Alternate Views
The Collected Essays of
Richard A. Stanford
Alternate Views
Richard A. Stanford
Furman University
Greenville, SC 29613
Copyright 2026 by Richard A. Stanford
CONTENTS
NOTE: You may click on the symbol <> at the end of any section to return to the CONTENTS.
Alternate Views...
1. An Alternate Depiction of the Life of Yeshua
2. The Mary Magdalene Conundrum
3. Historical Fiction
4. The Robert S Red Herring
5. The Stanford Ancestry Extended
6. Franco-German Tribes in the Stanford-Polk Ancestry
7. A Levite
8. The Stanford/Maxwell Ancestry
The generally accepted version of the life of Yeshua ben Yossef is a complex consisting of mythical elements:
- the virgin birth;
- healing;
- resurrection from the dead;
- the trinity;
- the means of atonement;
- sin punishment, forgiveness;
- petitionary prayer fulfillment;
- soul survival after physical death;
- heaven and hell
- and perhaps others.
This blog post presents an alternate to the generally accepted version of events in the life of Yeshua ben Yossef. It is based upon the ancestry research presented in blog post Lineage Tracing the Bible and Chapter 7 of blog post Charting the Stanford and Polk Ancestries.
The likely parentage of Yeshua ben Yossef, a.k.a. "Jesus, son of Joseph," is explored in Chapters 8-10 of blog post Lineage Tracing the Bible. The important points to be brought forward are that (1) Yossef ben Jacob of the House of David was Yeshua's step father, not his blood father; (2) Yeshua's mother, Myriam, was descended from Nathan, King David's third son; and (3) Yeshua may have been a grandson of two kings, Edomite King Herod ("the Great") and Hasmonean King Antigonus.
Here is the alternate depiction of the life of Yeshua:
Yeshua ben Yossef was born in Bethlehem of Judea circa 6-4 BCE and raised in the village of Nazareth by mother Myriam bat Heli and step father Yossef ben Jacob. As a young adult he worked as a construction tradesman at Sephora, a town near Nazareth. At some time before 27 CE he married a young woman named Maria bat Syrus whom we know as "Mary Magdalene." A daughter that they named Sarah bat Yeshua was born circa 27 CE. Around this time he became attracted to the message that his cousin Joanan ben Zachariah was preaching. After King Herod Antipas had Joanan beheaded in 29 CE, Yeshua left his construction trade to take up Joanan's message and preaching ministry.
Yeshua came to the attention of the Roman authorities as his preaching ministry attracted an ever-growing following. Yeshua, a suspected dynastic Jewish royal, might claim either the Herodian or the Davidian thrones. His preaching about the coming Kingdom of God was taken by Roman authorities to be seditious and threatening to their rule, so they acquiesced in the demand by the Jewish Sanhedrin to have Yeshua executed.
When he appeared to have died after a relatively brief time on a cross (only six hours), Yeshua's still-living body was claimed by tin merchant Joseph of Arimathea, his mother's uncle and a Sanhedrin member who opposed the execution. Yeshua recovered enough that Joseph could facilitate escape from Judea to Marcella in Gaul by transporting Yeshua, Maria bat Syrus, daughter Sarah, Maximin, and other persecuted followers of Yeshua in one of his tin-ore ships as it made its way across Mare Nostrum toward Bretagne or Cornwall to pick up a load of tin ore.
After the crucifixion, the absence of Yeshua (or his corpse) in Jerusalem implied resurrection from the dead and exaltation by God to divine status. This perception sparked a new religion that became known as "Christianity" in the hands of the apostle Paul who evangelized in Asia Minor. Myriam bat Heli, Yeshua's mother, went with disciple John to Ephesus to live out her days.
Maximin and Maria bat Syrus evangelized in the south of Gaul where Maria lived an ascetic lifestyle until her death. She has been venerated for centuries, even to this day in the south of France.
Maria's evangelism activity attracted the attention of Antenor IV, "king" of a Sicambrian Frank tribe. Antenor may have become enamored with the beauty or novelty of a Hebrew wife, or he otherwise acquired Maria's daughter, then called Sarah Damaris ("Sarah of the sea"), to be taken north to the Sicambrian Frank tribal homeland on the east bank of the Rhine river. There they spawned a "holy bloodline" to be discovered by Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln in the 20th century.
After they arrived in southern Gaul, Yeshua and Maria had two more children: Joses Justus ben Yeshua (born 33 CE) and Yeshua ben Yeshua (a.k.a. "Jesus the Younger," born 37 CE). They and other Hebrews who arrived with them in Marcella populated the coastal region of Septimania where many retiring troops of the Roman 7th Legion chose to settle.
Frankish descendants of Sarah Damaris and her siblings became known as "desposyni," i.e., direct descendants of Yeshua.
What recommends this depiction over the generally accepted version of the life of Yeshua?
- By attributing Yeshua's birth to Myriam bat Antigonus (a.k.a. Myriam bat Heli; widow of Antipater ben Herod), it avoids the incredulity of a virgin birth.
- By identifying Myriam's descent from King David's third son Nathan, it avoids the uncertainty of first son Solomon's parentage.
- It acknownedges that Yossef ben Jacob's (Yeshua's step father) descent from King David did not qualify Yeshua to become a Jewish messiah.
- It reveals that Myriam's descent from King David's third son Nathan qualified Yeshua to become a Jewish messiah.
- It notes that Yeshua also may have been eligible to become a Jewish messiah if he was the grandson of King Antigonus, a Hasmonean Levite descendant of Patriarch Jacob.
- It reveals that if Yeshua was a grandson of Herod the Great, Rome's puppet king of Judea, he could claim the Herodian throne.
- It provides an explanation of Roman resolve to execute Yeshua.
- It avoids the incredulity of resurrection from the dead.
- It describes a means by which Maria bat Syrus and Sarah may have traveled to Marcella in Gaul.
- It explains how a Jewish population arose in Septimania on the south coast of Gaul.
- It explains the presence of "desposyni" in Septamania and Bretagne that spawned a "holy bloodline" descended from Yeshua.
What cannot be documented with historical or physical evidence is the existence of Maria bat Syrus, that she married a tradesman named Yeshua ben Yossef, or that they had children that they named Sarah bat Yeshua, Joses Justus ben Yeshua, or Yeshua ben Yeshua whose names appear in ancestry traces. Nor can it be verified that Yeshua survived a crucifixion or that a contingent of persecuted Jews escaped Judea by sailing across Mare Nostrum (the Roman name of the Mediterranean Sea) to Marcella (modern Marseilles).
The alternate version of the life of Yeshua may avoid some of the suspect aspects of the generally received version, and some of its elements may exhibit ancestral support, but the inability to document several elements renders it also a myth complex.
There is another important distinction between the two depictions of the life of Yeshua. The conventional version of the life of Yeshua entails mystery with respect to the virgin birth, the resurrection, the trinity, atonement, and perhaps other aspects. These events and conditions constitute the foundations of the Christian religion. Because they cannot be documented with physical or historical evidence, they require faith to believe in mysterious concepts.
In contrast, by posing ancestral relationships and historical event sequence, the alternate depiction eliminates the element of mystery. This depiction requires intellectual acceptance of an historical depiction rather than faith to believe in mysterious happenings. It is essentially a secular depiction of the life of Yeshua that is devoid of mystery.
Which of the two depictions appears more credible?
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Ancestry records indicate Yeshua ben Yossef’s wife to be one Marie bat Syrus (born about 2 AD) whom we know as Mary Magdalene. As to whether the Stanfords might be descended from Yeshua and Marie bat Syrus, and begging the question of the divinity/humanity of Yeshua, there are at least four questions, none of which can be answered definitively.
