DNA Mysteries & Ancestral Brick Walls

Many years ago, when I first began to map my DNA chromosome matches I was surprised to find, on my maternal side,  a very large segment on chromosome 10 with many matches at the 16 to 44cM size. Twenty of these matches have as their ancestor one of four of the sons (John, Joseph, William and Jacob) of  Abraham Woertman (b.1709) and Anna Smith (b.1706). Abraham Woertman and Anna Smith were from early New Jersey and deeply connected with the Dutch families who had come there from New York. Abraham was baptized in 1709 in the Dutch Reformed Church of Raritan (Somerville), New Jersey. Abraham and Anna's children are purported to have been born in New Jersey.  I have only one birth or baptismal record for any of their children - Andries (Andrew)  baptized in 1741 in the Dutch Reformed Church of Readington, Somerset County, New Jersey.  From military records I know that Joseph Woertman was born about 1758 in New Jersey. He died in Tazewell, Virginia. Most of the sons began using Workman in place of Woertman  - and, it appears, that Workman was the correct surname for this line in England prior to their relocating to the Netherlands. 




So, it is obvious from my many matches on the chromosome 10 segment that I, somehow, have Abraham Woertman and Anna Smith as direct ancestors - but how?  Who is the missing link between this couple and my known maternal ancestors?  




I am not at all surprised by these DNA findings with so many of my mother's ancestors coming from early New Jersey and many being connected to the early Dutch families there. Yet, the missing link mystery needs to be solved




The first step was to try and isolate which ancestral line this match was coming from and I did that through the matches on this chromosome 10 line using chromosome mapping and also comparing verified matches on my mother's line to those in the Woertman matches.  Over the years, as I accumulated more matches, I was able to determine that the Abraham Woertman and Anna Smith DNA was coming from my Covert line of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. My earliest verifiable Covert ancestor is Tunis Covert who fought in the Revolutionary War for its duration with the New Jersey 1st Regiment.  According to his headstone in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, he was born in 1748 and died 1811.  




Despite years of research, I never found a record for the parents of my Tunis Covert.  However, I have accumulated many records showing his military career, his marriage,  and his residences in Pennsylvania.  Early DNA matches proved my theory of which of his sons I descend from. Because this large mystery DNA match is with four of the  sons of Abraham Woertman and Anna Smith, I know that the link to my Covert line is through one of this couple's children.  I investigated other matches on this segment and found a family that descends from Morris Covert - a probable son of Abraham Covert and Hannah Workman - both from New Jersey.  




Though a Hannah Workman seems to be common knowledge as this  Abraham Covert's wife, no record has been found to support this. I researched this line, and based upon birth years of their sons and locations, I reached the conclusion that it is highly likely Abraham Covert and Hannah Workman are the parents of my Tunis Covert born 1748.  This theory is based upon the real possibility that Hannah Workman was the daughter of Abraham Woertman and Anna Smith and explains why I have so many matches on chromosome 10 to her brothers.




Here are the points I used to come to this conclusion:




 * There is a long-standing familial relationship between the Woertman and Covert families in New York and New Jersey.  Abraham Covert's paternal uncle was Lucas Covert baptized in 1699 on Long Island who married the sister of Abraham Woertman -  my DNA proven ancestor born 1709.




* Abraham Covert (b. circa 1729) and Hannah Workman had these sons attributed to them:  Isaac b. 1745,  Abraham b. 1748,  John b. 1750, and Morris b. 1754. My Tunis Covert was born 1748.




* Isaac, Morris  and John Covert enlisted from Northampton, Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary War.  John Covert was enlisted by 1780 in the 6th Company Associators & Militia for Northampton Co, Pennsylvania militia with rank of Sergeant serving under Capt. Patrick Campbell. Morris and Issac Covert also appeared in this company with John by 1782.




* In 1790 (after discharge in 1783) Tunis "Anthony" Covert was living with his wife and two eldest sons in Lower Smithfield, Northampton County, Pennsylvania. Also in Northampton County 1785 were Isaac Covert (Mt. Bethel Twp. also in 1786) and John Covert (Turbot Twp. also there in 1786/87). In 1788 Isaac was living in Lower Mt. Bethel Twp. also in 1790).  Coincidence or family connections?




* Tunis Covert named his first son John.  Did he name his son after his brother, John?


 * The Horton connection:  A paternal uncle of Abraham Covert (b. circa 1729) was Isaac Covert (baptized 1683) who moved to Westchester County, New York.  He married Elizabeth Horton, the daughter of John Horton and Rachel Hoyt. They were the great-grandparents of Elisha Horton who appeared living near Tunis "Anthony" Covert in 1790 Lower Smithfield.  Coincidence or family connections?

DNA is science. Historical records are evidence.  Looking at connections and common locations are vital to genealogical research.  

I cannot make my specific DNA connection on chromosome 10 to Abraham Woertman and his wife Anna Smith fit anywhere except with my Tunis Covert line. 




It is my belief that their daughter, Hannah, is the mother of my Tunis and her husband, Abraham Covert, is his father. 







Setting the Record Straight. Part Three. What Y-DNA Proves

Excerpt from the will of Thomas Pettit

I am very pleased and excited to add new, and important, Y-DNA information to my ongoing efforts to set the record straight on the Rosell/Rozell line of early New York, New Jersey and Virginia. Please review the first findings after my Roselle cousin had his Y-DNA tested with FTDNA on the previous post Setting the Record Straight. Part Two. What Y-DNA Proves. 

Since that post, I have been able to research the lines of most of the men whose Y-DNA matches my  Roselle cousin and this, along with deeper Y-DNA results revealed, I am quite confident in stating that our immigrant ancestor, as my research led me to believe all along, was John Rosell of Newtown, Long Island. My Roselle cousin's Y-DNA haplogroup is E-FT248568 - a haplogroup that, so far with those males tested, is quite unique.  At this point, my Roselle cousin's Y-DNA matches on FTDNA who share this haplogroup can be traced back (on the paper trail) to (1) the brothers Joseph & Charles Roszel of Sussex County, New Jersey (Charles leaves New Jersey for Ontario, Canada after the Revolutionary War), (2) Peter Rozell of New Jersey and Loudoun County, Virginia, and (3) John Rosell of early Newtown, Long Island (the immigrant ancestor). 

I want to thank Don Branch, not only for being my Roselle cousin's closest match, but for allowing me to dig into his Branch line and discover the records that so strongly suggest exactly what his Y-DNA proves - he descends from John Rosell of early Newtown, Long Island. Don's haplogroup is also E-FT248568 and his earliest confirmed Branch ancestor was Daniel Branch born 1724 in Massachusetts. Here is a summary of my research that led me to Newtown, Long Island and John Rosell:

John Rosell was in  Newtown, Long Island by 1676. Also there by that time were the Pettit family who had connections to Boston and Fairfield County, Connecticut. 

Daniel Branch was born 1724 in Charlestown, Massachusetts and died in Rhode Island in 1804. Church records prove he and his siblings were the children of Daniel Branch and Abigail Mallet who married in Charlestown, Massachusetts. I have researched this couple and based upon records and the Y-DNA,  I know that this Daniel Branch (who married Abigail Mallet) is not connected to the Peter Branch line as previously supposed by Branch researchers. 

