The Eltons
Sir Abraham Elton 1st Baronet (1654-1727) was a wealthy Bristol Merchant who was Sheriff of Bristol in 1702 and Mayor in 1710. He joined the Merchant Venturers in 1690 and became a member of the Bristol Corporation in 1698. He was appointed High Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1716 and was a Member of Parliament for Bristol from 1722 until his death in 1727. He had been created Baronet in 1717 for services to the Price of Orange and the House of Hanover. Sir Abraham owned a lot of property in the area and had interests in glass making, tin and calamine mining. He founded a copper works in 1696 and was later associated with Abraham Darby of Coalbrookdale. He also had interests in shipping (a vessel sailing out of Bristol was called the Elton Galley) and it is reasonable to assume that he gained considerably from the slave trade that so much money to the City of Bristol.
In 1709 he bought Clevedon Court and a stretch of land in the area. A portrait of him in scarlet robes now hangs in the Great Hall at Clevedon Court which is cared for by the National Trust.
Sir Abraham Elton 2nd Baronet (1679-1742), eldest son of the above, became Sheriff of Bristol in 1710 and Master of the Merchant Venturers in 1719. He was ruined by the South Sea Bubble but his father paid his debts. he was an MP for Taunton at one stage and for Bristol from 1728 until his death in 1742. He had three sons, Abraham, Jacob and Abraham Isaac - pictures of him and his sons hang in the Great Hall at Clevedon Court.
Sir Abraham Elton 3rd Baronet (1703-1761) was Sheriff if Bristol is 1728 and Mayor in 1742. His brother Captain Jacob RN(1712-1745) was married to Caroline Yate and died fighting the French. His third brother, Sir Abraham Isaac 4th Baronet (1718-1790) was married to Elizabeth Reed; he was a lawyer and Town Clerk to the City of Bristol. He was May or 1761.
Sir Abraham Elton 5th Baronet (1755-1842) was educated at Oxford and Cambridge and took holy orders. He was appointed curate of St Clement (now All Saints) in West Bromwich but gave up his living when he inherited Clevedon Court, near Bristol in 1790.
Family Tree of the Eltons - Taken from a Booklet issued by the National Trust (2001) - Clevedon Court, Somerset ..... worth a visit!