* I have estimated the birth dates for Thomas and his predecessors based on their being at least 20 years old before they had children. Even with such a short generation time, it is difficult to fit them all in. It is therefore questionable how accurate the information is about the early Newmans that has been passed down to me. Since then, however, Jerry Gandolfo has produced a literal translation of the Latin inscription in Fifehead church which indicates that Thomas was 80 when he died. This puts his birth around 1522, which throws into serious question the dates of the Newman ancestors preceding him.

Notes:

(1) The inscription on the memorial in Fifehead chapel (see below) gives the date of Thomas's death as 1649, which agrees with the text which states that he was over 80 years of age. However the date given in my father's records is 21 Oct 1602, which almost certainly comes from the Latin text on the memorial as recorded in John Hutchin's History of Dorest p58 which incorrectly states the date of Thomas's death as MDCII = 1602.

photo by Chris Newman Oct 2004

The Latin inscription below left is taken from John Hutchin's History of Dorset while the 'verbatim' translation was kindly given to me by Jerry Gandolfo.
* Note - John Hutchin's History of Dorset (page 58) incorrectly shows the date on the inscription as MDCII = 1602]

The Latin inscription on the left (above) is taken from the photograph above while the 'verbatim' translation was kindly given to me by Jerry Gandolfo]

  (2) Thomas Newman: According to Campbell Newman, "On 30th October 1635, Thomas Newman of Fifehead, scholar of Pembroke College Oxford aged 15 years, matriculated with his younger brother Richard. He died unmarried in 1664, the same year as his father, leaving his estates to Colonel Richard Newman". This however tends to belie the inscription on his brother Richard's memorial at Fifehead which states that Thomas's "son, Thomas, (was) taken away in the prime of life by an attack of fever". Since Thomas (the elder son) must have been born before 1584, he would have been long past the prime of life if he had died in 1668 (84 years later).

Tony Newman suggests in his article in the Newman Chronicle of April 1998 that the Thomas Newman buried near the entrance gate to the Fifehead Magdalen churchyard was this eldest son of Thomas Newman. The size of the gravestone certainly suggests that he was a man of means when he died.

(3) Robert Newman: Raymond Mercier has kindly sent me a copy of Robert Newman's will along with many others which I have not yet appended to this website (refer email dated 7 Jan 2004). Raymond believes that Robert was an older brother of Richard, but has no birth date for him.

(4) John Newman: As for Robert above, Raymond Mercier has sent me a copy of John Newman's will which I have not yet appended to the website. Raymond adds a note in his 7th Jan 2004 email saying that "John's (will) is interesting in that it refers to a Cottage in Evercreech parish that he passes on to his grandson William. According to FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org) John was married to Margaret Conquest , but no children are indicated. At least I assume that John was one of the brothers - but this supported by the names of his parents Thomas N & Ellen or Ellin Mayo, which are given on that site." I don't know if John was older or younger than Richard.