Family of John + HARRINGTON and Mary + ROGERS

Husband:	John + HARRINGTON (1560-1612)
Wife:	Mary + ROGERS (1565-1634)
Children:	Frances HARRINGTON (1584- )
	Henry HARRINGTON (1591- )
	Helena HARRINGTON (1591- )
	Edward HARRINGTON (1593- )
	John + HARRINGTON (1595-1630)
	Mary HARRINGTON (1600- )
	Hannah HARRINGTON (1601- )
	Robert HARRINGTON (1602- )
Marriage	6 Sep 1583	Somerset, England1,2

Husband: John + HARRINGTON

Wife: Mary + ROGERS

Child 1: Frances HARRINGTON

Name:	Frances HARRINGTON
Sex:	Female
Birth	1584

Child 2: Henry HARRINGTON

Name:	Henry HARRINGTON
Sex:	Male
Birth	1591

Child 3: Helena HARRINGTON

Name:	Helena HARRINGTON
Sex:	Female
Birth	1591

Child 4: Edward HARRINGTON

Name:	Edward HARRINGTON
Sex:	Male
Birth	1593

Child 5: John + HARRINGTON

Name:	John + HARRINGTON
Sex:	Male
Spouse:	Ann + CLINTON (1596-1632)
Birth	1595	Bath, Somerset, England
Death	1630 (age 34-35)	Watertown, Middlesex, MA, US

Child 6: Mary HARRINGTON

Name:	Mary HARRINGTON
Sex:	Female
Birth	1600

Child 7: Hannah HARRINGTON

Name:	Hannah HARRINGTON
Sex:	Female
Birth	1601

Child 8: Robert HARRINGTON

Name:	Robert HARRINGTON
Sex:	Male
Birth	1602

Note on Husband: John + HARRINGTON

He was a courtier, author and master of art, popularly known as the inventor of the flush toilet. He became a prominent member of Queen Elizabeth I's court, and was known as her 'saucy Godson'. But because of his poetry and other writings, he fell in and out of favour with the Queen. The work for which he is best known today, A New Discourse of a Stale Subject, called the Metamorphosis of Ajax (1596) is a political allegory and a coded attack on the monarchy. His New Discourse described a forerunner to the modern flush toilet that was installed at his house at Kelston. He had the honour of being accepted as a godson of the childless Queen, becoming one of her 102 godchildren. He was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge. Although he had studied the law, Harington was attracted early in life to the royal court, where his freespoken attitude and poetry gained Elizabeth's attention. The Queen encouraged his writing, but Harington was inclined to overstep the mark in his somewhat Rabelaisian and occasionally risqué pieces. Angered by the raciness of his translations the Queen told Harington that he was to leave and not return until he had translated the entire poem. She chose this punishment rather than actually banishing him, but she considered the task so difficult that it was assumed he would not bother to comply. Around this time, he also devised Britain's first flushing toilet – called the Ajax (i.e. "a jakes"; jakes being an old slang word for toilet) – installed at his manor in Kelston, and which was reputed to have been current with the queen herself. The forerunner to the modern flush toilet had a flush valve to let water out of the tank, and a wash-down design to empty the bowl. "The Ajax" was not taken up on a wide scale in England, but was adopted in France under the name Angrez. In 1599 the queen sent an army, led by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, to Ireland during the Nine Years War (1595–1603). Following her strong recommendation that Essex include him in his army, he was put in command of horsemen under Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton. During the campaign Essex conferred a knighthood on him for his services. After the queen's death, his fortunes faltered at the court of the new King, James I. Towards the end of his life, Sir John Harington became the tutor to Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales.

Family links:

Parents:

John Harington (1525 - 1582)

Isabella Markham Harington (1527 - 1579)

Spouse:

Mary Elizabeth Rogers Harington (1565 - 1634)*

*Calculated relationship

Burial:

St. Nicholas Churchyard

Kelston

Somerset, England⁴

Sources

1	"US and International Marriage Records, 1550-1900" (on-line, Yates Publishing, Provo, UT).

2	"Somerset England Extracted Parish Records".

3	"London England - Baptisms Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812".

4	"Find a Grave".