Various Edward Fords from near Combeinteignhead

[NicVog]

Hello. Sorry, I was on here before about a year ago, looking for information about the Hockmore-Prestwood separation case in 1698. I had lost my password to my old account, hence using this new one.

I am trying to identify a man named Edward Ford who is mentioned in the case. He is the potential father of the last child of Mary Prestwood/Hockmore, wife of William Hockmore Esq. of Buckland-Baron, in Devon.

A witness at the separation court case, on January 10, 1699, said this Edward Ford died "around 9 months earlier." So that would be around April 1698. They also said that he lived "about 8 miles from Buckland-Baron."

I have so far found two Edward Fords who died in 1698. One died on January the 6th, in Sigford, in the parish of Ilsington. Sigford is about 9 miles from the parish of Combeinteignhead, where Buckland-Baron was located. I can't find where exactly the estate of BB was in the parish, but perhaps if it was closer to the edge it might have been give or take 8 miles.

The problem is, this Edward died in January of 1698. Given that the statement about 9 months was from a witness a year after the event, maybe they were mistaken? And this is the best candidate?

The other Edward Ford died in Ashburton, and that is all I know. I don't know when in 1698, the parish registers are too fragmented for Ashburton at that time. Ashburton is about 10.7 miles away.

There is a third Edward Ford, from Ilsington, Devonshire. He was close to Mary Prestwood's age. He was baptized in 1671. I don't know how old the Edward who died in Sigford and the Edward who died in Ashburton were. All I know about this Edward is he was baptized in December 12, 1671, son of Thomas Ford, gent in Ilsingon, and he matriculated at the University of Exeter 1689.

So of the three Edward Fords I have found, there is one who lived and died not far from Buckland Baron, but died about three months earlier than the witness at the separation trial stated. Another who died in Ashburton, who I do not know anything about other than his death year, and a third who was from the same are and about the same age and social standing as Mary Prestwood.

Do you think it's likely the witness statement about "9 months earlier" was inaccurate? Is there anywhere I might be able to find more information about the Edward who was born in 1671? I haven't been able to find anything but his mention in the Visitation for the Ford family. And it seems to be about impossible to find anything on the Edward who died in Ashburton in 1698.

Thanks a lot for reading.

[MaecW]

Hi,
I can't help with your Ford enquiry but the Buckland Baron you mention is likely to be the house known as Buckland Barton which is near to the western border of Combeinteignhead parish in the area of Netherton and is certainly of Elizabethan origin.  A google search on "Buckland  Barton" will give several references.
Maec

[goldie61]

You have to be careful with dates at this point on time.
In the 17th Century, the new year started in March.
Have you seen the actual document of the separation? What is the actual date on it?
Is in given in regnal years? eg the 25th year of the reign of King A?
If it's from a transcription, some people 'modernise' the year, trying to make it start at the end of December, and giving it as Jan 1678, say, instead of Jan 1677. (The year 1678 wouldn't start until the end of March).

You quote two different years for this separation case.
"A witness at the separation court case, on January 10, 1699, said this Edward Ford died "around 9 months earlier."
9 months prior to Jan 1699, would have been April 1699, not April 1698.
(I know it's difficult to get your head around!)

But your first sentence states "information about the Hockmore-Prestwood separation case in 1698".
So again, what is the actual date given for it?

Should the witness statement date be Jan 1698 and not Jan 1699?
That would make more sense.

As far as the difference between 'about 9 months', and the 12 months of the burial you have found, I wouldn't put too much store into the fact there is 3 months difference. In my experience things you remember happening are always much longer ago than you first thought!
Similarly with 'about 8 miles' and '9 miles'.
Nobody's going to clap him in irons because he was about a mile out in his calculations!

[MaecW]

If you have not already seen it the website "https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/hockmore-william-1581-1626" gives a good deal of background to the Hockmore disputes.

[DRH123]

You've misunderstood something I said in your other thread. The Ashburton BTs (the only records with images available through Familysearch) have many gaps and nothing for the period you want, but the parish registers (available through FindMyPast) seem to be complete for that period. They contain several Fords but no Edward.

I am not familiar with the area but it appears that Sigford is a hamlet roughly half way between Ilsington and Ashburton but officially in the parish of the former. It seems quite likely to me that the Edward Ford of Ashburton whose will was proved in 1698 is the same man as the "Mr Edward Ford of Sigford" who was buried at Ilsington, 6 Jan 1697/98.

It is also possible that all three are the same person. The one baptised in 1671 at Ilsington was the son of Thomas and Mary. Mary the wife of Thomas Ford Gent. was buried at Ashburton in 1686. So it looks like the family used both churches at times.

David

[NicVog]

Hello, David, Goldie, and Maec. Thank you very much.

To address all your points, Maec, thank you so much for the *Barton* explanation!! That might make things much easier!

Goldie, it seems the case was ongoing for some time. It's very interesting actually! But Mr. Hockmore had accused his wife of infidelity with several men. She had left their home in Devon for London and racked up considerable debt, and when she had become pregnant she had been receiving visits from their neighbor, Edward Ford, and a few years earlier she had allegedly been caught in bed at a party with both Mr. Ford and a man named Nicholas Cove. The month she got pregnant she was in London, with her husband she had agreed to come back to, but Ford was allegedly also there with her. She claimed that she had sent a messenger to Ford telling him to turn around, saying that she had reconciled with William, but a local merchant renting a room to Ford at the time appeared as a witness and said Mary had visited several times. So, the proceedings began in '98 but if I understood things right, continued through for quite a while. For what it's worth, William Hockmore did not include this last daughter in any share of his property in his will, so although she was staying with William also at the time, this fact has made me consider the strong possibility that Ford was actually the father of her child. I haven't seen the 1698 documents but have been in contact with a researcher who has who gave me the 1699 date, but I will ask him to clarify! Thank you. As for the witness confusing the dates, I think you might be right... I have seen children giving the wrong year of birth to parents on death certificates, and obituaries giving wrong years of birth also. So I suppose a witness presumably with no family relation to the person in question might mistake exactly how far back a person died.

David, thank you so much. I had looked at the bishop's transcripts and I seem to have mistaken them for the parish register. Those were very interesting, I'm sorry! I had seen so much of it was burned out and had thought that was the extent of burial records. I hadn't considered the possibility that all three Edward Fords (the one born in '71, the one buried in Sigford, and the one whose will was proved in Ashburton) were the same person! But now that you mention the Fords seemed to use both parishes, that does make a lot of sense! The only issue is the discrepancy about the witness statement about the month of Ford's death in 1698, but again, that would well be simply a lapse in memory.

Thank you all so much!