Whatever happened to Samuel Dardes?

[denney4933]

Is anyone able to help me find out what happened to the above-named person please?  The IGI gives his christening date as 23 Jan 1630 @ Great Munden, Hertford; Parents shown as John & Deborah Darge, but I think the correct surname was "Dardes", based on other birth and marriage records for the family. He was the 3rd of four known children.  I believe Samuell married an Elizebeth Man @ St Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury, London in 1654 [IGI].  I found two children presumbly born to them -  John in 1662 and Samuell in 1664, also @ the same Parish.  I have been advised that the son John married a Mary Bloxom @ St James, Duke´s Place, London in Aug 1684. [To complicate matters, sometimes the surname was recorded as Dards, Deard, Deards, or Derd, amongst other variations].  Can anyone advise me please about what happened to the two Samuells, father & son after 1664, because no other records have been found for them since, or advise me how I should pursue my enquiries.

The church of Aldermanburywas destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, but was re-built by Christopher Wren about 10 years later.

Thanks for your help.
Barbara Deards

[Sandymc47]

Hi Barbara,

Had a look for you and as you say there is no trace of the two Samuels.
If you look at the history of where they were living in Almandbury there
are a few things which could have happened to them,
One the Black Plague happened in 1665 and effected over half the people
in England and killed them.  You then had the Great fire of London and all
that area of London was burnt down.  The total killed for London was only 8
people but this has been discounted as being too low.  The estimate based
on other fires in cities is that thousands of people died but the heat was so
hot no bodies were found.  Maybe John was lucky enough to have survived
the fire and plague and could even have been sent to Hertfordshire as maybe
family still lived there.
Also I looked into the name Darge and it is a French name.  During the fire
rumours were set that the people starting the fire were French or Dutch
settlers, so maybe the Darges were picked on for that.
I found someone who is also doing the Darge ancestry so will send you a personal message on here as I dont know if its the same Darge family as yours.
Hope this helps
regards Sandymc