1. Did Jesus marry Mary Magdalene and father a child with her? If Jesus was born around 4 BC, he was nearly 40 years old when he was crucified in 32 or 33 AD. Life expectancy in Palestine during the first century AD was probably less than 50 years, so Yeshua was past early manhood and heading toward old age. By that age, most Jewish men would have married and fathered most of their children. Assuming that Jesus was at least partially human and reasonably virile, it is not unreasonable to presume that he may have experienced normal human urges, engaged in typical male human activity, married his most devoted female follower, and fathered a child with her. Legends suggest the possibility, but there is no incontrovertible evidence that he did so. So, we just don't know.
2. Did Mary Magdalene and daughter make their way to the south of France to escape persecution in Jerusalem? There are two competing traditions about where Mary Magdalene went after the crucifixion of Jesus, but there is no documentary evidence that supports either tradition.
In what I shall refer to as the “Ephesus tradition,” while on the cross Jesus said to the disciple “whom he loved,” presumably John, “Here is your mother.” The passage continues, “From that time on, this disciple took her into his home” (John 19:27). Tradition has it that John took Mary with him to Ephesus and built a stone house for her on a hillside overlooking Ephesus. A house in that region was identified as Mary’s in 1881 by Abbé Gouyet, a French priest, following directions in a vision by Anne Catherine Emmerich, a bedridden Augustinian nun in Germany (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_the_Virgin_Mary). The tradition also maintains either that Mary Magdalene accompanied Mary to Ephesus (no mention of a daughter) or that Mary Magdalene retired to Ephesus to live in Mary’s house after Mary died. In either case, according to tradition, Mary Magdalene lived out her years and died there (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Magdalene#Speculations). Locals in Ephesus have venerated the site through the ages.
In the “Marsella tradition,” Jesus' followers were persecuted for several years following the crucifixion. After the execution of James (the son of Zebedee) in Jerusalem, Mary Magdalene (conflated by some with Mary of Bethany), Mary of Bethany, her sister Martha, her brother Lazarus, Maximin (one of the 72 disciples appointed by Jesus in Luke 10:1), and others escaped persecution in a boat on Mare Nostrum (the Roman name for the Mediterranean Sea). A version of this story is that Pagans towed them out to sea in a rudderless boat without sail, oars, or supplies to die at sea (http://www.magdalenepublishing.org/about/). By some means the boat made its way westward across the Mediterranean and eventually landed on the south coast of France near Marsella, the Roman name of the modern city of Marseille. According to French tradition, Mary Magdalene preached the gospel and lived an ascetic lifestyle in a limestone cave in the Languedoc region of the south of France until she died. Maximin began the evangelization of Aix-en-Provence together with Mary Magdalene and became the first bishop of Aix-en-Provence (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximinus_of_Aix). Locals have venerated various sites associated with Mary Magdalene, and today there are numerous religious sites in the south of France dedicated to Mary Magdalene.
Tradition has it that Mary Magdalene was accompanied by her daughter who was named Sarah Damaris. “Sarah,” a Hebrew name, means "Princess" in English. In Latin, “maris,” the genitive case of “mare,” translates into English as "belonging to the sea." In French, “de Marie” translates into English as “of Mary.” Either might fit the name “Damaris.”
Biblical scholars generally favor the Ephesus tradition, probably because it meshes with the John 19:27 passage. They reject the Marsella tradition for lack of any scriptural or early church history references to it. While locals in the south of France may have venerated purported Magdalene sites for centuries, the tradition came to prominence only around the middle of the eleventh century when two monks at Vézelay in Burgundy claimed to have discovered Mary’s skeleton (https:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Magdalene). How the boat got from Palestine to Marsella is unknown, and the story about the group being towed out to sea in a rudderless boat without sail or oars, and somehow making it to the south coast of France is suspect. The “St. Mary Magdalene” entry in the on-line edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica says that “French tradition spuriously claims that she evangelized Provence (now southeastern France) and spent her last 30 years in an Alpine cavern.” (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Mary-Magdalene).
Today, Magdalene veneration and religious sites dedicated to her in the south of France are extensive. And ancestry records indicating that a “Sarah Damaris” married a member of the Frank nobility would seem to support the Marsella tradition. An old adage may apply: “where there’s smoke there must be fire,” or a variation, “there are too many cinders for there to have been no fire.” Did Mary Magdalene die at Ephesus (in modern Turkey) or bring a daughter with her to France? Again, we just don't know on either count.
3. If a daughter accompanied Mary Magdalene to the south of France, did she marry into a Frankish dynasty? Several ancestry records indicate that Antenor IV, King of the Franks in the Sicambri region of western Germany, married a Sarah Damaris of Nazareth. How Antenor IV, king of a tribe on the east bank of the Rhine River, might have encountered Sarah Damaris whose mother evangelized a region in the south of France is unknown. (https://www.myheritage.com/names/antenor_france). “Sarah” is a Hebrew name; “Damaris” may be either Latin or French. "Marsella" is the Roman name of today's French port Marseille. Jugeals-Nazareth today is a commune in the Corrèze department in central France (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jugeals-Nazareth), but we don't know if it existed prior to Sarah Damaris' birth, or if it came into existence in response to Mary Magdalene's presence and activities. We simply can't know for certain where Sarah Damaris was born or whether she was the daughter of Mary Magdalene.
4. If Sarah Damaris indeed was the daughter of Mary Magdalene and Yeshua (Jesus), and if she indeed married Antenor IV, does Antenor IV's ancestry line stretch to us? When I have mentioned to other people that I have traced my ancestry to Mary Magdaline, and through her possibly to Jesus, I usually get a “Yeah, right!” or “So you think you are related to Jesus?” Some roll their eyes, laugh, and think that I am either delusional or suffering visions of grandeur (or maybe divinity). The most skeptical, of course, are my minister friends and theology colleagues because the idea of an ancestry connection to a human Yeshua lies outside the orthodox perception of a divine Jesus.
Edgar McKnight, in his book Jesus Christ Today, asserts that the reader of scripture can be an active participant in the interpretation of the meaning of scriptural texts. McKnight concludes that Jesus can mean whatever the reader of scripture needs for him to mean (within limits of course). The skeptics seem to prefer the perception of a detached, mystical Christ Jesus who is remote in time, space, and divinity rather than a Yeshua Jesus with whom humans today may have actual ancestry connection.
It cannot be ruled out that the Stanfords may be related to Mary Magdalene and Yeshua ben Yossef, but there is no way to confirm this with confidence. But even if we are confident that we are so related, does that mean that the bloodline from Yeshua to us is sacred as implied in Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln's book Holy Blood, Holy Grail? This turns entirely on one's belief in the divinity of Yeshua ben Yossef.
Return to Lineage Tracing the Bible
Return to Back in Time Ancestry Tracing
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3. Historical Fiction
Often it is the intent of writers of historical fiction to pose alternate facts in the stories that they write. Writers of biblical fiction may describe alternate facts that may seem to be credible. Bible passages represent certain events as historical facts that to some people seem incredible, most notably the virgin birth and resurrection narratives.
Both Krishna Rose and Sue Monk Kidd recently have published novels that portray Jesus as having been married. Rose, in her novel The Woman in Red: Magdalene Speaks*, introduces alternate facts with respect to Mary Magdalene, one of the principal characters in the biblical Jesus story. The Rose novel loosely follows the Antipiter ancestry sequence. In contrast, Sue Monk Kidd, in her novel The Book of Longings**, centers her story on an entirely fictitious character named Ana. The Kidd novel follows more closely the Joseph ben Jacob ancestry sequence.