My research has revealed who this Daniel Branch (who married Abigail Mallet) probably was - and Don Branch's Y-DNA proves my research. The "Town Records of Newtown Long Island" published in the New York Genealogical & Biological Record Vol. 64 (1) p. 34 list "The ages of the children of Thomas Pettet, sen." and the line directly above this entry reads "Daniel Branch b. 31 Dec. 1697."  This Thomas Pettit appears in a marriage license with Catherine Branch dated 26 November 1698 in New York City [New England Marriages Prior to 1700]. Thomas & Catherine Pettit purchased land in New Rochelle (Westchester County, New York) from Theophile Forrester (Fourestier) in 1715.  Thomas Pettit's will was probated there 13 September 1715 [NY Wills Vol. 008, 1710-1716]. His will has been repeatedly misunderstood to state that Daniel Branch was married to Thomas' daughter Christian.  If you read the will carefull, you will notice a comma between his named daughters Christian and Branch. Thomas refers to Daniel Branch as his "son-in-law" a term in those times that meant only that he was related to Daniel Branch by marriage. Since Thomas had married Catherine Branch slightly less than a year after her son Daniel was born the use of "son-in-law" can be the equivalent of what we now say is his "stepson."  In any case, according to the birth records mentioned above ["Town Records of Newtown Long Island"] Christian Pettit was far too young to be married to anyone. 

Nathaniel Pettit, probably the brother of Thomas, moved from Newtown, Long Island to Hopewell, New Jersey and lived on land that adjoined Joshua Ely. Nathaniel Rosell of Newtown, Long Island and the son of immigrant John Rosell, was in Hopewell, New Jersey by 1705 where he was granted land via Joshua Ely's estate that was next to Nathaniel Pettit's land. Jane Pettit, the daughter of Nathaniel Pettit, married George Ely, the son of Joshua Ely. So, we can easily see the connection between the Rosell family of both Newtown, Long Island and Hopewell, New Jersey and the Petit family of the same locations. This connection between the two families goes further with shared locations in Westchester County, New York: Eastchester and New Rochelle. 

So, who was Catherine Branch, the mother of Daniel Branch born 1697 and wife of Thomas Pettit?  In a note from the witchcraft trials of Fairfield County, Connecticut I learned that there was a Catherine Branch born about 1675 and the maid servant of Daniel and Abigail Westcott. In Connecticut Witch Trials by Cynthia Wolfe Boynton the author states that Catherine was French. Until her marriage to Thomas Pettit, I cannot find Catherine Branch in any records. However, there are strong connections between families of  Fairfield County, Connecticut and Westchester County, New York including the marriage of Charles Rosell (son of the immigrant John Rosell and who lived in Westchester County) to Evis Sherwood, the daughter of Thomas Sherwood who moved there from Fairfield County, Connecticut. 

My theory is that Catherine Branch left Fairfield County, Connecticut and ended up in Newtown, Long Island where she became pregnant by either John Rosell or one of his sons. Within a year after her son, Daniel Branch, is born she marries Thomas Pettit of Newtown who, as I've shown above, has ties with the Rosell family.  I have also documented evidence of the close connections between the Mallet family, the Angevine family and the Fourestier family  - tying them together in Westchester County, New York where both Thomas Pettit and John Rosell's sons have connections. 

According to FTDNA, the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of E-FT248568 was born about 1638. This puts him at the same estimated birth year I have for the immigrant John Rosell of Newtown, Long Island. 

The Y-DNA haplogroup branch just below E-FT248568 is E-FT247870. The matches for this haplogroup can be tracked back to Peter Rozell of New Jersey and Loudoun County, Virginia - confirming that Peter also is a descendant of John Rosell of Newtown, Long Island. Below this branch are the haplogroups E-FT248002 and E-FT249798 - a Knighton line that can be also be traced to the line of Peter Rozell of New Jersey and Loudoun County, Virginia.

I would like to thank Marolyn Russell,  FTDNA Russell Project Administrator, for her insight and encouragement with my Roselle Y-DNA project. Below are a few of her insights:

What we know is that the Knighting/Knighton group and the Simpson/Morris men share a common patriarch who originated Haplogroup E-FT247870.  The geneticists estimate that he was born about 1700.  Prior to that, the more distant patriarch that all of you share who originated Haplogroup E-FT248568 is estimated to have been born about 1650.  All the men currently assigned to this haplogroup designator are no more closely related to each other than they are to Knighting, Knighton, Simpson, or Morris.  We just don't know their lower-level branches yet, the way we know Knighting, Knighton, Simpson, and Morris...Thus, we can be sure that the men who have tested positive for Haplogroup E-FT247870 (Knighting, Knighton, Simpson, Morris) share a patriarch who is closer in time than the patriarch they share with the men above them in the Block Tree.  However, whether "Mr E-FT247870" was the son or grandson or great grandson of "Mr E-FT248568" is impossible to say with absolute certainty based on genetic results so far.  By putting together your knowledge of the paper trails with these genetic results, perhaps you can deduce more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please let me know if you have questions. Again, I continue to encourage males with this surname (Rosell/Rozell/etc) to have their Y-DNA tested at FTDNA. 

Setting the Record Straight. Part Two. What Y-DNA Proves.

 I ended my original Rosell, Rossell, Rozell and De Roselle families research post by saying that the paper trail has probably been exhausted and we must turn to science for a more accurate view of how these various Rosell/Rozel/etc. lines are connected. 

I am very grateful to my Roselle second cousin for testing his Y-DNA with FTDNA! I can now be confident that, on my line, I know the haplogroup of my immigrant ancestor (barring any unknown paternal mishaps).  My second cousin was tested at the "Big Y" level which shows all of his markers and, therefore, his exact haplogroup:   E-FT248568.  This falls under the general haplogroup of E-M35/E-V22 (23&Me shows E-V22 as L-677.

My second cousin had many Y-DNA matches and several with the "Big-Y" markers.  From this, I can report with complete confidence that the brothers (Charles and Joseph Roszel of Sussex County, New Jersey) are related to the Peter Rozel/Roszel born approximately 1718 who married Ann Gray and moved to Loudoun County, Virginia. 

The other very important fact now established by Y-DNA testing is that my Roselle line of New Jersey is not at all connected to the New Jersey Quaker line of Zachariah Rossell (I-FT207365 under the general haplogroup of I1.  There were three men who descend from Zachariah Rossell who tested and fall in this same haplogroup. And, based upon their Y-DNA matches, this line was in England before coming to America. 

I continue to urge men with any of these variant surnames to have their Big-Y DNA test done at FTDNA. The more branches (e.g. the Westchester County, New York branch and the Trenton, New Jersey branch) that are tested the closer we come to knowing exactly where our lines come together.  

For my Y-DNA update of January 2024 please see this post:

https://branchesleavesandroots.blogspot.com/2024/01/setting-record-straight-part-three-what.html

Setting the Record Straight Sorting Out the Various lines of the Rosell, Rossell, Rozell and De Roselle families of Colonial Pennsylvania, New York & New Jersey

Image by Denise Sallee. All rights reserved. 

In 1979,  my mother, my daughter and I went to Normandy to see for ourselves the chateau in the village of Le Rozel.  My mother had been raised on conflicting stories about the origins of her family name ~Roselle.  One legend connected her immigrant ancestor to this chateau and the romance of the story remained with her throughout her life.  We both knew there was no actual proof but the spirit of an adventure was with us and off we went.  The village is quite small and very lovely and we soon learned that the chateau was a working farm owned by a woman and her sons. We stayed near the village for about 4 days while we gathered our nerve to approach the chateau - and practiced our French.

