Luther Ancestors

This section will document my research on my Luther ancestors. Rebecca Luther married John Taylor and was my 5^th great grandmother.

Rebecca Luther and her siblings Charlotte, who married Henry Fane, and John Luther, were the last remaining descendants of that branch of the family, and when John died this made Rebecca and Charlotte the heirs to the family estates in Kelveden Hatch, Essex. John had fallen out with Rebecca’s oldest son John Taylor, and so the Essex estates were inherited by Charlotte’s children, Francis Fane and eventually John Fane¹.

The Luther family lived at Myles, a manor in Kelvedon Hatch. Kelvedon Hatch is in Chipping Ongar hundred in Essex, about equidistant from Chipping Ongar and Brentwood². The first record of the family in the parish appears to be the purchase of Myles by Thomas Luther in 1566³.

Thomas was not the first Luther that I have found in the records. The Visitation of Essex in 1634 mentions that the family originated with Richard Luther al’s (or alias) Hewett who was Thomas’s father⁴. He lived in Stapleford Tawney.

Richard had two sons, one of whom Thomas founded the family based in Myles while John who was presumably the elder continued the Stapleford Tawney branch of the family⁵. The earliest record of Richard that I have found was to a “Feet of Fine”⁶ in Hilary Term⁷, 31 Henry VIII (or 1540)⁸, where Richard Luter alias Hewet was the plantiff in a case with Thomas Josselyn, Esquire over some property in Lamborne, near Stapleford Tawney.

Burke claims that the family is related to Martin Luther⁹, but there isn’t really any evidence to support this. Richard is settled in Stapleford Tawney by 1540 and although I have not found where he came from I haven’t found any evidence that he came from Germany.

I will be creating individual articles for all my male Luther Ancestors. I have so far completed the following

• Richard Luther of Kelvedon Hatch and Boldre (Born 1700)
• Edward Luther of Kelvedon Hatch (Born 1669)
• Richard Luther of Kelvedon Hatch (Born 1626)
• Anthony Luther of Kelvedon Hatch (Born 1587)
• Richard Luther of Kelvedon Hatch (Born ~1550)
• Thomas Luther of Stapleford Tawney (Born ~1530)
• Richard Luther of Stapleford Tawney (Born ~1510)

References

Footnotes