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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Sussex => England => Sussex Lookup Requests => Topic started by: woodfamily on Tuesday 20 December 11 06:12 GMT (UK)
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Hi
I was hoping you could help me with some research.
My ancestor is Henry WOOLVEN (or WOOLVIN, WOLVEN, etc) who born around 1780 in Sussex (according to his entry in the 1841 Wisborough Green census). He married Sarah Shepherd on 30 July 1798 in Bury, West Sussex. Their children were John, Jane, Ann, James, Mary (my direct ancestor), William, Thomas and Rachel. There are death records in Wisborough Green for Henry, Sarah and Rachel in 1847, 1845 and 1841, respectively. I am not sure what happened to the other children.
I am not sure where Henry was born, but there is an IGI entry for a Henry WOLVIN born on 13 July 1776 in Kirdford, Sussex, to Richard and Mary. I have never been able to find a parish record to verify that (a) Richard and Mary existed, or (b) that their son Henry was the same Henry who married Sarah Shepherd. However, the 1774 Sussex poll for does show a Richard Woolven in occupation of a farm in Kirdford (in Arundel rape) - this is a strong clue.
Can you help me work out who Henry's parents were? And what happened to his children?
Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks
Joel
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Hi Joel,
Thought I might start the answer by looking at the burials you mentioned.
Henry Woolven was buried in Wisborough Green 11 Sep 1847 aged 72 years. (This puts his year of birth at 1775).
Sarah Woolven was buried in Wisborough Green 20 Feb 1845 aged 68 years. (This puts her year of birth at 1777).
There are no baptismal records for Kirdford in the SFHG database, so hopefully someone will have some if they exist.
Sean
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From the 1785 West Sussex Land Tax:
Place: Kirdford
Owner: William Hoad
Occupier: Richard Wolvin
Lands: His house
Rental: £1 17s
Other areas with a high number of Woolvens at that time include West Grinstead, Cowfold and Henfield.
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Using the IGI for the baptism of the first 2 children they were baptised in Kirdford which adds to the evidence that Henry is likely to be from there.
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Hi Joel
Welcome to Rootschat and thank you for your PM :)
Next time I go to the West Sussex RO I will have a dig around and see what I can find - sometime in January.
Jan ;)
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Kirdford Parish Records
Baptisms
16 Jan 1774 Mary Woolvin d of Richard and Mary
9 Jul 1775 Richard and John Wolvin s of Richard and Mary 'Twins'
13 Jul 1776 Henry Wolvin s of Richard and Mary
6 Jul 1777 Thomas and James Wolvin s of Richard and Mary 'Twins'
23 May 1779 Ann Wolvin d of Richard and Mary
2 Jul 1780 Sarah Wolvin d of Richard and Mary
2 Mar 1784 Jenny Wolvin d of Richard and Mary 'paupers'
No marriage for Richard and Mary in Kirdford, no banns called there for Richard and no baptism for him suggesting both of them were from another parish originally.
Burials
1 Jan 1778 Thomas Wolvin
9 Nov 1780 Sarah Wolvin d of Richard
28 Aug 1800 John Wollvin inf
No burials for Richard and Mary suggesting they moved away - as they are listed as paupers in 1784 I wonder if there is a removal order for them back to Richard's original parish?
Jan ;)
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Hi
I have found what could possibly the marriage of Richard and Mary
23 April 1770
Richard Woolven (bach Kirdford) married Mary Sayers (spinster - Banns) in Henfield
Suziq
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That looks like a good bet suziq.
Now we just need Joel to come back :D
Jan ;)
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Thanks to Janan, Suziq and Swebby.
The baptism records you turned up match what we were expecting, based on unverified notes that another researcher had left for us.
The challenge for us now is to try to find out a bit more about this Richard WOOLVIN and his wife Sarah.
The problem is that there are so many WOOLVINs in the West Sussex area at the time.
Based on the information you have turned up, we expect Richard and Sarah to have been born around 1750 in West Sussex (perhaps in Henfield); they probably had mothers called "Mary" or "Ann" and fathers called "Richard", "John" or "Henry" (based on the names they eventually gave their children). Since they were described as 'paupers' there may well be poorhouse records for them.
I will use these clues as leads ... hopefully you will also pitch in with the detective efforts!
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Hello
Looked on Sussex Marriage Index.
This is the only marriage for a Richard & Sarah for that time scale.
Keymer,1st July 1777
Richard Woolvin & Sarah Luckins
Extra info
Richard,Hurstpierpoint
Sarah OTP (B)
Sussex Record Society Poor Law Database has several Woolvins,spelt various ways.
Hope this helps
Kind regards
omega
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The challenge for us now is to try to find out a bit more about this Richard WOOLVIN and his wife Sarah.
I think you mean wife Mary :)
Jan ;)
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Richard and Mary (nee Sayers) Woolven are my 5x great grandparents. Richard was bap 2 Nov 1736 in Henfield to John Woolven and Ann (nee Patching) and Mary on 4 Jan 1741 in Henfield to Henry Sayers and Rachel.
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Richard and Mary (nee Sayers) Woolven are my 5x great grandparents. Richard was bap 2 Nov 1736 in Henfield to John Woolven and Ann (nee Patching) and Mary on 4 Jan 1741 in Henfield to Henry Sayers and Rachel.
Hi Francis66 - we must be cousins! How do you know that the baptismal records are for the right people? If correct, that would make Richard 36 and Mary 31 when they got married, which was very old back then. Also, it would mean that their last child Jenny (b. 1784) was born when Mary was 43, which is also pushing the limits.