Remembering Our Ancestors: Lady Anne Jernegan

Lady Anne Jernegan was born in 1448 in Herefordshire, England, if the Find-a-Grave record is correct, to Sir John Gilberd Jernedan and his wife Lady Agnes Jane Darell.  Times were spicy in England then as the War of the Roses between the House of Lancaster and the House of York was soon to be in full swing, and would not be resolved still by the time little Lady Anne was grown, had married, had children and passed on.

It appears that Lady Anne grew up in Herefordshire which lies up against the Welsh border in the west of England.  There, she also met and married William John Harris, son of John Harris and Anne Hartford, in 1467 when she was 19 years old.  They had three children during their marriage, if we are correctly informed.  Their son John Arthur was our direct forefather through Arilla Harris, mother of Mattie Mulford who married Steward Leslie Denney.

While the English nobles continued their feud, Anne and William apparently moved from one side of the country to the other for by the time Anne died on 4 May 1480, we find them living in Prittlewell in Essex, that is, on the south-eastern side of the country.  Anne, who died when she was only 32 years old, lies buried there as well as William, who passed on almost 25 years after Anne in 1504, and their son John Arthur (1468 – 1520), all, it appears, in St. Mary’s Churchyard where the gravestones are in disarray by now as you can see in the featured image.

Rest in Peace, Great-Grandma Harris.  England was in turmoil during your life, but you still managed to grow up, marry, have children, and carry on the torch.