Le Rozel, Chateau, Normandy, 1979
Image by Denise Sallee. All rights reserved. 

Finally, we drove through the gateway and into the courtyard. We introduced ourselves and explained about the family story. The woman was delighted and brought us into her office which was off the large kitchen where her sons were eating lunch.  Not surprising, the woman had never heard of the story behind my mother's family story.  But she was kind and gracious and my mother was thrilled. I was, too, because she allowed me to take my time photographing the exterior of the chateau from the courtyard.  As a working farm, the family lived in only a small section of the chateau.  It is now a hotel and I am grateful for my mother's romantic enthusiasm that allowed us to visit the chateau so long ago leaving us with wonderful memories.

I began to actively research my mother's Roselle line after graduate school at UCLA in 1991. The research continued through the years and I have decided to make it available in a hope my work will set straight all the confusion and misinformation that abounds on this line. I continue the research and, if and when, new records become available I will update this document and amend my "working theories."  My mother's tree is on Ancestry.com Dorothea E Roselle Family Tree

Below is the link to my research as a PDF document. 

Setting the Record Straight Sorting Out the Various lines of the Rosell, Rossell, Rozell and De Roselle families of Colonial Pennsylvania, New York & New Jersey

Francis Wafer - Before America. Part Two

This post will continue my research of the Wafer line and show their story in Ireland. Please see Part One that was posted on January 21, 2018 for their story in England & Wales and the post from December 3, 2017 on my Wafer ancestor's life on the frontiers of early America. The research is ongoing as I continue to update and add new records. 

Wafer Chronology – Ireland

Source: The Book of the de Burgos. Trinity College Dublin.  MS 1440

Circa 1200 -  Walter Wafre - grantor  - Killegland, [now Ashbourne], co. Meath. 
A final charter in the name of Walter Wafre (ancestor of the reputed builder of Killegland Castle, one Walter Wafre, after 1400), dating from between 1194 and 1224, grants 'all my water (works) at Kilegelan, with the site of the mill, and a messuage at which Hugo the miller is tenant, with appurtenances and (rights of) common pasture (and/for) six cows (vacarum) in the aforesaid village of Kilegelan' to the Abbey of St Thomas of Dublin and 'its canons in service to God' (Gilbert 1889, 50). A note in the margin of this document, in another hand, identifies the charter as pertaining to 'the mill and mill water(work)s of Killegland donated by Walter de W'.  Again the reference to the mill and what is likely to be its (engineered) waterworks separately would seem to imply that the latter were extensive and/or elaborate. The listing of the miller's residence separately implies a separate household structure/plot, that may nevertheless have stood near to the mill site. Source: Meath 2003:1346 Killegland, Ashbourne Medieval millrace and rural landscape https://www.excavations.ie/report/2003/Meath/0010384/

Charter LVI listed in: Registry of the Abbey of St. Thomas, Dublin in Rerum Britannicarum medii ævi scriptores, or, Chronicles and memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages. p. 51.    https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c067274830;view=1up;seq=11

Witnesses to above Charter LVI. Note: "H[ugone] de Lascy"

c.1200 – Walter le Waffre- Witness to charter [X] of Walter de Scotot. Land in Donaghmore (co. Meath) Barony of Ratoath [between Ashbourne and Greenoge]. Source: Register of the Abbey of St Thomas. Dublin. John Thomas Gilbert, 1889. 

c.1250 - Richard le Wafre ("Domino Ricardo le Wafre, milite) - Witness to charter [LXII] of Philip, son of William [Coci]. Land in Ratoath (co. Meath) near Ashbourne. Source: Register of the Abbey of St Thomas. Dublin. John Thomas Gilbert, 1889. 

c.1265 -  Richard le Wafre  - Witness to charter [LXXVI] of Henry de Straton. Land in Donaghmore (co. Meath). Source: Register of the Abbey of St Thomas. Dublin. John Thomas Gilbert, 1889. 

1225-1250 – Radulfus [Ralph] la Wafre – a free citizen of Dublin. Source: Dublin Municipal Archives. 

1278 – Robert Le Wafre and Nicholas Comyn are nominated by the wife of John Comyn (Amabila) to be her attorneys in Ireland. Source: Calendar of documents, relating to Ireland preserved in Her Majesty's Public Record Office, London, 1171-1307. London: Longman, 1875. 
Note: John Comyn was the 1st Anglo-Norman Archbishop of Dublin circa 1191 and he built St. Patrick's (Dublin).

1285 - Sir Ric. de Waffir [among others] gave testimony at "Dongahmor" [Meath] against Walter de Lacy. The testimony includes actions by de Lacy in "the Marches or elsewhere."  Source:  Gormanston, Christopher Preston. Calendar of the Gormanston register, from the original in the possession of the right honourable the viscount of Gormanston.  Dublin, printed at the University press, for the Royal society of antiquaries of Ireland, 1916. p. 13, 14.

1286 - Richard le Wafre. Dublin. "for agreeing without license." 
Source: Calendar of documents, relating to Ireland 
preserved in Her Majesty's Public Record Office, London, 1285-1292. London: Longman, 1879 

1288 - Nesta, "who was the wife of Richard Wafre" roll of receipt. Meath.  "for a false action." Source: Calendar of documents, relating to Ireland 
preserved in Her Majesty's Public Record Office, London, 1285-1292. London: Longman, 1879 

1291 - Henry le Wafre on roll of receipt, Michaelmas Term, for pledge of Roger de Portes.  Source: Calendar of documents, relating to Ireland 
preserved in Her Majesty's Public Record Office, London, 1285-1292. London: Longman, 1879 

1292 – William Wafre (le Wafere) tenant of 1 messuage and 59 acres in Corbally, Meath (currently Westmeath, near Fore). King's writ also mentions (1) Ralph le Wafere, grandfather of William, deceased, and (2) Alice le Wafere, mother of Simon de Campeleye. Ralph gave Alice and her husband, Thomas,  9 acres in Killegelan, Meath. Ralph died before Alice died. Source: Calendar of documents, relating to Ireland preserved in Her Majesty's Public Record Office, London, Vol 3 (1285-1292). London: Longman, 1879 

1293 -   Henry le Waffre and William de Keppoe - of farm of the city of Dublin.  Source: Roll of Receipt.  Calendar of documents, relating to Ireland 
preserved in Her Majesty's Public Record Office, London, 1171-1307. Published 1875 by Longman in London 


1303 -  William Wafre, witness [Dublin] to the marriage bond: "Robert Dardyz is bound in 200m to lady Matilda Rochefort."  Source: Patent Roll 31 Edward I. A Calendar of Irish Chancery Letters c. 1244 - 1509. Trinity College, Dublin.

1303-1427 - Wafer shows up on Patent Rolls in Leinster. Source: The Surnames of Ireland. Edward MacLysaght, 1985. 


