WEEDON Family

[AlanWatson]

Hi,

I have now had a chance to look through what I can find on HALS. The marriage records match what I had already found. Apart from them, I can't see anything that obviously relates directly to the members of the family that I am looking for.

The entries for the wills in particular are interesting, however, showing as they do that many members of the Weedon and Mead families in the area were labourers or husbandmen, some were shopkeepers or members of other trades and one or two were yeomen or gentlemen.

Working from the parish records, I have also traced a possible family tree for Elizabeth Weeden who married William Mead back a little further. As I wrote before, I think that her parents might have been Ralph Weeden and Mary Bateman who married in Aldenham in 1716. Ralph's parents might have been Richard Weeden and Abigail Wren(t)ch who married there in 1687 and her parents might have been Thomas Wren(t)ch and Abigail (Abygale) Luke who married in Aldenham in 1664. These two seem to have died in 1687 and 1704. I can see a record showing that administration of Thomas's will went to Abygale, and I can see an Canterbury will for Abygale. This is a little annoying in that it mentions her daughter Abigail but not the first or family name of her husband, so it doesn't entirely confirm the family relationship. The children and others mentioned in the will, however, match what I can see from the parish records. The Abygale leaving this will plainly had some money. How much she had is not clear, but she was more likely to have been the widow of a yeoman or tradesman than a husbandman.

I have yet to find any plausible leads about William Mead(e). If anyone out there has actively researched this family, then I would dearly like to make contact with you and get some pointers.

Alan

[Mart 'n' Al]

Firstly On Topic, if it helps anybody, my school gym teacher 50 years ago, in North West London,, was George Weedon who was an Olympic gymnast in 1948. I was the weedy one in his class, but he must have done something right as I'm now 6 feet tall. Sadly he died 2 years ago.

Secondly, I have an Alan Watson on my list of DNA matches to contact. Is it likely to be you Alan?

Martin

[AlanWatson]

I am Gedmatch kit no M930572. The standard 1-1 match shows no common DNA segments.

Alan

[Vance Mead]

Do you have more information about William Mead in Aldenham?

I have quite a lot about Mead in Watford, from 1545 to mid-17th century.

https://sites.google.com/site/meadfamilyhistory/home/mead-in-watford

They also lived in Ridge and probably in Bishops Hatfield until about 1700.

https://sites.google.com/site/meadfamilyhistory/home/wills/herts/wills

Some of them had the unusual male name of Pricilla, which was rendered as Prissly, Tillius, Tilly, etc.

[AlanWatson]

Hi Vance,

Many thanks for pointing me to your interesting site. I note in particular that the 1637 will of Richard Meade baker of Rickmansworth mentions a Thomas Weedon as someone who had recently surrendered lands to him.

In answer to your question, I know next to nothing about the William Mead that I am interested in. He married Elizabeth Weeden in Aldenham in 1745 by banns and was described as 'of this parish'. He and his wife christened eight children there that I can see over the following 17 years and that is about it. I can't see a likely christening record for him or a likely burial record or will for him or his wife or any of his children. None of the parish records that I can see mentions an address or occupation.

Familysearch has his son William Mead (christened Aldenham 1747) marrying an Ann Collins in Rickmansworth in 1770 and having a family there. He would have been 22 at the time, making the date and place reasonable. Findmypast has an image of the marriage register. The marriage was by banns and both were described as 'of this parish'. What bothers me about this entry is that the bride and groom and one of the witnesses made a mark indicating that they couldn't sign their names. My 4th gt grandfather George Newenham was very well educated as affluent Quakers were. (He founded his own bank.) I find it slightly hard to believe that he would have married into a family the members of which could not sign their names.

Of course I might be wrong about this, but even if I am, I haven't found much else of interest about the family concerned.

The Abygale that I mentioned in an earlier post (possibly great grandmother of William Mead's wife Elizabeth Weeden) was plainly wealthier than many of the Meads in the wills that you have transcribed - her 1704 will disposes of a loan of £100 that she had made secured by a mortgage on property in Middlesex as well as a making a legacies of £50 in cash and what seems like a sizeable farm property. All this was before leaving the residue of her estate to her son.

Alan

[Vance Mead]

There was a wealthier Mead family in Soulbury and Stewkley, Bucks, some of whom were Quakers. They included William Mead, an early Quaker; his brother the Rev. Matthew Mead, a Nonconformist minister; and Matthew's son Dr. Richard Mead, physician to King George II.


https://sites.google.com/site/meadfamilyhistory/home/counties/bucks

[AlanWatson]

Many thanks for pointing me to this. This is the sort of Mead(e) family that I was expecting, which similar (or higher) social class and Quaker background might have led my George Newenham to. But although it is interesting, I don't for the moment see any link to the people in Aldenham, and most of the male lines seem to have run out before the date when William Mead who married in 1745 would have been born

So I am still scratching my head.

Thanks, though; most interesting.

Alan

[Vance Mead]

Here is a William Weedon, of Rickmansworth, in Common Pleas, Hilary term 1572:

London. William Bovyngton, of Kylborne, Middx, tilemaker, versus William Weedon, of Rickmansworthe, Herts, or of Harvill (Harefield), Middx, husbandman, for a debt of 20 pounds.

http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT5/Eliz/CP40no1300/bCP40no1300dorses/IMG_0896.htm

[rpweedon]

Hi Vance,

Do you provide transcription services?  In my family tree I have a William Weedon whose will dated 1594 mentions brother John Weedon of Harvil.  William was described as 'of Rickmansworth'.  I think your William and my William are one and the same.  Thoughts?

Robert Peter Weedon
Ontario, Canada