John Okey - 1606

John Okey

9th great grandfather

John Okey- 1606

John Okey- 1640

Jeremiah Okey - 1672

Thomas Leven Okey - 1721

Leven Okey- 1760

John Woodman Okey- 1792

Hannah Okey- 1819

Edward Brown- 1838

John Waggonfield Brown- 1860

Ira Edward Brown- 1894

Elisha Kane Brown- 1921

Kathleen Elizabeth Brown Hill- 1947

John Okey (1606–1662) was an English soldier, member of Parliament, and one of the regicides of King Charles I.

Early life and military career

John Okey was born in 1606 as the sixth child to William Okey and his wife, Margaret Whetherly, of St Giles-in-the-Fields in London. Okey was baptized in St Giles-in-the-Fields on 24 August 1606. Okey came from a prominent family which had property in London as well as a coat of arms.

On 21 January 1630, John Okey married Susanna Pearson. Okey became a proprietor of a ships' chandler's business by 1640. Okey's first wife, Susanna, died and he later remarried to Mary Blackwell in 1658.

Before the start of the Civil War, Okey served as a brewery stoker. When the Civil War started, Okey enlisted in the Earl of Essex's Parliamentary army. Okey then became one of several "humble" men who advanced to positions of higher rank and position when the Civil War began. Okey first began as a quartermaster and then advanced in rank becoming a captain of horse. He rose yet further by becoming a major in Arthur Hesilrige's regiment. When the New Model Army was formed in 1645, John Okey was appointed colonel of a dragoon regiment. Later the same year, Okey saved John Butler's cavalry regiment when they were extremely close to being defeated by Prince Rupert's cavalry. In 1645, Okey fought at Burroughbridge and at Bath in Somerset. Okey was captured by the royalist garrison at the siege of Bristol, but was soon released after the city surrendered.

An upsurge of political activism began after the victory in the first civil war. Okey's regiment was not noticeably radical. Increased political activism did, however, give rise to agitation in June 1647. In December of 1647, a loyal address was presented to the commander of the New Model Army, Thomas Fairfax, by many of the troops. Okey’s regiment later served in the second civil war in South Wales in 1648. The same year, Okey also brought his regiment to fight in the battle of St. Fagans as well as at the siege of Pembroke Castle.

Involvement in the trial and execution of Charles I

In 1648, Okey was appointed a commissioner to the High Court of Justice after the king was declared as having “traitorously and maliciously levied war against the present parliament and the people therein represented” and set to stand trial. Okey was one of 135 men who were selected and appointed by “An Act of the Commons Assembled in Parliament.” Okey, along with about 80 others (all of whom were at risk of being labeled as regicides), was actively involved in the case and was present for most of the court’s sittings. Moreover, Okey was included among those who signed the king’s death warrant, and was also charged with upholding the validity of the actions surrounding the execution of Charles I.

Religious radicalism

John Okey was considered a religious radical, and practised as both a Baptist and a Congregationalist. This outlook affected his military career, and he wrote following his own involvement in the battle of Naseby that the parliamentarians:

"...should magnifie the name of our God that did remember a poore handfull of dispised men, whom they had thought to have swallowed up before them."

In February of 1652, after Okey’s return to England following a military excursion in Scotland, Okey filed a petition to parliament regarding a number of religious reforms as a means of spreading the Gospel and reforming what he considered to be a flawed parochial ministry. There is also some evidence to suggest that Okey was involved in the creation of John Bunyan’s Baptist church in Bedford in 1653.

Following his prosecution as a regicide, Okey was quoted as stating that his actions and strong commitment to Congregationalism was “for righteousness and for justice and for the advancement of a godly magistracy and a godly ministry.”

Petition of the three colonels

In 1654, Okey signed the petition of the three colonels along with colonels Thomas Saunders, and Matthew Alured which criticised Oliver Cromwell and the Protectorate. It was unsuccessful and although only Alured was imprisoned, all three were cashiered from the New Model Army.

Arrest and execution

As part of the political compromise that allowed for the restoration of the monarchy at the end of the interregnum, Parliament passed the Act of Free and General Pardon, Indemnity, and Oblivion. Under this act most people were granted a general pardon for any crimes that they had committed during the civil war and during the interregnum. However two score of people were exempted from this pardon. The most common reason for being exempted from the general pardon was because a person had participated in the regicide of Charles I.

Some of those who had reason to believe that they would not be included in the general pardon, fled abroad in attempt to escape royalist retribution. Okey, with John Barkstead, went to Germany. In fleeing abroad, he forfeited the right to a trial for his alleged crimes and was declared an outlaw.