Most of the events in the Ana story are shoehorned into the information void between two major events in the Jesus story, his 12-year-old visit to the Jerusalem Temple around 8 or 9 A.D. and his baptism by John around 30 A.D. This is the period in Jesus' life for which there is no recorded information. Using this literary device, Kidd portrays Ana's life events without contradicting or intruding upon the essential biblical narration of Jesus' life and ministry period up to his execution.
Rose offers alternate scenarios with respect to the biblical virgin birth and resurrection narratives, but Kidd does not disabuse readers of these narratives. Kidd does introduce alternate facts in Ana's engagement with two biblical characters in the Jesus story: Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Judas who betrays Jesus. Both Kidd and Rose introduce Salome as a fictional sister of Jesus.
Kidd tells an excellent story which, although fictional, seems all too believable. There is no writer better than Kidd for conveying setting, dialog, and presence. The opportunity foregone in this novel was to have centered it on a real person rather than a fictional creation, as for example how Krishna Rose's novel was centered on Mary Magdalene. There is no tradition that Jesus married an Ana, but there is a non-biblical tradition that he may have married Mary Magdalene and fathered children with her. As I read Kidd's novel I thought how an excellent story was wasted on a fictional character when it might have been based on a biblical character such as Mary Magdalene. Perhaps this is because I first read Rose's novel, The Woman in Red: Magdalene Speaks. Even so, Kidd is the superior writer and story teller.
*https://www.amazon.com/Woman-Red-Magdalene-Krishna-Rose-ebook/dp/B08281FB8Z/ref=sr_1_1?crid=B3QUJUY7RB8M&dchild=1&keywords=woman+in+red+magdalene+speaks&qid=1590868337&sprefix=Magdalene+speaks%2Caps%2C179&sr=8-1
**https://www.amazon.com/Book-Longings-Sue-Monk-Kidd/dp/052542976X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=GCJ7CXQ47MRS&dchild=1&keywords=kidd+longings&qid=1592500081&sprefix=Kidd+Longings%2Caps%2C188&sr=8-1
MyHeritage ancestry records identify two Robert Stanfords who may have died in 1765 in West Caln Township, Chester, Pennsylvania. One is Robert S Stanford (1675-1765) whose father was Robert Stanford Jr (1654-1694); the other is Robert Stanford (1699-1765) whose father was Robert Stanford (1644-1709). It is unclear which Robert (if either) is buried in the Upper Octorara Presbyterian Church at Parkersburg, Pennsylvania.
On the basis of documentary evidence that he has compiled, my third cousin Bob Epperson believes that the father of Samuel C Stanford (1740-1922) is not the Robert S Stanford who is reputed in MyHeritage ancestry records to have been born on Barbados in 1694 and died in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1765. Rather, the documentary evidence indicates that the father of Samuel C Stanford is a Robert Stanford (call him Robert III) who immigrated to Pennsylvania from Ireland. Here is a statement abstracted from an email message from Bob to me:
My current theory on that subject is that a Stanford family member came to Ireland from England as a soldier in Cromwell’s army in the later part of the 1640s and after Ireland was conquered received tenancy on land in payment for his services. At some point he or a descendant married into a Scots-Irish family and the family became Presbyterian. Our Robert Stanford [Robert III] is a descendant of that Presbyterian tenant farmer family. Robert [III] then immigrated from Ireland to western Chester Co, PA which was settled predominately by Scots-Irish. Robert [III] and his family, from their arrival in Pennsylvania about 1720 and well into the 1850s, were very staunchly Presbyterian in their cultural background. Robert Stanford of West Caln Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania (died 1765) was illiterate and unable to sign his name to his will. He chose not to patent his 162 acre-farm surveyed in 1734, preferring the squatter approach common to Scots-Irish settlers in Pennsylvania of the time in lieu of paying quit rent to the Penn family. His main crop was grass and hay for livestock. While his 162-acre farm remained in the family long after his death, it was his daughter who patented the farm in 1783. These characteristics are not those of the well-educated, wealthy sugar planters and merchants that made up the Stanford family of Barbados. (private email message from Robert Epperson to Richard Stanford, February 11, 2020)
In Chart 1, My Heritage data enable the Robert S Stanford ancestry line to be traced back as far as Charles Stanford, born about 1600. Charles would be my 8th-great grandfather. The line cannot be extended farther back than 1600 because ancestry records for Charles Stanford do not include the name of either parent.
"Record matches" are found in authentic ancestry data bases. Others, called "smart matches," are found in ancestry trees and thus may be undocumented. This is especially true of ancestry records for parties who lived ever farther back in time. This means that pedigrees of parties in smart match records cannot be authenticated. In Chart 1, all names are marked with an asterisk (*) except those of Robert S Stanford and Charles Stanford which are smart matches.
Following the Robert S ancestry sequence derived from MyHeritage sources, his great grandfather Charles Stanford was born circa 1600 in London. Charles’ parents are unknown, so the Stanford ancestry prior to Charles cannot be traced. Smart match ancestry records indicate that Charles married Sarah Dale, born 1604 in London, and that by 1628 they had moved to Barbados, a small island in the Lesser Antilles of the British West Indies, where son Robert was born. Sarah moved back to London where she died in 1648. Charles returned to London where he died in 1661.
Robert Stanford Jr remained on Barbados where he married Mary Clancey, born in 1662 in St. Michael Parish, Barbados. Son Robert S Stanford was born in 1694, the same year that Robert Jr died on Barbados. Mary subsequently married Nicholas Handmerry, birth and death dates and places unknown, and Abel Tudor, born 1674 in Wales, died 1725 in St. Michael Parish, Barbados. At some date thereafter, Mary left Barbados for British Clarendon Jamaica where she died in 1730.
Robert S (possibly Samuel) Stanford left Barbados at some time after the turn of the 18th century to go to the American colonies where he settled in West Caln Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
We know from Barbadian records that Stanfords were present on Barbados during the Colonial era, but we do not know why the Stanford family may have resided on Barbados for three generations. What were they doing on Barbados? Why did Charles Stanford go there? Why did Robert S Stanford leave Barbados? We don't know, but a review of the history of Barbados may suggest some possible answers.
On 14 May 1625, Captain John Powell landed on Barbados and claimed the island for King James I. On 17 February 1627, Henry Powell, John Powell's brother, along with 80 English settlers and 10 African slaves acquired from a Spanish ship mid-journey, founded a colony on Barbados at Jamestown (modern Holetown).
The early English settlement was established as a proprietary colony and funded by Sir William Courten, a City of London merchant who acquired the title to Barbados and several other islands. Since the first colonists were tenants and indentured servants, much of the profits of their labor returned to Courten and his company. Between 1640 and 1660, more than two-thirds of the English who emigrated to the Americas went to Barbados. The vast majority of English settlers who came to Barbados were indentured servants who exchanged five years of labor for their ship’s transport fees and were given a few acres of land and ten pounds upon being granted their freedom. The indentured labor initially experimented with cultivation of tobacco, cotton, ginger, and indigo, but none proved profitable. (https://ancestralfindings.com/english-settlers-barbados)
The introduction of African slaves and sugar cane cultivation by Jewish Dutch investors from Brazil in 1640 completely transformed Barbados culture and its economy. A sugar plantation required a large investment and a great deal of heavy labor. Indentured servants from northern Europe proved unable to survive the tropical climate and diseases and to do all the work necessary to cultivate sugar cane, so the Dutch Jews began importing slaves from east Africa. Barbados became an English center of the African slave trade until that trade was outlawed in 1807, with final emancipation of slaves on Barbados occurring over several years after 1833. Dutch traders supplied the equipment, financing, and enslaved Africans, in addition to transporting most of the sugar to Europe. English smallholders eventually were bought out and the island filled with large sugar plantations worked by enslaved Africans.
