View Full Version : Some problems solved, but now another Crawley dilemma!
BK6 updated from this thread
I have made a bit more progress with my 5xg-grandfather, Nathan Crawley who took about 12 years to reveal himself!
Some of you may remember me waiting with trepidation for his will and when it arrived it proved he was indeed the grandfather of my 3xg-grandfather, David Maynard and all David's siblings.
My previous dilemma (still a current one!) with this family is/was that there are no baptisms for David Maynard or his siblings, nor burials for his parents, William and Elizabeth Maynard (nee Crawley) in the parish where they lived.
The bit I have solved regarding Nathan Crawley is the question of how many times he was married. I have copies of two marriages for a Nathan Crawley - one to an Elizabeth Sanford on 4 Dec 1707 at Ippollitts and another to Elizabeth Mardale of Hitchin at Hinxworth on 10 Jul 1712. Sadly neither marriage gives a condition for the groom. Nathan and his wife Elizabeth moved from Ippollitts to Hitchin in November 1712 (no mention of any children on the settlement papers).
Today I found a burial on FMP for Elizabeth wife of Nathan in Ippollitts on 14th Dec 1710, so this would appear to be Elizabeth Sanford. As Nathan had a wife Elizabeth in Nov 1712 he must surely have remarried to Elizabeth Mardale.
I have also found the burials of four children for Nathan and Elizabeth (no ages given): Mary in 1720, Nathan in 1721 and Hannah and Thomas in 1725. I'm guessing it's most likely these are children of the second marriage, and most likely my own ancestor, Elizabeth Crawley was also a product of the second marriage. Proving that seems more tricky. There are no baptisms in Hitchin for any of these children.
The other dilemma is that I now realise not only are William and Elizabeth Maynard under the patio in Kempston, Beds, but Nathan and Elizabeth Crawley are under the patio in Hitchin as there are no burials showing for them either, What are this family doing with their dead??? I do know roughly when they died:
Elizabeth Crawley 1750-1759 Hitchin Herts
Nathan Crawley 1759 Hitchin Herts
Elizabeth Maynard 1750-51 Kempston Beds
William Maynard 1765-66 Kempston Beds
Ideas please!!
Sorry Merry...it's nuffin personal, but I tend to get confused with your Maynards....lol
They remind me too much of my lot.
Was that Elizabeth Crawley who died 1750-1759 a Crawley at her death or Maynard?
About how oldish?
Merry.....please don't think too badly of me but.........
Do you have a William Maynard who married a Jane?
These are at Westbury, Wiltshire
Maria, daughter of William and Jane, borm 1779, bap 1780
Jane, wife of William, buried 1786, aged 52
William, buried 1789 aged 50 (I'll check the image)
then...
Henry Maynard, son of William and Jane, baptised 1787 in Paris, France.
Sorry Merry...it's nuffin personal, but I tend to get confused with your Maynards....lol
They remind me too much of my lot.
Was that Elizabeth Crawley who died 1750-1759 a Crawley at her death or Maynard?
About how oldish?
lol!!
Elizabeth Crawley who died 1750-59 was Mrs Crawley nee Mardale. She was the second wife of Nathan Crawley who died in 1759 but was never buried! I would imagine she was born about 1690ish as she married in 1712.
The only clue I have for her death is that her grandson (my 3xg-grandfather) said in his memoirs that he was sent to live with his grandparents in Hitchin when he was about 18 months old, after the death of his mother. He lived with his grandparents until both of them had passed away by which time he was about ten or eleven years of age. As Nathan wrote his will not long before his death and didn't mention a wife I'm assuming she pre-deceased him.
Merry.....please don't think too badly of me but.........
Do you have a William Maynard who married a Jane?
These are at Westbury, Wiltshire
Maria, daughter of William and Jane, borm 1779, bap 1780
Jane, wife of William, buried 1786, aged 52
William, buried 1789 aged 50 (I'll check the image)
then...
Henry Maynard, son of William and Jane, baptised 1787 in Paris, France.
