Last updated on October 14, 2006
Forgive my recent lack of updates. School is back in session, and I found that once again, my genealogical interests had to take a back burner to career and family. Ever since I began teaching, I have found my summers to be a mad pursuit of my family tree, while the rest of the year keeps me too busy to do much research. I never totally stop or drop it altogether, but I just can’t devote as much time to it as I do during the summer. It was, for example, the summer after my first or second year teaching that I discovered I had some Scottish ancestry and devoted a lot of time and energy into uncovering different Scottish clans and celebrated all those famous ancestors I found in my tree.
I was spurred into new explorations by a comment I received from Glenn Hill on Penelope Who? — a post in which I explored the three most popular theories as to the family of origin of the wife of Captain Christopher Clark. For what it’s worth, I’m not sure I make this clear in the post I wrote, but I lean toward “Johnson” as her surname, though I admit to a curiosity about the large number of males with the given name “Bolling” in the family.
Glenn’s comment was really more of a question: had I any knowledge of Jewish connections in the family? He had heard Isabella Hart and Mark Anthony (my 8th great-grandparents, and his ancestors, too) were both Jewish. I had actually never heard this before, and I was intrigued. I teach at a Jewish high school and have a great deal of interest in Judaism as a result.
My first thought, of course, was skepticism, as I had not heard of a Jewish connection before, but I have also learned enough about genealogy to know that stories come from somewhere, and I check out new leads in the interest of being thorough. My first thought was to try Google. I did indeed find a reference (scroll down to Thomas Cooper) to Isabella Hart hailing from a Jewish trading family. The same website indicated that Mark Anthony was a Marrano. However, the website drew other conclusions about which I was skeptical — namely that Penelope was a “Bolling,” which seemed to me to be the least likely conclusion based on evidence available, excepting the preponderance of males named “Bolling” in the family in succeeding generations. Therefore, my second thought was to run it by a genealogist whom I trusted: Linda Sparks Starr. Linda is the webmaster of Colonial Virginia Connections, a site dedicated to researching the Clark/Moorman lines and allied families (including Anthony). I have learned to trust the conclusions of many contributors to her site, as they are usually more dedicated to finding evidence for conclusions than to fleshing out their family trees. Linda directed me to Arlene Anthony’s articles on her site.
Before I delve into Arlene’s conclusions, I want to back up and recount the “traditional” narrative regarding Mark Anthony’s background. There are several versions of this story that vary in the details, but this version is the one passed down into the Georgia line of the Anthony family. Marcus Antony was purportedly a merchant in Genoa, Italy. He moved to Holland in the 1600’s. When his son, later known as Mark Anthony, was old enough to leave home, it was Marcus Antony’s desire that he be educated in Italy. Apparently, Mark Anthony had other ideas and decided to run away to sea. His ship was waylaid by Barbary pirates, who kidnapped Mark Anthony and sold him into slavery in Algiers.
Mark Anthony was made to cut wood in a forest — and though I’ve never seen Algiers, I was rather under the impression it was skimpy on “forest” land. My conclusion is that either this bit of the story never happened or else it didn’t happen in Algiers. At any rate, Mark Anthony and his traveling companion, who had also been kidnapped, grabbed their moment and bashed in the head of either their guard or their master, depending on the version of the story, and escaped in a conveniently hidden boat. A British ship bound for Virginia found the two companions in their little boat and rescued them, selling them as indentured servants to pay for their voyage to America.
Nancy Vashti Anthony Jacob recounts a version of this story in her book Anthony Roots and Branches. I don’t have a copy of this book and haven’t been able to find one, but I am ever on the look out — I do know a couple of libraries within a two-hour drive from me have the book, but here we run into the fact that I have almost no time to do this sort of scouting around.
This story makes for a rollicking good read, but one must admit it sounds fanciful in the extreme. Arlene Anthony mentions in her narrative on Linda’s site that she, too had heard this tale and doubted its veracity. Arlene does not believe the family is of Italian origin, but hails from the Exeter or London Anthony clans.