By the mid-1650s, most of the cultivable land on Barbados had been cleared for sugar plantations and Barbados had become so densely populated that Barbados agriculture could not grow enough food to support the population of whites and Africans. By 1660 there was near parity with 27,000 blacks and 26,000 whites. By 1666 at least 12,000 white smallholders had been bought out, died, or left the island. Many of the remaining whites were increasingly poor. By 1680 there were 17 slaves for every indentured servant. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbados) Due to the implementation of slave codes which aggravated differential treatment between the ruling planter class and the Africans and white workers, the island became increasingly unattractive to poor whites. In response to these codes, several slave insurrections were attempted during this time, but none succeeded. Poor whites who had the means to emigrate often did so.
So why did Charles and Sarah Stanford go to Barbados? The logical explanation is that they went in pursuit of economic opportunity. We don't know details of Charles' and wife Sarah's lives prior to 1628, but they became acquainted with John and Henry Powell who offered them the opportunity to become settlers of new land recently claimed for the English crown. They may have been among those first 80 indentured servants arriving on Barbados in 1627. They must have "gotten busy" right away since son Robert was born on Barbados in 1628.
Robert married Susannah (surname unknown) who was born on Barbados in 1632. (Susannah's surname may have been Spencer; her granddaughter, Susanna Spencer Stanford, was born 1676 on Barbados; it is not an unreasonable assumption that she may have been named for her grandmother.) The Stanfords probably were tobacco/cotton/ginger/indigo tenant planters who may have shifted to planting sugar cane after its introduction to Barbados in the 1640s.
MyHeritage ancestry records indicate that Robert and Susannah's son, Robert Jr, was born on Barbados in 1654. Robert Jr married Mary Clancey (born 1662 on Barbados) in St. Michaels parish. Baptism records indicate that Robert Jr and Mary had four daughters, Susanna Spencer in 1676, Mary Hackett in 1677, Susanna in 1687, and Elizabeth in 1692. Son Robert S [Spencer?] was born on September 8, 1694. His father, Robert Jr, died only two months later on November 12, 1694, circumstance unknown, and is buried on Barbados. As a widow with young children, Mary married twice more on Barbados and outlived both husbands. Robert S remained on Barbados, but Mary eventually immigrated to Jamaica where she died in 1730.
In 1671 a group of Quakers visited Barbados and appeared to have come into conflict with the Barbadian planter class for suggesting that slave-owners should treat their slaves with humanity and attempt to convert them to Christianity. In 1676 the Quaker Alice Curwen visited Barbados and, in a letter to a slave-holding friend, unambiguously denounced slavery.
Robert Jr's household is listed on the Christ Church parish register for 1680 with "27 acres of land, 0 white servants and 9 negros." This suggests that Robert Jr may have been a tenant working 27 acres, or he may have been a "smallholder" somewhere between the tenant class and the planter class. By 1680 the fortunes of tenant planters had diminished due to the newly implemented slave codes that precipitated slave unrest. Many of the white smallholders were bought out by the ruling planter class, and some decided to emigrate. By the turn of the 18th century, most of the tenants on Barbados had descended into the ranks of "poor whites." In search of better economic opportunity, any who had the means emigrated to more promising shores.
Robert S Stanford immigrated to Pennsylvania around 1721 to West Caln Township, Chester County, only a few miles to the west of the port of Philadelphia. When profitability declined on Barbados, many of the wealthy planter class immigrated to Charles Towne (later Charleston), South Carolina, in search of more profitable opportunities (https://video.scetv.org/video/beyond-barbados-the-carolina-connection-qftqnv/). The fact that Robert S immigrated to Philadelphia rather than Charles Towne suggests that he was a smallholder down on his luck. He may have been able to sell his smallholding to sugar industry planters and use the proceeds to immigrate deliberately to Pennsylvania. Or, he may have lost his land on Barbados to indebtedness foreclosure. In desperation to leave Barbados, he may have taken any passage to the American colonies that he could afford, thus arriving in the port of Philadelphia quite by chance. We do not know if he took his slaves with him.
Bob Epperson believes that the father of Robert Stanford Sr of Barbados was a John Stanford who was married to an Elizabeth (possibly born Kingsland). A letter written in 1661 to Robert Sr’s uncle Nathaniel Kingsland, a large sugar planter on Barbados, indicates that Robert Sr’s mother may have been a Kingsland. Bob believes that the Robert S Stanford family of Barbados more likely descended from John Stanford of St Joseph’s parish as opposed to Charles and Sarah (Dale) Stanford. Although there were other Stanford/Sandiford/Standford/Sanford families on Barbados, none of them used Robert as a first name in their family records found on Barbados. Bob cites evidence describing the John-Robert S ancestry sequence, including the facts that Robert S was christened in the St Michaels parish of the Church of England (Episcopalian Church in the US today, called the Anglican Church outside the US) on Barbados on 8 Sep 1694, and John’s son Robert was born in England and arrived as a child on Barbados about 1642. John’s grandson, Robert was born 18 Oct 1654 and died some time after 1666. Bob also cites evidence that John’s great-grandson, Robert S Stanford, died 12 Nov 1695 in St Michaels Parish, Barbados, at the age of 14 months and could not have migrated to Pennsylvania.
The MyHeritage search engine in fact does turn up a record for a John Stanford, born between 1611 and 1620 in London, and who died in St. Joseph Parish, Barbados, at some time after May 12, 1662 (possibly the birth date of this last-born child). His wife was named Elizabeth Stanford, born Gladwell (not Kingsland). John and Elizabeth had five children, one of whom was named Robert, born circa 1645, place unspecified. In the MyHeritage records, Robert’s siblings correspond to John’s children. Robert’s children are not listed, so it has not been possible to connect him to Robert Stanford who died on Barbados, September 7, 1765, at the age of 90 years.
Today, an elite colonial-era holiday rental villa named "Stanford House" is located opposite the Barbados polo club in Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados (http://www.jalbarbados.com/stanford-house-polo-ridge-st-james). The name Stanford is not uncommon today on Barbados. The "9 negros" noted on the Christ Church parish register for 1680 probably were given their owner's surname, and it cannot be ruled out that Robert Jr or Robert S may have engaged intimately with other settlers or slaves on Barbados. [If Robert Jr and Robert S are our ancestors from a different Stanford ancestry line, we may have cousins on Barbados who can be verified only with DNA evidence.]
A Google search on "Stanfords on Barbados" turns up the following list of Barbados residents: Ronald Stanford is Assistant Superintendent of Police; Claire Stanford is human resources officer at a life insurance company; Pamela Stanford is a licensed private tour guide; Dwayne Stanford is a forward on the Barbados Caribbean football team; Maria Stanford is a landscape artist; Pedro Stanford is a civic interest blogger; and Archibald Stanford is a thief. A website reference for each of these can be found by Googling their names plus "Barbados." There probably are more Stanfords on Barbados who do not appear in web pages.
This excursion to Barbados may have been entertaining, but it long has been a red herring that has distracted Stanford family ancestry researchers who have attempted to identify the father of Samuel C Stanford (1740-1822). But it may not be pointless because some day we may discover that a branch of the Stanford family ancestry passed through Barbados after all.