I don't have any Maynard's in Wiltshire as yet! The William you mention would be half a generation younger than my 4xg-grandfather who was also William Maynard, but was married to Elizabeth Crawley (the daughter of Nathan Crawley and his wife Elizabeth nee Mardale), not a Jane! My couple lived in Kempston in Bedfordshire.
I can only imagine they were all non-cons given the lack of baptisms.
Those ones I posted were non-cons Merry.
Looks like a few Crawley and Maynard non-con families.
I've read all your posts re Crawley and Maynard's and know this is probably not anything to do with your family but couldn't resist sending it to you. But it could be an earlier generation Kempston is the adjacent parish to Wootton. William Maynard was the churchwarden at the time.
Regards
Mary
Reference ABCV96/42
Title Churchwardens' presentment. Wootton: Alice Bownd for adultery with Daniel Gurney; William Maynard for pre - nuptial incontinency.
Date Free Text 1642
Date From 1642
Date To 1642
Level of description item
Reference ABCV96/42
Title Churchwardens' presentment. Wootton: Alice Bownd for adultery with Daniel Gurney; William Maynard for pre - nuptial incontinency.
Date Free Text 1642
Date From 1642
Date To 1642
Level of description item
Thanks for reminding me abut that, Mary. I had seen those records a couple of years ago
Pre-nuptual incontinency thread (http://www.genealogistsforum.co.uk/Forum/showthread.php?t=3439&highlight=incontinency)
.....but hadn't made a note of them on my tree. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a connection!!
Was there a reason you were reading my Maynard and Crawley threads?!!
ElizabethHerts
01-09-13, 10:18
Just putting this in for the record:
There is a "Widow Crawley" buried at Kimpton in 1756.
"Widow Crawley of Plummore, very antient, July ye 8th"
Yes Merry
As I have been involved in some capacity with the Bedfordshire Family History Society for many years. I was looking to see if anyone had any brick walls for me to have a go at knocking down
Regards
Mary
Thanks for that Elizabeth.
Oooh, that sounds exciting, Mary!!
My Crawley's are difficult. From memory, Elizabeth Crawley who married in 1737 to William Maynard and lived in Kempston, was born in Herts (probably Ippollitts or Hitchin) to Nathan Crawley and one of his two wives, either Elizabeth Mardale or Elizabeth Sandford. Elizabeth Crawley jr had some unbaptized siblings whose existence I'm aware of only because they were buried in the C of E churchyard.
I'm pretty sure Nathan Crawley was the son of Robert and was baptised in Shillington in the late 1600s.
It would seem William Maynard and his father-in-law Nathan Crawley were both non-conformist as there seem to be no C of E baptisms for their children and no burials for either of them or their wives. I have sorted out their descendants from their wills and William's son's memoirs, but it's taken me at least a couple of decades to get to where I am now!
Merry
You are correct Nathan Crawley son of Robert baptised at Shillington 5th September 1686.
Robert Crawley married Mary Crouch at Shillington on the 9th October 1677
Have you seen this one
Reference H/WS232
Title Transfer
Francis Clarke surrendered to the use of Richard Peirce of Ickleford, Herts., husbandman, and wife Sarah
Messuage in Upton End, Shillington, devised by his uncle Francis Clarke.
Date Free Text 30 Sept. 1697
Date From 1697
Date To 1697
Scope and Content Close adjoining, 1acre
Long Close, 3 acres
1 acre meadow or arable in Stockinge
18 acres 1rood arable in Common Fields
Barn, purchased of Edward Rolfe
1 1/2 acres pasture or arable in the Crofts.
8 acres arable in the Common Fields occupied J. Bonest and Robert Crawley
Regards
Mary
I have a whole load of bits and pieces copied from the Bedford CRO indexes (is that where that one came from?), but I can't say I recognise that one - thanks very much.
Robert Crawley married Mary Crouch at Shillington on the 9th October 1677
This is the marriage I have pencilled in. Thanks.
Merry
Yes from the BLARS online catalogue, to my mind one of the best.
I put a few extracts from it in the BFHS journal every quarter. The search screens are a bit limited at the moment. Sometimes if I am researching stuff pre P.R.'s I put in something like assize or even just a parish name in the free text search and you'd be amazed at what comes up.