I must admit to being more confused after reading Arlene’s narrative than I was before I started, and perhaps one day I’ll make a project of trying to figure it all out, but for right now, the most important information, at least to Mark Anthony descendants, is Arlene’s conclusion that the family “lived in the Low Countries (Holland, Belgium, Germany) from at least 1450 on, with several [branches of the family] emigrating to England.” Furthermore, Arlene believes that
[T]hey were probably from the Iberian countries prior to this, some possibly from Italy. They came to England for several reasons: religious … seeking freedom as evidenced in some very early wills … business … (they were part of a contract labor package negotiated by the Crown and a German company, formed to run the Royal Mint when it was consolidated into the Tower — I spent an afternoon with the Head Archivist and Librarian at the Tower of London, who was a wealth of information) and as businessmen, expanding their markets to England. The Anthony family became important about 1525 to the Royal family in several areas.
Arlene later discusses several individuals in the Anthony family who were involved in goldsmithery, quack medicine, and possibly alchemy. In an examination of the London Anthonys, Arlene found a Derrick Anthony, who was born in 1522 and apprenticed to a goldsmith at the age of 13. He travelled to Portugal, then the center of gold artisans, to learn filigree. He returned to England and was made Chief Engraver to the mint. His denization papers describe him as “dark, dirty, and Egyptian.” Arlene made enquiries, and according her findings, “the best authorities I can find tell me that this means he is either of Romany or Sephardic Jewish background.” By the way, the Roma people were commonly referred to as “gypsies,” and Sephardic Jews mostly came from the Iberian peninsula — many of them became Marranos during the Spanish Inquisition. This, then, may be the origin of Glenn’s information that Mark Anthony was a Marrano. As Arlene explains, many Marranos came to the Low Countries during the Spanish Inquisition (which fits with her dates), then later to England when Spain conquered the Lowlands.
The Exeter Anthony line begins with John Anthony, a wealthy merchant who owned the Red Lion, a galleon, among other ships. He was apparently a supporter of Oliver Cromwell. The bit I found most intriguing is that John Anthony’s son Edward, a famous goldsmith, apparently had a son named Mark, an apprenticed haberdasher, who went to Holland with his master, John Parker’s son, also named Mark (Parker). The goldsmithing connection is interesting. I have not read over Arlene’s notes to see if she made a definite connection between the Exeter Anthonys and the London Anthonys.
As I noted, however, Arlene has not pinpointed a definite connection from Mark Anthony to either the Exeter or London Anthonys, but does speculate that either family is most likely his family of origin. However, in reading of the London Anthonys, I was struck by Arlene’s description of several Anthony lines, all connected, involved in privateering. Also, Arlene found a book in her travels to London entitled Ebenezer, or the Tender Mercies of God, by William Oakley. In it, Oakley recounts being kidnapped off the coast of Land’s End, Cornwall by Corsairs and enslaved in Algeria. While in Algiers, Oakley met a man named John Anthony who was also enslaved. Along with several other men, William Oakley and John Anthony built a boat and managed to make it to Majorca. Sound familiar? This, of course, may be the origin of the pirate stories in Mark Anthony’s background. I should note that Mark’s sons (I am not sure if this is documented or not) were John and Joseph.
Arlene clearly believed that Mark “made up” the story about being kidnapped by pirates, but as you can see, it appears to have originated somewhere. In Arlene’s words, “But why all the fancy stories? Hiding something??? I don’t know, but I certainly want to know.”
Me too, Arlene.
I think it is certainly logical to assume that if Mark Anthony was a Marrano, he would hide his background, perhaps making up elaborate stories or even placing himself in events that happened to relatives, distant or close. As to his wife, Isabella Hart, aside from the fact that Hart is, indeed, the surname of some Jewish families and that Isabella’s mother was named Susannah Rush, also a Jewish given name and sometimes surname, it is not entirely improbable. Glenn is checking on her origins and has stated he will let me know his findings.
