Ancestors

John Conant

John Conant lived in the parish of East Budleigh, in Devon, near the mouth of the river Otter. He was probably born about 1520 at Gittisham, a small parish on the Otter between Honiton and Ottery St. Mary, about ten miles to the north-east. A life of his great-grandson, Dr. John Conant of Oxford, written about 1700, says that the East Budleigh Conants were "descended from ingenuous parents of Gittisham, near Honiton, whose ancestors for many generations had been fixed here but were originally of French extraction."

In 1571 he was assessed in the subsidy at East Budleigh on goods worth four pounds a year. A subsidy was a tax granted by Parliament and levied on a man's goods or lands. He was still taxed there in 1581. By 1588 the tax was paid by his son Richard, so the property had probably passed to the son between those years.

In 1577 John Conant and Edmond ffowler were the churchwardens of East Budleigh. Churchwardens kept the parish church of All Saints in repair, managed its money and answered to the bishop for the parish. Sir Walter Ralegh had been born at Hayes in the same parish, and Ralegh's father had served as churchwarden in 1561.

In February 1578 his son Richard married Agnes Clarke at Colyton. The Colyton clerk wrote the groom down as "Rychard Counnett, the sonne of John Counnett, of Easte Budleye." That entry is the only record that names John as Richard's father.

John Conant was buried at East Budleigh on 30 March 1596. His wife's name is not known. Many early Conant wills proved at Exeter were lost, and his parents cannot be proved. The Conant genealogy of 1887 thought him a son of the John Conant buried at Gittisham on 4 September 1559, or of the John Conant of Gittisham whose will, dated 21 June and proved 20 September 1586, named sons Nicholas, John and Matthew and a wife Marie.

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Cite: Heirology, "John Conant (1520-1596)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/john-conant-1520-1596-8eaaa3.