John Nason’s name is also spelled Johanius or Johnnius Nasonne. Birth years of 1577 and 1580 are also mentioned, but September 3, 1585 is the generally accepted date. One source also mentioned that he was baptized on March 23, 1580. He was born in Wellesbourne, Warwickshire on the Mickle Meadow Farm. His father and mother were Ananius Nason and Ursula Rogers. He married Elizabeth Rogers in Stratford-Upon-Avon on October 28, 1600 at the young age of 15. The bride was 17. The bride also might have been born and raised on Mickle Meadow Farm.
The birth or christening date of his wife, Elizabeth Rogers, also has conflicting dates. In one source, she was born on April 15, 1583 in Stratford-Upon-Avon to Richard Rogers and Margaret Pace. In another, she was born on January 15, 1580 in Eastbourne, Sussex, to William Rogers and Johane Vyne. Other sources indicate April 15, 1582, and October 7, 1581. There are two other versions of her parent’s names: Henry Rogers and Elizabeth Burbach; and William Rogers and Elizabeth Walker. Her father’s name was probably William Rogers, but it’s hard to pin down her mother’s name. 
The sources all agree on the date of Elizabeth Roger’s death or burial – May 22, 1653. She was around 70 years old when she died and had been a widow for 29 years. She witnessed the English Civil War (1642-46) between Parliamentarians (Roundheads) and Royalists (Cavaliers). Warwickshire was split in their loyalties, but generally supportive of the Parliamentarian side.
John Nason and Elizabeth Rogers Nason had eleven children together, all born in Stratford-Upon-Avon: Elizabeth (1601), John or Johannis (1603), Phillippa (1604), my ancestor, Richard Nason (August 3, 1606-December 22, 1695, South Berwick, Maine), Henry (1608), Thomas (1611), William (1613), Ann (1615), Mary (1618), Thomas (1619) and Frances (1622). Richard immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629 and was the only child of the family to do so.
John Nason was a barber and apothecary by trade. He is mentioned as the “separate druggist (personal apothecary) to William Shakespeare on page 264, in the book, Shakespeare, His Family and Friends by Charles Isaac Elton, Alexander Hamilton and Andrew Lang, 1904.
16th century apothecary
John Nason is also mentioned on page 100 in the book, Shakespeare’s Family: Being a Record of the Ancestors and Descendants of William Shakespeare, with Some Account of the Ardens by Charlotte Carmichael Stopes, 1901.
A Royal Coat of Arms was granted to Dr. John Nason of Church House, Stratford-Upon-Avon. I don’t know if this honor was granted to his father or his oldest brother. The Fairbairn Book of Crests by James Fairbairn (1892) describes it as “A ram’s head couped” but a version with three ram’s heads also exists. The motto is “Spe labor levis” which roughly translates as “I bear my work lightly.”
John Nason died on November 11 or 12, 1624 at Stratford-Upon-Avon. He was 39 years old.