For now this will have to remain an intriguing research question — do I (and Glenn, and myriad other folks who descend from this line) have Jewish ancestry as recently as the 18th century?
I descend from Mark Anthony and Isabella Hart through two lines (my 4th great-grandparents were second cousins):
Dana Michelle Swier
+ Patti Jo Cunningham
++ Udell Oliver Cunningham
+++ Herman Cunningham
++++ Amos Blakey Cunningham
+++++ Mary Ann Penelope Anthony
As Mary Ann Penelope Anthony’s parents were second cousins, I will trace first her father, then her mother to Mark Anthony and Isabella Hart:
++++++ Matthew Jouett Williams Anthony
+++++++ Micajah Anthony
++++++++ Joseph Anthony (Jr.)
+++++++++ Joseph Anthony
++++++++++ Mark Anthony and Isabella Hart
++++++ Ann Blakey Roberts
+++++++ Elizabeth Blakey
++++++++ Agnes Anthony
+++++++++ Joseph Anthony
++++++++++ Mark Anthony and Isabella Hart
Hi there
Well I just got an research request into the Jewish Archives in Richmond VA, to see if there really is proof of Isabella Hart being recorded as Jewish. I get one hour free, and then it is $25 per hour. I want to track this one down for sure, if possible. Donald Yates told me that he received confirmation of this info from these archives, but could not give me details, so I am not sure if his info was correct.
The next question if this one is a positive, will be to see if the children continued to be openly Jewish, and if then my direct female ancestor on this line, Mary Menges Anthony was openly Jewish, or Quaker ! If she was openly Jewish, that makes me officially Jewish , what fun !
I have looked at the Anthony Y-DNA project, at FamilyTreeDNA, and they are trying to make the connection between the RI Anthony`s and the Virginia ones, which if they connect, will take us back to the Mad Doctor Anthony and his family , in London. So far they have only 5 Anthony males in the study, and they need many more to get an accurate idea of a link for sure.
So, another question on Isabella Hart`s parents?? Who would be likely to have been her Mother, if not Suzanna Rush ?
Glenn Hill
Hi Dana
I was just contacted by a fellow decedents of Mark Anthony , Lyn Overton, who wrote that there is now a fr sure connection between Mark Anthony an and the RI Anthony’s Derrick Anthony of London.
This is what she wrote: Hello Glenn
I hope this email is still active and that you are well. I have had some physical problems but I’m still upright and as irascible as ever.
I do have some news on the Anthony connection. I was going through some old papers and ran across this data from 2015. I realized I had never informed you about it.
I made contact with a man from Texas on Gedmatch.com. We both had Anthony connections and a DNA match. He managed to triangulate the DNA to verify that the Rhode Island and the Virginia branches of the American Anthony families do come from the same DNA tree. The Rhode Island line is verified back to Derrick Anthony in London by genealogy track. This means that our Mark Anthony was related in some way to Derrick Anthony. The connection is still unknown, but at least we can be certain that Mark was from the same Anthony group. By looking at some of the side children and grandchildren I suspect that Edward Anthony comes into play somehow, since he seems to have been a banker in Italy. There is no record of Edward having a child or grandchild named Mark, but it seems the most likely because of the ‘legends’ about Genoa, etc.
I could send you copies of the correspondence if you want to see it. Just give me your mailing address and I will send what I have.
Lyn Overton”
I will receive hard copy of this info, and will let you know more.
Glenn
somebody needs to call me at 7032553848. i am a descendant of joseph. mindfull of arlene’s hints about possible judaism, i began researching this. i was also prompted to do so by a weird experience i had while visiting venice some years ago when i had the most incredible sense of deja vu. my daughter was attending the Wake Forest study program there and i fell into conversation with one of her professors ., dr. shaul bassi, a prominent jewish scholar. he told me the whole thing reminded him of some info he had. based on info he gave me, i believe the anthonys descended from the Mendes family, Sephardic jews of Venice.They fled Portugal for Venice and later moved on toEngland. call if interested. i am crippled due to stroke and email is very hard for me.
