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The Common Room / Sollicoffre family in London
« on: Saturday 28 September 19 10:51 BST (UK) »
I have a Fleet marriage 27 Jan 1753 (just before Hardwick Act came into force) for Henry D'Sallicoffre Bachelor, Dyer of Spitalfields and Esther Favre (ignore shakey spellings) Spinster (parish not given). I think the date was probably correct (i.e not backdated because she was pregnant) because the record is in the book of William Wyatt with 8 others on the same day (a Monday) and at least seven the day before.
Esther went on to have two children (1754 and 1758) in the London Lying In Hospital (sponsored by the Duke and Duchess of Portland - the Duke was Chairman - but this probably means nothing... sadly .. except that someone asked then to do it.) In the wonderfully clear hospital register the Henry and Esther claimed to have been married in St Gallen (origin of the Sollicoffer/Zollicoffer family) but a Swiss expert has told me that he can see no record of that. By 1758 Henry was a Mariner, not a Dyer (Seven Years War?). By 1774 he had died, but I cannot find any death. His son was apprenticed at 16 in 1774 to City Cabinet Maker George Speer (£20 consideration) but sailed the same year for Philadelphia. He wasn't mentioned in his mother's will in 1798, and I can find no more about him.
Henry Sollicoffre's daughter married Robert Overton in 1780 at St Martin in the Fields, and her widowed mother Esther Sollicoffre married again in 1791. This time she organised a Deed of Arrangement the day before her wedding to ensure that she could keep her own money (where did that come from?) separately from her second husband. Wisely, because by 1798 they were living apart. After the separation she made a will leaving him merely a bequest. She was thus able to support herself, her daughter (whose husband seems to have been in financial trouble) and her grandson (my ancestor).
Esther Sollicoffre had clearly acquired money from somewhere. In 1774 she paid for her son's apprenticeship and in the 1790s she instructed a well known firm of lawyers. She also left bequests to a well known miniature painter and a well known German bookseller, but, oddly nothing to any church or charity. She died in 1810 and the value of her estate was in the band of Under £200. I am not sure how bands worked at that date.
Henry Sollicoffre might have been well-connected. There were members of the family in London at the time. Some of them had arrived, I think, from St Gallen via Holland. Joachim Sollicoffre, a retired servant of George II, died one day before Henry married Esther in the Fleet. But I cannot find Henry in any of their wills.
This is such a tantalising story, I really want to find out more but at the moment I am stumped! Is there anyone on RootsChat that has come across Sollicoffres in London? I could attach documents, but will wait to see if someone replies to do that.
Esther went on to have two children (1754 and 1758) in the London Lying In Hospital (sponsored by the Duke and Duchess of Portland - the Duke was Chairman - but this probably means nothing... sadly .. except that someone asked then to do it.) In the wonderfully clear hospital register the Henry and Esther claimed to have been married in St Gallen (origin of the Sollicoffer/Zollicoffer family) but a Swiss expert has told me that he can see no record of that. By 1758 Henry was a Mariner, not a Dyer (Seven Years War?). By 1774 he had died, but I cannot find any death. His son was apprenticed at 16 in 1774 to City Cabinet Maker George Speer (£20 consideration) but sailed the same year for Philadelphia. He wasn't mentioned in his mother's will in 1798, and I can find no more about him.
Henry Sollicoffre's daughter married Robert Overton in 1780 at St Martin in the Fields, and her widowed mother Esther Sollicoffre married again in 1791. This time she organised a Deed of Arrangement the day before her wedding to ensure that she could keep her own money (where did that come from?) separately from her second husband. Wisely, because by 1798 they were living apart. After the separation she made a will leaving him merely a bequest. She was thus able to support herself, her daughter (whose husband seems to have been in financial trouble) and her grandson (my ancestor).
Esther Sollicoffre had clearly acquired money from somewhere. In 1774 she paid for her son's apprenticeship and in the 1790s she instructed a well known firm of lawyers. She also left bequests to a well known miniature painter and a well known German bookseller, but, oddly nothing to any church or charity. She died in 1810 and the value of her estate was in the band of Under £200. I am not sure how bands worked at that date.
Henry Sollicoffre might have been well-connected. There were members of the family in London at the time. Some of them had arrived, I think, from St Gallen via Holland. Joachim Sollicoffre, a retired servant of George II, died one day before Henry married Esther in the Fleet. But I cannot find Henry in any of their wills.
This is such a tantalising story, I really want to find out more but at the moment I am stumped! Is there anyone on RootsChat that has come across Sollicoffres in London? I could attach documents, but will wait to see if someone replies to do that.