William Thompson & Issabel Hedley - married 1766 in Elsdon

[Craclyn]

My 5th great grandparents, William Thompson & Issabel Hedley, married at Elsdon St. Cuthbert in 1766.

Children:

• Eleanor Thompson, bapt 9 Apr 1769 at Elsdon, married Joseph Hall 1793, died 1810
• Mary Thompson, bapt 16 May 1771, Eldson

William and Isabel were living at Wickershiels in 1769 when Eleanor was born.
Possible burial for William in 1808 age 70, which would suggest birth about 1738.
Based on marriage date I am guessing that Isabel was born before 1748.

Can anyone help me to find baptisms for William Thompson and Issabel Hedley?

[keyboard86]

Hi their is a baptism of an Isabella Hedley 24th October 1750 Elsdon Father Michael Mother Isabella?

Keyboard86

EDIT that Isabella possibly died as their is another in 1757 Elsdon Father Michael?

[Craclyn]

Thanks keyboard. Might be some relation so I will take a look at them, but 1757 is a bit late for having a daughter in 1769

[SelDen]

The full marriage entry in the Elsdon register is:

23rd August 1766 William Thompson in ye Parish of Brinkburn & Isabel Hedley in this Parish.

William was not necessarily either born or baptised in Brinkburn of course...sadly there are dozens of William Thompsons everywhere you look, and probably others drifting in from Scotland and elsewhere.

[SelDen]

You might wish to put the following burial on your list of possibles, also in the Elsdon parish register as transcribed by DNPRS:

Isabel Thompson of Bowershield, widow of Wm Thompson died 17 Oct 1809 buried 20 Oct 1809 aged 84.

This Isabel is born abt 1725 (if the age at death/burial is correct) and would have been abt 41 in 1766 but abt 46 in 1771 for the baptism of Mary - maybe stretching things a little.

[SelDen]

I see the burial (in Elsdon) of William Thompson aged 70, of Hallshill, in 1808 that you mention. He is described as a Farmer. Is your William described as a Farmer anywhere?

I think the 1808 burial is for a different William Thompson, as just above, in 1807, there is the burial of Ann Thompson, aged 76, of Hallshill, wife of Wm Thompson, Farmer. As she is the wife not the widow, he was still alive at the time of her death/burial in May 1807.

There is a burial for a William Thompson of ye Shaw, 22 April 1777 (Elsdon parish)- one for the list of possibles?

There must have been an earlier daughter called Mary, as there is this burial:
22 April 1768 Mary ye Daugr of Wm & Issabel Thompson of Whiskersheel

[Craclyn]

Thank you SelDen. These were three very useful posts. I will follow up on the Brinkburn lead for William and revisit my assumption about his death date. I will also take a closer look at the possible burial records for Isabel and Mary.

[SelDen]

Unless Isabel died early & William remarried to a Jane (I haven't checked this out), I think that the William Thompson of the Shaw who dies in 1777 is yet another William, as there is a William and Jane Thompson of the Shaw having children and in due course dying in Elsdon parish. Jane Thompson of the East Shaw is buried 6 March 1789, no age given.

I have been wondering whether either William or Isabel had been married before 1766, which would make things even trickier. This was because there only seemed to be 2 children - but we are now up to 3 & working rural families did not necessarily have huge families at this time. And there could easily be another dead baby or two, perhaps buried in a neighbouring parish.

Good luck!

[SelDen]

Hi Craclyn

I was just wondering whether your Joseph Hall & Eleanor Thompson couple were the couple having children in Elsdon from abt Oct 1793 including Gabriel (1793), Alexander (1795), Hannah (1797), John (1799) Joseph (1804) & probably Margery 1800 (though her father is given as John, the rest of the details are the same).

The reason I ask is that this Eleanor Thompson is a native of Rothbury according to the Barrington period bap entries, so presumably not the daughter of William Thompson & Isabel Hedley.

I appreciate that you did not say your Joseph & Eleanor Hall couple remained in Elsdon, but just thought I would check.