White conundrum

[ElizabethHerts]

My grandmother's maiden name was White, and her family came from Guildford. I have quite a good tree for her, much of it inherited from my mother who knew it from her mother, aided by a family bibile, the whereabouts of which are now unknown.

My uncle, a publisher, now deceased, also researched the family tree and drew up quite a large paper one, of which I have a copy.

I know that one ancestor, my 4x-great-grandfather, was George White, born 1760, who married Elizabeth Stradwick/Strudwick.

On my uncle's drawn tree he has a dotted line from George White to Anne, and then shows her as daughter of William and Anne White. He has also put a little note:
(White's of Guildford once stood on part of the site of the original Red Lion Inn. In 1662 Samuel Pepys visited the town and stayed in the Inn, and it may have been that at that time William White was carrying on his trade of Mercer in Guildford.

He puts that William died in 1694, and there is a will on Ancestry for a William White and also a burial entry for him at Holy Trinity.

http://interactive.ancestry.com/1704/31787_A060575-00464/414405?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.com%2f cgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3fdb%3dlondwills%26so%3d2%26pcat%3dC LP_WILLS%26rank%3d1%26new%3d1%26MSAV%3d0%26msT%3d1 %26gss%3dangs-c%26gsfn%3dWilliam%26gsln%3dWhite%26msdpn__ftp%3dN C&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnSearchResults

http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/4790/40761_312032-00107/755604?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk% 2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3fdb%3dSurreyEarly%26rank%3d1%26new% 3d1%26so%3d3%26MSAV%3d1%26msT%3d1%26gss%3dms_r_db% 26gsfn%3dWilliam%26gsln%3dWhite%26msddy%3d1694%26u idh%3dxt1%26msddp%3d5&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnSearchResults

However, this William White was evidently a blacksmith, although he did have a daughter Anne.

I'm wondering how my uncle got to William. My grandmother would have only been dead for 4 years when he drew up this tree (1978). Was it his own research, or had she told him of William??

My own research gives the father of George White born 1760 as another George, who married twice, and both marriage allegations were at LMA and now on Ancestry. I have his parents as George White and Sarah (maiden name Sturt) and his parents as John and Sarah White, although I'm not sure on that one.

Now more is available online I can find the records more easily, but William White bothers me, as does a mention of Anne with no spouse.

I'll keep looking at the PRs but would appreciate any input offered.:)

[ElizabethHerts]

I should mention that Whites of Guildford was the family firm, a draper's shop (pretty large) based in the High Street and North Street, which my 2x-great-grandparents ran. It only closed in the 1960s.

[Phoenix]

Do you have a copy of Guildford Freemen's Books 1655 -1933?

[Phoenix]

Not thatit helps, because all the Whites mentioned appear to be coopers, but there are several George Whites in HT Guildford.

[ElizabethHerts]

No I don't have a copy, Phoenix, but you are correct in that two George Whites were indeed Coopers.

"In the Name of God Amen I George White the Elder of the parish of the Holy Trinity in Guildford in the County of Surry Cooper doe make this my last Will and Testamet in manner following (that is to say) I commend my soul into the hands of Almighty God hopeing to be saved by the death of Jesus Christ and my Body I commit to the earth to be decently interred at the discretion of my Executor herein after named and as to my worldly estate I dispose thereof as followeth frist I devise all my Debts to be paid Also I Give and bequeath unto my son George White the sume of twenty one pounds and to my daughter Lydia the wife of Robert Trimmer the sume of forty pounds to be paid each of them at the end of three months after my deceased by my Executor and all the rest and residue of my personal estate I give and bequeath unto my son James White his executors and administrators whom I make sole executor of this my last Will and Testament hereby revoking all former Wills by me made In Testimoney whereof I hereto set my hand and seale the twenty second day of August in the yeare of our Lord God One thousand seven hundred sixty and three

Signed Sealed published and Geo: White
declared by the said George White
the Testator to be his last Will and
Testament in the presence of us who
subscribe our names as Witnesses
hereto in the presence of the said
Testator and of each other
John Martin
John Martyn"

[ElizabethHerts]

Also:

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?rank=1&new=1&MSAV=0&msT=1&gss=angs-g&gsfn=George&gsln=White&mswpn__ftp=Guildford%2c+Surrey%2c+England&mswpn=87736&mswpn_PInfo=8-|0|0|3257|3251|0|0|0|5286|87736|0|&msbdy=1727&sbo=0&uidh=xt1&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=480858&recoff=4+5&db=SurreyMarriage&indiv=1

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?rank=1&new=1&MSAV=0&msT=1&gss=angs-g&gsfn=George&gsln=White&mswpn__ftp=Guildford%2c+Surrey%2c+England&mswpn=87736&mswpn_PInfo=8-|0|0|3257|3251|0|0|0|5286|87736|0|&msbdy=1727&sbo=0&uidh=xt1&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=480170&recoff=4+7&db=SurreyMarriage&indiv=1

[Phoenix]

I have a book George Abbot's Guildford which is about the archbishop who founded Abbot's Hospital. It is deeply frustrating because it patently draws on a wealth of sources (the author was curator of Guildford Museum) but has no footnotes. Woolmaking was the major industry in Guildford and the cloth was called Guildford Blue (tudor times) but she gives no hint as to where you could find out more.

[ElizabethHerts]

Thanks for looking, Phoenix. I shall keep plugging away.
There were at least 4 generations of coopers, and the man who became a draper was born in the Workhouse at Headley, Hampshire, where his father, Edward White, was briefly the Governor until his wife died very young. His trade was a cordwainer otherwise. William Edward White, the draper, seems to have learnt his trade in Brighton.