Whittaker - Fingringhoe & Layer-de-la-Haye, Wade, Cooper & other families

[smudwhisk]

The National Archives are showing an abstract of the Will of Joseph Wade senior of Layer de la Haye dated 1810 on the website, available to purchase for the same price as PCC Wills.

[helvissa]

Good point!

Yes, I've had a look at that abstract but it doesn't give much info. No Wades are mentioned, but there are some of his children. I'm ordering a copy of it anyway from ERO just to check.

I've also been in touch with them about the Sessions bundle, and they can copy the relevant section for me, so this is all going in the same order!

[helvissa]

Also, the Cardinal middle name goes on and on! I've just found William Cardinal Cranfield, son of William Wadley Cranfield, and his wife Euphemia. Euphemia's maiden name? Wade. Euphemia's dad was William Cardinal Wade, and he's also my 3 x gt-grandmother's brother. (and that also backs up what you've just said about naming people with the first name and middle name of an ancestor's first name and surname - he's got his grandad's first name and middle name. But then also his dad's first name. Oh, you know what I mean!).

[helvissa]

I thought I'd investigate the Game family - see if that gave any clues, as Henry Game's marriage gives us Yells and Wades. Well... I found this newspaper report from 1831, when a Henry Game of East Donyland was accused of stealing some chickens from John Whitaker Cooper, and someone called Joseph Wade (who I think could be a son of Edward Wade 2nd., born in 1809) gets all Sherlock Holmes.



(Essex Standard, 19 Nov 1831)

There's a fuller report in the same paper on 3rd December - Joseph Wade is a carpenter, and there's a huge amount of space given over to it, including the name of the housekeeper, the fact that Cooper gives her some of the money for the sale of the fowls (he seems like a nice chap - he started a charity for bread for the poor in Fingringhoe in his will). Game is acquitted (though he may have had Cooper's fowls, there's no proof that he actually stole them), but is told off for allowing raffling in his pub!

[helvissa]

More!

No Yell baptisms in Layer de la Haye between 1767 and 1812, however, I'm up to 1781 in the burials and have Sarah Yell, buried there on 18 Jan 1779. This could be the wife of Joseph Yell, who was widow Sarah Wade when they married in the 1750s.

I have a Mary Tiffin buried in Layer de la Haye on 13 May 1773.

And I think I've found Charles Tiffin's 2nd (or perhaps there was another in the intervening years?) marriage to the Rebecca who appears in his 1803 will - 1 Sep 1795 at Limehouse St Anne in Tower Hamlets:

By banns.
Charles Tiffin, widower, & Rebekah Waters, widow, both of St Anne's.
Witnesses: Thos. ? Howard, Humphry Weston, Mary Mansfield.

This is presumably Mary, daughter of Charles & Mary Tiffin, born about 1767 and married James Mansfield in Colchester in 1789, with the two children, Mary Ann (1790-?) and James (1791-?).

Not quite sure what Charles is doing there, but anyway.

Then again, there's a Charles Tiffin marrying in Bethnal Green St Matthew, a bachelor, in 1786. It could be coincidence that the widower's marriage was to a Rebecca - it could be Mary Tiffin/Mansfield's brother, who moved to London, married in 1786, was widowed, and then happened to marry someone called Rebecca, as his father had done. That said, the signature on the  1786 and 1795 marriages aren't that similar, and in fact the 1795 sig looks closer to the one on the Layer de la Haye marriage that a Charles Tiffin witnessed in 1767.

[smudwhisk]

Chances are with a 1767 remarriage, Sarah may have been too old to have any more children, hence no other baptisms in LDLH.

I didn't think Charles Tiffing and Mary Rayner had a son Charles?  The only two appearing in LDLH are the burial of John and Mary's baptism.  As Charles' Will doesn't mention as son Charles, I doubt they had one or if they did before the records start, he probably died as a child.  If his father was John, that would explain the son of that name.

I've some lines from Harwich who married in London, in fact have one that married in central Kent, but all returned to Harwich.  Somebody may have been working/living down there.  Not that unusual.

In reference to signatures, I'd say that 1795 marriage is the same Charles Tiffin who married Mary Rayner in 1765.  The T and two f's in the surname are definately the same and probably unique enough to say this.  I think the fact he signed it Charles in 1765 and Chas in 1795 is probably causing some doubt, but I've seen William's sign William and Wm on different entries too.  As we've found out trying to trace some lines in Essex and London, no two signatures are ever identical but you can often find characteristics which, along with other evidence, suggest could be the same person.

[helvissa]

Oh, the Yell/Wade marriage is 24 Dec 1755 - Joseph Yell is a single man when he marries Sary Wade, a widow, so if the 1810 Joseph Yell senior will is the same man, then the children mentioned in the will would be the children of him and Sarah Wade (unless he remarried after Sarah's (possible) death in 1779). As we don't have the earlier baptisms for LDLH, there's no way yet to tie them together, but I'm going to see what I can find! In the 1780s and 1790s there's some Yells (John & Joseph) in Abberton, so I suppose those could be Joseph's children.

Edward Wade 1 would've been about 13 when the 1755 marriage took place, so if Sarah Wade widow *was* his mother, then she could have been in her late 20s/early 30s, and so probably wouldn't have had any children after 1767 (when the baptism register starts). There's a John Wade who appears in the LDLH register, and a James pops up in Fingringhoe - they could be Edward's brothers from his mother's first marriage. I'm curious as to Ann Wade, who witnesses the 1811 Game/Yell marriage in East Donyland, is. I shall keep rummaging...

