William Copping c. 1754

[JosiahS]

Hello there

I have a William Copping/Coppin/Coppen I am researching.  He married in Market Weston to Mary Brown in 1786 and they had one child before she died.  He then married Hannah Gooch (another mystery) in South Elmham St Michael in 1797.  He was marked as being a widower and resident at Hoxne at the time.

They then moved back to Market Weston and had 5 children between 1797 and 1809. 

William died there in 1822 and his age at death indicates a birth about 1754 (Hannah about 1771)

At the Society of Genealogists I have checked the baptisms for the period of 1754 in Market Weston and William was not born there, but in 1753 there was a marriage between John Coppin and Mary Martyn but they had no children there.  William's first daughter was called Mary, and first son was called John.

Today at the SoG I have checked the baptisms for: Hopton, Barningham, Thelnetham, Redgrave, Hinderclay, Richenhall I and S, Hepworth, Wattisfield, Stanton All Saints and St John, Bardwell, Ixworth, Sapiston, and Coney Weston, and there are no Copping baptisms in any of them over that period.  I have also done a wider search for children born to John and Mary but can find none I think are connected.

Clearly William had a link with Market Weston, but what?.  I looked so see if John Coppen or Mary Martyn were born there but they weren't.

Can anyone find his baptism or suggest where I should look?  I have researched the one who was born in Winfarthing in Norfolk and I know it is not that one

Many thanks

Ashley

[gobbitt]

Hello Ashley

Apologies for the delayed response.

Does William Copping's will give any indication of his origins? Proved in the Archdeaconry Court of Sudbury in 1822, it can be obtained from the Bury St Edmunds branch of the Suffolk Record Office (SRO) or downloaded from the website (https://www.suffolkarchives.co.uk/collections/getrecord/GB174_IC_500_1_276_62). A printed probate index describes William as a farmer. But he was a servant when he applied for a Norwich Consistory Court (NCC) licence to marry Hannah Gooch, as was his fellow bondsman, William Bronwin of Stuston (see images 328 & 329 of 335 in the 1797 bundle at https://www.familysearch.org/search/image/index?owc=M8VV-QNL%3A160750101%2C161217701%3Fcc%3D1824690).

The Suffolk Family History Society's burial index shows that William Reeve Bronwin of Stuston was interred there at the age of 81 in 1839, probably seven years after his wife, assuming she was Mary Church who married in 1788 at Stuston ("Sturston": https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NJF1-72H) or Stoke Ash ("Stoke Ashsturston": https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NJF1-K2B). His will was proved in the NCC in 1839. Although his home has been catalogued as "Hunston" by the Norfolk Record Office (http://nrocat.norfolk.gov.uk/DServe/public/searches/nroprobate.htm), it is clearly Stuston in the registered copy available free of charge via Norfolk Sources (http://www.norfolksources.norfolk.gov.uk/DserveNS/). The only beneficiaries are his two grandsons, William Stephen Markwell and John Reeve Markwell.

Unless you know that William Copping and Mary Brown were married by banns, it could be worth looking for details in Campling's indexed abstracts from East Anglian marriage licence records (see https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/England,_Norfolk_Marriage_Bonds_(FamilySearch_Historical_Records)) at the Society of Genealogists. The SoG librarian informed me a few years ago that this five-volume typescript was on the Marriage Licence shelves (ML/GEN) and not (as stated in the National Index of Parish Registers) on microfilm.

More speculatively, the parish records of Gislingham at the SRO in Ipswich include a settlement certificate, apparently issued by the overseers of Wortham, vouching for the family of a John Coppin and his wife "Mexy" in 1753 (https://www.suffolkarchives.co.uk/collections/getrecord/GB173_FB130_G_10_19).

Best of luck

David

[JosiahS]

Hi David

That is all excellent information thank you - I'm not very experienced on what is available for Suffolk so your links have been very enlightening.

At the moment I am working on the assumption that William may be the son of John Coppin and Mary Martyn who married in Market Weston in 1753 as he clearly had a connection with the town.

I'll call up the documents which you have kindly included the links to and se what I can glean

All the best

Ashley

[JosiahS]

Hi there

I am now in possession of the will and unfortunately he does not mention any relatives except his wife and eldest son.

His estate was valued at under £600 so he was doing quite well.

Back to the drawing board

Ashley