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1. Richard Miles (1755-1814)
I have worked my gggg (or so) grandfather to Richard Miles (1755-1814) m. Anne Saxby, Tonbridge and Leigh. These names are given in Quaker Records in US and verified in the IGI records of Leigh, Kent.

2. Samuel Miles (1723-1802)
For Richard I have determined that his father was Samuel Miles (1723-1802) This I have determined from a headstone transcription of Samuel Miles in the Old Churchyard St Mary Leigh where it gives the above dates and lists issue of Samuel and Elizabeth (Hunt) Miles, his wife; Richard's name is included. The list of children match up to the IGI church christening records. Book "Leigh in Kent" puts Samuel as owning a farm, and Richard leaves same farm in his will (Enfield and/or Haysden farms). Etc. Seems pretty good that I have this right. Uncle George Hunt mentioned in Richard's will. Samuel and Elizabeth marriage can be found on IGI.

3. John Miles ( ? - 1744)
I have found a will for John Miles who died 1744 in Leigh. In this will he leaves his farm in Leigh to son, Samuel. Dates match. So feel this John is right. There is one connection to Brenchley mentioned in his will, and that is his eldest daughter, Elizabeth, who had married John Hickmott, and they are living in Brenchley. No lands left at this point, from Brenchley.

I have a list of his children from the will, and wife name of Elizabeth. No IGI marriage records show the date etc of their marriage. The children are registered at the church in Brenchley, not Leigh, as John's with, again, Elizabeth is not named. Only in will. ( Edward, Elizabeth, Ann, Richard, Samuel, Mary ). and Samuel is born in 1723, the right year.

There are two sons ( John and William ) unaccounted for in church records. Email correspondence with another researcher says that (3) John had been married before Elizabeth, to Susanna Stephens (Stevens) in 1705 at Horsmonden, which is near Brenchley, and these two sons are hers, and recorded in Brenchley. I see that in IGI. I do not see her death/burial information though.

I would like to verify this information somehow, Susanna's death and that this is the same John. It would seem to be, if you add in all the children's names, then that would make the same as in his will.

Also to get a year of birth for (3) John ( ? - 1744).

4. John Milles ( ? - 1730)
I have found another will for a John Milles written in 1730, gentleman, Horsmonden, Kent.
My correspondent believes that the earlier John (3) John Miles is b. 1686 in Chevening to Jeffrey Myles. This is in IGI. She linked them because Jeffrey, of Chevening, was buried in Brenchley, but this I cannot verify.

I am leaning towards John Milles (Horsmonden) as the next generation back because I cannot verify what she found about Jeffrey, and because of the Brenchley and Horsmonden connection(s). John Milles did have a son John (ouch though - all these names repeat over and over and over which has made this all so tough). His son John must have been older, he did not leave him much property but he is executor, which makes me think that he had already settled with him, John, and another brother, Thomas. (I see some later records for a John and Thomas Milles in Horsmonden, but they seem to be the next generation however there is not enough to go on in these record snippets - or the will).

Property in Wood-Church which is not that far away, perhaps under 10 miles from Horsmonden and maybe 12 from Brenchley, was left to son, Richard Milles, who seems to be the youngest son and in need of supervision of two older brothers, and an annuity, etc. There are rules about the land, income and rent to be followed.

The will also says the testator (4) John Milles lives at Spelmonden, which seems to have been a farm or an estate, in Horsmonden, again that is perhaps two miles from Brenchley. The only other location mentioned is that John Milles wants to be buried next to his "unkle" John Milles in Biddenen, which is closer to Wood-Church. He has kinswomen in Bersted, which is much farther afield, south. Looks like Mary and Sarah Hoods (?) the last name is hard for me to make out.

Leigh is not mentioned, but again, could that have been disposed of earlier?

There is another IGI record for this generation, of a John Milles born to a William Milles in Leigh, could it be the same John as (4) John? That would be a tie into Leigh, if more could be found, and this is the right track.

Does anyone know this family line?

I would like to find the line of my G G G Grandmother, Ann Miles nee Saxby. She is mentioned in the will of her father, John Saxby, b. abt 1718-1720 died in Goldhill, Hadlow (Tonbridge) Kent. His will mentions his wife's name as Elizabeth, and four other children; Elizabeth who married Richard Mercer, John, Henry and Michael. I think his wife, Elizabeth, may be Elizabeth Basset or Bassett of Cowden, Kent (IGI extracted file for Parish of Cowden, John Saxby m. Elizabeth Basset in 1743). I would like to confirm that, it seems likely that it is so however by IGI records for her and for their first son John who was born in Cowden. If it is Elizabeth Basset or Bassett, she has a family line there in Cowden.

However I cannot trace John's parents with any certainty; there are several likely candidates. I thought perhaps he was the John Saxby born in Leybourne, Kent in 1718 since he has some Leybourne property in his will, but that is just a hunch. There are several other John Saxbys born in Kent at this time within a few years.

Anyone have this line?

My ancestor is Mary Ashby (1758-1795) m. Simeon Warner Hagen at the Longford Meetinghouse, Staines, 29 Apr 1784. (Quaker)

The marriage certificate states that Mary’s parents were Thomas and Hannah Ashby. Mary’s father, Thomas Ashby, was living in Staines in the County of Middlesex at the time of the wedding, he was a mealman, and both Thomas and Hannah Ashby were still living in 1784.