[…] Speculation about who Mark Anthony might have been is more abundant than actual evidence. Certainly, he was the progenitor of a family of colorful characters with a love for a good yarn. You can read more about my own speculations as to his background and you can read those of Arlene Anthony at Colonial Virginia Connections. […]
Hi Dana
I did get a reply from the Virginia Temple archives. They had no record of Isabella Hart being Jewish. But they said that any record of her would pre-date the founding of the Temple, and so this dose not prove she was not of Jewish ancestry.
Glenn
ttp://www.santhony.com/AnthonyR&B/arb1.pdf
http://www.santhony.com/AnthonyR&B/arb2.pdf
http://www.santhony.com/AnthonyR&B/arb3.pdf
http://www.santhony.com/AnthonyR&B/arb4.pdf
http://www.santhony.com/AnthonyR&B/arb9.pdf
This is at least part of the book you were looking for.
Hi Dana
I just ordered a copy of “Four and Twenty Fiddlers” which recounts the story of the secret Jewish musicians in the court of Henry VIII. These musicians included several + Anthony`s, including a couple of Mark`s and John`s. When I get through it I will tell you which ones might connect with the ones that Arlene researched in her travels.
The author of this book was able to fill in a lot of information about where they came from, and their descendants.
If we find a genetic connection with the R.I. Anthony`s, ( Mad Doc Anthony`s family ), then indeed our family may in turn connect with the Anthony’s in this research. And they may still be connected, even if the R.I. Anthonys are a more distant part of the family.
I will let you know what I find out !
Glenn Hill
I see that the Clayton Genealogical Library in Houston has two copies of Anthony Roots and Branches by Nancy Jacobs. I must admit I haven’t been down to look at them yet. Norm
Hi… I haven’t touched this subject for many years, as i had several eye problems, however, I just ran into your website. I have an interesting Ancestry column from the Cincinnati Enquirer, (circa 1906) filed away in one of about 30 large cartons of Anthony material, most collected in England , that states that Mark sailed between NJ and VA trading horses and goods in the late 1600s. Check into this with a connection to the Ashfields of NJ and Mark Anthony in England at that period. Arlene
Hi there Dana! And Hello to Arlene Anthony as well !
Arlene, I would love to correspond with you about the Anthony research you have done !!
I found records of an Antonius Mosyes, who entered Cambridge to take Church of England priest orders, about 20 years after the other Antonius Mosyes, ( aka John Anthony the Sackbut player) died in Henry the VIII`s prison. I wonder if it was his son or grandson ?? He was one of the first to do so, after the Catholic Church was shut out of England.
I have been busy finding lots of suspected crypto Jewish families in my ancestry, including the group who apparently knew each other in England, and then settled in Virginia, ( Anthony`s, Clark`s, etc).
I have found the Chandler family who were connected to the Lupo family, ( also musicians in Henry VIII`s court) and I personally believe the the “Widow Lupo ” who married a Chandler, was Elizabeth Bassano. the Bassano and Lupo families were also in the court musicians consort, along with several Anthony`s, in Henry VIII`s court.
An interesting footnote on the Chandlers and the land grants they claimed in Virginia! The land grant given to Elizabeth Lupo and her second husband Chandler, which included the grant she inherited from her deceased Lupo husband, was latter, in the late 1700` or early 1800`s, apparently the beginnings of the first Jewish Cemetery in Virginia. Now the question is if there was a family connection to this cemetary being established, and perhaps that first corner of the cemetery, which was on the Chandler/beupo grant, was where Elizabeth Lupo / Chandler and her husband were buried ? Nice to have the parents or grandparents to be buried in the proper way, even though outwardly the family was Christian ??
I also have found that even if Penelope Johnson is not a Bolling, I still have two other lines of decent from the Bollings & Flemings from Pocahontas. There are some who think that the Bolling name is an English version of a Jewish one, by the way. But this I do not know for sure.
A couple of questions have occurred to me!!