I think your problem is that there were people called Crawley everywhere. I've been looking in my Hertfordshire Record Society books for inspiration but nothing yet.
Regards
Mary
Thank you very much for looking for me, Mary :)
At least I can be pretty sure the Shillington baptism for Nathan is the right one as there is a sibling for him in 1678 called Susan Crawley. Susan Crawley married a William Hull (according to Family Search; 8 June 1702 at Shillington) but I think he was probably actually William Hill. A Samuel Hill, "nephew of Hitchin", was one of the exors of Nathan Crawley's will, so I'm guessing Samuel was the son of William and Susan - not that I've been able to find anything more about him other than his name in the will!
I struggled with the search on BLARS until I discovered the advanced search, but I'm OK with it now!
Hi Merry
He was William Hill, I've found the following that may help, the last document tells you where he and Susan would be living in 1707
Reference Z937/7/10
Title Fine and terrier, 2 bonds, receipt, 2 final concords
Very large document
mentioning
Edward Crawley; Sara Crawley; Thomas Crawley; Thomas Hill; William Hill;
Keywords Barton in the Clay; Doctor of Divinity; Feilden Brook; fields, Barton; fields, Flitton; fields, Higham Gobion; fields, Pulloxhill; fields, Silsoe; FLITTON; HIGHAM GOBION; Hitchin; locksmith; Luton Way, Barton; Offley; PULLOXHILL; SILSOE; Sueshill close; terriers
In his will of 26th July 1698, proved Bedford 16th December 1705 William Handscombe the younger of Shillington has a William Hill as one of his witnesses
I also found this
Reference H/WS237-238
Title Mortgage (Conditional Surrender) - £42 to be repaid - 2 copies
J. Greene surrender to use of
Mary Honnor and Anne Honnor of Holwelbury, Shillington, spinsters, daughters of J. Honnor of Holwelbury, yeoman
Messuage in Upton End, and close adjoining occupied J. Greene and William Hill - acquired by inheritance from uncle, J. Greene.
Date Free Text 9 Oct. 1707
Regards
Mary
Thank you very much for those, Mary.
I guess I just have to hope there were not too many William Hills about! Not quite as bad as my Smiths, it has to be said!! lol (they are not from Bedfordshire though!)
Uncle John
04-09-13, 15:41
I was looking for something completely different in the BLARS index yesterday (old photos of a fire station) and found that part of the search function is broken, awaiting attention from the database techies. It meant I had hundreds of hits to trawl through instead of a potential handful. I feel a trip across the river coming on, in the hope that their local search is working better.
UJ, are you referring to this?
We apologise but we are having problems at the moment with the Place search and the List buttons which will not find any matching records if you use them. Our software supplier is looking in to the problem and it will hopefully be fixed soon.
Which has been on their site for as long as I remember? I think the word "soon" can be ignored!!
I have found using the advanced search I can get round these problems.
Try going into the freesearch column and putting in your search terms there.
I write a column for the BFHS journal called "Gleanings From the Bedfordshire Record Office Catalogue" I was telling the archivist that I had to always put in a surname to get anything to come up. That's when I was told about using the freetext search. Did you know that if you want a particular name eg. Robert Smith, you put in Smith,[then a space]Robert. If you then use the date column it works quite well. But nowhere as good as the catalogue used to be. At a last resort I use a2a.
I apologise if you know this already.
Regards
Mary
I've got egg on my face now - I've just looked on the blars website and under the search tips they have explained everything that I've just written out.
Serves me right for trying to be a clever clogs. I never noticed it before.
Regards
Mary
I've got egg on my face now - I've just looked on the blars website and under the search tips they have explained everything that I've just written out.
Serves me right for trying to be a clever clogs. I never noticed it before.
Regards
Mary
lol Mary!!
I did know those things, but it took me quite a few months of searching incorrectly, or not in the best way, before I actually read their tips!!
Uncle John
05-09-13, 12:43
UJ, are you referring to this?
Which has been on their site for as long as I remember? I think the word "soon" can be ignored!!
I have found using the advanced search I can get round these problems.
Shows how long it is since I've used it! I'll try the advanced search next time.
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