Meppershall Manor, occupants or owners

[johnP-bedford]

Hello Liz & welcome to RootsChat...

You say you have Frances Watson's will - did you get it fully transcribed by Beds Archives or perhaps you visited them to get the detail. Either way - are there any other names on it that I did not glean, as it is a long document and I only glanced over it for a short while.

Also re. Elizabeth Emery, nee Archer, was she wife of Richard Emery; both were of Maulden as per the Meppershall burial register, Elizabeth buried 6/11/1686 while there are 2 Richard Emerys buried, both of Maulden, one in 1683 & one in 1686.  Beds Archives have the will of Elizabeth Emery, widow of Maulden ref ABP/W 1686/60.  Do you have detail of this?

[bedfordshire boy]

Hi Liz, and welcome.

You may find we're reinventing the wheel as I'm sure you've covered all of what we've unearthed so far. But coming at it from a different direction we've had to do it the hard way, and it was only on Monday evening that we discovered the Archer name that tied it all together.

What we still don't know is who Charlotte was. I assume Holden, but as we don't have her marriage, other than an unreliable IGI member submission for a 1738 marriage in Warwicks to Thomas Fulwood, we have a bit of a blockage. Can't find a baptism of a Charlotte Holden either, which isn't much help in determining who her father was. Working on it.

I have a couple of other niggles, the main one being the gap between the alleged 1738 marriage and the birth of the first child George Watson Fulwood in 1742. They named their tenth child Decima, and as we've identified the nine previous children I don't think we've missed anyone.

Terry, I think we established in your 2011 thread that Charlotte wasn't your direct line, as their son Thomas wasn't the Thomas who lived in Pirton. Doubtless a relation though.

David

[Liz Milbourn]

I obtained a copy of Frances Archer's will from Bedfords Archives years ago and I transcribed it.I am away on holiday until the week end and until then only have access to my family trees that are on Ancestry.com

Frances left the house in Ampthill to her eldest son George WATESON, her manor at Meppershall is  mentioned,I think the will instructed her executors to sell it to pay out the bequests as it was no longer in the family after her death..    She left £100 to daughter HOLDEN(Rebecca)  £150 to grand daughter Christian Holden,  £150 to grand daughter Frances Holden,  £20 grand daughter Deborra Holden,  £30 to grand son John Holden,  £150 split between grandchildren George, Diana,Isabella and Elizabeth Holden when they reach 19 years &  £250 each to Frances &Christian on the death of their mother.
I have not got access to my information on Elizabeth Emery nee Archer and don't think she left a will .As it has been mentioned George Wateson(he preferred this spelling which was passed down for a couple of generations as a middle name) did not marry,and I don't recall there being a Charlotte Holden in Edward Holden's close family.

[floatingboater]

Hello Liz, thank you for adding to this thread, and JP, David please excuse my sparse input but work keeps getting in the way. I've hardly had time to assimilate what you've all discovered but i'm getting there.

David, no Charlotte and Thomas were not my direct line and i still can't prove they were related.
That's is why i'm going down this line to try to find ANY possible link. My Thomas Fullwood born c. 1740 seems to have had an immaculate conception! Apart from his marriage in 1763 there is no record in Warwickshire, that i have found, that matches him. The fact that both Thomas Fullwoods turn up in A) Southill and B) Meppershall from Warwick is the straw that i'm still clutching to. Other coincidences at the end of 1700's/beginning 1800's are also bugging me. My Thomas's daughters are living in Southwark at that time as are several of Thomas & Charlotte's children & grandchildren.   

[bedfordshire boy]

I agree Terry, that it's too much of a coincidence  that two Thomas Fullwoods from Warwicks should pitch up in Meppershall and Southill without there being some sort of a connection. But what was it!

[johnP-bedford]

We have established from Beds Archives Indems for Thomas Fullwood, cordwainer & wife Sarah & daughters Charlotte & Elizabeth from Warwick to Southill in 1767 & prior to that Thomas Fullwood from where? to Shillington in 1757. Is this the same Thomas?

Another gleaning from BARS ref X150/1 dated 21 Mar 1752 relates to a mortgage in 1749....

Parties: (i) Henry Bissell of Birmingham [Warwickshire], timber merchant; Thomas Fullwood of Bearly [Warwickshire], timber merchant; (ii) Catherine Mason, spinster, daughter of Bartholomew Mason of Old Stratford [Buckinghamshire]  Operative Part: - (i) lent a further advance [amount blank] to (ii) secured on (a)  Reciting: - mortgage between (i) and (ii) for £1,300 of 24-25 Mar 1749  Property: (a) the Manor of Meppershall with appurtenances in Meppershall, Shillington, Campton and Stondon

So a Thomas Fullwood was in the area before the Indemnities... but he's a timber merchant not a cordwainer as was the one who came to Southill in 1767

Also does the Henry Bissell mentioned above relate to the Henry Birrell & Elizabeth who sold the manor in 1744/5 as per VCH

[bedfordshire boy]

Useful find John. Bartholomew Mason is presumably Bartlett Mason referred to in VCH as being the purchaser of Meppershall Manor in 1744/5 from the Birrells and the Fulwoods. And like you I reckon Birrell and Bissell are one and the same.

The Thomas Fulwood, husband of Sarah, the subject of the 1767 Settlement Certificate, is not the same Thomas Fulwood as the one in the 1749 mortgage you found, husband of Charlotte the elusive lady. But I think they must be connected, although we showed 5 years ago that they weren't father and son.

Thinking, whilst preparing lunch!

David

[floatingboater]

This 1757 document is, unfortunately, only partial. I recieved it like this from Beds Archives. When i queried it they didn't reply leaving me to assume that was all they had. If it's either of these two men then it should be Thomas, the cordwainer because, i think, Thomas the Timber Merchant/Husbandman would not have needed a settlement certificate due to his wealth.
Terry

[bedfordshire boy]

Parties: (i) Henry Bissell of Birmingham [Warwickshire], timber merchant; Thomas Fullwood of Bearly [Warwickshire], timber merchant; (ii) Catherine Mason, spinster, daughter of Bartholomew Mason of Old Stratford [Buckinghamshire]  Operative Part: - (i) lent a further advance [amount blank] to (ii) secured on (a)  Reciting: - mortgage between (i) and (ii) for £1,300 of 24-25 Mar 1749  Property: (a) the Manor of Meppershall with appurtenances in Meppershall, Shillington, Campton and Stondon

So a Thomas Fullwood was in the area before the Indemnities... but he's a timber merchant not a cordwainer as was the one who came to Southill in 1767

Interesting that in the 1749 mortgage Thomas Fullwood was still "of Bearly". He presumably moved to Meppershall not long after this as he baptised six children there between 1750 and 1763