John Raymond I - d.1635

It is well recorded that a John Raymond purchased the Belchamp Walter Estate in 1611 from John Wentworth. What is not well recorded is who John Raymond was and how did it come about the he purchased the Belchamp Estate?

Most histories of the Village and Belchamp Hall start with the statement he did aquire the estate in 1611 and that is the starting point for any further discussion. The background on who he was and what was his association with the region before that seems to have been overlooked. John Raymond's spouse was a daughter from a local Gestingthorpe family but his family before that appears to have come from Hertfordshire and before that possibly Kent.

John I (of Belchamp Hall) married Anne Sparrow in 1603 and he died 1635. The marriage was before the Estate purchase so it can be concluded that he had some connection to the area before that. Furthere research reveals that his name is mentioned in a will of a member of the Harris family of Essex. Later, after the Raymond's had established themselves in the community the son of John and Anne was to marry a daughter of the Harris and Astley families. This was Oliver Raymond and Frances Harris.

The top and bottom of the Alan Freer tree, William I-150, John Raymond I is NOT shown on this section

Note: - I have taken the top and the bottom of the Freer tree and merged the two sections. The full tree shows many more Raymond names relevant to the Halls history.

Their oldest son was Oliver Raymond (Parliamentarian) who died in 1679. This Oliver Raymond is shown at the top of the chart above and his marriage to Frances Astley.

The Harris Family

The Sir William Harris shown on the family tree is the cousin of Sir William Harris, both Harris' fought in the Nine Years War in Ireland 1593 to 1603, presumably why they were both knighted by James 1 at his coronation in 1603.

The Harris family were a well connected Essex Family, their main seat was at Southminster (Creaksea). The Sir William Harris of Shenfield was from a community nearer to Chelmsford Essex. Shenfield Manor is now known as Killigrews. The Harris' at Shenfield were also know by the name Harrys.

Twentyone children

While it seems that it is bit of a departure from the story of John Raymond I the fact that his oldest son and Frances Harris (Raymond) had 21 children complicates things.

Many of these family members are memorialised on the Raymond Family Memorial

The inclusion on both the memorial and a partial list on Alan Freer's section of William the Conqueror's family tree makes analysis of their fates very difficult.

Anne Burgoyne

The wife of John Raymond II. Daughter of Sir Roger Burgoyne, 2nd Bt. John II died in 1690.

Sir Roger Burgoyne, 2nd Baronet was elected Member of Parliament for Bedfordshire in the Long Parliament after the sitting MP was raised to the House of Lords.[3] He was knighted on 18 July 1641[4] He sat in parliament until 1648 when he was excluded under Pride's Purge. In 1656 he was elected MP for Warwickshire in the Second Protectorate Parliament.

The green text above was taken from the Wikipedia page. See here