1324 - William Wafre of Reccouth [Ratoath?] in Ireland acknowledges that he owes to Hugh le Despenser, Earl of Winchester, 10,000 marks; to be levied, in default of payment, of ... Source: Close Rolls, Edward II - July 1324. Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward II: volume 4 (1898) 


c.1325 - Jordan Waffre, Dublin City. "Nicholas the clerk accounts for 4s of the houses which belonged to Jordan Waffre..."  Source: Forty-second report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records and Keeper of the State Papers in Ireland. HMSO, [1910]. p. 64.

1333 - Edward Wafre holds five carucates in Kylegelan [note: Barony of Ratoath, Meath] and Hardloueston, rendering 10s service and suit as above [at the Court of Retouth fortnightly].  Listed as a free tenant in inquisition following the death of William de Burgh, late Earl of Ulster, and his holdings in the Barony of Retouth.  Source: "The Earldom of Ulster. Part V. Inquisitions Touching Ratoath, in Co. Meath." Goddard H. Orpen. The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. Sixth Series, Vol. 11, No. 1 (Jun. 30, 1921), pp. 68-76.

1335 - Matilda Wafre, wife of Thomas Le Redman, grantees of a messuage in the suburbs of Dublin in the parish of St. James. Grantor: Nicholas Tynbergh. Source: "History of the Religious Guild of St. Anne." Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy.  v.25 no.3 (March 1904). pg. 85.

1337-1351 – Philip Wafre, Abbot of St. Mary’s, Dublin.

1354 -  Philip Waufre, formerly Cistercian abbot of St. Mary's by Dublin. Signification that he, being of noble birth, has resigned the office on account of age and weakness, and that his successor Richard and the convent have assigned to him some possessions, tenths, and rents, with yearly portions of two monks, and other distributions of victuals, and a room and adjacent garden within the limits of the monastery, with certain privileges and immunities for his life...He therefore prays for papal confirmation and approval of what has been done.  Avignon, 11 Kal. Jan. 1354 Source: Volume XXV: 2 Innocent VI, Petitions to the Pope: 1342-1419 (1896), pp. 256-269.

Philip Wafre, Abbot, A.D. 1337-1351. 
Dunbrody. 
Contest for precedency 
between Armagh and Dublin:
… made preparations for his attendance in St. Mary's Abbey, but that he was obstructed by the Archbishop of Dublin, who would not permit him to have his cross borne before him, as he had intended, in assertion of the right of precedency of the See of Armagh over that of Dublin. This matter formed the subject of documents addressed by Edward III. to the Archbishop of Dublin and officials in Ireland.  Philip Wafre, who became Abbot of St. Mary's in 1337, is stated to have been a monk of  that Abbey. He was probably a member of the family of Wafre, or Le Wafre, which was of much importance in Shropshire.  Edward III, in 1346, on representations addressed to him by Philip Wafre. Source: Chartularies of St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin: with the Register of its house at Dunbrody, and Annals of Ireland, Volume 1. 

1355 - John le Wafre acknowledges that he owes 25m to Geoffrey le Wafre, [to be levied] from lands in co. Dublin unless [it is paid].  15 Aug. 1355. Source:  Close Roll  29. Edward III (Trinity College, Dublin)

1358-1361 - George, son of Edmund Wafre, staying in England, has letter nominating James de la Hide and Richard Wafer as his attorneys in Ireland for two years.  Source: Calendar of Patent Rolls Preserved (1358-1361) in the Public Record Office, London. 


1363 - Roger Wafre - Fined 10s - Culduff,  Dublin area. Source: Delafield: The Family History  by John Ross Delafield. Vol. I, 1945.


1366 - Johannis Wafre - held a position at Dublin castle. Source:  History of the viceroys of Ireland; With Notices of the Castle of Dublin...J.T. Gilbert. Dublin, 1865. pg. 548

1368 - Nicholas Waffre and Richard Cruys "amongst the prisoners taken by the Birminghams, gave for their ransom ten marks, a hauberk, and a salet worth five marks..." - Carbury, Co. Meath [East of Edenderry, current Co. Kildare]. Source: Some notices of the castle and of the ecclesiastical buildings of Trim. Comp. from various authorities. 4th ed. Butler, Richard, 1794-1862.  Dublin : Hodges, Smith & Co., 1861.  p. 41.  Also see: Annales Hiberniae / Jacobi Grace ; edited, with a translation and notes, by Richard Butler. Dublin : Irish Archaeological Society, 1842.  p.155

1382 - Thomas Wafre, clerk, (and others) grantee of seven shops in Holy Trinity Lane, parish of St. Michael. Dublin. Source: cited in Appendix to 23rd  Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland. Dublin, 1890. Vol: Rep 22-23. pg. 123

1388 - Thomas Waffre - barony of Dunboyne (co. Meath) - to collect levies. Source: Patent Roll 12 Richard II RCH (142/220 221 7 Oct. 1388) on A Calendar of Irish Chancery Letters c. 1244 - 1509, Trinity College, Dublin. [ For more references to Waffre, etc. in the Chancery Letters]

1388 - Thomas Wafer, a Canon [of St. Patrick's, Dublin]. "...was joined with William Chambre, the Archdeacon,  as Guardian of the Spiritualities of the archbishopric...He was still a Canon in 1406, and one of the Vicars-Generals."  Source: Fasti Ecclesiae Hibernicae: The Province of Leinster. Henry Cotton. Hodges and Smith, 1848. pg. 194.


1389  - Thomas Waferton - regarding the vicarage of Callan, Diocese of Ossory. Source: Delafield: The Family History  by John Ross Delafield. Vol. I, 1945.

1390 - Thomas Wafre, clerk, notary public and writer of deed regarding St. Patrick's & Holy Trinity Churches. Source: Ireland. Public Record Office. Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records In Ireland. Dublin, Ireland: [Public Record Office]. pg. 84.

1390 - William Waffre. APPOINTMENT of Peter Rowe, John fitz Adam and Richard Cruys as justices to take an assize of novel disseisin that Nicholas Forster has arraigned against William s. of George Waffre, William White of Borandestoun and others concerning a tenement in Borandestoun [Boranstown, Dublin]. Source: Patent Roll 13 Richard II. A Calendar of Irish Chancery Letters c. 1244 - 1509. Trinity College, Dublin

1391 – Thomas Wafre – canon of Dublin – St. Patrick’s. Also mentioned, Johannis Wafre. Source: Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and ... edited by William Henry Bliss, Jessie Alfred Twemlow, 1902. See also: Calendar of Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 4 - 1362-1404:
4 Id. Jan.
St. Peter's, Rome.
(f. 191.) To Landulph, cardinal deacon of St. Nicholas's in carcere. Reservation, motu proprio, of the deanery of Dublin, an elective major dignity with cure, value 100 marks, which is to be resigned by Master Henry Bowet, papal chaplain and auditor of causes in the court of the camera, upon his obtaining possession of the archdeaconry of Lincoln, a dignity, under the terms of the provision thereof, then void, made to him by Urban VI. Concurrent mandate to the archbishop of Bari, the bishop of Leighlin, and Thomas Wafre, canon of Dublin.  See also:  Calendar of Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 5: 1398-1404

1395 - Dublin - LICENCE to Thomas Waffre clk, William Thoume chaplain, William Grenet and Nicholas Taaff to alienate to the church of Holy Trinity seven shops in Trinity Lane in the parish of St Michael, Dublin, held in free burgage by service of landgable; and LICENCE to Thomas Comyn of Ballygriffin to alienate to the same church Ballygriffin and the advowson of its church, held in chief. The premises were found by inquisition before John Aldelyme, escheator of Ire., to be worth £7 13s 4d p.a. They are to be held in frankalmoign. Attested:  Roger Mortimer, e. March, Lt C: Christ Church deeds, §259. Source: Patent Roll 19 Richard II. A Calendar of Irish Chancery Letters c. 1244 - 1509. Trinity College, Dublin.

