This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Roper, Rooper, Collington, Colleton, Yate, Yates Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/kgDBAEB/718 Message Board Post: I have recently pointed out a fascinating thread of family connections uniting the ROPER and YATES family over several centuries which unifies ROPERs and YATES through a migration from England, to Virginia, to Maryland and then North Carolina. I have also mentioned in passing the appearance of Father John COLLINGTON in the household of Mrs. YATE in 1581 and the transportation of William YATES and George COLLINGTON to Virginia by Captain William ROPER. See my previous Posts: "YATES and ROPER Families: A Key To Understanding the Origins of the ROPERs of VA and MD" (18 Nov 2004 9:20 PM GMT) http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=message&r=rw&p=surnames.roper&m=715 "The ROPERs of Orpington, Kent: Was Thomas ROPER of Orpington son of Wm ROPER and Margaret MORE?" (19 Nov 2004 7:14 PM GMT) http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=message&r=rw&p=surnames.roper&m=717 Further research relating to the COLLINGTON family seems to pretty much CLINCH a concluson that Captain William ROPER, of Accomack, is of the armigerous Kentish ROPERs, and probably is the son of Christopher ROPER, 2nd Baron Teynham, and Katherine SEABORN. From previous Posts, you will know that Father John COLLINGTON was a member of the household of Mrs. YATE in July 1581 when jesuit missionary Edmund CAMPION was betrayed and captured. CAMPION's Judas was George ELLIOTT a former steward to Mr. ROPER of Orpington. I have presented evidence in a separate Post regarding the likelihood that this Mr. ROPER was Thomas ROPER, son of William ROPER and Margaret MORE. Upon reading the various accounts of the arrest of Father CAMPION, I was under the impression that the accompanying priests were not only arrested with CAMPION, but also convicted and executed. But I have now learned that this was NOT the case. Father John COLLINGTON was acquitted and SURVIVED. There is a very detailed account of his life in the Dictionary of National Biography at pages 791, 792 of Volume IV. But the name in DNB is shown as John COLLETON (1548 - 1635). John COLLETON is identified as the son of Edmund COLLETON, of Milverton, Somersetshire. I will endeavor to Post the entire published biography soon. But particularly telling regarding Father COLLETON's relationship with the ROPER family is this sentence near the end of the biographical sketch: "COLLETON spent the latter part of his life in the house of Mr. ROPER at Eltham in Kent, where he died on 19 Oct. 1635, age 87." Absent additional details regarding just WHEN Father COLLETON arrived at Well Hall, Eltham, it is unclear which Mr. ROPER is serving as his host. But a quick review of the ROPER line of that house reveals that the elder William ROPER (son-in-law to Sir Thomas MORE) died on 4 Jan 1577/1578. We know from William ROPER's DNB biography that William ROPER's son Thomas ROPER succeeded his father in his offices in 1577 and probably occupied Well Hall in advance of his father's death. I have speculated in my prior Posts that this SAME Thomas ROPER was very likely the Mr. ROPER, of Orpington, whose prior servant George ELLIOTT betrayed CAMPION. From the accounts of CAMPION's arrest it seems clear that Father John COLLETON was residing with Mrs. YATE in 1681. So it seems clear that Father COLLETON's arrival at Well Hall was much later. Thomas ROPER died on 21 Jan 1597/1598, when Father John COLLETON would have been about age fifty. It is unclear whether Father COLLETON was already in Thomas ROPER's household by the date of Thomas ROPER's death, but this also seems doubtful from a reading of Father COLLETON's biographical sketch (though he was probably an occasional visitor and guest in the great house before he came to permanently live there). COLLETON is said to have been released from the Tower of London in 1584 and was aparently exiled with seventy-one other priests. He is said to have returned from England in 1587 and thereafter lived mostly in London and Kent (which makes residence with the ROPERs during this period plausible). In 1610, he seems to have been again imprisoned at the Clink prison in Southward for refusing to take the oath of allegiance. So it would seem that Father COLLETON must have resided with the ROPERs mostly during the period after 1598 when Thomas ROPER's son William ROPER (d 02 Aug 1628) had come into possession of Well Hall, and remarkably he seems to have outlived even this latter host, as well. It is easy to see how the ROPERs, already leading Catholic recusants, and major patrons of Catholocism during the Elizabethan period would have felt particularly singularly responsible given that their former servant had betrayed Father CAMPION and caused Father John COLLETON's imprisonment. It seems hardly surprising that the elderly priest had come to live in the household of the grandson and great-grandson of Sir Thomas MORE. Here it is probably also appropriate to note that this latter William ROPER (d 02 Aug 1628) was married to Anne COTTON. Experienced ROPER genealogists will recognize the COTTON name, as the first minister of Hungars Parish, at Accomack, was Rev. William COTTON. And William COTTON married Anne GRAVES, the daughter of ancient Virginia planter Thomas GRAVES. Captain William ROPER seems to have married thirdly Katherine GRAVES, the WIDOW (NOT the daughter) of Thomas GRAVES about 1636. So we see that Captain William ROPER brought to America a George COLLINGTON at roughly the very time that Father John COLLETON was residing in the household of William ROPER (d 02 Aug 1628), of Well Hall. And COTTON was a family also already intermarried with the very William ROPER then occupying Well Hall. But there is also MORE! George COLLINGTON also serves to further unify the ROPERs of Accomack with the ROPERs of Anne Arundel, MD. While I have picked up no further evidence of George COLLINGTON in Virginia, he is shown as being transported to Maryland in 1661. And there is a stream called the COLLINGTON Branch flowing into the Patuxent River in Prince George's about three miles from the location where ROPER Branch flows into the Patuxent River in Anne Arundel. COLLINGTON Branch is here: http://terraserver-usa.com/image.aspx?t=2&s=12&x=435&y=5391&z=18&w=2 http://terraserver-usa.com/image.aspx?t=2&s=13&x=218&y=2696&z=18&w=2 By contrast, ROPERs RANGE, the land where William ROPER, of Anne Arundel, grazed his livestock is adjacent to the ROPERs Branch which may be found HERE: http://terraserver-usa.com/image.aspx?t=2&s=12&x=441&y=5393&z=18&w=2 http://terraserver-usa.com/image.aspx?t=2&s=13&x=220&y=2696&z=18&w=2 I have only just begun investigating the COLLINGTONs/COLLETONs of Maryland. It is unclear what other evidence may emerge. The YATES family also landed in Anne Arundel about the same time the ROPERs and the COLLETONs first appear there and the ROPER, YATES, and SEABORNE families are all found in All Hallowes Parish, South River, Anne Arundel. It is probably also appropriate to mention that the YATES family was intermarried with the WELLS family in Anne Arundel and in a subsequent generation we find ROPERs intermarrying with WELLS in COLLETON County, South Carolina! COLLETON County is named for Sir John COLLETON, one of the original Proprietors of Carolina. Sir John COLLETON's family seems to be from Exeter, Devonshire, England. It is unclear what relationship, if any, existed between the family of Father John COLLETON, George COLLETON, the immigrant to Virginia and Maryland, and Sir John COLLETON, the Colonial Proprietor of Carolina. This certainly bears further investigation.