Who was Edward Hamlin, the 74-year-old first-time father?

[QueenoftheWest]

I am trying to find the parents of my 4th great-grandfather, Edward Hamlin/Hamlyn.

Here is all the information I have:

He married his first wife, Elizabeth Walker, in Martock, Somerset on 6 October 1768.

He signs his name as 'Edwd Hamlin.'

It seems Elizabeth was unable to have children and she was buried on 15th October 1812 in Martock, Somerset. She was listed as 'Elizabeth, wife of Edward Hamlyn of Long Sutton, 72' meaning she was born c. 1740.

2 years later, Edward, in his 70s and childless, marries 25-year-old Ann Hart in Long Sutton, Somerset on 7 December 1814. Once again, he signs his name as 'Edward Hamlin.'

3 months later (looks like Ann was around 6 months pregnant at the time of their marriage), their son William is born and baptised on 19 March 1815 in Long Sutton, Somerset.

Less than 2 years later, their daughter Elizabeth (probably named after his late wife) is born and baptised on 9 February 1817 in Long Sutton, Somerset.

In 1819, Edward dies at the impressive age of 79 and is buried on 1 May in Long Sutton, Somerset.

Here is the extract from his will:

'Will of Edward Hamlin 1818, yeoman

Edward Hamlin of Long Sutton, yeoman. Dated 20 November 1818. My son and daughter William and Elizabeth both under age. My wife Ann Hamlin. Trustees, Mr Thomas Cary, gent and Mr Joseph Biddlecombe of Long Sutton, draper, and executors.'

And that is all I have...

I cannot find any birth of an Edward Hamlin/Hamlyn in either Martock or Long Sutton which takes place around 1740.

There is an Edward Hamlin b. 1733 in Middlezoy, Somerset which I have ruled out and only one birth remains, Edward Hamlyn b. 1727 in Martock, Somerset which seems implausible as this would make him 88 (!) at the time of William's birth - he would be on the list of the world's oldest fathers!

I guess there is a possibility that he was not William's biological father but they did have another child a short while later so I feel there is a good chance he was. It isn't unheard of for men to have children in their 70s and he was probably in a bit of a rush at this point!

Grateful for any help/advice, would be interested to hear if anyone else has a father in their tree who is this old!

Queenie 

[Paco]

Only thing I can add is that the original document for Edward's 1st marriage to Elizabeth is online, and it states that she was a widow when she married.
Regards.

[Jo Harding]

In my experience the Somerset parish registers aren't very good for anything pre 1770. Have you tried the Somerset and Dorset Family History Society?

https://sdfhs.org/

There are references to an Edward Hamlyn, Clothier of Martock. He left a Will which is in The National Archives:

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D469054

https://somerset-cat.swheritage.org.uk/records/DD/MR/38

Could these be related to your Edward Hamlyn?

Jo

[QueenoftheWest]

Only thing I can add is that the original document for Edward's 1st marriage to Elizabeth is online, and it states that she was a widow when she married.
Regards.

Thank you for responding. I've tried to look for Elizabeth's first marriage so I can find her maiden name, which I could use to find her baptism record and ascertain whether the 1740 birth year in her burial record is correct but I can't find anyone.

In my experience the Somerset parish registers aren't very good for anything pre 1770. Have you tried the Somerset and Dorset Family History Society?

https://sdfhs.org/

There are references to an Edward Hamlyn, Clothier of Martock. He left a Will which is in The National Archives:

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D469054

https://somerset-cat.swheritage.org.uk/records/DD/MR/38

Could these be related to your Edward Hamlyn?

Jo

Thank you for responding. Unfortunately, Edward Hamlyn, Clothier of Martock d. 1755 is the father of Edward Hamyln of Martock (1727-1763), who left a will and was also a Clothier. I would say there is a good chance they are related to my Edward but the records are too poor to figure out how.

Maybe I'm getting tunnel vision but I have a real feeling that Edward's father was called William, after whom he named his son. His wife doesn't have any Williams in her family.

I've been thinking about becoming a member of the SDFHS... I should probably take the plunge and buy a membership 

I find this very interesting:

Will of Ann Hamlin of Martock, widow. 1823-1825

Made 6 Jun 1823. Proved 3 Jan 1825. Executor: Ann Incledon wife of Thomas Heddon Incledon of Martock. With attached Letter of Administration [54/204]
Mentions house, garden, orchard and 3 acres of pasture called Rack-close, Martock, in the possession of Sarah Bishop then Thomas Bishop then Edward Hamlin then Thomas Hamlin now John Howel Cook
mentions Indenture of Appointment dated 17 Sep 1817.
Paper watermarked: J. Snelgrove, 1819.

He did move from Martock to Long Sutton and I know he owned land so maybe he signed Rack-close over to his brother, Thomas?

