Looking for Goodyer / Christopher in or near Bury

[LizzieL]

Looking for baptism / parents of my 3 x great grandparents. My 2 x gr grandfather was William Goodyer. His wife Elizabeth (nee Christopher) was born in Sutton, Sussex in approx 1781 (calculated from age on 1851 census). William was a wheelwright. They lived in Bury, Sussex  and baptised 8 children there between 1808 - 1824. I believe the burial in Bury in July 1839 to be William’s, if so his birth year would be about 1777 (based on age at death). I would expect his baptism to be in Bury or a nearby village. I have found various spellings of the surname - Goodyer, Goodger, Goodyear, Goodjer, Goodier.

There is an online tree which has his baptism on 18 April 1779 in Funtington, but I am dubious about this as he would be at least two years old at baptism and Funtington is almost 20 miles from Bury and I have found other Goodyer families much closer to Bury.

To add to the confusion there is another William & Elizabeth Goodyer couple in Bury, but that William was a carpenter and I suspect a little younger than mine because their children’s baptisms span 1815 to 1832. I believe this William to have married Elizabeth Kane in Bury in Feb 1815.

[artifis]

I couldn't find any Goodyers of any spelling variant at Bury but I did find a William Goodhew baptised on 9 March 1777, s/o William and Ann.

I checked all the neighbouring parishes for any Goodyer variant for the period and found nothing apart from at Coates which is near Fittleworth which is in turn north of Bury by a couple of miles.

I found the following at Coates all children of Richard and Elizabeth Goodyer:
 
John bap ? Sep 1782
William bap 26 Dec 1784/5 (there are two years given in different transcriptions for the parish)
Henry bap 1 Feb 1787
Richard bap 18 Feb 1787
Elizabeth bap 6 Jun 1790
Clement bap 26 Jan 1794
Henry bap 4 Jan 1795
Anne bap 18 Mar 1798
Hannah bap 8 Feb 1801
Mary bap 1 Jul 1804

I suspect this William is the one who subsequently has children baptised at Bury.

I couldn't find a burial for the first Henry but there were only 41 burials at Coates between 1562 and 1897 and no Goodyers!

At Sutton there is a gap in the records between 1780 and 1793 so I couldn't find Elizabeth Christopher's baptism record.

The parishes I checked are: Amberley, Barlavington,Bignor, Bury, Coates, Coldwaltham, Fittleworth (records not transcribed), Hardham, Houghton, North Stoke, Rackham (no records), South Stoke and Sutton.

[LizzieL]

Thank you very much for searching all those records. William Goodhew looks a good possibility. I have a marriage of a William Goodyer and Ann Hammond in Bury on 16 May 1865, but nothing previously to confirm that they were my William's parents. For William senior I have baptism in Sutton on 27 Jan 1739 and burial at Bury on 05 Mar 1787. For Ann I have burial at Bury on10 Feb 1813, abode given as Watersfield. From age at death, her year of birth would be around 1735.  It is possible my William had some older siblings and maybe some younger ones. Maybe Ann went to live with one in Watersfield prior to her death.
I have found Clement born Coates in Bury on early censuses, but not sure how he is related. My William called one of his sons Clement, so I think there must be a connection.

[artifis]

The marriage is 1765 - typo there I think     and it's listed in the Sussex Family History Group marriage index as Goodier which could be a typo on behalf of the transcriber or the priest at that time's version of the name.

There doesn't appear to be a church at Watersfield which is only about two miles from Bury so it could be the family lived there generally and worshipped at Bury, preferring it to one of the other nearby parishes - Coldwaltham would be the nearest being only a mile along the road at most - probably due to the family connection to Bury.

William and Ann (Hammond) had two children baptised at Bury:
Clement 14 April 1766
Sarah 3 Jul 1768

This Clement then has children baptised there with wife Sarah (Young) - married 26 Oct 1790 at Bury:
Sarah 20 Jun 1791
Clement 21 May 1793
Mary 25 Feb 1795
William 14 Oct 1798

On 16 Nov 1800 there is a baptism of William Goodyer s/o William Goodyer and Jane Shepherd, illegitimate - no record of them subsequently marrying.

Clement seems to be a 'family' name for the Goodyers.

[LizzieL]

Yes it was a typo, should have been 1765!

Thanks, that also connects the Clement who married Sarah Young. I have Sarah's burial on 11 Jun 1795 and Clement marrying Sarah Reed in 1796 at Lyminster.

This is connecting all the fragments of families I have noted down but not linked definitely to my tree. The father of Jane Shepard's child could be my William or the one who married Elizabeth Kane although he would be quite young.

[LizzieL]

I've been looking again at the Christopher family of Sutton - a nuisance about the crucial gap in records!
I've found five baptisms of Christopher children in Sutton - all children of Edward and Elizabeth.
William 3 June 1805
David 23 Feb 1807 buried 9 April 1807 Sutton
Sarah 10 Apr 1808
James 28 Feb 1813
Edward 7 Nov 1819 buried 15 Jan 1823 Sutton

Other burials in Sutton:
Sarah 18 March 1802 no age recorded
John 12 May 1822 age 44 ( b abt 1778)
John 9 Aug 1829 age 95 (b abt 1734)
Edward 3 Jan 1836 age 57 (b abt 1779)

William married Charlotte Whittington (widow) in Graffham on 11 Nov 1850. They later had a son also William with mother maiden name Poat, and a boy with surname Poat was listed as son in 1851.
James married Ann Sotcher on 8 Nov 1834 in Burpham.

1841 census has Elizabeth and Sarah Christopher in Graffham. Ages about right to be widow and daughter of Edward.
Burial of Elizabeth Christopher 10 Feb 1849 age 71  (b abt 1778) at Graffham
I haven't found anything more on Sarah.

John ( b abt 1778) and Edward ( b abt 1779) are about the same age as my Elizabeth, so they could be her brothers. John (b abt 1734) seems too old to be their father though and a bit young to be their grandfather, but possibly a mistake was made with his age at death. It's a pity that there is no age for the Sarah who died in 1802.

[LizzieL]

Just been looking at the Sutton records again. There are several baptisms of children to John and Sarah Kester (and variants) covering 1765 to 1781. Kester could be shorthand for Christopher. The 1781 baptism is for Elizabeth - possibility it's mine. John Kester married Sarah Slaughter at Sutton on 10 Oct 1760, If he was the John Christopher buried in 1829 year of birth abt 1734, he would be 26 at marriage - quite feasible.
I can't find baptism for Edward abt 1778, but there seem to be missing records on Familysearch.
Edward Christopher married Elizabeth Andrew at Bury on 9 Mar 1803.