If You Are A Cragun You Might Be A Whitaker

             OK OK, not all Craguns are Whitakers. Only 1 of Patrick Cragun's 11 chidlren married into the Whitaker line. Elisha Cragun 1784-1847 married Mary Osborne, whose mother was a Whitaker. The Whitakers have an interesting history.

             FamilySearch Family Tree is one pedigree for all mankind. A collaborative effort is needed to bring together the correct and documented facts about our ancestors. We build it together. Family Tree currently shows we descendants of Mary Osborne Cragun are also descendants of Alice Beconsawe Lisle. Alice was beheaded at the will of King James the 2nd.
              The documentation of our relationship to Lady Alice is not established in Family Tree. The lineage shows there, and some of the pedigree is verified. If you are a Cragun and want to collaborate on an interesting heritage, join in on the research. In the discussion section and in the sources section of our ancestors I am posting research information. My email is also public there. Anyone can be invited to join FamilySearch Family Tree, and it is free to all.

Lady Lisle

Lady Lisle Headstone

                                         (From The Trial of Alice Lisle by Virginia Salima Moorhead.)
            Few acts did more to turn the public against King James II than the Bloody Assizes of 1685, and no trial in the Bloody Assizes outraged the public as much as the trial of Alice Lisle. Bloody Assizes began with the trial of Alice Lisle for treason.  According to C. G. L. Du Cann, Lisle’s trial created “more opprobrium for the Stuart rule” than any other treason trial.  Jeffreys cruelty toward the respected elderly Mrs. Lisle for what many conceived as an act of kindness on her part in taking in fugitives shocked and outraged those who witnessed the proceedings and those who heard about them afterward.  During the trial, Jeffreys stepped into the place of the prosecution, bullied the only witness who had positive testimony for Mrs. Lisle, and failed to repeat Mrs. Lisle’s defense to the jury in his closing remarks.  Mrs. Lisle, denied the assistance of counsel in the courtroom, had to make her own defense before the terrifying judge.  The resulting deaths of this and the trials that followed during the Bloody Assizes horrified the West Country, and they turned upon the king who would send such a bloodthirsty man to judge them so cruelly.

Alice Lisle’s background made her a suspicious figure for those loyal to the monarchy.  Although from a respectable family, her father Sir White Beckenshaw had connections with noble families, she married John Lisle, a supporter of Cromwell.  He sat as one of the judges in the trial that resulted in the execution of Charles I, making him one of the regicides.  For his services, Cromwell made Lisle a member of his House of Lords, which is why Alice Lisle is often referred to as Lady Alice Lisle, a title not recognized by royalists.  When Cromwell’s government fell, Lisle fled to Switzerland, where he was killed by a couple of Irish Catholics in revenge for the death of Charles I. After the death of her husband, Alice Lisle and her daughters moved into her family’s home, Moyles Court.  At home, she established a sound reputation through her charitable acts.

Her desire to help others led her to provide shelter to two rebel soldiers who had fought for Monmouth at the Battle of Sedgemoor.  Hicks, one of those two rebels, sent Dunne with a message to Mrs. Lisle, requesting shelter for himself and Nelthorpe, the other rebel.  With Mrs. Lisle’s consent, Dunne led Hicks and Nelthorpe to Mrs. Lisle’s house after dark, where all three stayed for the night.  A man named Barter heard about Mrs. Lisle harboring the men and informed Colonel Penruddock of the fact.  In the morning, Colonel Penruddock surrounded Mrs. Lisle’s home.  After Mrs. Lisle’s many denials of the presence of these men, the soldiers searched her home and found Hicks, Nelthorpe and Dunne hiding and arrested them.

The Grandfather of Mary Osborne, William Whitaker Jr.was a highly respected Baptist Minister. He had possession of a now over 400 year old Bible. The Bible was the only possession that was saved when his home burned. I have been given some copies of  photos of that Bible. I invite you all to enjoy the spirit of Family Tree. Two hundred people a day are being added login capacity. The limit is to watch the bandwidth being used, making an effort to not overload the system.
If you are a Cragun you might be a Whtiaker, and if you are a Whitaker you might have an interesting heritage.

William's obituary shows how respected he was.