In 1661, however, while in the Netherlands, Okey was arrested along with Barkstead and Miles Corbet by Sir George Downing, the English ambassador to the Dutch court. The three prisoners were immediately sent to England, and, as they had been previously outlawed, their trial turned entirely on the question of identity. Okey, with his companions, were executed by being hanged, drawn and quartered, the usual punishment under law for high treason, on 19 April 1662.

Burial

It is recorded that as Okey had confessed his own culpability in death of King Charles I that, once executed, King Charles II had agreed to return Okey’s body to his wife, Mary Okey, for burial. This did not occur, however, as the new government learned that a sizeable number of people planned to attend Okey’s funeral, and that this assembly might afford those opposed to the Restoration some sort of anti-government display. Consequently, Okey’s body was interred within the precincts of the Tower of London with a minimum of burial observances.

Descendants

Known Descendants of John Okey;

• 1. Okey, John Sr.(b. between 1606 and 1608 - England, d. between 1662-04-19 and 1664-04-29 - Tyburne, England),(Regicide of King Charles l of Britain),(friend of Alexander Leslie- Earl of Leven from the British Civil War)

sp. Okey, Susanna Pearson (b. estimated 1612, d. estimated 1656)

• 2. Okey, John (b. estimated 1640 - England)

sp. Okey, Mary Vincent (b. estimated 1650 - Pungoteague, Virginia)

• 3. Okey, Jeremiah (b. estimated 1672)
• 4. Okey, Leven (b. 1721 - Sussex Co. Delaware, d. 1790)

sp. Okey, Elizabeth (b. 1721 - England)

• 5. Okey, Thomas (b. estimated 1740)

sp. Stockley, Elizabeth (b. 1735-01-25 - Sussex Co. Delaware, d. 1824-02-07 - Ohio, Pioneer Cemetary)

• 6. Okey, Levin (b. 1760-10-22 - Delaware, USA- Earth, d. 1829-06-21 - Ohio, Pioneer Cemetery)

sp. Hazzard, Esther (b. estimated 1757, d. 1829-10-09 - Monroe, Ohio, USA- Earth)

• 7. Okey, Henry (b. 1795-04-05 - Sussex Co. Broadfield 100, Delaware USA, d. 1858-10-15 - Cassville, Grant Co. Wisconsin USA)

sp. Baldwin, Minerva (b. between 1797 and 1801 - Massachusetts USA, d. between 1844 and 1894 - Woodsfield, Monroe Co. Ohio, USA- Earth)

• 8. Okey, Wilson Shannon (b. 1825-03-18 - Woodsfield, Monroe Co. Ohio, USA- Earth, d. 1901-01-14 - Hull, Sioux Co. Iowa, USA- Earth)

sp. Largent, Abigail (b. 1825-07-23 - Wheeling, Ohio Co. West Virginia USA, d. 1900-04-28 - Woodsfield, Monroe Co. Ohio, USA- Earth)

• 9. Okey, George Melanthun (b. 1851-03-06 - Woodsfield, Monroe Co. Ohio, USA- Earth, d. 1925-07-30 - La Jolla, San Diego Co. California USA)

sp. Miller, Ella Elizabeth (b. 1852-10-27 - Girard, Trumble Co. Ohio USA, d. 1931-09-06 - Pacific Beach, San Diego Co. California USA)

• 10. Okey, Adrian Wilson (b. 1874-10-31 - Hull, Sioux Co. Iowa, USA- Earth, d. 1954-05-30 - La Mesa, San Diego Co. California)
• 11. Okey, Mable Dorothy (b. 1917-06-02, d. 1992-01-04)
• 12. Miller, Deanna Rae (b. 1948-05-12)

sp. Lickey, Keith Norman (b. 1946-06-07)

• 13. Lickey, Aryn Beaver (b. 1970-09-02 - Sutter Memorial Hospital)
• 14. Lickey, Bruce Shon (b. 1996-10-14 - St. Vincent's Hospital)

References

1. ^ a b c d Christopher Durston, ‘Okey, John (bap. 1606, d. 1662)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 accessed 22 Oct 2008
2. ^ Howard Nenner, ‘Regicides (act. 1649)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 22 Oct 2008
3. ^ Dictionary of National Biography (1885–1900) Nathaniel Rich
4. ^ Austin Woolrych. Britain in Revolution: 1625-1660, Oxford University Press, 2004 ISBN 0199272689, 9780199272686. p 609
5. ^ Barbara TaftThe Humble Petition of Several Colonels of the Army: Causes, Character, and Results of Military Opposition to Cromwell's Protectorate The Huntington Library Quarterly, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Winter, 1978), pp. 15-41
6. ^ Dictionary of National Biography (1885–1900), Volume 3 (Baker-Beadon), pp. 217, "John Barkstead", Article's author C. H. F.