In 1796 a Thomas Ashby (b. 1738 according to “Proceedings of the British Academy, Vol 17. pg 515, 1931) started a brewery, Ashby’s Staines Brewery. His sons became involved, it became so successful that the Ashbys started a bank. The sons and grandsons were still in the business in the mid to late 1800s. Later it was the Charles Ashby Brewery which was sold? I have also heard that the Bank (name of bank?) was sold, to Barclays?

I digress.

Is this the same Thomas Ashby as Mary Ashby's father?

More information on Thomas:

I found a certificate of marriage for a Thomas Ashby and Hannah Wickens that fits the time period of a year before the first child’s birth (1757. Mary was born in 1758), and the occupation is the same (and his father is a Maltster):

Thomas Ashby of Staines in Middlesex, Mealman, son of Robert Ashby of Shillingford in the County of Oxon [Oxfordshire], Maltster, & Mary his wife, and Hannah Wickens…

Based on this I found Thomas’ birth registry in Shillingford:

Thomas Ashby, son of Robert Ashby and Mary, his wife, was born ye 7th of ye 4th month at Worbrow 1733.

Worbrow or Warbrow (Warborough) was used on the page interchangeably, and is a Parish of Shillingford.

The catch here is the YEAR OF BIRTH.

The Thomas Ashby who founded the Brewery was stated to have a y.o.b. of 1738. I have seen a 1738 Y.O.B. on at least 1 IGI file for my Thomas which gives D. O. D. as 1813 (which matches the Quaker burial register death year).

Was there a second Thomas Ashby in Staines, about the same dates, who was the founder, or is it this Thomas Ashby, son of Robert, father of Mary?

Hello

I am following the Conkey family; our line ended up in Rochester New York.

From my mother-in-law's research in the 1970s and grandmother-in-law's research in the early 1960s we have

Gen 1
Mary Alexandria Conkey married James Christie in Albion, Orleans, New York in April of 1892. I have two days, April 13 and April 19, to sort out.

She was born May 6, 1870 in Killyleagh, County Down, Ireland; died June 6, 1946 in Rochester, Monroe, New York. She was orphaned at about the age of 12 (family history) or 14 (checking the actual dates) and came to the United States alone to live with her married sister Isabella.

Mary was the daughter of

Gen 2
Samuel Conkey born 1842. Mary told someone in the family that Samuel was born in Scotland, as were her two older sisters, Sarah Jane and Isabella, but we can find no record that the family lived in Scotland; if they did, they must have lived there briefly, they were not caught on the 1840, 1850 or 1860 Scotland Censuses and I cannot find a birth record for Samuel, Isabella or Sarah Jane in Scotland via Scotland's People or any other records there for any of said family names. Mary Alexandria was about 4 when her father died and about 10 or 12 when her mother died. She may have been told they were from Scotland when she came to the US to live.

Her father Samuel Conkey (b. 1841) died 1874 in Killyleagh, County Down, Ireland. He was a shopkeeper. We have an official copy of the marriage record, copied by a townsperson from the Killyleagh city records which says Samuel married Mary Middleton (1842-1884) on Nov 8, 1862, Killinchy and Killyleagh Parish, County Down, Ireland. Mary Middleton's father was John Middleton. I do not know more about his family, but he may have been married to Mary Kelly; I do not know if he had just the one wife.

We have 5 children listed of the couple, Sarah Jane, Isabella (both came to New York) Eliza A., Mary Alexandria, and Samuel John

The marriage record gives Samuel's residence as Raffrey (which I do not see on Google Maps, but may be in County Down), and his father as

Gen 3
Alexander Conkey, Laborer
b. 1814 Ireland (family record)
d. 1889 Ireland (family record)
Laborer, servant
Here they do not have a wife.

I have found an IGI record, no sources given, that he was born 1817, died 1900 and married Isabella McIlveen in 1838, Killinchy Parish, B Macreely, Down, Ireland. (Where is B Macreely?)

and

Alexander Conkey, Killinchy Parish, of Ballymacashen; leased a house from Joseph Minnis in 1863, a GV record.

Back to my earlier family records of about 1960, they have Alexander's father tentatively as:

Gen 4
Samuel Conkey who was living at Ballymacashan in 1833 (recorded in the Tithe Book, Killyinchy Parish, 1833). I have also found the same Tithe Book record online.

Where is Ballymacashan?

The 1960s record says "tentatively" but the later 1970s record says he was the father, and that this Samuel's parents were Arthur Conkey and Margaret Greenfield.

Between the 1960s and 1970s the family had found a descendant living in the Killyleagh area still, a McVeigh, who provided some facts. The McVeighs would descend from Alexander Conkey Gen 2 (above), from his daughter Martha who married James McVeigh so I think that the later information must have come from them, but my mother in law has passed so I cannot ask.

IGI gives d.o.b. for this Samuel as abt 1788, Kelinchy, Down, Ireland, with no sources sited, and parents Arthur Conkey and Margaret Greenfield.

I would like to know his wife.

Gen 5
Arthur Conkey and Margaret Greenfield

IGI information, no sources given:
Arthur Conkey
b. abt 1760 Saint Field, Down, Ireland
m. abt 1784 County Down, Ireland
Margaret Greenfield
b. abt 1763 Saint Field, Down, Ireland

So my other questions are - does anyone have anything on Gen 4 Samuel Conkey which I do not, d.o.b, marriage, death? likely of Ballymacashan, or that would firm up this link to Gen 3 and Gen 5?

Or any more on Arthur Conkey and Margaret Greenfield, by chance?

Or any more information about this line of Conkeys?

Thank you very much for any leads.

Jane
Brooklyn, New York