Sheperd Family Petticoat Lane Whitechapel

[wren]

Hi All
I have discovered that I have a 4xg grandmother whose maiden name was Deborah Sheperd. I believe that she had a sister whose name was Hester and her parents were Hannah and William Sheperd. The family resided in Petticoat Lane, Whitechapel. Given the names I suspect that there must be a jewish connection with this family. William was dead by 1775 as Hannah was a widow and the person who gave permission for underaged daughter Deborah's  to marry William Marman in October 1775. 
At this stage I have been unable to locate the death for William Sheperd or Hester's marriage.
Any help would be gratefully appreciated.
Kind Regards
Wren

[dawnsh]

Hi Wren

I've located Deborah's baptism at St Mary Whitechapel in 1754, what evidence do you have for Hesther/Esther?

(For William Marman & Deborah Shepperd to then call the banns at St Leonard & St Mary Bromley in June 1775 and marry by licence at St Mary Whitechapel later that year suggests they weren't of a Jewish persuasion.)

Dawn

[JaneyCanuck]

Hester's baptism 1753 Whitechapel is here:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NBCH-F72

which does suggest they weren't Jewish.

It's possible Hester did not survive childhood, or marry if she did.

[wren]

Hi Janey and Dawn
Thank you for your information, Yes, you are right, I can only find Hester's baptism so perhaps she did die during childhood. I have been searching for both marriage and death so far no joy. Poor Deborah was dead at the age of 27 after having given birth to six children.

Given the names Deborah, Hester, Hannah,( these names seem to have been repeated in at least three generations) I thought that there may have been a jewish connection, if not in the generations I'm currently accessing, perhaps earlier, just conjecture really.

In the next generation there is an anomaly which has quite confused me, Deborah's daughter Hannah and her husband William Clarke had their children Deborah b 1803, b 1804 Samuel, William b 1805 and Hannah b 1807 all baptised at St Luke's Church Old Street Middlesex on July 28 1807 and then five years later on July 15 1812 they appear to have all been baptised again.

Janey I was just looking at your family interests. I also have an interest in Cowdells Bermondsey as my 4x g grandfather Charles Cowdell Bermondsey was sent to Australia as a convict in 1818. If they're the same family I have Australian information I would very happily share with you.
Regards
Wren

[dawnsh]

Esther survived and married....

There's a marriage licence online dated 1 September 1773 for Jonathan Stainton of St Lawrence Jewry London & Esther Shepherd a minor of St Mary Whitechapel with consent of her mother Hannah Shepherd a widow.

They married St Mary's Whitechapel 4th April 1773, Deborah Shepherd was one of the witnesses.

[dawnsh]

Then 3 children were baptised

William 6 Feb 1774 at St Stephen Coleman St, City of London
Hannah 9 July1775 at St Lawrence Jewry
Rachel 20 Nov 1776 at St Lawrence Jewry

Going back to Deborah's wedding, looks like 'Easter' Stainton was one of the witnesses

[wren]

Wow Dawn
Thank you. I was very obviously not looking in the right place. This truly adds a great deal to my story.
I am extremely grateful
Regards
Wren

[JaneyCanuck]

Those are very biblical names -- and since "Jewish" goes by the mother's line, it's possible that Hannah or her mother had Jewish parents, for instance, but once married, the baptising got done in the husband's religion.

Fascinating about your Cowdells! I am shamefaced to admit it is a line I have not paid a lot of attention to -- there are trees others have done back from my known (census-era) ancestor and parents, so it wasn't looking like much fun.

So I have male Cowdell ancestors c1790 and c1750 -- there doesn't seem to be a Charles in the c1790 generation, per the online trees, but of course if he went to Australia he could be one of the out of sight out of mind colonials, like my own family is -- absent from trees and never heard of, even though all four of my grandparents were born in England. Obviously there has to be a fairly close connection -- maybe my c1750 grx4 grfather was your grx4's uncle or some such. PM me your Charles's info (father & grfather if you know them) and we can compare notes!