1600 Info 3 for the Cromptons of the Stuart Period
The Gee Family of Bishop Burton
Sir William Gee m.(1) ............ m.(2)1601
of Bishop Burton Thomasine Hutton Mary Crompton (Dame Mary Gee)
b.1553 b.1570 b.1582
d.1612 d.1599 d.1649
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four sons and two daughters |
all died young |
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John + four sons and three daughters
b.1603
d.1627
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m.~1624
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Frances Hotham
b.
d.
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William
b.1625
d.~02nov1678 Will in York Registry Yorkshire Archaeological Society Vol.68 fol.180
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m.1 1664 ......... m.2 ~1685
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Rachel Mary
Parker Spencer
b.1632 b.
d.1684 d.1702
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William Richard Dau.
b.1648 b.~1657 b.
d.1718 d. d.
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m.23feb1664 ......... m.2 08oct1685
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Elizabeth Elizabeth
Hotham Cracroft wid. John Ellerker
b. b.
d.1684 d.
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|===============|| |==============||
5 sons 6 daughters 1 son 2 daughters
1600info3, sheet 2
Mary CROMPTON - Dame Mary GEE
Mary CROMPTON married and became the second wife of
Sir William GEE 1 of Bishop Burton, East Yorkshire. The estate
was bought by the Crompton family, who in turn sold it to William GEE (d.1612) in 1603. It
subsequently descended in the Gee family until being bought by Richard WATTin 1783 (Alison,
History of Yorkshire East Riding iv,pp.3-4).
Henry GEE of Rothley, in Leicestershire, was the father of William GEE (b. circa 1562) who first
moved to Hull as a master mariner.
He acquired great wealth as a Merchant of the Staple [wool] and through public office. He was
sheriff of Hull in 1560 and mayor in 1562, 1573 and 1582 and benefactor of Hull Grammar School. He
was secretary of the Council of the North and Keeper of the Signet from 1604. (Wildridge, Old and
New Hull, pp.41, 171-2; Foster, Pedigrees, iii; English, The great landowners of East Yorkshire, p.
25).
He first married Thomasine HUTTON, daughter of Mathew HUTTON, who died in 1599. They had one son
and two daughters before Thomasine died aged 29 years in 1599. The son predeceased his father and on
the family monument in York Minster, built by Mary CROMPTON, none of these children appear
suggesting that they all died young. William GEE's second wife was Mary CROMPTON, daughter of one of
the queen's auditors [Thomas of Bennyington qv]. There were six children by the second marriage.
When William died in early 1612, at the age of only 50, Mary was forced to buy the wardship of
his eldest son for £750 to maintain some family control over the estates (Foster, Pedigrees, iii;
English, The great landowners of East Yorkshire, p.25; Pevsner & Neave, York and the East Riding,
pp.147, 330) [DDHE/6/19]
The eldest, by the second marriage, was John GEE (b.1603). John GEE married Frances, daughter of
Sir John HOTHAM, and they had only one child, William (b.1625), before John GEE died prematurely in
1627. William GEE married first Rachel Parker and had one son, William GEE (b.1625) of Beverley,
before she died aged only 18 in early 1650. He then married Mary Spencer and had two sons and a
daughter. The elder son, Richard GEE (b.circa 1657) inherited, through his mother, lands in
Orpington, Kent. William GEE died in 1678; his widow in 1702.
The younger William GEE was MP for Hull and Beverley and a supporter of William of Orange and
also married twice; first, to Elizabeth Hotham by whom he had 11 children and, second, Elizabeth
Cracroft by whom he had 3 more children.
Bishop Burton was inherited on his death, in 1718, by his eldest son Thomas GEE (b.1673), but
when he died in 1750 he was succeeded by his grandson, Roger GEE (b. circa 1737), son of his
youngest child, William GEE (d.1745).
The Gee family had slowly accumulated debts and Roger GEE was the last member of the family to
own the manor and hall of Bishop Burton. It was held in trusteeship for five years before sale in
1783.
Descendants remained in the East Riding, intermarrying with other local gentry family. (Foster,
Pedigrees, iii; English, The great landowners of East Yorkshire, p.25; Borland and Dunning, Bishop
Burton, pp.98,102).
The Hull History Centre's estate papers of Bishop Burton (1552-1897) includes:
the 17th century purchase, title and related papers of William GEE (d.1612) and his family;
17th century papers related to Killingwoldgraves Hospital;
a pedigree of the Gee family dated 1775;
the marriage settlements of William GEE junior and Elizabeth HOTHAM (1670), James GEE and
Constantia MOYSER (1727), James GEE (1758), William GEE (1718), William GEE and Rachel PARKER
(1647), William GEE and Elizabeth ELLERKER (1685), William GEE and Elizabeth HOTHAM (1664),
Roger GEE and Caroline WARTON (1762), William GEE and Philippa HOTHAM (1725);
some papers of the Crompton family;
the wills of William GEE (1611) and William GEE (1743);
the grant to Dame Mary GEE of the wardship of her son John GEE (1612);
the grant to John Hotham of the wardship of William GEE (1627). [DDGE]
NOTES:
James GEE married Constantia MOYSER in about 1727. Where does James fit the tree?
William Gee Esq will was proved 02 November 1678 - in York Registry Yorkshire Archaeological
Society Vol.68 fol.180
1600info3, sheet 3
More information 1
Sir William GEE (1561-1611), of Bishop Burton, near Beverley, Yorks.
Sir William was born in 1561, the son of William Gee, alderman and merchant of Hull, by his
second wife Elizabeth. He was educated at St. John’s, Cambridge in 1577 and at Lincoln's Inn
in 1580. He was called to the bar. He first married Thomasine, who died in 1599, the
daughter of Matthew Hutton of York. Together they has four sons and two daughters. He then
married Mary, who died in 1649, the daughter of Thomas Crompton of Hounslow, Middlesex.
Together they had five sons and three daughters. He succeeded his father in January 1603 and
was knighted in 1604.
William Gee was MP for
Kingston-upon-Hull in 1589; and
Beverley in 1604
He also held the posts of:
Recorder, Beverley 1597;
member, High Commission, province of York 1599; and
secretary and keeper of the signet to council in the north from June 1604 to his
death.
Gee doubtless owed his return for Hull to his father, a well-known local benefactor.
Beverley was near his estate of Bishop Burton. Doubtless Gee was also helped in his career
by his first father- in-law, who, in June 1595, gave him a lukewarm testimonial for the
secretaryship to the council in the north, an appointment he secured early in the next
reign. Gee died soon after making his will on 02 November 1611 (York Registry Wills,
Yorkshire Archaeological Society, vol.31, folio 760). He thanked God that he had come into
this world ‘in the time when the glorious gospel did most brightly shine ... and not in the
time of darkness, of poperies and superstition’. He enumerated various protestant victories,
as he saw them, ending with the Gunpowder Plot. He left bequests to St. John’s College,
Cambridge, and to the poor of Beverley. Gee was buried according to his wishes in York
minster, where a monument was erected.