1397 – Petitions: 9 Kal. Nov.
 St. Peter's, Rome.
(f. 207d.) To the bishop of Meath, and the abbots of St. Thomas the Martyr and St. Mary's without the walls, Dublin. Mandate to collate and assign to James Redenesse, Augustinian canon of Dublin, papal chaplain, the priory of Dublin, a major dignity with cure, value not exceeding 300 marks, to which on its voidance by the death of Robert Lokington, he was elected by the chapter, confirmation of which election he obtained from Thomas Wafre, then official of Dublin, and vicar general of the chapter in the voidance of the see. James now doubts whether the election and confirmation hold good. Grata devocionis.
3 Kal. April.
St. Peter's, Rome.
(f. 233d.) To Clement, bishop of Telese, dwelling in the Roman court. Mandate, if he find the facts to be as stated in the recent petition of Thomas, Augustinian prior of Molynger, in the diocese of Meath—namely, that although the prior and convent have from time immemorial held to their own uses the parish church of Dounboyng, in the said diocese, nevertheless lately, namely in 1399, John, archbishop of Armagh, during a metropolitical visitation, at the instance of one Thomas Wafre, layman of the same diocese, cited prior Thomas in a cause about the institution of a priest in the chapel of Kylbride, within the bounds of the said parish, to which chapel the archbishop (disregarding the plea that the cause was pending in his own court by the prior's appeal from the court of Meath, and that he ought not therefore to proceed or act), after finishing his visitation and leaving the diocese and again returning, instituted a perpetual chaplain, deputed to him an excessive portion from the fruits of Dounboyng, and promulgated sentences of excommunication etc., from all which the prior appealed to the pope—to annul the archbishop's undue proceedings, all causes and suits which have arisen out of the above circumstances, whether pending in the Roman court or elsewhere, being hereby called up to the pope. Pastoralis officii.
4 Non. May.
St. Peter's, Rome.
(f. 86.) To the bishop of Tuy, and the chancellor and Thomas Wafre, canon, of Dublin. Mandate as below. The petition of Richard Caran, who asserts that he is archdeacon of Dublin, contained that a cause arose lately between him and William Chamber, clerk, of the diocese of London, about the said archdeaconry, which he obtained by papal authority and held peaceably for some time on its voidance by the resignation, made to the pope, of Landulph cardinal deacon of St. Nicholas's in Carcere Tulliano, and that Chamber has prevented his peaceable possession; that the pope at the instance of Chamber, who was then in the Roman court, committed the cause, notwithstanding that it did not by its nature lawfully devolve to the said court, to James, [now] bishop of Aquila, then papal chaplain and auditor, before whom appeared Master James de Subinago as Caran's proctor, and who, upon Chamber's absenting himself from the said court and not appearing upon citation, pronounced him contumacious and removed him, in so far as he could, from the archdeaconry and restored Caran, condemning Chamber in fruits received and costs, which latter he afterwards taxed at 25 gold florins of the camera. The pope therefore orders the above three to execute the aforesaid, restoring Caran to possession and removing Chamber, causing satisfaction to be made to Caran for the said fruits and costs, proceeding against present or future intruders as if the above sentence had been delivered against them, and invoking, if necessary, the aid of the secular arm. Exhibita nobis.   Source:  Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and Ireland: Papal Letters, Volume 5, H.M. Stationery Office, 1904 - Great Britain

c.1398 - William Waffre - Rathconrath (co. Meath now Westmeath) -  Keeper of the Peace with Simon Burford. Source: Medieval Trim: History and Archaeology. Michael Potterton. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2005. pg. 379.


1402 – Rev. Nicholas Wafre, vicar of Church of St. Columb, Skryne, Meath.  Source: The Diocese of Meath, ancient and modern. 
Pub. 1862 

1405 - Robert Waffre - defendant in a lawsuit.  Culduff,  Dublin area. Source: Delafield: The Family History  by John Ross Delafield. Vol. I, 1945. 
n.d. Nicholas Waffre appointed Vicar of church at Serine. Appointed by Philip Wafre.

1406 - Thomas Wafre & Thomas Everdon, canons & Vicar-Generals in St. Patrick's Church (Dublin).  Order given.  Witnesses include Nicholas Wafre.  Source: Ireland. Public Record Office.Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records In Ireland. Dublin, Ireland: [ Public Record Office].  pg. 86.  

1407 - John Waffre - juror with William FitzLeo and others in case regarding the lands and tenements in Ballybin (parish of Cookstown, barony of Ratoath, Co. Meath) belonging to the Mortimers (Roger and son Edmund).  [The jurors are swearing under oath about their knowledge of this disputed land.] Source: Hogan, Arlene. The priory of Llanthony Prima and Secunda in Ireland, 1172–1541: lands, patronage and politics.. Pp 432. Dublin: Four Courts Press. 2008. pg. 379-80.

1421 - John Waffre - appointed (with others) attorney by John Forester regarding land in Swords. Source: " Old Deeds In The Library of Trinity College—IV." Hermathena No. 70  (November, 1947). pg. 9.

1427 - John Waffre - Commission, by mainprize of John Fourche and John Waffre of co. Meath, to Richard Sydgrave of custody of 1 messuage and 1 carucate of land in Stakallan in the barony of Slane; to have for as long as they are in the K.'s hand, rendering the extent. Source: Patent Roll 5 Henry VI. A Calendar of Irish Chancery Letters c. 1244 - 1509 . Trinity College, Dublin

1428 - Margaret Wafre - releases to Thomas Seys of Dublin two messuages and a garden in the parishes

of St. Brigid the Virgin and St. Michael. Source: cited in Appendix to 23rd  Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland. Dublin, 1890. Vol: Rep 22-23. pg. 144.

1431 - James Watir [sic] and Margaret Wafre, his wife, allowed to pasture three beasts in the wood and pasture  of a wood called Giffardsgrove.  Source: cited in Appendix to 23rd  Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland. Dublin, 1890. Vol: Rep 22-23. pg. 145.

1437 (Reign of Henry VI) -  John Wafre  nominated for power of attorney for Agnes Netterville in regards to the manor of Douth and land in Welham.  Source:  Calendar of the Patent and Close Rolls of Chancery in Ireland. pg. 127.


1438 – John Wafre – listed as owing debts in the estate inventory of Richard Codde, citizen and baker of Dublin. Source: Berry, Henry Fitzpatrick. "History of the Religious Gild of S. Anne, in S. Audoen's Church, Dublin, 1430-1740, Taken from Its Records in the Haliday Collection, R.I.A." Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature 25 (1904): 21-106. Accessed December 10, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25502722. 


1447 - John Wafyer & Richard Noterie, chaplains assign to Robert Cusacke of Cosynestone lands, messauges, etc. ...in co. Meath held in dower by Elizabeth Bermingham.  Source: "The Patent Rolls of King James the First." Erck, John Caillard, d. 1851, and Ireland. Chancery. A Repertory of the Inrolments On the Patent Rolls of Chancery In Ireland, Commencing With the Reign of King James I. Vol. 1, Part 1. Dublin: J. M'Glashan, 1846. 

