Can anyone find the second mystery Grace?

[Merry]

Thomas Crawley married Grace Hollwell in 1620 at Luton.

Then there are all these baptisms, parents Thomas and Grace, in Luton:

Bennet 1623
Elizabeth 1626
Grace 1629
Abraham 1633
Susanna 1636
William 1638
Sarah 1640
Edward 1642
Robert 1649
Francis 1651
Nathan 1653

So, a huge spread of dates, and a gap 1642-1649. I think Robert (1649) may be my 6xg-grandfather.

There are two burials for a Grace Crawley in Luton, one in 1640 and the other in 1641, so I would imagine one of those is Grace b 1629 and the other the mother of the earlier children. So, who is the Grace who is the mother of the later children and is the father, Thomas, the same Thomas or another one?

I did see this in the Bedford Archives Index:

Reference
C62-63
Title
Fine & counterpart: Miller v. Thomas Crawley & wife Grace, Thomas Crawley junior, & John Sames
- - messuage, cottage, 140 acres land, 10 acres, meadow, 20 acres pasture, 20 acres furze & heath, & common of pasture in Luton.
Date free text
1654-5

which I presume relates to the mystery Grace, mother of at least Robert, Francis and Nathan along with her husband and another mystery Thomas.

There is a burial in Streatley (4.5 miles from Luton) for a Grace Crawley in 1677. I think there's a chance this is the mother of 'my' Robert.

All of these PR entries are just transcriptions from Ancestry and FMP.

I've looked at the various wills for Crawley people from Luton but they didn't help. Any ideas?

[kiterunner]

Have you ruled out the Thomas Crawly / Grace Halfhead marriage 16 Apr 1635 at St Bride Fleet Street, London, Merry?

[Merry]

Not really. Only because the date seemed a bit early as I couldn't bump off the first Grace until 1640/41, but if the two husbands are separate people that would be OK.

[Merry]

There do seem to be a few Halfheads from Hertfordshire, and a few called Grace, so maybe the Grace Halfhead at the 1635 wedding came from Herts? (in later years my Crawley's flitted between Beds and Herts).

[ElizabethHerts]

Merry, as you are probably well aware, Luton is only just inside Bedfordshire. We are in Hertfordshire, about 7 miles from Luton, so a lot of boundary crossing went on.

[Merry]

Sometimes I wish Trump-type walls had been build along county boundaries to stop our ancestors from wandering around the country in an unhelpful manner!

[Merry]

I wondered if finding the marriage allegation might help. I saw the marriage entry (1635 at St Bride's Fleet Street) said the licence was issued by Mr Sherman's office, but I've not been able to find out anything about what that means.

[kiterunner]

I found a PDF file explaining how transcriptions of the Parish Registers of Cheapside were digitally coded, which includes a list of the different values they input for licence issuer: Canterbury; Faculties; London; Vicar General; Mr Sherman's Office; Doctor Stanvpe. It says the last three only occurred once each in the Cheapside registers. But doesn't really help in working out who Mr Sherman was!

[Merry]

I found that too. There are four other marriages mentioning Mr Sherman's office on the same page of the PR as Thomas Crawley's marriage.

[Uncle John]

Crawley is such a common name in Luton (well-to-do rather than "common"!)

[Merry]

lol, I know!

It would cost me £30 for the transcripts for Luton PRs to see if there are any further clues on those baptisms etc. Can't afford that.

[Uncle John]

A train ticket to Bedford might just be more affordable.

[Merry]

Cheaper to drive UJ! Cheapest off peak return is £64.80 and takes 3 1/2 hours with two changes each way.

Driving is 145 miles and apparently can be done in 2 1/2 hours which I very much doubt as the first 12 miles usually takes about an hour!