These people attempt to go back to Adam and we therefore disbelieve them on principle. The family motto, always a dangerous sign, is Tenez ole Vraye. Remember your gradeschool French and figure it out. According to the usual source, in 1200 King John granted land "Towneley" —meaning, field belonging to the town, wow— to Roger de Lacy, a Norman landowner and constable of Chester, that is, police chief. Roger, in turn, turned a portion over to Geoffrey, Dean of Whalley, who had married his daughter. By 1236, a grandson of Geoffrey inherited the land, married his cousin the widow Cecilia and recombined the two estates and the gene pool.
Officially, the Towneleys are well enough summed up by explaining that Towneley Hall, some six miles off the M65 southeast of Burnley, Lancashire, has been a museum since 1903. Before then it was the home of ... tah dah! ... the Towneleys, who lived on there from the mid-thirteenth century onwards, adding a Regency wing adjacent to the lower floor's six-foot thick mediaeval walls and one Gothic window dating from around 1460.
Sir Richard de Towneley, knight, married Elena. Appointed sheriff of Lancaster by John of Gaunt in 1375, 1376, and 1377, served in house of Commons.
[Source: Pedigree of Towneley of Towneley]
John de Towneley, married Isabel Rixton, daughter of William Rixton.
Richard de Towneley, married Alice.
John (Esq) Towneley, born 1415, and died 1474. Married Isabella Sherburne, daughter of Richard Sherburne and Mathilda Hamerton.
Laurence Towneley, born circa 1428-1490 in Barnside, and died 11 Oct 1530 in Townley Hall, married Joan Banastre.
Henry Towneley, born 1480, and died 1531. He married Grace.
Laurence Towneley, born circa 1510 in Barnside, Colne, and died 1566 in Colne. Married Hellen Hesketh 1529/1546, born circa 1514 in Colne.
Lawrence Towneley, born 1543 and died 19 January 1597/1598. Married Margaret Hartley circa 1592, daughter of John Hartley, born 1574.
Lawrence Towneley, born 1594 in Stone Edge, Colne, Lancashire, and died 12 Feb 1644-45. Married Jennet Halstead circa 1597-98, daughter of John Halstead, born 1594 and died 12 Aug 1623 in Burnley.
[Sources: "Thomas Smith of Fairfax County, Virginia," by Henry G. Taliaferro, in Volume 40, Number 1 (January-March, 1996) of The Virginia Genealogist; www.dcs.hull.ac.uk/cgi-bin/gedlkup/n=presidents?presidents00432]
Mary Towneley, born 13 May 1614 in Stone Edge, Lancashire, died 11 August 1662 at Warner Hall. Married Captain Augustine Warner Sr., born September 28, 1611 in Norfolk, England.
Elizabeth Towneley, married Christopher Smith, born March 18, 1592, Stonehurst [?] England.
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