1451 - Robert Wafre & Peter Trevers, clerks & auditors at Garretstown [Skreen, Co. Meath] regarding accounts of Micheal Trevers in debt to Pierce Coulok.  Source: Berry, Henry F. (Henry Fitz-Patrick), 1847-1923, and Ireland. Public Record Office. Statute Rolls of the Parliament of Ireland: Reign of King Henry the Sixth : Being Vol. II of the Irish Record Office Series of Early Statutes. Dublin: Printed for His Majesty's Stationery Office by Alexander Thom & Co., 1910. pg. 705

1462 – Margery Waffre [Weafer?] – widow granted lands in Parsontoun, Co. Kildare. Source: 
Calendar to Christchurch Deeds, cited in Appendix to 24th Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland
Margery Waffre, [Weafer? ] widow, granted to her cousin, Wm Typpyr, [Tipper; see 1597] lands in Parsonestoun, Co Kildare, at the services due the chief lord. Dated 16/12/1462. [Deed no.970] .


1472 - Katherine Waffure listed in an inventory for John Sherreff in Howth (north of Dublin). Source: Register of Wills and Inventories of Diocese of Dublin, 1457-1483. Dublin, 1898. 

1473 – Edmund Wafyr (and Ann Petyte his wife) ordained executors in will of Alice Whyte. Garristown (near Fingal, Co. Dublin). Source: Register of Wills and Inventories of Diocese of Dublin, 1457-1483. Dublin, 1898. 


1534 – Wafer – a captain for Thomas Fitz-Gerald near Fingal.  Thomas Fitz-Gerald, eldest son to the earl of Kildare, being left lord deputy in his father's absence, a rumour was spread abroad that his father was imprisoned and beheaded in London; upon which he surrendered the sword to the council, and flew out into open rebellion. The council sent secretly to the mayor and citizens to apprehend FitzGerald and his accomplices. But either the favour of the citizens to that house, or the strength of the confederacy, or the weakness of the city, which was much dispeopled by a plague then reigning in town and country, prevented any attempt at that time however, the citizens afterwards behaved themselves with zeal and resolution against him. Fingal was the granary which usually supplied the city with corn but was now exposed to the depredations of the O'Tools, and other Irish of the mountains, assisted by John Burnell of Balgriffen, a gentlemen of a good estate in Fingal, who favoured the rebellion. The citizens having received advice that the O'Tools were busied in conducting a prey from Fingal to the mountains, sallied out to intercept them at Kilmainham-bridge. They met the enemy near the wood of Salcock, but being over-powered with numbers, they were routed and four score of them slain.
This misfortune threw the city into a consternation, which Fitz-Gerald laying hold of; demanded liberty to march his army through it, and lay siege to the castle, promising that no citizen should be injured in his property by his soldiers. The citizens took time to advise on this matter before they gave their consent; and immediately dispatched one of their aldermen, Francis Herbert, to the king to know his pleasure, who, for his discreet demeanor upon the occasion, received the honour of knighthood, and was made a member of the privy-council. They also consulted the constable of the castle, who regarding the security of the city, gave his consent to the demand, provided he were sufficiently furnished with men and provisions to withstand a siege. The citizens sent by night into the cattle a good store of provisions, and alderman John Fitzsimons, upon his own account, furnished the constable with 20 tun of wine, and 24 tun of beer, 2,000 dried ling, 16 hogsheads of powdered beef, 20 chambers for mines, and an iron chain for the draw-bridge that he had procured to be forged in his own house to avoid suspicion.
The castle being abundantly supplied, the citizens consented to Fitz-Gerald's demands, and he accordingly sent in 600 men under the command of six captains, viz. Field, Teeling, Wafer, Broad, Rouks and Purcell, who planted two or three pieces of artillery near Preston's inn, opposite to the castle-gate, and intrenched their party with strong ramparts sufficient to defend them from the shot of the castle; and to frighten the constable from annoying them with his ordinance, they threatened to place the youth of the city on the tops of their trenches, as marks at which they would be loth to aim. 
 Source:  History of the City of Dublin, from the Earliest Accounts to the Present Time: Containing Its Annals, Antiquities...  Vol. 1, John Warburton, James Whitelaw, et al, Dublin, 1818.  pg. 189.  [Note:  Nicholas Wafer, a Dublin yeoman,  was executed 1535 at Maynooth. Source: The Earls of Kildare, and their ancestors: from 1057 to 1773. By the Marquis of Kildare ...Charles William Fitzgerald, 4th Duke of, 1821-1886. Dublin: Hodges, Smith, 1858].   

1536 – Peter Waffre listed as the king’s enemey -  [Wexford]. Source: The Surnames of Ireland. Edward MacLysaght, 1985 and "Analecta Hibernica" - Irish Manuscripts Commission.


1539 – (The Reign of Henry VIII) Thomas Wafre. Abbot, Navan Abbey, Co. Meath. "Surrender by Thomas Wafre, Abbot, with the consent of the convent, of the abbey of Blessed Virgin Mary, of Navan, in Meath County, with all its possessions in the county of Meath, Louth, Dublin, Kildare, and Carlow, and elsewhere in Ireland."  Source:  Calendar of the Patent and Close Rolls of Chancery in Ireland. pg. 56.

1539 - Thomas Wafre, former Abbot of Navan, given a pension. In the surrender of the Abbey, he was "seized of 40 acres of arable land in Hurlestown [probably Hurdlestown, Kells]..."  Source:  Cogan, Anthony, 1826-1872. The Diocese of Meath: Ancient And Modern. Dublin: J. F. Fowler; [etc., etc.]. pg.226.  [Also stated in Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland, 7th Report, 1875 pg. 40: "Sir Thomas Wafre, abbot of the late abbey of the B.V.M. of the Nawan (sic), ad his 'conbretherne' - The abbot, £15..."

1540 - Matthew Wafer - "of Monketon." Juror re. Friary of Skreen (co. Meath).  Source: Extents of Irish Monastic Possessions, 1540-41. Newport B. White, ed. Dublin: Stationery Office, 1943. pg. 306

1540-41 - Nicholas Wafre - Newcastell (co. Meath). Listed as holding a "castle or tenement...to farm from the late abbot p.t.a..." Source: Extents of Irish Monastic Possessions, 1540-41. Newport B. White, ed. Dublin: Stationery Office, 1943. pg. 251. 

1540-41 - Nicholas Wafre - Little Moieton (co. Meath). Listed as paying to "the baron of Tryme."  Source: Extents of Irish Monastic Possessions, 1540-41. Newport B. White, ed. Dublin: Stationery Office, 1943. pg. 301.

1541  - Peter Waffer - co. Wexford. Juror. Case for the  Dominican House of Arklow. Source: Extents of Irish Monastic Possessions, 1540-41. Newport B. White, ed. Dublin: Stationery Office, 1943. pg.373.

1544 – Nicholas Wafer – Meath. Source: The Surnames of Ireland. Edward MacLysaght, 1985. 

