RootsChat.Com
England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Kent => Topic started by: MattD30 on Friday 12 February 21 01:30 GMT (UK)
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I'm wondering if someone here might be able to find any information about my ancestor Thomas Rigden, in particular a potential year of birth/christening.
Thomas Rigden married a woman named Alice Wambsley at Faversham on 29 November 1729. At the time of marriage she was described as a widow. Alice was born Alice Amis in 1698 and had previously been married to Edward Wamblsey in December 1720 at Faversham. I've found no children for Edward and Alice and Edward died in December 1727 and was buried on 30 December 1727.
Thomas and Alice themselves had five children who were all christened in Faversham:
Thomas Rigden - March 1730
John Rigden - April 1732
Elizabeth Rigden - January 1737 [my ancestor]
William Rigden - February 1737
Joseph Rigden - April 1739
Thomas Rigden snr died in 1749 leaving a will but the only person he names in this is his wife Alice.
If anyone can help me build up a bigger picture for the Rigdens or give me an idea where Thomas may have originated I'd be very grateful.
Many Thanks
Matt
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Hi....
I can add these for you
Edward Wambsly bap Faversham 16 Nov 1721
William Wambsly 7 March 1722
John Wambsly 30 Aug 1724
All to Edward and Alice.
Tazzie
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Hi
Edward may have died 1722 a burial 26th Aug 1722.
Possible for William 20 Dec 1724.
Tazzie
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Have you noticed his marriage to Alice was by Licence. According to the Licence he was also a widower when he and Alice married.
Emeltom
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Hi....
I can add these for you
Edward Wambsly bap Faversham 16 Nov 1721
William Wambsly 7 March 1722
John Wambsly 30 Aug 1724
All to Edward and Alice.
Tazzie
Hi
Thanks for those.
Matt
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Have you noticed his marriage to Alice was by Licence. According to the Licence he was also a widower when he and Alice married.
Emeltom
Yes I had forgotten that. I think he was previously married to Margaret Mockett of Canterbury in 1726, again by licence.
Matt
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After posting this message I have come across a problem which may throw all this research out of the window.
My ancestor was Elizabeth Rigden who married John Smith at Harbledown in 1761.
I haven't looked at the Rigdens for a long long time but it has always been my belief that Elizabeth was christened in Faversham on 2 January 1736/37 and was the daughter of Thomas and Alice [Findmypast records two christenings one in 1736 and the other in 1737]. This has been the only christening I have been able to find in the area and until I had found no sign of a death for this Ellizabeth.
However I have now found a burial in Faversham for an Elizabeth Rigden aged 0 in Faversham on 30 October 1737. The problem is no parents are named in the register entry so I am unsure if this is the same Elizabeth who was christened in January 1736/37. If it is then obviously my research beyond her needs rethinking and what I have is probably wrong.
It's a bit of a puzzle and for now I've disconnected the Rigdens and their ancestral family groups from my tree but I'm keeping a not of them in case they are connected.
Can anyone help here or offer any advice?
Matt :(
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a couple of possible ....
Elizabeth Rigden from Hoath b 1738 is a similar age haven't looked for any death of marriage yet.
The others are born earlier so looking around if rule them out as the one from Sturry 1726 or Adisham 1729.
Son John born Harbledown 1766? Is that the right couple.
Tazzie
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Are you sure that the two baptisms are for the same child? If another daughter was born after the first one's death she may have been given the same name. This happened a lot.
Mary
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a couple of possible ....
Elizabeth Rigden from Hoath b 1738 is a similar age haven't looked for any death of marriage yet.
The others are born earlier so looking around if rule them out as the one from Sturry 1726 or Adisham 1729.
Son John born Harbledown 1766? Is that the right couple.
Tazzie
I'm not aware of the Elizabeth in Hoath myself and I'm not sure how far that is from Harbledown.
Elizabeth Rigden and John Smith married at Harbledown on 11 October 1761 and had five chidren who were all christened at Harbledown:
Richard - August 1762
Ann - January 1764
Elizabeth - November 1765
Stephen and John - July 1768
Richard is my direct ancestor and married Elizabeth Shrubsole at Faversham in 1782.
However the question still remains, is the Elizabeth Rigden who was born in Faversham in 1736/1737 my Elizabeth? If she did die then a whole lot of my tree [her ancestry] is wrong.
It is a shame no other info was given on the burial.
Matt
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Are you sure that the two baptisms are for the same child? If another daughter was born after the first one's death she may have been given the same name. This happened a lot.
Mary
Do you think there could be two separate children? The dates of the christenings are identical except from the year with one entry reading 1736 [see first link below] and the second [only a transcription] reading 1737
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBPRS%2FCANT%2FB%2F96241245
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=R_882933239
With the change in the calendar system that happened in 1752, Jan 1736 would now read as Jan 1736/37. So it's possible that the 1736 entry was transcribed twice, once with the year as 1736 and once with it as 1737.
If there is only one Elizabeth Rigden, christened in January 1736 we presume, then is she the one who was buried in October 1737? The burial entry simply states "30 Oct Elizabeth Rigden, Infant".
https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBPRS%2FCANT%2F005264873%2F00565&parentid=GBPRS%2FCANT%2FD%2F95185831
Matt
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Ah yes probably a transcription error. so ignore my earlier comment.
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Ah yes probably a transcription error. so ignore my earlier comment.
Yes I also thought it could be a transcription error. The Elizabeth who was buried in October 1737 is described as an "infant" so I presume she was under 1 year. That would tie in with the Elizabeth who was christened in January.
It's a massive nuisance that the burial entry only refers to her as an "infant" rather than "dau of ......." which would have helped with this puzzle. It's annoying as other burials in the register do describe people as "son of....", "daughter of......" etc
Given that there appears to be only one Elizabeth Rigden in this parish and one burial for an Elizabeth of the same age should I be discounting this Elizabeth? I've disconnected her and her ancestors from my tree but I may keep hold of them in a separate file. Of course if that's the case then I have several wills I no longer need as well lol!
Matt
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a couple of possible ....
Elizabeth Rigden from Hoath b 1738 is a similar age haven't looked for any death of marriage yet.
The others are born earlier so looking around if rule them out as the one from Sturry 1726 or Adisham 1729.
Son John born Harbledown 1766? Is that the right couple.
Tazzie
I've just done some digging on the Rigdens in Hoath. Elizabeth was christened on 10 December 1738 and was the daughter of Thomas and Frances. It appears that Elizabeth had one sister
Sarah Rigden - christened 19 April 1741
I looked for a burial and found that Thomas Rigden had married Frances Farbrace at Canterbury in September 1737. The marriage took place by licence and both Thomas and Frances were "of Hoath".
I can't see any signs of burials for any of these people or christenings for Thomas or Frances.
The only thing that makes me cautious about this Elizabeth is that Hoath is 16 mile from Faversham.
Thomas Rigden of Faversham died in 1746 leaving a will in which he mentioned his wife Alice and his "children" but annoyingly he doesn't name them. If he had named them or at least said how many children there were it would have helped
A very frustrating situation indeed.
Matt