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MyHeritage ancestry records identify two Robert Stanfords who may have died 1765 in West Caln Township, Chester, Pennsylvania. One is Robert S Stanford (1675-1765) whose father was Robert Stanford Jr (1654-1694); the other is Robert Stanford (1699-1765) whose father was Robert Stanford (1644-1709).
"Record matches" are found in authentic ancestry data bases. Others, called "smart matches," are found in ancestry trees and thus may be undocumented. This is especially true of ancestry records for parties who lived ever farther back in time. This means that pedigrees of parties in smart match records cannot be authenticated. In Chart 1, all names are marked with an asterisk (*) except those of Robert S Stanford and Charles Stanford which are smart matches.
There is no documentary evidence of the immediate ancestor of Robert Stanford who died in 1765. However, if the father of Robert was the other Robert Stanford whose father was born 1644 in Cumberland, Maine, the MyHeritage search engine can trace an ancestry sequence prior to this Robert as far back as 1390. The ancestry sequence dead-ends there because no parents are identified in the ancestry record for Thomas Stanford (1390-?). If this ancestry sequence could be documented, Thomas would be my 14th-great grandfather.
Chart 29 displays this tentative ancestry sequence. All of the places indicated in this sequence listing are birth places. Record matches, found in data bases that the MyHeritage search engine accesses, are likely to be documentable; smart matches, found in other ancestry trees, may not be documentable and thus may be less reliable. Names marked with an asterisk (*) are record matches.
David Stanford (1602-1680) immigrated from Horsham, Sussex, England, to Falmouth, Cumberland, Maine, in the American Colonies at some time before 1618 when his first child was born. His great grandson, Robert Stanford (1699-1765) moved to Chester, Pennsylvania, at an unknown date. We have no information about his birth circumstances or why he moved to Chester. In this ancestry sequence, Robert’s mother is identified as Mary Howland. The wife of Robert Stanford (1644-1709) also is identified as Mary Howland. Even without a record match, the Mary Howland ancestry records connect Robert (1699-1765) to Robert (1644-1709) as his father.
In this ancestry sequence, Robert Stanford (1644-1709) would be my 6th-great grandfather, and his brother, Thomas Stanford (1650-1695), would be my 6th-great uncle. Their father, Thomas Stanford (1618-1683) would be my 7th-great grandfather. His 4th-great grandson was Amasa Leland Stanford (1834-1893), the founder of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Thomas Stanford (1618-1683) would be our ancestor in common. Amasa Leland Stanford then would be my 8th-cousin, twice removed. I would be Amasa Leland Stanford’s 4th cousin, twice removed.
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in the Stanford-Polk Ancestry
Lineage "descends" from an earlier party to a current party. Ancestry tracing "ascends" from a current party back in time to earlier parties. It was not possible to start in the MyHeritage (or any) ancestry system with Yeshua Ben Yossef and work my way "down" the lineage (forward in time) to "find" the ancestry record for myself. I started with my own ancestry record and worked my way "back" in time and arrived, fortuitously, at the ancestry record of Antenor IV. I then shifted the trace to the maternal ancestry of Antenor IV's wife Sarah Damaris and to the ancestry records of her mother Mary Magdalene and her father Yeshua Ben Yossef.
The following listing is in order of lineage descending from Yeshua to Richard. This is a straight listing without divisions, labels, or commentary:
Yeshua Ben Yossef, (4BCE - 32CE)
Marie bat Syrus, "Magdalene" (2 - 63) (f) ---^
Sarah Damaris (27 - 65) (f)
Antenor Iv, Roy des Francs (24 - 67) ---^
Richemer, Roi des Francs (ca 65 - 114)
Odomar des Francs (ca 84 - 128)
Marcomir Iv des Francs (105 - 149)
Chlodomir Iv des Francs (104 - 162)
Farabert of the Sicambrian Francs (122 - 186)
Summo Manuel Hunno des Francs (182 - 213)
Childéric of the Saliens Franks (200 - 253)
Bartherus von Toxandrien (219 - 272)
Chlodius Iii von Toxandrien, King Of Sicambrian Franks (210 - 289)
Gauthier von Franken, King of Sicambrian Franks (306 - ?)
Dagobert I of the Sicambrian Franks (ca 230 - 317)
Genebaud I of the Sicambrian Franks (280 - 358)
Dagobert Ii, King of The East Franks (ca 300 - 379)
Clodius IV, King of The East Franks "Clodius the Merovingian" (324 - 389)
Marcomir V of East Franks, Duke of East Franks (347 - 404)
Pharamound De Esposyni of Franks, King of The East Franks (370 - 430)
Fredmundus De Esposyni of Septimania (ca 380 - ?)
Nascien I Desposyni of Septimania (ca 400 - ?)
Celedoin Desposyni of Septimania (ca 420 - ?)
Nascien Ii Desposyni of Septimania (434 - ?)
Galains Desposyni of Septimania (490 -560)
Johaans Desposyni de Bretagne (505 – 550)
Lancelot Desposyni de Bretagne (520 - ?)
Bors Desposyni De Bretagne (ca 600 - ?)
Lionel Desposyni de Bretagne (630 - ca 700)
Alain Desposyni de Bretagne (660-?)
Froamidus Desposyni de Bretagne (690 - 762)
Froamidus Desposyni de Bretagne (690 - 762)
Frodaldus Desposyni de Bretagne (710 - 762)
Frotmund Desposyni de Bretagne (735 - ?)
Frotharius Desposyni de Bretagne (780 - ?)
Adelrad Desposyni de Bretagne (810 - ?)
Frotbald Desposyni de Bretagne (840 - 923)
Aliard de Bretagne (870 - 950)
Frotmund Vetules, de Dol et Bretagne (910 - 985)
Fretaldus Vetules (930 - 1008)
Frotmundus Vetules, de Bretagne (955 - 1052)
Flaald Fratmaldus, of Dol (995 - 1064)
Alan Dapifer Fitzflaald (1020 - 1097)
Alan Fitzflaald, Senescal of Dol (1046 - 1084)
Sir Alan Fitzflaad, of Lochabar (1078 - 1144)
Walter FitzAlan, 1st High Steward of Scotland (1106 - 1177)
Alan FitzWalter, 2nd High Steward of Scotland (1150 - 1204)
Walter Stewart, of Dundonald, 3rd High Steward of Scotland (1170 - 1241)
Sir Alexander Thomas Stewart, 4th High Steward of Scotland (1214 - 1283)
James Stewart, 5th High Steward of Scotland (1243 - 1309)
Sir Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland (1292 - 1327)
Robert Ii Stewart, of Scotland (1316 - 1390)
John Robert Iii Stewart, Earl of Carrick (1320 - 1406)
Egidia Stewart (1338 - 1404) (f)
Bricius de Pollock (1337-1401) ---^
John de Pollock (1378-1445)
Charles de Pollock (1420-1490)
David de Pollock (1463-1543)
John Pollock of that Ilk (1494-1564)
Robert Bruce Pollock I (1559-1625)
Robert Bruce Pollock II (1595-1640)
Robert Bruce Pollock III (1625-1703)
Robert Bruce Polk (1672-1727)
Thomas Luke Polk (1703-1781)
Thomas Luke Polk, Jr (1737-1799)
Joseph Isaac Polk (1780-1859)
Joseph Travis Polk (1818-1898)
Wade Polk (1850-1925)
Etta Avarilla Polk (1884-1966) (f)
Irby Tapley (1879-1930) ---^
Ruth Lucille Tapley (1910-1997) (f)
Richard Alexander Stanford (1943- )
In the following, the lineage listing has been divided by geographical regions, and commentary has been imported from various sources as indicated:
Judea to Gaul
Yeshua Ben Yossef, (4BCE - 32CE)
Marie bat Syrus, "Magdalene" (2 - 63) (f) ---^
Sarah Damaris (27 - 65) (f)
A variation on this story is that Mary Magdalene’s uncle, Joseph of Arimathea, a tin merchant who sourced his ores as far to the west as Brittany, Cornwall, and Wales, may have been instrumental in arranging transport of the Magdalene party to Marsella enroute to Cornwall.