1546 – Thomas Wafre and John Wogan.  Regarding the  church at Donoghmore, co. Meath. Prebendaries of St. Patrick's at the Suppression.  Source: Fasti Ecclesiae Hibernicae: The Province of Leinster. Henry Cotton. Hodges and Smith, 1848. pg 183.


1546 - Thomas Wafre nominated power of attorney by Agnes Netterville regarding the manor of Douth and premises and land in Wilham.  Source: Calendar of the patent and close rolls of chancery in Ireland. Vol. 1. [Henry VIII], pb. 127.

1547 - Thomas Wafre, "prebendary of Donaghmore in O'Maylye" pension of £3. Source: The Reformation in Dublin, 1536-1558...Myles Vincent Ronan. London, 1926.

1569 - Roger Waffre.  "Grant to Roger Waffre, gent; of the offices of clerk of the peace, clerk of the crown, and clerk of the assizes in the provinces of Connaught and Thomond, and the several counties of the same. To hold during pleasure, with the accustomed fees."  Source: "Fiants - Elizabeth"  The Eleventh report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland / presented to both houses of the Parliament by command of Her Majesty.  pg. 213. 

1592 - Lucas Wayfare, nephew of Robert Bowen. Mary Bowen, wife of Lucas Wafer. Regarding the murder of Robert Stanton. Source:  Calendar of the state papers relating to Ireland of the reign(s) of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth.  v.5 1592-1596. pg. 42.

1592 - Richard Waffer - signer in document regarding the Hill of Lacke-M'Keghoe. Source: Calendar of State Papers, Ireland Calendar of State Papers, Ireland, 1588-1592.  Elizabeth I: volume 166, July 1592.

1595 - John Waffer of Kilboy, Margallen, County Meath. Source: "A Perambulation of Leinster, Meath, and Louth, of which consist the English Pale. And first of the county of Dublin." In The ENGLISH PALE. 109 - Lambeth Palace Library. MSS/596-638 - Carew Manuscripts

1598 - "Weafy of the Blackehil 2 armed horsemen" -  named among those men "Rising out of Ratoath [East Meath]." Source: Hogan, Edmund. The Description of Ireland: And the State Thereof as it is at this Present in Anno 1598. M. H. Gill, 1878. p.93

1598 - Lucas Wafer. Pardoned for a murder indictment.  Source:  Calendar of the Patent and Close Rolls of Chancery in Ireland. pg. 377.

1598 – John Wafer, Dublin merchant. 
 

1598 - "Jn. Waffer of Kilboy" Slane [East Meath].  Also "Jn. Waffer of Gainstown, Navan [County Meath]. Source: Hogan, Edmund. The Description of Ireland: And the State Thereof as it is at this Present in Anno 1598. M. H. Gill, 1878. p. 94.

1598 - "Wafer of Grunston" [East Meath]. [probably Gunstown, Ratoath, Meath].  Source: Hogan, Edmund. The Description of Ireland: And the State Thereof as it is at this Present in Anno 1598. M. H. Gill, 1878. p. 100.

1603 - John Wafer in Navan, Co. Meath. Source:  Calendar of State Papers, Ireland Calendar of State Papers, Ireland, 1603-1606 James I: June 1603 

1608 - Francis Waffer of Balemony, County Wexford. The Gentlemen of the Barony of Ballaighene. Source: The GRAND PANEL of the county of Wexford. 109 - Lambeth Palace Library. MSS/596-638 - Carew Manuscripts

1619 - Roger Waffer, of Dublin, gent. Source: The register of admissions to Gray's inn, 1521-1889, together with the register of marriages in Gray's inn chapel, 1695-1754:  Publisher: London, Priv. print. by the Hansard Publishing Union, ltd.  folio 763

1621 - Katherine Wafer or Wafre. Burial. Residence: Dublin. Wife of John Fleming. Source: The Consolidated Index To the Records of the Genealogical Office Dublin, Ireland. Comp. by Virginia Wade McAnlis.  Pub. by Virginia Wade McAnlis  82 Gunn Road  Port Angeles WA 98362-9108 U.S.A. 

1626/27 - Roger Wafer of "Sianston" [probably Simonstown, Parish of Donaghmore, Barony of Navan] Co. Meath.  In reference to Jack Fleminge.  Source: Inquisitionum in officio rotulorum cancellariæ Hiberniæ asservatarum, repertorium, Volume 2. Ireland. Chancery, 1829. No pagination.

1627/28 - Thomas Wafer. Wexford. In referene to "Gillpatrick oge McLyshagh." Source: Inquisitionum in officio rotulorum cancellariæ Hiberniæ asservatarum, repertorium, Volume 2. Ireland. Chancery, 1829. No pagination.

1628 - Joh. Wafer of "Gyanstowne [Gainstown, Parish of Ardbraccan, Baroney of Navan]. Meath. In reference to Edward Plunkett. Source: Inquisitionum in officio rotulorum cancellariæ Hiberniæ asservatarum, repertorium, Volume 2. Ireland. Chancery, 1829. No pagination.

1628/1631 – Elizabeth Wafer alias Plunkett, widow, Dublin listed in prerogative grant.  Source:  Index to Prerogative Grants - Eire. 1595-1810 (1536-1810).  London: Public Record Office.
  [Note: Elizabeth was the daughter of Sir John Plunkett of Bewley, Co. Louth and Maud Eustace. Elizabeth married 1st Nicholas White and 2nd to "Nicholas Wafer of Navan." Source: "The Descendants of Margaret Dartas (D’Artois)... 
" by K. W. Nicholls as published in Irish Genealogist; Volume 4, Number 5 (November 1972). 

1629 - Roger Wafer of "Gyanstowne"  [Gainstown, Parish of Ardbraccan, Baroney of Navan]. Westmeath. In reference to Edward Dowdall. Source: Inquisitionum in officio rotulorum cancellariæ Hiberniæ asservatarum, repertorium, Volume 2. Ireland. Chancery, 1829. No pagination.

1634 – Roger Wafer, gentleman, Guyanstown, Co. Meath listed in prerogative grant. Source:  Index to Prerogative Grants - Eire. 1595-1810 (1536-1810).  London: Public Record Office.  

1634 - Roger Wafer, resident Castleton. Burial County Meath. Wife: Anne Panting burial 1621. Source: The Consolidated Index To the Records of the Genealogical Office Dublin, Ireland. Comp. by Virginia Wade McAnlis.  Pub. by Virginia Wade McAnlis  82 Gunn Road  Port Angeles WA 98362-9108 U.S.A. 

1640/41 – Thomas Wafer, Irish papist.  Inch, Gorey, Co. Wexford (112 acres). Source: The Down Survey of Ireland. Trinity College Dublin.   http://downsurvey.tcd.ie/index.html

1640/41 - Francis Wafer and Abraham Strang, Irish papists. Kilkevan, Gorey, Co. Wexford (397 acres).  Source: The Down Survey of Ireland. Trinity College Dublin.   http://downsurvey.tcd.ie/index.html

1640/41 - Francis Waffer, papist. Gyanstowne, "Castletown Kilberry," Kilberry, Barony of Morgallion, Co. Meath (142 acres). Source: The Down Survey of Ireland. Trinity College Dublin. http://downsurvey.tcd.ie/index.html

1640/41 - Francis Waffer, papist. Gyanstowne,  Barony of Morgallion,  Co. Meath (181 acres). Source: The Down Survey of Ireland. Trinity College Dublin. http://downsurvey.tcd.ie/index.html

1640/41 - Francis Wafer, papist. Skreen, Barony of Skreen, Co. Meath. Source: The Down Survey of Ireland. Trinity College Dublin. http://downsurvey.tcd.ie/index.html

1640/41 - William Wafer and Francis Wafer. Barony of Navan, Co. Meath. Source: The Down Survey of Ireland. Trinity College Dublin. http://downsurvey.tcd.ie/index.html

1641 - Thomas Wafer - Catholic proprietor in Inch, Co. Wexford who had forfeited his land. Source: History of the Town and County of Wexford... Vol. 6. H.F. & P,H. Hore. London, 1900-1911. pg. 662.

