Identifying the Age of the Wife of William Oliver of Ryton

[Malcolm33]

   Matthew Oliver was born in Ryton Co.Durham in 1735 and his father was William Oliver.   I have found a marriage licence of a William Oliver of Burn Hills, Ryton to an Elizabeth Cummin also of Ryton for their marriage which took place at Corbridge in April 1732.    First child was Mary born in 1733 so all seems to fit.    However another descendant who has just popped up this morning has some doubts.
   A William Oliver of Burn Hills died in 1743 and since the last child was Walter in 1742 this is likely to be our William.    I have now found that an Elizabeth Oliver married a Joseph Stawpert on 21 June 1746 and I suspect that this could be perhaps William's wife re-marrying.   I do know from an account elsewhere on the net that Joseph Stawpert was a tenant of Stephen Hall until 1766 and that farm is hardly any distance at all from Burn Hills Farm.
    If William Oliver's wife was Elizabeth Cummin then she was baptised in Ryton 25 January 1708 which would make her 51 years old when a daughter Mabel Stawpert was baptised in 1759.
    Elizabeth Stawpard (another variation is Stoppard) of Stephen Hall died in 1762.
    Is there any chance that either Elizabeth's marriage in January 1746 or her death in 1762 might have her age  shown in the Ryton Parish Register?     There aren't any BT's for these years in Family Search.
   

[miriamkinga]

Northumberland & Durham Burials have a record for Elizabeth Stawpard, wife of Joseph, died July 1762 but no age unfortunately.

[davidft]

    Is there any chance that either Elizabeth's marriage in January 1746 or her death in 1762 might have her age  shown in the Ryton Parish Register?     There aren't any BT's for these years in Family Search.
   

The marriage bonds that are on the browsable records on familysearch do not disclose her age in 1732 (says not disclosed). The 1762 burial of Elizabeth Stawpard is on durhamrecordsonline and does not disclose her age at death. I did not find a will for her or William. The only other thing now is to look for the marriage of Elizabeth Oliver in 1746 to see if that gives an age

[miriamkinga]

The marriage entry in the Northumberland & Durham Marriages for 21/06/1746 just has the details for Elizabeth Oliver, no age or even spouse information 

[MargP]

Hi

It is possible for women to have children in there early 50's, also the christening record for Mabel, may not have been her birth year, and she could have been born, a few years earlier

Margp

[MargP]

Hi

If this is the christening record for Mabel the father is William and not Joseph

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JWFG-5MB

Margp

[Gadget]

Hi

If this is the christening record for Mabel the father is William and not Joseph

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JWFG-5MB

Margp

DurhamRecordsOnline have the father as Thomas:

Holy Cross, Ryton 21 Oct 1759 Mable Stawpert, of Stephen Hall, daughter of Thomas Stawpert.

As davidft has said, the DRO records don't give any ages for Elizabeth's records.


Gadget

[Gadget]

If William Oliver's wife was Elizabeth Cummin then she was baptised in Ryton 25 January 1708

This seems a strong possible for Matthew's mother. On the baptism record at Holy Cross, her father was given as Matthew Cumming of Woodside.


Gadget

[Malcolm33]

   Thank you all so much.   Every little bit helps and Gadget that find of yours - Matthew Cumming being at Woodside is great as Woodside is as near to Burn Hills Farm as is Stephen's Hall.

    Now why didn't I think of there being other Stawpart's at Stephen's Hall?   Though the confusion over the father of Mabel being William or Thomas is a bit odd.    I later found that there was another birth before 1766 - Cuthbert Stawpart in 1761.

   The reason I thought it had to be Elizabeth Oliver who was the mother of Mabel Stawpart was this bit by Geoff Nicholson in his history of the Stephenson's of Stephen's Hall (at a later date) : "William Sr had married Mary nee Stokoe (c1743-1793), widow of Joseph Stawpart (-1766), the previous tenant of Stephen's Hall, who had a daughter by his first wife and one by Mary."
     Since Joseph married Elizabeth in 1746 and she died in 1762 I jumped to what looked obvious without thinking.     It could be that Joseph's first wife was before Elizabeth, or that daughter's baptism is missing or I missed it.

      Another interesting point is that in another account by Geoff Nicholson on the Stephenson Family who once posted this:
"Alternatively, a good possibility for Robert's parents would be Anthony Stephenson and Elizabeth Oliver of Burn Hills Farm, near Ryton. They would seem to have arrived in the Ryton area about 1789 where the baptism of their second child and ensuing children are noted in the Ryton registers. "
   
      This is of course a different Elizabeth Oliver who married Anthony Stephenson in Ryton on 14 May 1786.    I think she was the daughter of Nicholas Oliver who was the son of William and Elizabeth Cumming.    So perhaps that is how the Stephenson's acquired Burn Hills Farm.  That would have given them a large expanse of land between Stephen's Hall and Burn Hills.

      There is a fantastic description of Stephen's Hall in the Northumberland and Durham History pages.   Briefly it dates back to early 17th century, has a number of Latin Inscriptions, and it dates back to 1635 when a Stephen Coulsin or Coulson lived there.   A rare wall painting was found and even an old spice cupboard.    We are told that it is worth visiting, but when I tried Google satellite pictures and then street view it is cluttered with motor homes and offers Xmas Trees for sale.

      Thank you all again,  Malcolm