Plantagenet Ancestry of Edward Rainsford (1609-1680) of Boston, Massachusetts

The Plantagenet Ancestry of Edward Rainsford (1609-1680) of Boston, Massachusetts (ancestor of Sarah Heath Palin)

1. Henry III, King of England († 1272) ∞ Eleanor of Provence († 1291)
2. Edmund, Earl of Lancaster († 1296) ∞ Blanche of Artois († 1302), niece of Saint Louis
3. Henry, Earl of Lancaster († 1345) ∞ Maud de Chaworth († 1322)
4. Eleanor of Lancaster († 1372) ∞ John de Beaumont, 2d Baron Beaumont, Earl of Buchan († 1342)
5. Henry de Beaumont, 3d Baron Beaumont († 1369) ∞ Margaret de Vere († 1398)
6. John de Beaumont, 4th Baron Beaumont († 1396) ∞ Katherine Everingham († 1426)
7. Elizabeth Beaumont († 1488) ∞ William Botreaux, 3d Baron Botreaux († 1462)
8. Margaret Botreaux († 1467) ∞ Robert Hungerford, 2d Baron Hungerford († 1459)
9. Eleanor Hungerford ∞ John White, gent., of Farnham, Surrey (†1469)
10. Robert White (1456-1512) ∞ Margaret Gainsford
11. Margaret White ∞ John Kirton, Esq. († 1529), of Edmonton, Middlesex
12. Stephen Kirton († 1553) ∞ Margaret Offley (†1573)
13. Thomas Kirton (†1601) ∞ Mary Sadler
14. Mary Kirton ∞ Robert Raynsford, Esq. (1567-1629), of Staverton, Northants. 15. Edward Raynsford of Boston (1609-80) ∞ Elizabeth ( - )

Sources:First published in 1934 by Frank Allaben, this line was impugned as unsubstantiated by James A. Rasmussen,"Edward Raynsford of Boston: English Ancestry and American Descendants," NEHGR 139 (1985), 225-38, 296-315 (at 228); but it has subsequently been fleshed out and defended by Douglas Richardson, "Plantagenet Ancestry of Edward Rainsford (1609-1680) of Boston, Massachusetts," NEHGR 154 (2000), 219-26, and appears in Faris, Plantagenet Ancestry of Seventeenth-Century Colonists, 2d ed. (Boston, 1999). Alternate but problematic royal ancestry through earlier connections of the Raynsford family appears in the first edition of Roberts, Royal Descents (1993).