Benjamin Biddulph/Biddle 1665 bap Hanbury - please can anyone help?

[emjsw]

Hello,

I hope that my post finds you well?

I am struggling with my 8 x great grandfather and wondered if anyone has encountered the below problems before and whether you might be willing to share some of your tips for getting around them please? I currently use Ancestry and FindMyPast but wondered if there might be other places to look for specific information?

Whether baptised at Colwich or Hanbury my ancestors state their abode as Morton (now known as Moreton I think) a tiny collection of houses in Staffordshire between Colwich and Hanbury on old OS maps. They use the names Biddle and Biddulph interchangably but mainly revert to Biddulph for burials suggesting Biddle may have been an alias or nickname.

When looking for a possible baptism for Benjamin to investigate further I found one at Hanbury - Son of Richardi baptised as Biddle in 1665. Benjamin married Maria/Mary Biddulph at Lichfield Cathedral under license 1700 which says they are both of Hanbury, on page 2 it says he was a husbandman aged 33 and she was a spinster age 23 and other things in latin which I can't read. The age and abode of this Benjamin tallies with the baptism. I am not sure how related Benjamin and Mary/Maria were. They raised their family in Morton and bapisted their Biddulph children in Hanbury. One of their children was William Biddle/Biddulph (my 7 x great grandfather) and he moved to Colwich but on his children's baptisms the abode remained Morton.

I am trying to piece together the family relationships of the Biddle/Biddulphs of Morton using wills to try and get back further. I am trying to find out if 'my' Benjamin was indeed the son of Richard and whether this Richard could be the son or brother of Humphery Biddulph.
Humphery was married to Grace and his will mentions sons called Richard and Benjamin. Maybe 'my' Benjamin was actually the son of Humphery?? Humphery's 1700 will also shows he owned land and property including a road, Biddulph's lane and also property in Marchington.

Searching find my past there are a few images of Biddulph wills that can be read and some images are just indexes.

I would really like to read these will to piece things together but FindMyPast only has images of the indexes:

Grace Biddulph's (nee Clark) will of 1703
Richard Biddle's will of 1695, I think this could be a key one as he could be Benjamin's father.

I would also like to find Humphery and his children's baptisms but can't find them anywhere, please could someone suggest alternative place to look as I am a bit lost?

It might be that the family were secret Roman Catholics hence the lack of baptism records for the earlier generations as William had a son called Thomas Biddle/Biddulph 1747 and he had a daughter  Catherine Biddulph 1781 who's daughter Ellen Ball married Joseph Moss 1841 Abbots Bromley. Joseph's mother was called Elizabeth Beck and she was confirmed in 1807 at St. Francis Of Sales, Hoar Cross Yoxall (Roman Catholic chapel). This was built 1794 after the 1791 relief act but prior to this I think there was a mission house and previous baptisms were probably recorded by the priest and the records lost to time. There were many Biddulphs in and around Yoxall over time and some were Roman Catholic land owners who had to record their lands.

If the image of a will is not on FindMyPast is that usually because it has been lost to time or just not photographed yet or is there anywhere else anyone can suggest to look please?

Does anyone know where might be the best place to look for Roman Catholic registers for this area/time period please? I know some are on FindMyPast but I can't find any relevant ones.

Maybe the Hanbury parish registers for up to about 1665 haven't been fully transcribed yet?

Thank you so much for reading through all of this. I would greatly appreciate your help in breaking down this brickwall as it is almost as if some of the people mentioned didn't exist and if it wasn't for the wills I would never have heard of them!

Best wishes, Emma

[goldie61]

The entry for Richard Biddle of Stubberland, Hanbury 21st June 1695 says there is no will, just an administration and Inventory.
He is a cooper.
So it may not be as helpful as you might wish.
That’s not to say it’s not worth seeing - you will at least get the executor(s), and you never know what turns up in an Inventory - sometimes a list of debts, owing and/or owed, which can be helpful.

https://www.staffsnameindexes.org.uk/default.aspx?RecordID=5671&Index=C&LastName=biddle&Place=&YearFrom=1640&YearTo=1720&Part=0&County=0&Gender=0&Occupation=&PageIndex=3

I see it is in the Lichfield Consistory Court. This entry on findmypast just gives a transcription on this Consistory court one.
There is also an entry on findmypast for Richard Biddle under the Diocese of Lichfield and Coventry wills, (different data base), which gives you both a transcription and the images, supposedly - I’m trying to do this on my phone, and although it goes to an image, it won’t quite download it! Are you saying you just get an image of the index on this one?
In which case you may have to contact Staffordshire Record Office, where all these wills are held, and get them to copy it for you. (not terribly expensive when I’ve done it in the past.)

