Hello All,
Have two peculiar issues with an ancestor in Sussex of which has proven difficult to trace any further and wondering if it is just impossible to trace back further or whether there is a chance of a family match in Surrey. Will be a two fold issue explained below.
Briefly, an ancestor, John Holman born around 1630 (no baptism ever found) married his second wife Charity Streater in Lindfield, Sussex, England in 1657. This as well as his marriage to his first wife in 1654 in Worth, Sussex places the family in that area. He had a son John Holman born 1658 in Worth, however no children listed in the area from then on until his son's children and descendants are born in Worth thereafter for a few centuries.
Firstly, John and Charity have their son John in 1658 in Worth and he appears to be their only child, however a hop, skip and a jump in Horne, Surrey in 31 Dec 1683 and 21 Aug 1686 a Love and Mary Holman are born to a John and Charity Holman respectively. Do you think it a coincidence and there just happens to be another John and Charity (of which I would assume a fairly uncommon name) 4 miles down the road or is it the same couple and these were their last children 25 years after John was born? Also note that John Holman was buried 4 Mar 1686 in Worth, Sussex of which makes me suspect it is all a coincidence.
Secondly, John Holman (1630) appears to come to Worth out of no where (all other Holman's as far as I can tell in the nearby area are accounted for) and extracts from records I have found show that there was, in or before 1675 (from a marriage settlement of another family) a John Holman in Crawley Downs Worth, however parish records do not record any Holman from before other than his son John (1658) mentioned above.
In researching this further, I came across the Holman family of Godstone, Surrey where in many wills from 1620, pass down Land in Crawley Down, Worth, Sussex to various members of their family with the last will mentioning the land going to a brother, John Holman and his family in Middlesex of which his child John (born 1646) is not the one living in Crawley Downs, Worth which appears to be John Holman above born 1630.
Do you think this is this just another uncanny coincidence or is there a chance that they are of the same family - a different line perhaps? Finding the elusive baptism of John Holman in around 1630 would obviously help solve this however have had no luck as some registers aren't online yet it seems.