It should be noted that the Gini World Family Tree ancestry platform isolates this ancestry sequence and classifies it as “fictitious.”
The Franks
Sarah Damaris (27 - 65) (f)
Antenor Iv, Roy des Francs (24 - 67) ---^
Richemer, Roi des Francs (ca 65 - 114)
Odomar des Francs (ca 84 - 128)
Marcomir Iv des Francs (105 - 149)
Chlodomir Iv des Francs (104 - 162)
The Franks were Germanic-speaking peoples that were divided into three groups: the Salians, the Ripuarians, and the Chatti or Hessians. These branches were related to each other by language and custom, but politically they were independent tribes.
The Chatti were an ancient Germanic tribe who lived in central and northern Hesse and southern Lower Saxony along the upper reaches of the Chatti River. According to The Histories by Tacitus, an internal quarrel drove the Chatti to leave their homeland and take up new residence at the mouth of the Rhine River. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatti) Ripuarian, a variation of a Latin term meaning “of the river,” was the name applied to the tribes who settled in the Roman territory with its capital at Cologne on the right bank of the Rhine river. Their western neighbors were the Salii, or Salian Franks. The name may have derived from the name of the Ussel River, formerly called Hisloa or Hisla, and in ancient times, Sala, which may have been the Salians' original residence. The Salians settled with imperial permission within the Roman Empire on the left bank of the Rhine in what today is the southern part of the Netherlands and Belgium. Subsequently they expanded into the northern part of France above the Loire River. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripuarian_Franks)
According to old Germanic practice, the realm frequently was divided among the sons of a leader upon the leader's death, so multiple Frankish kings ruled different territories. As inheritance traditions changed over time, the divisions of Francia (the lands of the Franks) started to become kingdoms that were more permanent. West Francia formed the heart of what became the Kingdom of France; East Francia evolved into the Kingdom of Germany; and Middle Francia become the Kingdom of Lotharingia in the north, the Kingdom of Italy in the south, and the Kingdom of Provence in the west. Middle Francia eventually became divided between West and East Francia. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Frankish_kings)
In 481/482 Clovis I succeeded his father, Childeric of the House of Merovech, as the ruler of the Salian Franks. In the following years Clovis compelled the other Salian and Ripuarian tribes to submit to his authority. He then took advantage of the disintegration of the Western Roman Empire and led the united Franks in a series of campaigns that brought all of northern Gaul under his rule by 494.
In the late 6th century, Ripuarian Franks pushed from the Rhineland westward to the Schelde River in present-day Belgium. Their immigration strengthened the Germanic faction in that region, which had been almost completely evacuated following the disintegration of the Western Roman Empire.
Under Clovis’s successors, the Merovingians were able to extend Frankish power east of the Rhine. The Merovingian dynasty ruled the Frankish territories until they were displaced by the Carolingian family in the 8th century. The Kingdom of the West Franks refers to the western part of the Frankish Empire established by Charlemagne. It represents the earliest stage of the Kingdom of France, lasting from 840 until 987.
Sicambria
Farabert of the Sicambrian Francs (122 - 186)
Summo Manuel Hunno des Francs (182 - 213)
Childéric of the Saliens Franks (200 - 253)
Bartherus von Toxandrien (219 - 272)
Chlodius Iii von Toxandrien, King Of Sicambrian Franks (210 - 289)
Gauthier von Franken, King of Sicambrian Franks (306 - ?)
Dagobert I of the Sicambrian Franks (ca 230 - 317)
Genebaud I of the Sicambrian Franks (280 - 358)358)
MyHeritage smart-match ancestry records indicate that Antenor Iv, King of the Sicacmbrian Francs, married a young Hebrew girl named Sarah Damaris (possibly meaning “of the sea”), reputed to be the daughter of Marie bat Syrus, a.k.a. "Mary Magdalene." How Sarah Damaris arrived in the south of Gaul (modern France) and then made her way north to the Frankish tribal regions along the Rhine River is unknown. Also unknown is how king Antenor Iv, King of the Sicambrian Franks, encountered and acquired a Hebrew wife who may have been a novelty at that time in the Rhine River region.
The Texandri (later Toxandri) were a Germanic people living between the Scheldt and Rhine rivers in the 1st century CE. They are associated with a region mentioned in the late 4th century as Texandria (also Toxiandria), a name which survived into the 8th–12th centuries. In the 380s, the Salian Franks, after being defeated by Julian ca. 358, were given permission by Rome to settle in Toxiandria. In the middle of the 4th century, the area of Texandri was exposed to constant raiding from tribes across the Rhine, among the worst of whom were the Salian Franks. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texandri)
East Franks
Dagobert Ii, King of The East Franks (ca 300 - 379)
Clodius IV, King of The East Franks "Clodius the Merovingian" (324 - 389)
Marcomir V of East Franks, Duke of East Franks (347 - 404)
Pharamound De Esposyni of Franks, King of The East Franks (370 - 430)
Septimania
Fredmundus De Esposyni of Septimania (ca 380 - ?)
Nascien I Desposyni of Septimania (ca 400 - ?)
Celedoin Desposyni of Septimania (ca 420 - ?)
Nascien Ii Desposyni of Septimania (434 - ?)
Galains Desposyni of Septimania (490 -560)
Historian Lee Levin notes that for reasons lost to history the western Mediterranean coast of France had a large Jewish population, particularly in the seaport city of Narbonne. Levin recounts the eighth century negotiation by Franken King Pepin III (House of Vermandois) with the Jewish population of Narbonne to open the city gates so that Pepin's troops could enter and drive the Moors out of southern France and Spain. The reward to the citizens of Narbonne for opening their city gates was the creation of the Jewish Kingdom of Septimania, with stipulation that its king must be of royal blood descended from King David. Natronai ben Zabinai, a direct descendant of David, was brought from Babylonia to become the Jewish king of Septimania. Natronai took the Hebrew name of Machir. Upon Pepin's death in 768, his son Charlemagne demanded that the Jewish Machir marry his Catholic aunt Alda. Somehow overcoming the prohibition of marriage between Jewish and Catholic parties, the marriage produced a legitimate son through whom royal Jewish blood intermingled with that of the Carolingian kings of France. After 140 years, the Jewish Kingdom of Septimania disappeared when the last king of the Machiri dynasty died without a male heir. (http://jewishmag.com/175mag/septimania_jewish_kingdom/septimania_jewish_kingdom.htm) Why there was a large Jewish population along the western Mediterranean cost of Gaul may not have been “lost to history” as asserted by Levin. If the Magdalene legend is true, the descendants of Maria bat Syrus, Sarah Damaris, and others accompanying them may have populated that region.
Bretagne
Johaans Desposyni de Bretagne (505 – 550)
Lancelot Desposyni de Bretagne (520 - ?)
Bors Desposyni De Bretagne (ca 600 - ?)