The same goes for Grace’s will of 1703.
There are 2 entries for this. I’ve found in the past that one of the entries gives you an image of the index, and the other is images of the actual will. Did you look at both entries for both of them?

From The Staffordshire Names Index just in case you missed any.
https://www.staffsnameindexes.org.uk/default.aspx?Index=C&LastName=bidd&Part=1&YearFrom=1640&YearTo=1720&Place=hanbury&County=1&Gender=0&Occupation=

[goldie61]

familysearch.org have the registers of Hanbury from 1574, which they also say are available on findmypast. The actual film on familysearch is only viewable at one of their libraries unfortunately, which I'm guessing are not open yet.
Have you looked through the film on findmypast to see if the years you can't find are missing? (not unheard of).
If your Biddulph family are not in them prior to the ones you've found, perhaps they came to Hanbury from somewhere else? I have families who moved to new places in the 1600s.
I see Humphrey Biddulph's marriage to Grace Clarke in 1682 was some 45 miles (see below) or so away in Yoxall. 
Have you searched neighbouring counties to Staffordshire? Took me years to find one of mine who I thought was from Cheshire, and turned out to come from just over the border in Staffordshire! (to be fair, I had to find other pieces of evidence to make sure he was the correct person, as it was a fairly common name).

Added:
There would also seem to be a Humfrey from Yoxall. I have been flipping through searching on familysearch, and not written everything down, but I would be double checking everything. I seem to think I saw a burial for the Humfrey at Yoxall before your Humfrey in 1700 and another marriage?
Also added:Realised there are two Hanburys. The other one is just a few miles from Yoxall. Google threw me a red herring! But I should have checked better.

[goldie61]

Nope, looks as if Humphrey was from Hanbury. His baptism 12th March 1641 - under 'Humfridus Biddle' on familysearch.org. Father John (Johannis). Looks as if image should be on findmypast.

John (Johannes) Biddle baptised 4 Oct 1640 father John.
Also a baptism of a Margreta Bydulp at Hanbury 1632 father Johanni.

Looks like ever more creative spellings of the name the further back you go!

[Bookbox]

I would really like to read these will to piece things together but FindMyPast only has images of the indexes:

Grace Biddulph's (nee Clark) will of 1703

In case it helps, the image of the 1703 will of Grace Bidulph (one d) is on FindMyPast, in the database Staffordshire, Dioceses of Lichfield and Coventry Wills and Probate 1521-1860. The place of residence is misindexed as Marton, Harbury.

There are several Clarcke beneficiaries, and the executor was one Benjamin Bidulph of Morton, ‘my kinsman’.

There is also a brief inventory.

[emjsw]

The entry for Richard Biddle of Stubberland, Hanbury 21st June 1695 says there is no will, just an administration and Inventory.
He is a cooper.
So it may not be as helpful as you might wish.
That’s not to say it’s not worth seeing - you will at least get the executor(s), and you never know what turns up in an Inventory - sometimes a list of debts, owing and/or owed, which can be helpful.

https://www.staffsnameindexes.org.uk/default.aspx?RecordID=5671&Index=C&LastName=biddle&Place=&YearFrom=1640&YearTo=1720&Part=0&County=0&Gender=0&Occupation=&PageIndex=3

I see it is in the Lichfield Consistory Court. This entry on findmypast just gives a transcription on this Consistory court one.
There is also an entry on findmypast for Richard Biddle under the Diocese of Lichfield and Coventry wills, (different data base), which gives you both a transcription and the images, supposedly - I’m trying to do this on my phone, and although it goes to an image, it won’t quite download it! Are you saying you just get an image of the index on this one?
In which case you may have to contact Staffordshire Record Office, where all these wills are held, and get them to copy it for you. (not terribly expensive when I’ve done it in the past.)

The same goes for Grace’s will of 1703.
There are 2 entries for this. I’ve found in the past that one of the entries gives you an image of the index, and the other is images of the actual will. Did you look at both entries for both of them?

From The Staffordshire Names Index just in case you missed any.
https://www.staffsnameindexes.org.uk/default.aspx?Index=C&LastName=bidd&Part=1&YearFrom=1640&YearTo=1720&Place=hanbury&County=1&Gender=0&Occupation=

Hi,
Thanks so much for getting back to me and for the links as well, I really appreciate it. I hadn't looked at the Staffordshire name index.
I will contact the record office for Richard's administration and inventory, on FindMyPast the image is just of the index book.
I hadn't looked properly at Grace's, initially I thought there was one image of the index book and one image of inventory but on looking again there was a right click on the inventory and the rest of the will was there.

