( Notes from “Genealogy of the Bostick Family in America” by Henry Anton Bostick:
Taken at Congressional Library).
“The name Bostick, Bostock, Bostwick is of pure Saxon origin and is traced to the time of Edward
the Confessor, who preceded Harold, the last of the Saxon kings on the throne of England. The name
has undergone many changes since it was transplanted into the new world; the records at Stratford,
Conn. In deeds and records and at Southampton, Long Island, N.Y. it is spelled Bostook; in the
second generation, Bostick and not until the third did the full fledged Bostwick creep in. It is
certain the family came from Cheshire County England, where the family lived for centures.
“Camden (Candem’s Britanica, Vol. III, page 44 as to 1806, speaking of Middlewick) says “Whence
the Dan runs to Bostocke, anciently Bosestoc, the ancient seat of the family of the Botestocks,
and which by marriage with Ann only daughter of Ralph, son and heir of the same Adam de Bostock
Knight, came together with a fine estate to John Savage”.
The name was written Botestock in the great Doomsday Book compiled by the order of William the
Conqueror, and it was not until after that time that it was spelled Bostock as it is now in
England”.
In the Doomsday Book 1080 A.D. appears:
“The same Rickard holds Botestock----Osmer held it; there one hide paid gold (the hide is supposed to mean
120 acres), there is land for two plows. They are there with three Radimen, two servants, two acres of
meadow land and two acres of wood. In the reign of King Edward it was worth three shillings. (N.B.) Now
ten shillings. (N.B.) He found it waste land. (Money is estimated at 30 time its present value”).
“ The Bostock-Bostick Arms:
Shield sable with silver band (a fess) not reaching the edge of the shield (Humetee). Helmet in metal.
Crest on a stump growing (unknown 9 letter word) and uprooted, in silver,—a boar’s head in sable,
“muzzled in gold”.
Motto– Semper Presto Servire. (“Always ready to Serve”).
The ancient line runs:
1. Osmer, founder of the family, owner of Siprock, Bavenham, Audlem and Crowe all in Cester or Cheshire
County, England; entered in the Doomsday Book as having held these places at the time of the Conquest
by William the Conqueror.
2. Hugh de Botestoc
3. Richard de Botestoc;
4. Roger de Botestock;
5. Sir Gilbert de Botestoc (Cheshire Visitations 1580) (or Sir Adam)
(Ormond’s History of Cheshire, Edited 1882)
6. Willam or Ranulf de Bostock married Margaret, daughter of Warren Vernon, Baron of Shipbrook.
7. Sir Warine de Bostock (Botestock) married Lady Hawise, or Hawissa, Countess of Lincoln in her own
right, widow of Sir Robert de Quincey, son of Saire de Quincey. She was the daughter of Hugh le Meschines
de Kyvelieck, 5th. Earl Palatine of Chester. She was the sister of Lady Mable le Meschines, who was the
wife of William de Albini, and who was known as Mable, the Lady of the Magna Charta, because the ball was
held at her castle after the document was signed.
Another sister was Lady Maud le Meschines who married David, Earl of Huntington, Crusader to the
Holy Land, ancestor of King Robert the Bruce of Scotland; Also sister of Lady Alice le Meschines who
married the Earl of Derby, William le Ferrers. English historians say that these sisters of Lady Mable
le Meschines, Countess of Albini were at the castle and aided her in serving the MagnaCharta Barons at
the grand ball.
The lineage of Hawise le Mechines:
Robert de Beaumont(Bellomont) Earl of Leicestor and Lord, Justice of England 1165, married Amicia,
Daughter of Ralph, Earl of Norfolk;
Robert Blanchmain, 3rd. Earl of Leicester, married Lady Petronella de Grentsmaisnil, (See Dictionary
of National Biography, Vol. 4. Pages 66-67.)
Amicia de Beaumont, daughter of Robert Blanchmain, married Simon de Montfort III. Count of Evereaux,
Normandy, born 1240, died 1271.
Bertrade de Montfort married Hugh de Kyveliock: Hawise married Warine de Botestoc or Bostock.
Arthur Bostock baptized at Davenham Cheshire England, March 18, 1559, buried at Banbury Cheshire,
England July 4, 1632. Married at Davenham Cheshire, Jan. 16, 1605 or 1604. Ellen Dennis.
Children, Arthur, Richard and William who came to America ca. 1640 or earlier. Referances: Records
in British Museum; Ormond’s History of Cheshire; Visitations of Cheshire 1580. Church Registers in
Cheshire England and Court records in America.
Mr. F. Leake Baldwin, descendant of Mary Bostick, of Los Angeles, writes;
(V. McArthur corresponds with Mr. Baldwin.)
“The Goochland County Virginia Bostick family of which you write has had very little information concerning
them, as yet discovered. Briefly my tabulations of them starts with the mention of William Bostick,
descendent of Osmer de Botestock, who was the son of rthur Bostock of Tarporl, Cheshire England. However,
although something lacking in authenticity, as to identification, in Goochland County, Virginia.
Beed Bock No. 3, page 311 gives a deposition of one William Bostick. Arnold, June 16, 1740; setting
forth the fact that William Bostick made a will on December 13. Last---- leaving an estate to his son
Charles, his sone John, his son William and his daughter Mary Harris” etc. Whether there were other
children may be determined later.
The son John Bostick, married Nancy Wilson, a cousin of Gov. Wilson Lumpkin and of the same line as Woodrow
Wilson. This John Bostick and Nancy Wilson had a son, John Jr. who married Elizabeth Chesley of Virgiia and
removed to North Carolina and later to Georgia, There was war service on the part of John Bostick, Jr. and
his three sons, Chesley, Nathaniel, and Littleberry Bostick. The other two sons of this John Bostick were
William and Absolom Bostick who went to Tennesee and South Carolina. The daughters married a Stone, a
Corbett, a Hatcher and a Guyton”.
In the Covington Georgia News, an article by Fitzhugh Lee, genealogist for the column, states that:
“In 1790, according to the first census of the Untied States in the Ninety-six District Edgefield, County,
S.C., John Bostick, Senior, John Bostick Junior, Stephen Bostwick and Talliaferro Bostick were living with
their families and some property”.
“Chesley Bostick born in Virginia (Goochland County or Henrico County) in 1740, settled in S. Paul’s Parish Georgia,
(now Richmond County, with chief city Augusta) in 1763; and received from the Colony of Georgia land grants in the
Parish of St. Paul and in Augusta Georgia in 1765. He was appointed Captain of the Seventh Company of Georgia
Troops at a Convention meeting in Savannah July 4, 1775; the Captain of the First Georgia Troops on Jan. 7, 1776.
He was taken prisoner at Savannah, GA. Oct. 18, 1779. He served over three years as a commissioned officer in the
American Revolutionary War. He was living with his wife and family at Augusta in 1776.”
It is said that when Mrs. John Bostick Jr. came to Augusta she was called “Lady Bostick”.