Richard Wheatleigh "Clergyman"

Richard Wheatleigh, styled an Episcopal clergyman in compiled family notes, was reportedly born 3 May 1565 and was living after 1595. The notes report two marriages and name children from each union, but the underlying evidence for these family details was not supplied.

Richard Wheatleigh was reportedly born on 3 May 1565. Compiled family notes describe him as an Episcopal clergyman.

The probate abstracts included in the family notes name a Richard Wheatleigh as a son of John Wheatleigh and Mary Wheatleigh. John’s will, dated 24 March 1594, names “son Richard Whatley (sic),” and Mary’s will, dated 20 April 1595, leaves the residue of her estate to “son Richard,” her sole executor. These abstracts may concern this Richard Wheatleigh, but the supplied material does not establish the identification beyond the shared name and family tradition.

According to the notes, Richard married first about 1583 to Mary, whose surname was not given. Their children were listed as Thomas, born 1584; John, born 1586; William, born 1587; and Mary. He reportedly married secondly to an unnamed woman. Children attributed to the second marriage were Richard, Grace, Molly, and Alexander.

The same compilation identifies Thomas Wheatley, born 1584 and married to Elizabeth Farrar, as a son of Richard and states that Thomas went to America. It further summarizes records said to concern Thomas’s service, investments, and committee work with the Virginia Company, but these details concern the reported son rather than Richard Wheatleigh himself.

Richard’s death is given only as occurring after 1595. No place of residence, burial, or primary record specifically documenting his clerical work was provided.

Historical context

The supplied family notes place the Wheatleigh family in England and describe them as Protestants early in the seventeenth century. That broader statement does not by itself document Richard Wheatleigh’s individual religious activities beyond the compilation’s description of him as an Episcopal clergyman.

Sources & research

Family Tree Maker notes, “WHITLEY,” supplied as “General, relating to early Whatleys/Whitleys/Wheatleys in America.”

The Thigpen Tribe, by Alice Whitley Smith; edited by Hon. Casey Thigpen; copyright 1961, revised 1963; reprinted on demand by University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor-London; copied from The McCulley Files by El Duane.

Probate Registry at Wells, abstracted will of John Wheatleigh, dated 24 March 1594.

Probate Registry at Wells, abstracted will of Mary Wheatleigh, dated 20 April 1595.

W. & M., vol. 1, p. 34.

The 3 Charters of the Virginia Company of London, by Bemiss: vol. 1, pp. 216, 569; vol. 2, pp. 30, 94, 154, 157, 389, 448, 457, 531, 536; vol. 3, p. 593; vol. 4, pp. 358/98, 364, 405. These citations were supplied in connection with the reported son Thomas Wheatley.

Hathaway, vol. 1, p. 443. This citation was supplied in connection with the later Samuel Wheatley family.

Tyrrell County deed book 2, p. 72. This citation was supplied in connection with the later Samuel Wheatley family.