Queenie 

[Jo Harding]

Yes, I reckon there is a link between Martock and Long Sutton with Edward Hamlyn. It should be possible to prove this but it may need a visit to the Somerset RO.

According to the Genuki page on Long Sutton, the parish registers are available for extensive periods. Have you looked to see whether there is an Online Parish Clerk for this area?

https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/LongSutton

The Genuki page for Martock shows the parish registers to cover extensive periods too.

https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/Martock

It could be that these aren't available online as yet.

Freereg has a burial on 17/04/1743 at Martock for William Hamlyn, son of William and Elizabeth Hamlyn. Burial person abode: Load. This shows that there was a William Hamlyn in that area.

There is a burial for a William Hamlyn in Martock on 11/10/1751. The notes state, "The Hosier".
A burial for Edward Hamlyn on 04/11/1755, notes state, "Mr Edward Hamlyn ye Clothyer".
A burial for William Hamlon at Martock on 12/04/1781, age 86.

I note the marriage of Edward Hamlyn to Elizabeth Walker shows it was "By Licence". This means they could have lived in another area and just married in Martock. Also, he would have been of some substance to have married By Licence.

There seem to be close links to Martock and the Hamlyn family.

Jo

[QueenoftheWest]

Yes, I reckon there is a link between Martock and Long Sutton with Edward Hamlyn. It should be possible to prove this but it may need a visit to the Somerset RO.

According to the Genuki page on Long Sutton, the parish registers are available for extensive periods. Have you looked to see whether there is an Online Parish Clerk for this area?

https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/LongSutton

The Genuki page for Martock shows the parish registers to cover extensive periods too.

https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/Martock

It could be that these aren't available online as yet.

Freereg has a burial on 17/04/1743 at Martock for William Hamlyn, son of William and Elizabeth Hamlyn. Burial person abode: Load. This shows that there was a William Hamlyn in that area.

There is a burial for a William Hamlyn in Martock on 11/10/1751. The notes state, "The Hosier".
A burial for Edward Hamlyn on 04/11/1755, notes state, "Mr Edward Hamlyn ye Clothyer".
A burial for William Hamlon at Martock on 12/04/1781, age 86.

I note the marriage of Edward Hamlyn to Elizabeth Walker shows it was "By Licence". This means they could have lived in another area and just married in Martock. Also, he would have been of some substance to have married By Licence.

There seem to be close links to Martock and the Hamlyn family.

Jo

Thanks for your reply, Jo. I don't know why I didn't get a notification... I came here to update and saw your message!

I have spent some time on the Hamlin/Hamlyn family this afternoon and I think I have broken down another layer of the brick wall.

I went back to the will of Ann Hamlin of Martock, widow. 1823-1825 and finally figured out how she fits in.

As it turns out, Thomas Hamlin married his second wife Ann Adams in 1783 in Martock, Somerset. They had two children, Ann Hamlin (b. 1785) who married Thomas Heddon Incledon and was the executor of her mother's will and Thomas Hamlin (b. 1786) who married Ann Ball.

Luckily, Thomas Hamlin, of Long Load in the parish of Martock, left a fairly detailed will in which he mentions the following people:
James Hamlin (brother)
William, Edward, John & Betty Perren (niece & nephews)
Thomas Hamlin Perren, Joseph & Ann Williams (great-niece and nephews)

From his burial record I was able to ascertain that he was born c. 1736, around 4 years before Edward.

First, I looked for the Perren-Hamlin connection which lead me to the following:
John Perren m. Sarah Hamlin 13th Sep 1756.

William, Edward, John & Betty Perren were their children.

William had a son called Thomas Hamlin Perren and another of John & Sarah's children, Sarah, married a man called Joseph Williams and had Joseph & Ann. Incredibly, my Edward Hamlin was actually a witness at Sarah jnr's wedding, which allowed me to connect these families without a doubt!

So now I know that the Hamlin family consists of (at least) the following:

Sarah Perren, née Hamlin, of Long Load in the parish of Martock (1730-1814)
James Hamlin, of Long Load in the parish of Martock (-1807)
Thomas Hamlin, of Long Load in the parish of Martock (1736-1803)
Edward Hamlin, of Long Sutton (1740-1819)


It appears that the Hamlin family originally came from Long Load. There is obviously a connection with the William Hamlin buried in 1743 that you mentioned. The difficult part is finding the correct parents for my Hamlins when multiple Hamlin families were living in Martock parish at the same time and using the same names for their children  . There appears to have been at least 2 William Hamlins...

Queenie 

[Jo Harding]

I am pleased you have made such good progress on your family history. I think it would be worthwhile contacting the Somerset RO and Somerset and Dorset Family History Society in order to see what they have on these families. I suspect you will be able to gather much more information from these sources.

Jo