The Burgin - Queeney - Shakespeare Connection


The Immortal Bard    

Rosamond (Rose) Burgin, wife of Phillip, has been the subject of a long-standing error. Many researchers have identified her as Rosamond Sutton, and assumed that she was the daughter of Josiah Sutton, a prominent Kent Court resident. This is a gross misconception brought about by an error in the abstract of her brother's will in Jane Baldwin's Maryland Calendar of Wills, first published in 1906.

The will is listed as that of "Sutton, Queeney, Cecil County" and refers to his wife Joyce and his sister Rose Burgin. With this entry, Baldwin inverted the given name and the surname. Sutton Queeney was a Quaker and his name appears unmistakenly in the monthly meetings of the Cecil County Society of Friends.

Rose and Sutton were the daughter and son of Sutton Queeney, Sr. and His wife Ann Gilbert. Ann Gilbert, was married four times: Robert Smith (1650), John Ayres (1655) Sutton Queeney (1665) and Richard Pullen, before 1675. Based on the "Modified Register for Ann" provided by Mr. Christos Christou, Jr., and she had children by each husband.

The Queeney/Quiney family can be traced back to the beginning of the sixteenth century in Stratford-upon-Avon, where they were closely associated, by friendship and by marriage, with William Shakespeare and his family. The earliest known representative of this family was Adrian Queeney, who married Katherine Sheldon, daughter of Ralph Sheldon. Adrian died before 1534.

Richard Queeney, son of Adrian and Katherine, was born in Stratford-upon-Avon circa 1500-1502 was buried there June 28, 1567. The name of his wife is unknown. His son, Adrian (born 1531) served as constable, chamberlain, alderman, bailiff, and finally head alderman of Stratford-upon-Avon. In his forth-coming book Burgins Back to Devon, Ramond Burgin writes:

"One biographer says that Adrian was a good friend of John Shakespeare (Williams's father) for nearly 50 years. In her classic biography Shakespeare of London Machette Chute says:

Sutton Queeney's father is not proven, but Christos Christou, Jr., (co-author of Vol. 4, Colonial Families of the Eastern Shore of Maryland) and Ramond Burgin strongly feel that he was William Queeney, son of Richard Queeney, Jr. a personal friend of William Shakespeare.

Richard Jr. named his son Thomas to have land in Virginia. Christou found a migration for William and Richard Queeney, but couldn't find that Thomas had emigrated to Va. to claim his land.

The son Thomas actually married Judith Shakespeare in 1616. Judith was the daughter of "The Immortal Bard" William Shakespeare. They named their first child Shakespeare Queeney - - forever joining the two families.

Home