1641 – Maraget, daughter of William Wafer, buried. Dublin.  Source: The Register of St. John the Evangelist, Dublin, 1619-1699. Dublin, 1906. 

1650 – Felix, son of William Wafer, buried. Dublin. Source: The Register of St. John the Evangelist, Dublin, 1619-1699. Dublin, 1906. 

1653 – Rose Wafer buried. Dublin. Source: The Register of St. John the Evangelist, Dublin, 1619-1699. Dublin, 1906. 

1656 - Francis Waffer of Gainestown Co. Meath (64 acres) transplanted to Connaught. Source:  The Manuscripts of the Marquis of Ormonde, Preserved at the Castle, Kilkenny, Volume 2. Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, 1899. pg. 176.  

1656 - Francis Waffer of  Co. Wexford (110 acres) transplanted to Connaught. Source:  The Manuscripts of the Marquis of Ormonde, Preserved at the Castle, Kilkenny, Volume 2. Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, 1899. pg. 176.

1656 - Richard Waffer of  Co. Meath (37 acres) transplanted to Connaught. Source:  The Manuscripts of the Marquis of Ormonde, Preserved at the Castle, Kilkenny, Volume 2. Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, 1899. pg. 176. 

1657 - Thomas and Frances Wafer - on list of "Papist Proprietors" from Gorey, co. Wexford who forfeited under the Cromwellian Settlement.  Source: The Irish and Anglo-Irish Landed Gentry, When Cromwell Came to Ireland... John O' Hart. Heritage Books, 2007 (facsimile from the 1884 edition).


1662 - Fr. Simon Wafre, of the fame Ord. Reader of Divinity. Signed remonstrance, pledging loyalty to King Charles II. (Remonstrance lobbied by Fr. Oliver Darcy, bishop of Dromore.)  Source: An Historical and Critical Review of the Civil Wars in Ireland : From the Reign of Queen Elizabeth to the Settlement Under King William... John Curry. Dublin, 1775. pg. 435.

1663  - Francis Wafer - Petition of Francis Wafer to the Duke of Ormond, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland: Petitioner was possessed of a small but ancient estate in the county of Meath until dispossessed thereof by the late usurping power. ... he prays for some present-relief. Source:  Oxford University: Bodleian Library, Special Collections. MSS. Carte 1-279 - CARTE PAPERS. MS. Carte 60 - Papers (chiefly copies) of the 1st duke of Ormonde, relating to the public affairs of Ireland, chiefly 1662-1690 but some earlier. Ref. MS. Carte 60, fol(s). 413.

1666 - Francis Wafer -A Certificate by Thomas Mocket, in support of the recitals of the Petition of Francis Wafer. Re: Petition of Francis Wafer, to the Duke of Ormond, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland [concerning losses inflicted on petitioner by the later usurped powers in Ireland] : written from [Dublin]. Source: 161 - Oxford University: Bodleian Library, Special Collections
MSS. Carte 1-279 - CARTE PAPERS
MS. Carte 34 - Correspondence of the first Duke of Ormonde, with some miscellaneous papers, chiefly relating to the public affairs of Ireland. MS. Carte 34, fol(s). 546

1673 - Francis Waffre - Will. Ballinmoney, Co. Wexford. Source:  Index to Prerogative Grants - Eire. 1595-1810 (1536-1810).  London: Public Record Office.

1689 - Thomas Wafer - listed as a Lieutenant under Capt. Michael Roth, The King's Regiment. Source:  Illustrations, Historical and Genealogical, of King James's Irish Army List (1689). John D'Alton. Vol. I. 


1701 - Robert Wayford, Dublin merchant. Probate. Source: Ireland, Diocesan and Prerogative Wills & Administrations Indexes, 1595-1858. Online scans available at FamilySearch.com.

1716-1721 - Richard Wafer and wife Anne and son Henry Wafer. Also named David Wafer and Thomas Wafer. Grantors.  Names and relationships from deeds for land in Gorey, Co. Wexford (includes Kilbegnet and Tincurragh). Source: Deed Numbers 7733, 24916, and 18376. Transcripts of memorials of deeds, conveyances and wills, 1708-1929. Registry of Deeds, Dublin Ireland. Online scans available at FamilySearch.com.  

1723 - Jane Wayford, widow. Probate. Residence: Dublin.  Source: Ireland, Diocesan and Prerogative Wills & Administrations Indexes, 1595-1858. Online scans available at FamilySearch.com.

1740 – Elizabeth Waffer buried. Dublin. Source: The Register of the Parish of St. Peter and St. Kevin, Dublin. 1669-1761. Dublin, 1911.

1742 - Mary Wafar, Gorey, co. Wexford. Mentioned in deed and referred to as the widow of Wm. Murphy and the wife of Miles Kavenagh. Land is 12 acres in Killbegnett.  Source:  Registry of Deeds Project [online]. 

1745 – James Whafre, Dublin linendraper, listed in prerogative grant.

1765  - James Wafer, age 31, in Killinagh (Killena ) and Fairs (Gorey, co. Wexford). re. return of the rental of the forfeited lands in the hands of the Crown from the rebellion of 1798. Source: The Third  Report of the Commissioners, 1806. pg. 128.


1767 – George Wafer and Marks Wafer named in will of R. Burkitt of Cookstown, Co. Wexford. Source: Registry of Deeds, Dublin. Abstracts of Wills, Vol. II, 1746-85. Dublin,   1954. 


1793 - Elizabeth Waffer (Wafter), marriage to William Parker. Source: Index to the Act of Grant Books and to Original Wills. Diocese of Dublin to 1800. pg. 348. 

1797 - Mary, daughter of Francis Wafer and Mary Bryan, of Killincooley,  - Baptized. Source:  Litter (Kilmuckridge) Parish Registers. Co. Wexford

1823 - Rev. Francis Wafer, curate.  Ferns, Co. Wexford.

1836 - Rev. Francis Wafer. Lived. Newtownbarry

1848-64 – Wafer name appears mainly in Co. Wexford.
- Weafer name appears x4 in Co. Wexford and x1 in Dublin.

1866 - Rev. Francis Wafer died (Marshalstown?).  Source: History of the Diocese of Ferns. W.H. Grattan Flood. Waterford, 1916.

Note on terms:

" Old Latin Deeds In The Library of Trinity College—II." Hermathena No. 67  (May, 1946). pg. 2.

It is very doubtful there will be a record uncovered that states exactly where in Ireland the immigrant to America, Francis Wafer, came from.  Based upon the information provided to his grandson and the information from the above chronology,  I believe Francis was living in the Gory area of County Wexford when he left his father's farm and sailed to America.