Person:John Starr (25)

[a15301.FTW]

He lived in the very small town of Beer, which is about one mile south of Seaton, in Devonshire, England. Beer, or Beere as it was spelled at the time is described today as a small fishing village, once a harbor for pirates.

by Victor Starr:

The Starr family roots probably lie somewhere in the mainland of Europe. The earliest record of a Starr was that of Leunot Stearre whose taxpaying status was noted in the English Doomsday book of the late eleventh century. He was of French descent and emigrated to England after the invasion of William the Conqueror in 1066. Another prominent family of Starrs to whom no direct relation has been linked (but probably exists) is that of Thomas Starr. Thomas Starr lived in Kent as early as the fourteenth century, and his descendants included Dr. Comfort Starr and many of the New England Starrs. This line of the family is speculated to have emigrated from Flanders to England sometime in the thirteenth century.

The oldest known direct ancestor, is John Starr who was born sometime around 1500. We know little about him other than the fact that his son, John, purchased a manor home in the village of Beere, England, and was a prominent member of the mercantile guild. Beere (or Beer as it is presently known) was a small fishing village on the southern coast of England about a mile from Seaton. The nearest city of prominence is Exeter.

After King Henry VIII dissolved the holdings of the Catholic Church in the sixteenth century, he included the manor home of Beere in the dowry of Catherine Paar. Later it was sold to the Hassard family of Lyme Regis who eventually sold it to John Starr of the mercantile guild in Beere. The manor home had been an abbey for hundreds of years, and had even been a home for Saxon leaders before the conquest. The manor had been rebuilt many times and after John Starr purchased it in 1550, an extensive renovation was performed.

John Starr married and had a son who was also named John (for clarity's sake, we can number him John III). John, in turn produced William, who also married and named his son John (IV). Surely, there were other children in the family. A trip to Beer might uncover more of the family tree, but this line is the direct one which produced all the individuals in the following outline. This list includes freemen of Exeter. Many of them are likely related to the line of Starrs as brothers, cousins, etc.

1561 John Starre, merchant

1580 William Starr, costermonger (merchant of fruits, vegetables, etc.)

1637 Bernard Starr, upholsterer, apprentice of Edward Lawrence

1646 Edmund (Edward?) Starre, grocer, deceased, apprentice of Nicholas Carwithie

1648 Robert Daniel, upholsterer apprentice of Bernard Starr, deceased

1656 John Starr, grocer, apprentice of Nicholas Carwithie

1660 John Starr, grocer, son of Bernard Starr by succession

1669 Frances Kingwell, grocer, apprentice of Edward Starr

1670 Simon Gandy, grocer, apprentice of Edward Starr

1676 Nicholas Kendall, grocer, apprentice of John Starr

1678 Benjamin Hawkins, grocer, apprentice of John Starr

1688 Peter Clarke, grocer, apprentice of John Starr

1694 John Starr, freeman

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} A15301.FTW.

   Date of Import: Jul 10, 2003