William Leake married Sarah Cliffe (widow, nee Marshall) in Orston on 29.12.1774. The only child of theirs whose fortunes I can trace was Thomas, who is shown as the village miller on the 1841 census.
Sarah died in 1788 and William remarried Elizabeth Higgins in 1790. Their daughter Elizabeth was my ancestor, and there's no trace of any money in her descendants down to me! However, Elizabeth's brother Robert moved to Lancashire, was wealthy, educated his children privately; one of his sons was a wealthy industrialist and became an MP (Robert Leake).
I am interested in how Robert was able to make this break, move away and make money but I have no further info about the family background. The Marshall tombstones in Orston graveyard are amongst the largest and most expensive -looking so I wonder if there was money there - I know nothing more about the Leake or Higgins sides.
Does anyone have any further info about any of these families prior to the censuses?
