The ELERS connection:

Introducing Peter Elers (from Germany)

9 generations between Peter Elers (from Germany) and James Rupuha Elers

The lives of Peter Elers (from Germany) and Ann Elers (nee Price) and Elizabeth Elers (nee Harvey)

• Of the twenty-one generations researched for the compilation of this book, the two most difficult ones to reconcile are these – the lives of Peter Elers Snr (from Germany) and his two wives Ann Elers (nee Price) and Elizabeth Elers (nee Harvey), as well as the lives of his son Peter Elers Jnr and his wife Dorothy Elers (nee Carew).

• The following records highlight the data that has been found pertaining to Peter Snr and his two wives:

• There are apparent conflicting notes in the history books that suggest Peter Elers immigrated to England at the same time as William of Orange (1688), and also at the time that King George 1 was called to the throne (1714).  However the note below was extracted from the “Calendar of State Papers, Of The Reign Of William 111,  1 January 1696 – 31 December 1696.” This calendar, or register, documented the workings of the British Government during the reigns of the Tudors and Stuarts from 1509 to 1714. So, on 12 October 1696, Peter received permission to leave England for travel to Holland.

• The fact that history records he immigrated to England again in 1714, it is possible to surmise that he did not live in England during the period 1697-1714. 

• However, complications arise from the events that Peter became a naturalized citizen of England in 1680, and that he married Ann Price in 1684. So his arrival in England must have been prior to 1688, and perhaps he had again left England sometime before that year 1688.

• Naturalisation was the legal process by which a person changed their nationality. For hundreds of years, foreign nationals living in UK, and sometimes living abroad, have been able to attain British citizenship through naturalisation. The end result of the process is that person is granted the same legal rights and status of a natural-born British citizen.

• During Peter Elers application period, naturalisation was granted only by a private Act of Parliament. The procedure was expensive and only a few could afford it. 

• After a naturalisation by Act of Parliament, the successful applicant would take the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy in a court of law, swearing their loyalty to the Crown.

• Peter married Ann Price in 1684 at St Bride, Fleet Street, London.

• Ann was a daughter of Gervase and Martha Price

• She was baptised on 4 June 1666 at St Margaret’s, Westminster, London.

• Ann’s date of death has not been able to be verified. However she must have died at a young age given that Peter remarried in 1699.

• Peter is believed to have been born in Hamburg, Germany to John and Ann Elers. The accuracy of that statement would need to be verified by studying the German branch of the Elers family tree. That is a study that will be done post the publication of this book.

• Note the licence application refers to Ann being 17 years old at the time of her marriage, so it is probable that a Bonds and Allegations document would have been required.

• Gervase Price, musician, is buried in the north aisle of the nave of Westminster Abbey. Unfortunately the grave inscription has now worn away but the inscription on the graves of Gervase and his wife were published in an early 19th century book on the Abbey. The inscriptions read:

Here lyeth the body of Martha Price, the wife of Gervase Price Esq. Sergeant of the Office of Trumpets to King Charles the Second and Gentleman of his Bowes etc. She died the 7 day of April 1678  in the 38 year of her age. 

Here lyeth the body of Gervase Price Esq. near his wife Martha whom he followed out of this life the 11 of September 1687 in the 59 year of his age.

• There is still a large mural tablet, with festoons of fruit and flowers, to Martha in the nave. The Latin can be translated:

Near this place lies buried (as appears by the gravestone) Martha, wife of Gervase Price, Esq. who served King Charles 11 in the double capacity of Serjeant of the Office of Trumpets, and Gentleman of the Bows. She died 7 April 1678.

• Gervase was possibly the son of William Price of Nottingham and he served with the Royalist forces during the English Civil War (1642-1651). He was among the trumpeters at the coronation of Charles 11 in 1661 and he played at various other royal occasions , following the court around the country. His figure appears in engravings of the funeral procession of General Monck in 1670. He was appointed chief keeper of St James’s Park in 1663 and was in great favour with the king. He was buried on 15 September 1687.

• Martha was the daughter of John Mayer of London and married Gervase in 1660. Her sister Mary Lucy was buried in the Abbey on 15th January 1709. Their sons were James, Gervase, Charles, and William, and their daughters were Mary, Arabella, Martha, Anne, Barbara and Elizabeth, who married Anthony Meeke in the Abbey on 21st January 1686. Elizabeth was buried on 27th November 1695 and Anthony on 15th February 1730, both in the nave. Three of their children were baptised at St Margaret’s Westminster.

• After the death of his wife, Ann, Peter married Elizabeth Harvey. Elizabeth’s mother gave her consent to the marriage at Hornsey, Middlesex on 9 Sep 1699.

• Three days after consent was given for the marriage, Peter and Elizabeth were married on 12 Sep 1699 at St Mary, Hornsey.

PROGENY OF PETER and ANN ELERS

1. Ann Elers

• Ann was baptised on 3 April 1690 at St. Margaret’s Westminster.

• She died on 21 October 1717 and was buried in the South Cloisters of Westminster Abbey, along with her brother Peter Jnr and sister Elizabeth.

• The citation below was sourced from the Westminster Abbey Registers (page 290).

2. Peter Elers

• See the bio for Peter in “The Lives of Peter Elers and Dorothy (Carew Elers).”

3. Elizabeth Elers

• There appears to be no information available on the life of Elizabeth, except for the fact she was buried in the South Cloister of Westminster Abbey in December 1693. She may therefore have died as a young child.

• “The citation below was sourced from the Westminster Abbey Registers (page 233). The introduction lines on page 233 refer to her as Elizabeth Illers, hence the reference to the questioning of the spelling in the citation.