There seem to be some Yells in Bradfield and Manningtree in the mid-1700s, which might be a connection with the Waynmans also being around there at about the same time. That's just going on Boyd's, though.

Re the Tiffin marriages: Yes, I think the signatures contain enough similaries for them to be the same chap, and as we have someone called Mary Mansfield witnessing, as we know he could've been a widow by then, and as we have a Rebecca as his wife on his will, it's enough evidence to suggest that is Charles' marriage.

I was thinking aloud about the other Charles - wondering if we could discount him. But again, because the baptisms don't start in LDLH until 1767, it could be that Charles Tiffin and Mary (née Rayner) did have a son called Charles. But... he's not in the 1803 Charles Tiffin will, so at the moment it would be impossible to say.

[helvissa]

Think I've found one of your Coopers (Thomas Cooper - the signature looks familiar) witness a marriage in Peldon - 26 Sep 1791. Edward Salmon of Little Wigborough and Anne Pack. I think the connection is the Cooper who married a Salmon and living in Langenhoe?

12 Feb 1793
William Mortimer of Peldon marries Sarah Tiffin of Abberton by licence. Witnesses: Geo. Wayland and Wm Salmon. Possibly the Sarah baptised in Abberton in 1764, daughter of William and Sarah Tiffin (erm... Wm could be Charles Tiffin's brother?). I'm just chucking these out while I find them in case they come in handy later.

09 Feb 1796 at Peldon
Charles Tiffin, bachelor, marries Sarah Pack, spinster. Witnesses: Edwd Salmon, Wm Hubbard. By licence.

Surprise Wades in Peldon:
22 Dec 1745 John son of William & Hannah Wade
06 Mar 1747/8 Hannah of Edward & Hannah Wade (born 2 Mar) (marriage 1744, Edward Wade & Hannah Williams both single persons).
11 Dec 1748 George of John & Elizabeth Wade (born 26 Nov) (marriage: 27 Sep 1747, John Wade bachelor of Peldon, Elizabeth Smith spinster of West Mersea)
23 Dec 1750 James of James & Hannah Wade (Born 16 Nov)

Oh god, my head's just exploded....

But that's it (and I've gone up to the late 1770s).

[helvissa]

I started to read Shania D'Cruze's A Pleasing Prospect and in it she mentions the John Bensusan Butt archive, which is a collection of research on about 1,000 people who lived in Colchester in the 1700s. D'Cruze has, since writing the book, put together the research as downloadable Lulu pdf books called Colchester People, in three volumes. You won't be surprised to find out that the Mansfield, Marsdens and Waynmans appear in it.

There are 5 entries for James Mansfield (includes summaries of people mentioned in wills, some apprenticeship info, bankruptcy, bits from local papers, who they voted for and when - LOADS of very interesting stuff). Some of it is a little muddled - the Mansfield/Farran marriage is attributed to the wrong James (hey, I'm not surprised, it's confused me too!), but this is what I can work out from the Bensusan Butt archive and what we've found out already....

Our James Mansfield, b abt 1766, who married Mary Tiffin, was the 3rd James Mansfield.

James Mansfield 1st is the man who wrote the 1789 will, which is the date it was written - it doesn't seem to have been proved. In this will he leaves most of his property to his son James 2nd (I had assumed that the son in the 1789 will was James Mansfield 3rd - I was wrong).

In this will, James 2nd has two sons mentioned: Samuel and James. I believe James 2nd's son James is James 3rd (husband of Mary Tiffin).

The 1789 will mentions other grandchildren: Mary, wife of Samuel Wright and Sarah, wife of Charles Heath. This ties in with the 1821 PCC will of James Mansfield, where we have Mary Wright and his grandchildren who are the children of Charles Heath. So therefore, the 1821 will is that of James 2nd, father of James 3rd (it also means we can identify the father of the Mary and Sarah in James 1st's will - it means that James 2nd had at least four children - Mary, Sarah, Samuel and James 3rd).

And also in the 1789 will, there are Gledhill grandsons - these are sons of the late Joseph Gledhill, innholder - so James 1st had a daughter, who married Joseph Gledhill (not found the marriage yet). This could be significant because when I did a soundex search on FreeREG for Gledhills, I came up with Gladwell - and there are Gladwell/Tiffin marriages in Fingringhoe (yes, we're back there) in the 1800s. Could be significant - could be coincidental. The Gledhills are possibly something to do with the dissenting minister Gledhill in Colchester in the early 1700s.

There is mention in Colchester People of a memorial inscription in St Giles for "Mary wife of James Mansfield, daughter of Charles Tiffin", who is possibly the one born in LDLH in 1767. Just looking through St Giles burials - 22 Jul 1798 would, I think, be referring to her (the reference in Colchester people says she died 18 Jul 17??, but the age is given as 61 - I think it's our Mary, and I think the age should be 31!!!

But from what I can see in Colchester People, I think that James Mansfield 1st was the son of another (ANOTHER!) James Mansfield (Erm... James Mansfield zero?). Buried in St Giles in 1780, aged 80, his wife was Mary, also buried in St Giles, in 1785, aged 77.

This is about as much as my brain can take for now... time for lunch!