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

[smudwhisk]

Ooh, well found but my head's spinning too, will have to re-read again later.

Hhm, those eBooks Colchester People look quite interesting.  I've several sidelines that ended up there, plus some that were there earlier on so could be useful.

[helvissa]

There's some interesting stuff about the Marsdens in "Colchester People". Mary Marsden/Waynman/Nice makes an appearance (doesn't add much to what we already know, other than that she changed her husband's business when he died from seedsman to milliner, operating from the same shop on the High St opposite the town hall. Presumably this is why she ended up marrying Thomas Nice, linen draper. Sadly there's no extra info about Nice).

There's info on her father, John Marsden - he was a framework knitter and was apprenticed in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire in 1754. This comes from a settlement certificate of 1766, presumably about the time he moved to Colchester. This possibly explains why William Waynman, Thomas & Mary's son, went to Nottingham - because he had family there (I wonder if Mary moved up there too?). There's info on three of Mary's brothers: John, who married 3 times, Reuben, who went bankcrupt, and then loads of stuff about her brother Isaac.

Isaac was a printer and amongst the various things he got up to, he was imprisoned for publishing a libellous poem (written by someone else). While married to his first wife, he had a child with his wife's sister, he married again and had a mistress (and had to resign from the Baddow Road independent church he was at under "extraordinary circumstances" - his mistress' four children died in such a way that it seemed he may have smothered them. This comes from the church's archive, so I think may have to delve - I'm curious as to who the mistress was. And whether or not it was true - because I can't see it in the newspapers), and then when wife #2 died, he married for a third time. He was in his 50s and he married a 23-year old.

And... because his sister knew my family, my family may very well have known Isaac. Extraordinary circumstances, indeed.

[helvissa]

The 1753 to 1812 Colchester transcription CDs arrived, which have given some interesting info.

It's taken me back to my Pritchetts and I think I've identified another sister (Catherine) and possibly *another*, Louisa, as well as more marriages for the girls (one of them, Charlotte, married 3 times!). I've been trying to trace these women forwards in the records because if I can get them to the 1841 census or - even better - 1851, it would give me a clue where I could look for their baptisms/births. But as yet, I've hit brick walls with all of them.

Harriet Pritchett, married Joseph Clark White in 1801 in Lexden. He was buried in Lexden ("of St Botolph's") in 1806, and in 1807, Harriet married Benjamin Hudson. They're both of St Botolph's, but there's no Hudsons I can find that could be them.

Catherine Pritchett married Robert Ferguson in 1808, both of St Botolph's. He dies (not found his burial in Colchester or on FreeREG or Findmypast, and haven't found any children), and in 1814 she marries Benjamin Humphries of Weeley. Then they both disappear! (no Humphries in Weeley, nothing in the newspapers....).

I did wonder if Robert Ferguson was a soldier. It doesn't say so in the marriage register and they often did say so at the time, but of course, there's always some that are exceptions.

Another possible Pritchett sister is Louisa - she turns up witnessing Harriett's 2nd marriage and Charlotte's 3rd (in Fulham) as Louisa Lyons. Also witnessing Charlotte's marriage is Sarah Louisa Lyons, and I found a baptism at All Saints in Colchester in 1807 for Sarah Louisa, daughter of Wm & Louisa Lyons, born in 1802. I then found the marriage for Wm & Louisa in Canterbury in 1800 - he's an ensign in the 20th regiment of foot, and she's a widow, Louisa McDowell, of Lexden in Colchester. In 1800, most of the Pritchetts were still living in Lexden, and without her maiden name (I looked *everywhere* for her first marriage) I can't discount the fact that she might be a sister.

So I moved on a bit with my Pritchetts, but ended up with more mysteries, as is ever the way....

[helvissa]

Oh - what I meant to add was, it ties us back in with the Whitakers again. Charlotte Pritchett's second marriage was to Thomas Jaggard of Fingringhoe. One of the witnesses was Edward Wade (not surprising as she's his sister-in-law) but... there's something else. There's a chap in Fingringhoe who is possibly Charlotte's stepson who has two sons (both dying as infants) who are called Thomas Whitaker Jaggard. When John Whitaker Cooper dies in the 1830s, "Jaggard's Farm" (apparently built by a Thomas Jaggard - Charlotte's stepfather, I think, unless it's actually her husband - in the 1780s/1790s) is part of the estate that is sold. So is it a familial connection or is it the case that they wanted to honour Cooper's family in some way? (which begs again the question - why not just call the child Thomas Cooper Jaggard?!).

[smudwhisk]

Ooh, getting more confusing.   It may be that Thomas Jaggard had a pre-existing connection to the Whitakers, hence the use of the name and the marriage with Charlotte via her Wade connection.  Definately getting confusing, much be a connection somewhere.  As you say, if it had been to "honour" John Whitaker Cooper, why Thomas and why not Cooper as a middle name?  Probably more likely a connection with the Whitakers ...

[helvissa]

I've been quiet for a while as I've been digging. I have AT LAST found a connection, although not where I expected.

Yesterday I got Joseph Yell's will. He died in 1810 and wrote his will in 1809. He mentions Grace Howes (née Wade - Joseph Yell married Sary Wade, a widow in LDLH in 1755), who is probably his stepdaughter. I wondered why he didn't mention my ancestor, Edward Wade 1, who I suspect is his stepson - but then I checked my notes and remembered that Edward had died in 1808. Joseph had loads of grandchildren so I don't think there was enough room in his will for all the Wades as well (sadly!). Grace only gets £3 or £5.

