John WALLER

Sources:

hffp.FTW

Notes:

                   Note:
Virginia Magazine of History and Biography
Vol. 59 No. 3 (July 1951)
THE POET writes of the happy return of Charles the Second. Hammers resound with the restoration of churches throughout the width and breadth of the land. This England, tired of long years of curfewed nights, tired of wineless dinners, tired of puritanical living, welcomed back the gay and gallant Charles the Second and went about with alacrity to wipe from their lives all trace of Cromwell. England's colonies changed governors and the great upper middle class gave more thought to these colonies, a rich source of revenue and expanseless territory for the settlement of young colonists. Yea More and more thought was given to America. This was England; and her ships plying the seven seas over which she was undisputed mistress.
Lying in the south-centre of this land is Buckinghamshire; adjoining London and bounded on the south by the river Thames. Drained by the Ouse, near the centre of this shrine, referred to as Bucks, lay the Hundred of Newport. Pagnell is nearly in the centre of the Hundred and thus in the heart of England. The great road to Liverpool passes through Pagnell and is in some parts dead flat with hedgerows on either side; though occasional glimpses of the surrounding country-side may be had and a church spire appears between great branches of English oak. The Church of Walton parish, dedicated to St. Michael, was already an old edifice, irregular and consisting of a square tower, a nave and chancel when our story begins. The low ground on which the church stands in this flat country-side causes it to be excessively damp, giving it a sombre air.
So we find Walton, Bucks, England, in 1669. On a winter day of that year - January 13, to be exact - came John Waller and Mistress Mary Pomfrett to Walton, to be married. Of Mary Pomfrett little is known. We learn that William Promfrett A.B. was vicar of Astwood, May 27, 1689 through December 21, 1704; and that Mr. Benjamin Pomfrett, of Newport Pagnell, purchased of Sir William Tyreyham, Knt., the right of advowson; while later, Robert Pomfrett was rector of Emberton from April 30, 1753 until 1804. Apparently John Waller and his wife resided in Newport Pagnell for in the register of that parish we find the births of their numerous children recorded.
The family of Waller is one of the most ancient and distinguished among English ancestry. There is an unbroken male line from William the Conqueror's time down to the present time. An English genealogist claims to have traced the name back to the sixth century.
The English speaking branch of the Waller's was founded by two brothers, John Henry David de Waller and Alfred de Waller, Norman's, who came into England with William the Conqueror the year 1066 and fought with him at Hastings. John Henry David Waller was given lands in Nottingham County; Alfred in the county of Kent. The American Branch traces descent from Alfred de Waller, of Kent, who died in 1083 (Domesday Book)
Mary probably came to Virginia after the death of her husband and lived with either her daughter Mary, 1st Lady of VA of son, Col. John Waller.