An Apocryphal Chapter in our Family History

The only thing worse than no history is misleading history.

So it is with some trepidation that I present the history of the Anthony family of 16th and 17th century London.

My mother’s grandmother was Anna Anthony, who came from a family line that stretched back to an Englishman who settled in North America in 1634. That immigrant, John Anthony, was reported to be a descendant of a Dr. John Anthony from St. Bartholomew’s parish in London.

The trouble is that no definitive link exists between Dr. John and Immigrant John. Sure, an esteemed 19th century historian of the Anthony family believed they were related, though he couldn’t prove it. And yes, many on-line Anthony family trees show the connection, citing Genealogy of the Anthony Family from 1495 to 1904 by that family historian Charles L. Anthony.

But speculation isn’t fact, so the historically accurate story has to begin with immigrant John Anthony.

That’s a shame, because the Anthony’s of London were some pretty interesting characters, and they even seem to foreshadow one of the folks in our undisputed line of Anthony men in America.

So I’m going to include a chapter in our family history that I’ll call The Apocryphal Anthony Family of London. Take it for what it is … an interesting story, and one that may even be about our ancestors.

My sister and I are going to travel to London this summer and we’ll visit the sites haunted by the Anthony families of yore: the Tower of London and St. Bartholomew Church and Close. We’ll raise a glass to them at the Hand and Shears pub on Cloth Fair. We’ll listen for the whispers, look into the shadows, and imagine the lives of London’s Anthony families of the past, thinking that maybe, just maybe, we are carrying their genes in our own hereditary makeup.

With that, click here for the apocryphal chapter of our family bible: The Anthony Family of London.