Notes |
- He is listed as a Churchwarden in Bromborough in 1678.
Note this, quoted from the Cheshire parish registers, that more Spann records would be available at Bromborough: "At end of the first register volume (parchment, 44 pages), notes by Richard Spanne (a) states he procured/presented 'this booke' 1678, (b) on opposite page 'Whom hath occasions to [illegible] this book may looke for burialls at this end and births and baptizms at the other end of this booke'; (c) following (a) details of the marriages and children of four generations of Spannes 1580–1685, exact dates not given, and details of the baptisms and sometimes burials of R.S. himself, ten children. and two grandchildren 1624–1694; (d) 1682 statement re an annual donation to the church by R.S.; (e) note on burials of previous generations of Spanne 'in the church' and on the family pew rights."
It would seem that Christenson relies on this register for his information about the Spann family back further, but this is not clear.
An Edward Spann, "Edward Spann, Yeoman of Bromborough, Cheshire," had a will dated 27 September 1654; it is available from the National Archives. Is Edward Richard's father? Christenson says so, but the link is not clear to me as yet.
As Christenson says, Richard seems to be a man of some means in Cheshire, able to send his sons off to University. The only earlier will in Cheshire for a Spann is Thomas in 1673. Why his sons went to Dublin, however, is a good question: they were perhaps, in an academic fashion, part of the mid-17th century movement encouraged by Jacobean officials to colonize Ireland, especially by religion, and the Spann family would have been Anglican if they attended Trinity College and became priests. If this is so the family would have been anti-Catholic, and as priests served especially the English colonists there. [1, 3, 4]
|