ENO CONNECTIONS

THE ENO FAMILY ASSOCIATION

Join us!

DO YOU HAVE CORRECTIONS OR ADDITIONS FOR THIS SITE OR GREAT STORIES YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE WITH OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS?

LET US KNOW!

WE ESPECIALLY NEED HELP FILLING IN GAPS ON THE GENEALOGY PAGES!

ENO CONNECTIONS

CROWNED HEADS

It's good to pay attention to family folklore because it's always based on at least a few grains of truth somewhere along the line. And for at least 700 years in the Eno family, stories about royal blood have filtered down.

Our 15th century Eno ancestors apparently were prominent merchants and public officials. One of the latter, Jacques Henne (1476-?), seems to have been a royal governor (though hardly royal himself, as far as we know) of the Valenciennes region under King Charles VIII of France. The family at that period must at least have had money, if not big-time connections, but we have no solid information on this -- and certainly none of the money.

Our line, however, is descended from James Eno Jr. (1651-1714) and Abigail Bissell (1661-1728) of Connecticut. We do know about some very impressive links through Abigail, a great-granddaughter of Anne Courtenay (1573-c.1665). The Courtenays are the earls and countesses of Devon to this day. (Devon is one of the devastatingly beautiful counties in the West Country of England.) The Courtenay line is bedight with knights, nobility and fascinating historical connections. They have royal descent through (among other lines) Princess Elizabeth (Plantagenet)(1282-1316), a daughter of King Edward I who married into the De Bohun family -- Courtenay ancestors. All these lines go back quite reliably to people like the Emperor Charlemagne, William the Conqueror and even earlier.

Powderham Castle, Exeter, England, ancestral home of the Courtenay family. Several of our ancestors were born here.

Our ancestors through this line include kings of England Edward I, Henry III and John Lackland (the villain "Prince John" of Robin Hood fame -- actually a far better king in many ways than his brother, the vaunted Richard the Lionheart). Other ancestors are: various kings and queens of England, France, Scotland, Spain and even Russia from the medieval and pre-medieval periods.

You'd never know it from some of our relatives, but we're also descended from a number of medieval saints through the Courtenay line: St. Arnulf, Bishop of Metz; St. Margaret, queen and patroness of Scotland; her son, King St. David of Scotland; Prince St. Vladimir of Kiev (Russia) and several others.

Today, several of us belong to the Courtenay Society, an organization for Courtenay family members and descendants headed by Lord Hugh Courtenay, Earl of Devon. Lord and Lady Devon, our very distant cousins, are honored guests at society gatherings and tours for members, sometimes held at or near their home, Powderham Castle, Exeter.

Much more recently, Alice Labouisse Eno, daughter of early Eno family historian and Princeton University Professor Henry Lane Eno (1871-1928) married Henry Lennox D'Aubigne Hopkinson Lord Colyton, First Baron Colyton. Their son was Nicholas Henry Eno Hopkinson (1932-1991), and his son, Alisdair John Munro Hopkinson Lord Colyton, is our closest living relative in the Peerage of England.

Those of us descended from Luther Eno (1840-1903) and Emeline Trask (1840-1905) have many of the same connections again, through the Trask and Searle lines. That includes a second and third Courtenay link. It also involves a more recent noble connection: Emeline was a great-great-great-great-great-great granddaughter of John Dudley Lord North, earl of Guilford (1582-1665). This line's royal ancestor also is more recent: King Edward III (1312-1377) through his son, Prince John of Gaunt (1340-1399).

Interestingly, King Edward III's queen, and John of Gaunt's mother, was Phillipa of Hainault, daughter of Count William III of Hainault, Holland and Zeeland. Was there an Eno connection to the counts of Hainault? Could be. Anyway, Edward and Philippa enjoyed one of the happiest royal marriages in history. Many of their Eno descendants went downhill from there.

Lest all this go to our heads, many old New England and Virginia families have the same or similar connections. That's because a number of aristocrats fled England for America in the 1640s during the English Civil War, when the monarchy was briefly deposed by Oliver Cromwell, and "went native," as it were.

YES -- THE MAYFLOWER!

While there were no Enos on the Mayflower, descendants of Luther Eno and Emeline Trask Eno can trace maternal lines back through Emeline's mother to Richard Warren, one of the "Pilgrims" who arrived at Plymouth, Mass., aboard the Mayflower. Those descended from DeEarlon Eno and Charlotte Crowell Deming Eno are descended from Mayflower passengers Stephen Hopkins and his son, Giles. Charlotte also traced her line directly back to Governor William Bradford and Elder William Brewster. So that's five Mayflower ancestors they we know about.

BOTH SIDES OF THE TABLE AT THE FIRST THANKSGIVING

Those descended from DeEarlon Eno and Charlotte Crowell Deming Eno are descended, through Charlotte, from the great Wampanoag Indians Wasanegin Massasoit and his son Quadequina, whose daughter Margaret Ouiguina married our ancestor Gabriel Wheldon.

RICH COUSINS

Amos Richards Eno, a 19th century New York real-estate tycoon, and his family never forgot the old home town of Simsbury, Conn. His daughter, Antoinette Eno Wood, donated the Eno Memorial Hall there as a memorial to her parents. Today, Eno Hall is a center of local culture, a polling place and a hub of civic life. Probably because of our ancestor Alven Allen Eno's suspect origins, the upper-crust Simsbury Enos were known in the past to deny being related to us! This is nonsense, and they definitely are no more than fourth or fifth cousins. Hopefully, they've forgotten the whole affair by now. Of course, it was only 200-odd years ago.