Grace's husband Humpfery refers to many Biddulphs in his will but not as sons or daughters and at the end mentions Benjamin Biddulph of Morton as his executor and leaves him land but doesn't refer to their relationship. Grace gives money bonds, goods, cattils and chattles to Benjamin Biddulph of Morton and makes him her executor and she refers to him as kinsman. I can't find any children baptised to Humpfery and Grace so I think they might not have had any. Benjamin seems important but might be a blood relation but not immediate family??

I can't find any siblings for Benjamin with Richard as a father, if the Richard I am looking at is his father then it might be he left everything to Benjamin, if Humpfery and Grace did too then it seems odd to me that Benjamin didn't leave a will as he had a lot of stuff given him. Perhaps he sold it all?!

Anyway thanks again for your help,
Best wishes, Emma

[emjsw]

familysearch.org have the registers of Hanbury from 1574, which they also say are available on findmypast. The actual film on familysearch is only viewable at one of their libraries unfortunately, which I'm guessing are not open yet.
Have you looked through the film on findmypast to see if the years you can't find are missing? (not unheard of).
If your Biddulph family are not in them prior to the ones you've found, perhaps they came to Hanbury from somewhere else? I have families who moved to new places in the 1600s.
I see Humphrey Biddulph's marriage to Grace Clarke in 1682 was some 45 miles (see below) or so away in Yoxall. 
Have you searched neighbouring counties to Staffordshire? Took me years to find one of mine who I thought was from Cheshire, and turned out to come from just over the border in Staffordshire! (to be fair, I had to find other pieces of evidence to make sure he was the correct person, as it was a fairly common name).

Added:
There would also seem to be a Humfrey from Yoxall. I have been flipping through searching on familysearch, and not written everything down, but I would be double checking everything. I seem to think I saw a burial for the Humfrey at Yoxall before your Humfrey in 1700 and another marriage?
Also added:Realised there are two Hanburys. The other one is just a few miles from Yoxall. Google threw me a red herring! But I should have checked better.

Thanks for getting back to me, Google did that to me too the first few times I looked!
Thanks for the tip I will check around Derbyshire as Repton is mentioned in both wills I have read. It seems odd that there are no other children baptised to Richard in Hanbury other than Benjamin, Richard married his wife Maria/Mary Upton in 1664 and I can't find any deaths for her +/- 5 yrs after after Benjamin was born. Interestingly the Uptons are in Humpfrey and Grace's wills. ALso Benjamin's wife may well have been a 2nd cousin so there are lots of possibilities for family connections! There seems to be a wealthy collection of Biddulphs at Biddulph, they were MPs but I don't think my family were related to them. Richard seems to be a name that runs through the families (it is quite rare in other branches of my tree).
I am rambling now! Sorry!
All the best Em

[emjsw]

Nope, looks as if Humphrey was from Hanbury. His baptism 12th March 1641 - under 'Humfridus Biddle' on familysearch.org. Father John (Johannis). Looks as if image should be on findmypast.

John (Johannes) Biddle baptised 4 Oct 1640 father John.
Also a baptism of a Margreta Bydulp at Hanbury 1632 father Johanni.

Looks like ever more creative spellings of the name the further back you go!

Thanks for finding those baptisms, the variety of surname spellings make it really tricky to find people especially as you say the variety increases further back you get!!!.

In various Hanbury baptisms for the Biddle/Biddulphs it often says of Morton. Grace and Humphery were of Morton. Humphery held lands in Marchington. It is possible that Humfridus, Johannes and Margreta were siblings and that they may have had a brother Richardus Bidle born 1628 and baptised in Marchington to Johannis. If this was Richard, Benjamin's father then Humphery and Grace would be Benjamin's uncle and aunt hence 'kinsman'.  I will investigate further, thanks very much for giving me new leads to look at, I really appreciate your time on this.
Em

[emjsw]

I would really like to read these will to piece things together but FindMyPast only has images of the indexes:

Grace Biddulph's (nee Clark) will of 1703

In case it helps, the image of the 1703 will of Grace Bidulph (one d) is on FindMyPast, in the database Staffordshire, Dioceses of Lichfield and Coventry Wills and Probate 1521-1860. The place of residence is misindexed as Marton, Harbury.

There are several Clarcke beneficiaries, and the executor was one Benjamin Bidulph of Morton, ‘my kinsman’.

There is also a brief inventory.

Hi there,
Thanks ever so much for going to the trouble of looking, I am really grateful for your help
I hadn't noticed the Clark beneficiaries but that ties things together nicely and gives me another area to search, thank you.
Best wishes, Emma