What was the connection to Mark Anthony and the Flemings ? Apparently Mark was indentured to a Fleming ? Was this a friendly arrangement, between folks who knew each other ?
And where did the name Menges come from , as in Mary Menges Anthony ? Menges appears to be a Jewish name, or is in many cases a Jewish one. It would be an interesting middle name for a proper young Quaker woman ?? And I do not think that it is a very usual English name. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? It may be important information for me, as i would like to establish my direct masterliner connection to my Jewish ancestors, in order to be recognized as being Jewish in decent from my Mothers line. Mary Menges is my 5th Grandmother, or just 6 generations back. I also have just four generations back an Elizabeth Gunn, who I also believe to have been from a crypto Jewish family .
Happy Jewish New Year, La`Shanna Tova !
Glenn mtglen@laserharps.com
Hi Dana,
Just wanted to stick in my $.02. Personally, I’ve always believed that the Mark Anthony/captured-by-pirates story was a load of codswallop that has been embellished beyond belief over the years.
Still makes for a good tale though!
Also, Dana, I wanted to say that Isabella Hart’s mother was NOT Susannah Rush. I’ve corresponded with several of her descendants over the last few years and there’s quite a bit of irritation among them that researchers keep trying to shoehorn Isabella into their family when she just doesn’t fit (for one thing, the Susannah Rush and John Hart family always lived in Pennsylvania, never in Virginia where Isabella is said to have been born and raised).
There seems to be a age old argument that Penelope Bolling
was a daughter of John Bolling Pochahantus line.
Extracted from the Barbados Returns Census Tax Records
Barbados Archives,
Ye Inhabitants In Ye Parish Christchurch 1679.
Henry Boling
Francis Clark
Christopher Clark
Roger Clark
Thomas Clark.
1680 Christchurch Parish.
Henry Bouline
Henry Bouline
Edward Clark
Christopher Clark
Francis Clark
Margaret Clark.
1680 St Micheal Parish
Anthony Anthony
Henry Clark
George Clark.
1680 St Phillips Parish.
Thomas Bolling
John Clark
Thomas Clark
1680 St Lucy Parish.
John Bowling
Andrew Clark
William Clarke
Samuel Bollen.
168o
Thomas Leery…
1721 Currituct NC.
Thomas Leery
John Clark
Martin Boling.
1714 NC Beaufort Perquimans Currituct
Marten Boulen
John Clark
John Clark
Pastoquant 1791
Micajah Clark
Hyde NC 1715
John Clark
1719 Currituct
Joseph Bowring
Maten Boling
1718 Currituct
Merten Bowlin
Joseph Bowring.
1717Chown
Thomas Clark.,
For the namimg patterns it shows the children and Grandchildrens names came from these Clarks and Bolling from Barbados to NC to VA.
Bolling Clark a son of Christopher Clark and Penolope Bolling.
Bolling Anthony grandson of Christpher Clark and Penelope Bolling
Anthony Roots and Branches is now on line..just Google it.
Thanks, Alice. Didn’t used to be. I’ll look for it.
The names Lucretia Massey/Massie and Penelope Cooper/Ashley Cooper/Massie have produced the most puzzling thing in my family tree. As to a Jewish connection, I ran across a book. I don’t know how credible it is but it seems to be well researched. You may be interested, especially in these 2 pages. Footnote 8 is a puzzler but I haven’t decided to buy the book yet to see what is there. (This is not the complete book.)
When Scotland was Jewish: . . . , By Elizabeth C. Hirschman, Donald Neal Yates, Google Books. http://books.google.com/books?id=Op3cC6_UNnQC&pg=PA92&dq=Anthony%2BAshley%2BCooper,+Lucretia&hl=en&sa=X&ei=32-aUfzOG4-O9AT1o4CQAQ&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=Anthony%2BAshley%2BCooper%2C%20Lucretia&f=false
Hi Dana !
It has been a few years since I have posted here, and I am still wondering who Mark Anthony really was. Some new questions come to mind to me , to ask.
