Stpehens or Peels of Timberland

[Jonosue]

My 3 x great grandfather was George Stephens, 1787-1838; he was married in 1808 to Susannah Shaw, in Timberland. They had 7 children, all of whom were given the middle name Peel, including my 2 x great grandmother Eliza Peel Stephens. All this generation seem to have incorporated the Peel into their surnames, and then dropped the Stephens, so that subsequent generations have been called Peel.
I have tried to discover where the Peel came from, thinking that it might have been a surname from a previous generation, but can find no such link. Susannah's parents were Robert Shaw and Mary, but I can find no evidence that she was Mary Peel. I am also puzzled about why the Stephens was dropped. Can anyone help with this, please?

[DCB]

I have a few instances in my tree where people adopted a surname in order to benefit from an inheritance. In two cases, they already had the particular name as a middle name - e.g. in your case becoming Peel Stephens Peel.

Usually, the inheritance came from a maternal uncle or a cousin with no direct heirs. It might become double barreled and in one case, some used that whilst others of the same family used either the old surname or the new one.

There are wills of:-

Susannah Peal or Peele, widow formerly of Newark co Nottingham, late of Brigg in 1790 I can't find any details of a burial.

George Stephens Peele - LCC WILLS/1850/349

Also Isaac (Stephens) Peel probate to Alfred Peel in 1883

David

[larkspur]

The name Peel was certainly not mentioned on the baptism of their son Thomas.
https://www.lincstothepast.com/Records/RecordDisplayTranscript.aspx?oid=710441&iid=214530

Not sure this is much help to you though

[Jonosue]

Thank you for your replies. I hadn't thought of wider family than immediate grandparents as possible places to look for Peel as a middle name, but you have given me a new line of enquiry, and I will nowlook at the cousins, uncles and aunts. Where do I find the will of Susannah Peel? She is the most promising lead at the moment, as the other wills all postdate the introduction of the name.
Best wishes,
Sue

[DCB]

Looking at the burials, Susannah died in 1835 and George in 1838, so she would probably not have made a will.
There is a notice in The Lincolnshire Chronicle of 13th May 1838 asking for claims against George's estate.

The monumental inscriptions don't mention Peel(e)

I notice that there were two Peel burials in Nettleham, where some of the Stephens Peels are buried - 1831 Thomas, b 1753, on Jan 22 and Mary, b 1754, on Jan 24. I wonder if there is a link?

Where was Susannah from? The marriage entry gives her abode which is unclear but looks a bit like an interpretation of Algarkirk.

In 1809, a Thomas Shaw married Elizabeth Mayfield in Algarkirk and two of the witnesses were Robert Shaw and George Peele.

David

[DCB]

According to a tree online, Thomas Stevens/Stephens married Mary Appleby in Nettleham in 1774. One of the witnesses was Thomas Peele.

Their son, George, married Susannah Shaw who was born in 1789 in Algarkirk - I can't find her birth, so she may only have lived there.

Thomas Peele (same as above?) married Mary Stephens, a widow (of Thomas?), on 26th January 1819 in Nettleham. The signatures are similar, given the time between them.

Thomas and Mary both died in 1831.

I can't find a will for Thomas Peele but, if he left his lands to George, perhaps it was on condition that the Peele surname took priority.

George doesn't have the middle name of Peel in the baptism record in 1788, or his marriage record, but the Newspaper Notice states alternative surnames:-

"NOTICE DEBTORS and CREDITORS. ALL Aceounta and Claims against GEORGE STEPHENS, otherwise GEORGE PEELE, late of Nettleham and Holton Beckering, in the county of Lincoln, farmer, deceased, must be made out and delivered to Mr. Doughty, of the Bail Lincoln..."

David

[Jonosue]

Thank you, David for all your researchon my behalf. You have come up with some very interesting details,which I certainly think fit with my family. I had seen the marriage of Thomas Peele and Mary Stephens, but even though she was named as a widow, I didn't put two and two together. It makes complete sense, and explains how the Peel name came to be incorporated with Stephens. Have you been able to find a death/burial for Thomas Stephens?
Susannah Shaw: You obviously have access to the original document, where I am relying on Familysearch. Algakirk is news to me, and I shall try and follow that up. Does her marriage record name her father? I have him tentatively as Robert Shaw, born 1750 in Lincolnshire; I think I gleaned this from another online tree, and am always cautious about accepting information from there without any documentation to back it up, which I don't have.
Thank you for your help/
Sue

 

[Nicoladibble]

Hello Sue,
I am just starting to research this line,  but I notice that you are related to Eliza Peel Stephens.  Me too!  She would have been my great-great grandma (I think), and her son, Walter Hargreaves, would have been my great-grandad.  Did you get any further with your research than what is posted already on this thread?  What line of defendants are you from following Eliza?  Would be interesting to compare notes!
Kind Regards,
Nicola

[Nicoladibble]

Sorry Sue, I realise that I have missed a Generation.
Eliza Peel Stephens > Thomas Hargreave > Walter Hargreaves
give or take the 's' in Hargreave/s as they seem to all be registered as both on official documents