Harper Family Cambridgeshire

[Aboreal Addict]

 I have a Thomas Harper born in 1788 in Gamblingay as are his brothers and sister.  Their father was born 1758 in Hatley St. George which I understand is only a few miles away. He married and died in Gamblingay.
I also have Harpers in Gambingay  from 1570 until 1670  but can't find where they where in between  1670 and 1758.  Do you have any ideas? Thanks Wendy.

[bedfordshire boy]

There's no guarantee that the later Harpers from Gamlingay (no B) were connected to the earlier ones. If you continue to follow your line back in Hatley St George it may lead to Gamlingay.

You need the PR for Gamlingay to establish which Harpers baptised in Gamlingay were buried there - it's noticeable that of the eleven Harper baptisms 1630-70 only three were male. If they all died young there's your reason! But one of them, John, appears to have married, perhaps twice, but he baptised no children in Gamlingay. Did he die after 1670 or did he move away from Gamlingay?

Another possibility is that there were Harpers in Gamlingay in the 1700s but they were non conformist so weren't baptised in the established church. But as there are no Harper marriages either I don't think this is too likely.

Don't forget that Gamlingay is only a mile along the road from Bedfordshire, and a mile from Huntingdonshire to the north, so there could have been movement cross county as well

David

[Aboreal Addict]

Hi and thanks for your reply, You have brought up some interesting points.
I was about to buy  the records for Gamblingay anyway.  I may as well get Hatley's as well.
I did notice that there were a lot of Harper's in both Melbourn  Cambs. and Southoe Hunts, at the necesary times Are these places quite close?   I know I have more work to do.
I know that there is no link with the earlier  records at the moment  just circumstanal with being so close .
Thanks Wendy.

[bedfordshire boy]

Google maps says it's 13 miles from Gamlingay to Melbourn and 11 to Southoe. But Harper is a common name so it's quite likely there's no connection.

I'm not sure there's a lot of point buying Hatley St George transcript as there are no Harper baptisms or marriages on the IGI. It looks to me as though John was probably working in Hatley St George when he married in Waresley - Waresley is a mile north of Gamlingay, and HSG is two miles east of Gamlingay, so they're all within spitting distance of each other.

David

[Aboreal Addict]

Thanks for the info. I will bear all that in mind. Wendy