#1) If he was born in Genoa Italy, did he speak Italian, and if he did not know english, how was he able to communicate with the ship captain who took him to America? Perhaps his fellow captive was English speaking?
#2) On the other hand, if he was a pirate, then how did he end up needing to be sold into indentured slavery, to pay for his passage to Virginia? Maybe it did not pay well enough ?
There were indeed Barbary Coast Pirates operating in the English Channel, and all over the area, capturing anyone they could to enslave them. He also could have , as a hidden Jew, been a Barbary Coast Pirate himself, as there were Jewish Pirates to be sure.
#3) Maybe he is the same person in the book “Ebenezer, or the Tender Mercies of God, by William Oakley. “, John Anthony, rather than Mark Anthony ? But why the tale about being born in Genoa, or being sent to school there ? And if he was actually called John Anthony, does that match up with a son of the Derrick Anthony family from the London Goldsmith family ?
So far I have not see any real information form the Anthony Y-DNA study. The administrator does not reply to emails, and there is no name attached to most of the samples listed, so one can not get any information as to which samples are from the R.I./London Anthony`s, and which are from the Mark Anthony /Virginia line.
I hear you, Glenn. I think he is most likely going to remain a frustrating dead end. For whatever reason, this fanciful story has grown up around him. I think the best we can hope for is that over time, Anthony descendents participate in DNA testing outside of the one you mentioned, such as Ancestry DNA or 23 and Me, and perhaps then we can figure some things out.
29 Dec 2016. I hope this thread is still active. I am an Anthony-Hart descendant. I had occasion to compare notes with another distant family relation based on YDNA comparisons in GEDmatch.com about a year ago. We were looking for connectors in the primary Overton/Howerton family line, since this particular Overton name/branch shifted from Howerton in late 1700s Virginia causing mass confusion in genealogy records. When we finally identified the connector, we noticed that both of us had ancestry in the Anthony line as well. He had more skill than I at retrieving DNA data in GEDmatch and prepared a listing of Anthony DNA relations. I took to the time to identify most of them. The listing included descendants from both the Virginia Anthonys and the Rhode Island Anthonys. The Rhode Island group clearly is documented as descended from Derrick Anthony in London, while the Virginia line of Mark Anthony lacks documented connections. Our DNA connection, however, demonstrates that the Rhode Island line and the Virginia line are related, back to London. If you wish to pursue this further, please contact me. Thanks.
Hello
I came across your post on Dana Huff’s blog regarding the Anthony family genealogy. I am descended from Mark Anthony, via his son Luke who had a daughter Mary who married John Perkins.
I did the Ancestry DNA test, which showed 3% Iberian Peninsula; the website shows the “Iberian” area to extend from the Atlantic to northern Italy and northern Africa. So Mark Anthony’s Genoese origins sound plausible to me.
Also, people travelled a lot more than we tend to give them credit for…
Best regards
P Corbett
28 December 2016. Lyn Overton again. I neglected to mention that I have been receiving DNA match data from from Ancestry DNA and FTDNA, matching me to Hispanic people in New Mexico. My ancestry is almost totally northern European (British-German-Scandinavian). The only way I could have Hispanic relatives is through the presumed Spanish-Jewish ancestry of converso Mary Anthony and Isabella Hart. it seems that many Spanish conversos went to Mexico after the expulsions from Spain in 1492, and then moved northward into what is now New Mexico about 1610. I have at least 10 different surname/DNA connections near Santa Fe (Montoya, Rodrigues, Garcia, etc.).
Hello! That is fantastic!
Can you list here all of these Spanish surnames?
I apparently do not have a close enough connection, being another generation down the line, to show the Hispanic surname matches in my FTDNA and Ancestry matches. Or I had not seen them yet.
But on the other hand, the various DNA tests I have had do show a quite large Sephardic ancestry in my Mother`s family. In addition to Mark Anthony , I have other Sephardic/Jewish ancestors who came from the hidden community in London to settle in early Virginia.