Lionel Desposyni de Bretagne (630 - ca 700)
Alain Desposyni de Bretagne (660-?)
Froamidus Desposyni de Bretagne (690 - 762)
Froamidus Desposyni de Bretagne (690 - 762)
Frodaldus Desposyni de Bretagne (710 - 762)
Frotmund Desposyni de Bretagne (735 - ?)
Frotharius Desposyni de Bretagne (780 - ?)
Adelrad Desposyni de Bretagne (810 - ?)
Frotbald Desposyni de Bretagne (840 - 923)
Aliard de Bretagne (870 - 950)
Frotmund Vetules, de Dol et Bretagne (910 - 985)
Fretaldus Vetules (930 - 1008)
Frotmundus Vetules, de Bretagne (955 - 1052)
Flaald Fratmaldus, of Dol (995 - 1064)
Alan Dapifer Fitzflaald (1020 - 1097)
Alan Fitzflaald, Senescal of Dol (1046 - 1084)
The early history of the Breton peninsula includes Celtic tribal territories that existed before Roman rule. After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, large scale migration from the British Isles led to the foundation of British colonies linked initially to homelands in tin-mining areas of Cornwall, Devon, and Wales. In the course of its protohistory which began around the middle of the third century BCE, a subsoil rich in tin allowed the development of an industry in bronze objects, which led to commercial routes for export to other regions of Europe. It was inhabited by Gallic peoples in the first centuries BCE before these territories were conquered by Julius Caesar in 57 BCE, and progressively Romanized. Following the Gallo-Roman period, Brittany developed an important maritime trade network near the ports of Nantes, Vannes, and Alet, as well as salting factories along its coasts. Various independent petty Breton states later developed into a Kingdom and then a Duchy of Brittany, before it was unified with France to become a province. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Brittany)
In late medieval and early modern France, the seneschal originally was a royal steward overseeing the entire country but developed into an agent of the crown charged with administration of a seneschalty, one of the districts of the crown lands in Languedoc and Normandy. The seneschals also served as the chief justice of the royal courts in their areas. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneschal)
During the 9th to 11th centuries, Danish Vikings began to exert themselves in Bretagne, Normandy, and England. In addition to raiding and trading, Danish Vikings established settlements, which at first may have served mainly as winter quarters while abroad. The Danes moved primarily to the eastern part of England that came to be called the Danelaw; this region stretched from the River Thames north through what became known as Yorkshire. The other major areas of Danish Viking settlement were in Bretagne and Normandy. In 911 the Viking leader Rollo became the first duke of Normandy as a vassal of Charles III of France. Most of his followers were Danes, many from the Danelaw area. Various contenders fought for the throne of England until the question of the succession was settled in 1066 by one of Rollo’s descendants, William I (the Conqueror), who led the Norman forces to victory over the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, Harold II, at the Battle of Hastings. (https://www.britannica.com/place/Denmark/The-Viking-era)
Desposyni
Scotland
Sir Alan Fitzflaad, of Lochabar (1078 - 1144)
Walter FitzAlan, 1st High Steward of Scotland (1106 - 1177)
Alan FitzWalter, 2nd High Steward of Scotland (1150 - 1204)
Walter Stewart, of Dundonald, 3rd High Steward of Scotland (1170 - 1241)
Sir Alexander Thomas Stewart, 4th High Steward of Scotland (1214 - 1283)
James Stewart, 5th High Steward of Scotland (1243 - 1309)
Sir Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland (1292 - 1327)
Robert Ii Stewart, of Scotland (1316 - 1390)
John Robert Iii Stewart, Earl of Carrick (1320 - 1406)
Egidia Stewart (1338 - 1404) (f)
The following passage is from the Wikipedia entry on Dol de Bretagne:
As the office of High Steward of Scotland became hereditary to Walter FitzAlan's family, the title "Steward" transliterated into the surname "Stewart, " which in speech sounds very much like "Steward." Mary (1542-1587, 17-F), daughter of Scottish King James V Stewart (1512-1542, 16-F), revised the spelling of the family name to "Stuart."
The Pollocks of Scotland
Egidia Stewart, daughter of John Robert Iii Stewart, married Bricius de Pollock.
Bricius de Pollock (1337-1401) ---^
John de Pollock (1378-1445)
Charles de Pollock (1420-1490)
David de Pollock (1463-1543)
John Pollock of that Ilk (1494-1564)
Robert Bruce Pollock I (1559-1625)
Robert Bruce Pollock II (1595-1640)
Immigration to the American Colonies
Robert Bruce Pollock III (1625-1703)
Robert Bruce Polk (1672-1727)
Thomas Luke Polk (1703-1781)
Thomas Luke Polk, Jr (1737-1799)
Joseph Isaac Polk (1780-1859)
Joseph Travis Polk (1818-1898)
Wade Polk (1850-1925)
Etta Avarilla Polk (1884-1966) (f)
Irby Tapley (1879-1930) ---^
Ruth Lucille Tapley (1910-1997) (f)
Richard Alexander Stanford (1943- )
The Scottish Pollocks become American Polks when Robert Bruce Pollock III immigrated from Donegal to the Maryland shore. When a Scotsman says the name "Pollock," he emphasizes the first syllable with a long "o" and swallows the second syllable. The story is told, whether true or not, that when the Pollock immigrants arrived in Maryland, a Colonial official prompted for the name and heard "Polk," which he wrote on an immigration document. The Scottish Pollocks were American Polks from that time onward. The Pollock/Polk descendants can be traced from Renfrewshire, Scotland, to Donegal, Ireland; then to Somerset, Maryland, in the American Colonies; then to Chester, Pennsylvania; then to Darlington, South Carolina; then to Lawrence County, Mississippi; then to McRae, Georgia; and finally to Jacksonville, Florida, and Greenville, South Carolina.
Inferences:
Beyond the Bretons in the ancestry listing are members of various Franco-Germanic tribes. It is apparent from the lineage listing that there was a great deal of contact between and engagement among the various Frankish tribes in the vicinity of the Rhine River. The tribes may not have been as separate or isolated as implied in titles of the ancestors and tribal descriptive matter, and they may have been able to coexist with one another without much overt hostility.
The so-called "tribes" may have been more like "houses of families" (in the sense of later Scottish and English history, e.g., the House of York) within the larger specification of Salien Francs (to distinguish them from Ripuarian Francs). The heads of houses served as de facto chiefs of their tribes or households. They may have been regarded as "kings" in a modern sense, but this is a term that may have been transliterated from later English and Scottish history.
For example, the Salien Francs occupied the upper Rhine delta that today comprises Belgium and the Netherlands. Antenor Iv is described as "king of the Sicambrian Franks." Other Frankish tribes or houses may have resided in various regions (or "neighborhoods") known as Sicambria, Toxandria, etc., on one side or the other of the Rhine River, some toward the coastal northwest (the "lower Rhine"), others inland to the southeast (the "upper Rhine"). Dagobert Ii is identified as "King of The East Franks."
Others in the descent listing are described with the prepositions "of" (English), "des" (French), or "von" (German) a particular tribe (or household) rather than as "king" of the tribe. In any case, it appears that the descendants of Antenor Iv were members of various tribal neighborhoods or houses rather than a single tribe. This suggests that the term "Franks" may have applied to all of the Franco-Germanic tribes collectively.
Assuming that the names listed in the lineage are biological descendants, mobility must have been possible from one tribal region (neighborhood) to another, whether peacefully or by invasion. For example, in order for Dagobert Ii, King of The East Franks (ca 300 - 379), to be the biological son of Genebaud I of the Sicambrian Franks (280 - 358), one or both of them must have migrated from Sicambria to East Francia.
