Marriage and children of Zachery Hardwick, possibly Great Stuaghton

[jbml]

Zachery Hardwick was one of the bondsmen for the marriage licence of two of my ancestors ... neither of whom had the surname Hardwick. It is possible, however, that the bride was born a Hardwick - she was definitely a widow, but I have not yet managed to find anything for her first marriage.

I have decided to try to go about this the other way, therefore, since Zachery Hardwick is not exactly the most common of names. So I thought I'd see what I could get on him.

My mother's maiden name was Hardwick, and she is descended from the Hardwicks of Great Staughton; but Zachery is not a name I have encountered in my research of her direct line. He almost certainly IS related ... but where? And How?

So far I have only found his burial (in Great Staughton on 9 December 1801).

If anyone could do a lookup for a marriage, and any children he may have had baptized, I would be most grateful

[ShaunJ]

There's a marriage in Great Paxton, Huntingdonshire in 1776 - Zachary Hardwick and Sarah Fisher

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N6WV-W8N

[Galium]

The Huntingdonshire Marriage allegation and bond index
http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/directory_record/4160/marriage_licences
 shows that the groom is of the parish of Great Staughton

[jbml]

Wow! That was quick, Shaun and Galium 

That's going to be the one ... but there's no way Zachery and Sarah were going to have a daughter Elizabeth who married, was widowed, and married again on 8 February 1790.

Sooooo ... either the widow Elizabeth Lack was Zachary's sister rather than his daughter; or she was his daughter by an earlier marriage; or she wasn't closely related (in which case why was he writing a £200 bond for her?)

Hmmmm ... this one is interesting!

[Galium]

familysearch has James Lack marrying Elizabeth Hardwick at Great Staughton 26 September 1766.

[jbml]

Galium - yes, I have that marriage; but it is problematical.

If that Elizabeth Hardwick is the widow Elizabeth lack who married Thomas Whitney in 1790, then she was born before 1750.

The problem I have is that Thomas and Elizabeth Whitney who married in 1790 are the only plausible parents for my ancestor Thomas Whitney who was born circa 1799 in Kimbolton. Because of the water damage to the Kimbolton parish registers I have not (yet) been able to find a baptism record for him.

If that is right, then the only way to square this up is to accept that Thomas Whitney's mother was in her VERY late 40s or early 50s when he was born. Not impossible, I'll grant you - but not very likely, either, in the late 18th century!

If we assume that the census entries egregiously understate Thomas Whitneys' age then we can get it down to early 40s, I suppose, which is less implausible. But with the marriage of Thomas Whitney and Elizabeth Lack taking place in 1790, we're not going to get this birth into her 30s ... and even then we have to suppose that she was VERY young when first married.

The alternative (which can JUST be fitted in to the available time scale) is to suppose that the Elizabeth Lack who married Thomas Whitney in 1790 was the widowed daughter-in-law of the James and Elizabeth Lack who married in Great Staughton in 1766.

It's all very unclear, just at the moment ...