So with the DNA connection now firmly being made to the London Goldsmith Anthony`s line plus cross connections to common Sephardic/Converso Spanish surnames in Mexico/New Mexico, we have a clearer, less muddled picture emerging.
One thing to always remembers about these ancestors, is that much of the time, their very lives depended on keeping their heritage/religious choices secret. So obscuring their true family histories and true names was a very common practice.
One thing that my research has confirmed is a firm and actually deadly link between Gracie De Nazzi/Mendes and the Mendes Family bank, to the group of Jewish origin musicians /instrument builders in the Court of Henry VIII. This link was made clear when in two different places I saw the mention of many of these musicians being arrested as accused secret Jews, and two of them dying in prison, and the arrest and torture of one of the Mendes Family Bank`s agents by the Spanish Inquisition in Milan Italy ( Spain ruled that part of Italy at the time). Apparently the agent named names, including of some of the London Court group. The musicians were released only when the Mendes Bank pressured other crowned heads in Europe, to in turn pressure Henry VIII. This same bank by the way was the source of Henry`s $$.
Hello again
If anyone has more current research or any questions for me, my email is mtglen at laserharps dot com
Feel free to contact me. 🙂
Hello there everyone!
This story of the Anthony clan and “Mysterious Mark ” just keeps getting more interesting all the time! 🙂
I am recently in touch with another cousin Kirk Boydston, who just recently found out he has Mark as an ancestor via Mark’s son Joseph Anthony.
He also has found some very interesting information about Elizabeth Clark, Joseph Anthony’s wife. According to the chart ( assuming this is true) he sent me recently, her is her ancestry going back ( in his chart):
Her Father is Christopher Clark (1680-1754), his mother was Sarah Ann Moorman (1622-1710), her mother was Mary Candler (1635-1670), her mother was Elizabeth Anne Anthony (1612-1654), her father was John Anthony (1585-1655), his father was Dr Francis Anthony (1550-1623), and his father was Derrick Anthony 1522-1599).
Cousin Kirk also descends from two of the families who were recruited to glorify the Court of Henry VIII, from Bertolomeo Tagliaferri (1530-1601) who married Joanne Lanier. The Lanier family were said to be French Huguenots though they intermarried with the Jewish Bassano family quite a bit.
Kirk currently lives and works in Amsterdam, though from California. He is currently researching his Jewish ancestry in preparation for applying for a Portuguese Sephardic ancestry passport. Something that I wish to do as well.
So at this point we have DNA confirmation of Mark Anthony being a member of the Francis Anthony-Derrick Anthony family of confirmed Jewish ancestry. And now with this line of decent, we have (if it can be confirmed) Mark’s son Joseph Anthony marrying his wife Elizabeth Clark, who is a descendant of Derrick Anthony.
We also have the remarkable matches with many Hispanic surnames via the DNA tests of Lyn Overton. Lyn pointed out to me that he is closer to the male Anthony line than I am. I am 7great distant, via an all-female line for Joseph Anthony’s daughter. Lyn is only 3great removed. I have no direct Hispanic surname matches, but I have had a very large matching to general Hispanic DNA in some of the tests I have taken, especially with STR DNA. This was with the company DNA-Tribes, which shut down due to the death of one of their founders.
( The STR data base they used is the same one used by the FBI and INTERPOL to identify unknown persons. It registers more recent ancestry, more accurately than the SNP testing. SNP testing is what Ancestry, FTDNA, 23 and Me and all other companies i know of use. For most of us SNP test results will show a much higher amount of Northern European matches, due to the deeper longer-back-in -time matches of those DNA segments.)
So, now we do know for sure that Mark Anthony was of Jewish, and likely Sephardic Jewish ancestry, with this new information. 🙂
This has been a fascinating journey of guesses, speculation and research! 🙂
If anyone has any thoughts or more information, please post here or /and email me: Glenn Hill mtglen(at)laserharps.com
Does anyone know about George Anthony who was apparently advertising “Scottish” patent medicine during the French Revolution (1790)?
Also Ann and Elizabeth Anthony in the 1760s on in London?