So today, I got the two Thomas Jaggard wills in Fingringhoe. There are a lot of people in Fingringhoe of that name, but I think I've managed to tease them all out. We have Thomas Jaggard who married Charlotte Pritchett (Charlotte's sister, Sarah, married Edward Wade 2). Thomas died in 1812, and his age at death gives a rough year of birth of 1758. Can't find his baptism but he appears in the will of Thomas Jaggard who died in 1781. There are other baptisms in Fingringhoe for Thomas (d. 1781) and his wife Rebecca in the 1760s and 1770s, who I assume are siblings or half-siblings of Thomas (1758-1812). I checked the Colchester register transcriptions, and found a marriage in Colchester St Giles (the parish closest to Fingringhoe) on 20 Sep 1758 for Thomas Jaggard, widower, and Rebecca Winch, spinster. Both of St Giles.

I think Rebecca might be the same one who appears in the will of John Winch of Fingringhoe, written on 8th May 1755 (proved July the same year). Rebecca is one of his daughters, and one of John Winch's sons, William, married Anne Waynman in Fingringhoe on 5th March 1765. Anne was the daughter of William Waynman and his first wife, before he married Sarah Cooper in 1753.

So in an extremely roundabout way, I now have an actual link by marriage between the Waynman/Cooper/Whitaker clan and my family!

But... this means at the moment the actual familial connection is via Charlotte Pritchett's 2nd marriage in 1807 (Edward Wade 2 appears on the marriage licence allegation as a witness) with Thomas Jaggard, but the connection should be earlier than that because we can go back to Edward Wade 1's marriage in 1767 when Charles Tiffin is a witness, and Edward Wade 2's marriage in 1791 where Mary Waynman is a witness.

When Charlotte and Thomas married, she was resident in Colchester, and Thomas was resident in  Fingringhoe - I suspect she met Thomas through her sister and brother-in-law in Fingringhoe.

The two boys baptised Thomas Whitaker Jaggard are in fact grandsons of the Thomas Jaggard who married Charlotte Pritchett. So they are connected by marriage to the Whitakers, but rather distantly!

[helvissa]

Aaaand... we have another Whittaker baby.

Joseph Whittaker Woodward, son of William and Eliza, baptised in Layer-de-la-Haye on 30 Aug 1829.

There may be a connection here - Charles Whittaker Wade son of Edward Wade and Sarah Pritchett) married Hannah Woodward. Hannah always put Layer de la Haye as her place of birth on the censuses, but there's no baptism for her there. However, there are several Woodwards about, and going on Hannah and William's ages, it's not unlikely that they're brother and sister. So it could be that the Woodwards are related to the Whittakers as well, or that William Woodward used the name for his son (his first child) because of something to do with the Wade family that his sister had married into. Maybe Charles, his brother-in-law, helped him in some way? Or indeed, John Whittaker Wade?

The other thing is that I've had a look at a tree that includes the Woodwards, and William's wife, Eliza, was from Lexden (in fact, they married there). This is rather interesting given that the Pritchetts were in Lexden before moving to Fingringhoe (and a couple of them were buried there).

Someone has gone through the LDLH registers putting a big X by every appearance made by the Woodwards - I wonder why? Some 19th century family historian? Someone trying to prove descent for legal reasons?

Honestly, the gaps and missing volumes in the LDLH registers are such a shame!

[Hairy Greenweed]

Hi folks,

I'm a brand new boy having come to RootsChat after 13 years of FH research.

I'm interested in the Coopers of Polstead having found in Thomas Cooper's PCC will (proved 18 Jul 1771) that his dau. Judith was the wife of John Woodruffe farmer of Ramsey Essex. John Woodruffe & Judith were my 4 X Gt Gnd parents.  Does anyone know who was Thomas Cooper's wife, when & where did they marry ?

[helvissa]

Hello!

From what I know, Thomas' wife was Margaret, which comes from the baptisms of their children. Your Judith was baptised in Fingringhoe on 1st November 1729. There is a possible 2nd marriage for Thomas, however - that, as a widower of Boxford, he married Sarah Clark, a widow, in 1728. With Judith being aged 80 when she died in 1808 (although consider the fact that ages at death may not be cast-iron), I suppose she could've been born in 1728, rather than the year of her baptism (given that by 1729 Thomas was married to Sarah, but Margaret is the name given as Judith's mother at her baptism). So what may have happened is that in 1728, Margaret dies (maybe in childbirth), Thomas marries Sarah Clark, and then by 1729, he's moved to Fingringhoe. Certainly his son, also Thomas, stayed in Essex.

And Thomas' parents were Thomas Cooper and Elizabeth Mash. Sorry, that's three Thomas, just to confuse things!

You might find this interesting.... Someone related to me through the Wades took some photos in the churchyard there of our family's graves (photo credit on my webpage). I started this thread to explore the links between the Wade and Cooper families, and the following photo shows something very intriguing....



The ivy-covered tomb in the middle of the photo is that of Edward Wade and Elizabeth Cardinal, and the brick tomb just behind it is that of Thomas Cooper and his wife, Mary. Thomas Cooper is your Judith's brother.

I'm currently writing up my Wade research, and it does include mention of your Cooper family: http://essexandsuffolksurnames.co.uk/history/wade/edward_wade_elizabeth_cardinal.htm

and:
http://essexandsuffolksurnames.co.uk/history/wade/edward_wade_sarah_pritchett.htm