In another example, for Fredmundus of Septimania (ca 380 - ?) to be the biological grandson of Marcomir V, Duke of East Franks (347 - 404), either Marcomir V or his son Pharamound (370 - 430) must have moved from the East Francia to Septimania in the coastal region of Gaul where Mary Magdalene had evangelized a couple of centuries earlier. Their descendants then may have relocated to Aquitania in the southeastern region of Gaul.
Little can be gleaned from available sources about specific Bretons other than that some functioned in civil administrative capacities in towns of Bretagne. We may surmise that others were engaged in trade or activities associated with tin mining and bronze working. It should be noted that Mary’s uncle, Joseph of Arimathea, was a tin merchant who may have sourced ore from mines in Bretagne and as far west in England as Cornwall and Wales. It has been speculated that Joseph may have arranged ship transport of Mary Magdalene, Sarah Damaris, and others in their party from Palestine or Alexandria to the south coast of Gaul (France).
Conclusion
The inclusion of Arthurian legendary characters in the lineage sequence does not inspire confidence in the lineage from Antenor Iv to the High Stewards of Scotland. And questions persist about the validity of Mary Magdalene's voyage across the Mediterranean and arrival in Marsella, Sarah Damaris' transit northward to the region of the Sicambrian Franks on the east bank of the Rhine River, and the first and second century lineage descent from Sarah and Antenor Iv that the Gini World Family Tree ancestry system has labeled fictitious. These questions render less than certain the likelihood that I am in fact descended from Yeshua ben Yossef.
In order for me to be judged a true descendant of Yeshua ben Yossef, a number of conditions must be met:
- Mary Magdalene must have had a daughter with Yeshua that they named Sarah.
- Mary Magdalene and daughter Sarah must have escaped Palestine and traveled across the Mediterranean Sea to Marsella in the Roman province of Gaul; Sarah became known as “Damaris” meaning “of the sea.”
- Sarah Damaris must have traveled northward to the region of the Salien Franks on the west bank of the Rhine River to encounter King Antenor Iv of the Salien Franks who married her (or Antenor traveled south to encounter Sarah).
- Sarah and Antenor must have produced offspring that initiated the lineage of descent to Richard A. Stanford.
- The descendants of Sarah and Antenor must have migrated along the tortuous path illustrated in the map above.
- King David I of Scotland must have appointed Breton Walter FitzAlan to serve as 1st High Steward of Scotland.
- Egidia Stewart must have been the 5th great granddaughter of Walter FitzAlan, and she must have married Bricius de Pollock.
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7. A Levite
Joseph Raymond, in his 2010 book, Herodian Messiah: Case for Jesus as Grandson of Herod (https://www.amazon.com/Herodian-Messiah-Jesus-Grandson-Herod/dp/0615355080), makes a case that Jesus may have been descended from the priestly tribe of Levi rather than the House of David in the tribe of Judah.
Raymond argues that the biological father of Jesus was King Herod's son Antipater, and that his biological mother was a Hasmonean princess, Myriam bat Antigonus. Raymond refers to Jesus by his Hebrew name, Yeshua. Raymond takes up the story in the 4th century BCE.
By the middle of the fourth century BCE, the Macedonian Philip II and his son Alexander had conquered Greece, Egypt, and territories to the east as far as the Indus River. After Alexander ("the Great") died in 323 BCE, the ensuing war between his generals divided the Macedonian Empire. General Ptolemy took Egypt and north Africa, and General Seleucus Nicator established the Seleucid Empire spanning Alexander's eastern territories, including Palestine. The Selucid overlords imposed Hellenistic culture and religious practices in Palestine. But by the second century BCE the Seleucid Empire was experiencing pressures from the Romans to the west and the Parthians to the East. After Hasmonean brothers Judas and Simon Maccabeus led a Jewish revolt against the Seleucids in 142 BCE, Simon ruled as high priest and ethnarch of Judea and was succeeded by Hasmonean priest-kings over the course of a century.
In 63 BCE Judea was conquered by Roman forces under General Gnaeus Pompey "the Great." But by 39 BCE the Parthians had pushed the Romans out of Judea and appointed a Hasmonean, Antigonus Mattathias, as puppet king of Judea. Antigonus ruled for three years during which he led the Jewish struggle for independence against the Romans.
Antipater the Idumean was an Edomite who had converted to Judaism. In 38 BCE, his son Herod recaptured Jerusalem and was appointed Roman client king of Judea. Herod bribed Roman general Marc Antony to end a hundred years of Hasmonean rule of Judea by executing all known high royals of the Hasmonean dynasty who posed threats to what would become the Herodian dynasty.
Raymond notes that in Antiquities, Jewish historian Josephus referred to an unnamed daughter of Antigonus who survived the massacre. Raymond speculates that this daughter was rescued from Herod's palace by a Temple priest named Joachim Heli ben Matthat, and that Joachim and his wife Anna raised her in the Temple precincts. Her birth name was Myriam bat Antigonus. Her adoptive name became Myriam bat Heli.
Around 4 BC, Herod's eldest surviving son Antipater married Myriam bat Heli, known to be the Hasmonean princess Myriam bat Antigonus, and she soon became pregnant. But Herod suspected Antipater and his mother Doris of plotting to kill him and so had Antipater and Doris executed just five days before the very ill Herod himself died. Raymond speculates that Jaochim Heli ben Matthat again rescued his adopted daughter Myriam from Herod's palace, this time to avert her assassination. He then negotiated the betrothal of Myriam to an unmarried Temple priest named Yossef ben Jacob of the House of David.
Betrothal contracts often were negotiated without the parties ever having met or even seen each other. Yossef may have been unaware of Myriam's condition, and with some reluctance he accepted the betrothal contract. After their marriage and on a trip to Bethlehem to register for taxation, Myriam delivered a male child whom they named Yeshua ben Yossef.
Upon the death of Herod, sons Archelaus and Antipas sailed for Rome to participate in the adjudication of Herod's will by Caesar Augustus, leaving the kingdom in charge of brother Philip. Suspecting that his father's Hasmonean daughter-in-law had escaped execution and may have birthed a child by his half-brother Antipater, Philip decreed that all male children recently born in Bethlehem should be killed. Raymond speculates that Yossef and Myriam fled with baby Yeshua to the Therapeudae commune near Alexandria in Egypt.
Raymond argues that Yeshua ben Yossef thus was the son of Antipater ben Herod and the grandson of two kings, Antigonus Mattathias, a Hasmonean of the Levi tribe, and Herod the Great whose father was an Edomite. Yeshua's Edomite-Herodian ancestry may have made him eligible to ascend the Herodian throne, but it would not qualify him by Jewish convention to become a King of Israel. However, his Levite ancestry would so qualify him. After Yeshua's cousin John ("the Baptist") was executed, Yeshua took up John's mission and began to preach John's message. The Romans became concerned about the rantings of this itinerant Jewish preacher because they had become aware of his Herodian and Hasmonean ancestry. This made him a threat both to the Herodians and to their Roman overlords.
8. The Stanford/Maxwell Ancestry
I have checked the ancestry traces of the spouses of the Stanford ancestors. Only one reaches farther back than 1600, as depicted in Chart 5R13.
The origin of the name Maxwell is that it comes from Maccus Well, a pool in the River Tweed near Kelso in the Scottish Borders. Maccus is believed to have been a Norse (or Danish) chief who lived during the reign of King David of Scotland.
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