came
the Nances to Trewynnard in St. Erth, and one of their descendants who went
to St. Kerverne and became ancestor of most of the Nances living in Cornwall
today, and possible ancestor of the Nances of America; and the other being
the St. Clement family, of whom we know little before 1540. (Possibly descended
from Luce de Nanse and William de Nans shown in St. Clement's Parish, Cornwall
on 1327 tax rolls). It is quite possible both families are of a common origin,
but hardly before 1300. Therefore, I will not include the St. Clement family
within the mainstream of this Cornish genealogy.
This Genealogy is based on extant Nance records found to date in Cornwall,
and includes deeds, tax rolls, church records, wills, personal letters and
documents held by the Cornish museum and by individuals. Some reliable data
was also found in history books of Cornwall and England.
Among the maternal lines the Nances married into are many of the more famous
families of Cornwall such as the Bassets of Tehidy, Arundells of Lanhearne
and Trerise, the Courtneys, Grenvilles, Nanspyans, and others. The records
concerning these gentry families are numerous, but I will cover those direct
lines that appear to be a part of our apparent line. One must remember that
many of the 13th, 14th and 15th century documents of Cornwall and England
were written in french, latin, old english, or Cornish, and due to the age
of some of these old papers, the language barrier becomes quite a challenge
to the best among those in that field who pursue this profession. For this
reason it has taken me over three years to reach a point, or should I say,
"have the nerve" to construct this genealogy.
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