Smith Genealogy

21 August 2006

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Dr G.M.W.Mann.      Baytrees

Burnhams Rd,    Lt.Bookham

Surrey, U.K.           KT23 3AU

geoff.mann@btinternet.com

 

 

 

 

 

8 John SMITH c1700-1776?

 

 

1m Hannah SULLINS 1744;  2m Elizabeth BETTS 1751

 

 

 

 

John was born about 1700, the eldest son of John & Jane, though no record of his birth or baptism has been found, as his parents were almost certainly religious dissenters.

 

 In 1744 he married Hannah SULLINS at Writtle parish church; Hannah was of Good Easter and John was of Gt.Waltham.  Four daughters were born but not baptised in church.  Hannah died in 1750 and John married Elizabeth BETTS at Gt.Bardfield in 1751.  The family was now returning to the established church, and a son John was baptised at Gt.Waltham the same year.

 

John probably died in 1776 and buried in Stebbing quaker burial ground, perhaps because he was not baptised.  He was then at Forth End, a detached village in Gt.Waltham

 

 

 

 

EVENTS

 

C=Christened

 

           age

   DATE   JS EB

 

EVENT

    c1700     

29May1744 47  

    c1745 48  

    c1746 49  

    c1747 50  

    c1748 51  

13Oct1750 53  

21Mar1751 54  

10Nov1751 54  

15Jan1765 68  

 5Apr1768 71  

22Dec1768 71  

10Oct1772 75  

19Jul1775 78  

13Jan1776 79  

John born

m Hannah SULLINS of Good Easter by license at Writtle; John "of Much Waltham"

dau Mary born

dau Elizabeth born

dau Hannah born

dau Ann born

the wife of John SMITH buried at Gt.Waltham

m Elizabeth BETTS at Gt.Bardfield

son John C at Gt.Waltham

dau Mary m James STOCK at Gt.W; wit:John SMITH

dau Ann m John BEDWELL at Gt.W

dau Hannah m Simon SNOW at Gt.W; wit Elizabeth SMITH

dau Mary m Joseph SHELTON quaker; John a farmer of Gt.W; John SMITH witness

son John SMITH m Ann SADLER at Lt Waltham

John SMITH of Forth End, Gt.Waltham died (buried at Stebbing quaker burial ground 18Jan)

 

 

 

 

PRINCIPAL RECORDS

 

 

b=born  m=married  d=died

C=Christened       B=Buried

 

BIRTH

 

 

John-8 was first married in 1744 and probably died in 1776, but no indication of age in either event.  He is known to be the eldest brother of Peter of Stonage, whose will names John and two other brothers, Abraham and Thomas (see John SMITH-7)

 

The names of two sisters of Peter of Stonage, and the names of their parents, John & Jane, can be deduced from two quaker marriages:

 

from Thaxted meeting records:

 

m 14Apr1724 Samuel JOSLIN of Felsted & Jane SMITH of Waltham Magna declared intention to marry; consent of parents by verbal declaration of

            Jno SMITH of Waltham Magna and Jane his wife.  [The marriage itself was not found by me, but is in the IGI on 9May1724]

 

m 18Aug1728 Thomas PETTIT of Chicknall son of Thomas PETTIT of Feering & Mary SMITH da of Jno SMITH of Waltham MAGNA;

            relations: John SMITH, Jane SMITH, John SMITH jun, Joseph SMITH, Samuel JOSCELIN, Jane JOSCELIN

 

According to quaker records, Samuel & Jane JOSLIN had four children born in Felsted:   Jane 1725-10-6, Samuel 1727, Sarah 1730/1-12-17, Peter 1733-2-2, before they moved to Gt.Waltham where Susannah, 1736-11-29, and John 1739-6-17 were born.  In his will, Samuel JOSLING, farmer of Gt.Waltham, named Peter SMITH of Little Waltham as his brother-in-law and executor.  The will was signed in 1777 and proved the next year.

 

Seven years after Samuel died, Peter SMITH named three JOSLING beneficiaries in his will: Samuel, Peter and John  (see John-7 records).  He gave them and their wives £10 each and £5 to all their children, which is exactly the amounts he gave to all his other nephews.  These beneficiaries are surely the three sons of Samuel named in age order, even though he described Samuel as his "cousin".

 

The second marriage shows that Mary SMITH was a sister of Jane:

 

Thus it can be concluded that John and Jane of Gt.Waltham were the parents of Jane and Mary, and hence also parents of Peter and his brothers John, Abraham and Thomas.   The only suitable m of John & Jane found so far was in 1695 at Brentwood some 15 miles south of Waltham.  If this is confirmed, a birth date of around 1697 is indicated for eldest son John.

 

From marriage and other considerations the children of John & Jane were all born around the first decade of the 1700s but no baptisms have been found.  There is a baptism of John with a brother Peter at Lt.Waltham, sons of Michael & Elizabeth SMITH, in 1705 and 1707 respectively,  but none of Abraham or Thomas; moreover this Peter is older than John which makes these baptisms unlikely to be correct as it is known for sure that John was the eldest of the brothers.

 

Peter's will mentions 14 nephews by name, but only 4 baptisms have been found: three children of Abraham were baptised as adults at Gt.Waltham in 1746 and 1751, and John-7 was baptised at Gt.Waltham in 1751.  The adult baptisms suggest the family were dissenters.  Peter was certainly buried in a quaker burial ground, and probably John and Thomas also; John, son of Abraham was also buried in a quaker cemetery though he was noted as not a member.  John-8's parents, John & Jane, were also buried in the quaker ground in 1754 and 1756.

 

The most likely explanation for burial in the quaker ground even though not quakers is that they were unbaptised dissenters.  It seems unlikely therefore that the baptism of John-8 will be found in parish registers, and his birth has not been found in quaker records.

 

MARRIAGE

 

It is believed that John-7 was baptised at Gt.Waltham 10Nov1751 son of John & Elizabeth.  However it is known from the will of his uncle Peter SMITH of Stonage (see John SMITH-7), that John’s father also had 4 daughters: Ann BEDALL, Elizabeth SHELTON, Mary STOCK, Hannah SNOW.  The m of all these have been found (see below) but not their baptisms.  The quaker record of Elizabeth's m in Oct1772 shows she was the dau of John and Hannah deceased and there is a suitable marriage prior to 1751:

 

m 29May1744 John SMITH of Much Waltham & Hannah SULLINS of Good Easter by license at Writtle

 

There are two possible explanations for the name of John’s wife being Hannah and not Elizabeth:

 

1)     Since the baptisms of the 4 daughters have not been found (non-conformism is a likely explanation) then perhaps John-7 was also a son of John & Hannah whose baptism has not been found, and that the 1751 baptism to John & Elizabeth is of someone else

 

2)     John m first Hannah SULLINS in 1744 and remarried Elizabeth probably about 1750.  If this is the correct explanation, there should be a burial of Hannah between these dates and a remarriage of John to Elizabeth. 

 

The burial of the "wife of John SMITH" at Gt.Waltham 13Oct1750 (13 months before the baptism of John by the second wife) and a suitable John/Elizabeth marriage 5 months later suggests this second explanation is correct:

 

m 21Mar1750/1 John SMITH & Elizabeth BETTS at Gt.Bardfield (from transcript)

 

note also that Elizabeth SMITH witnessed the m of daughter Hannah

 

DESCENDANTS

 

The will of John’s uncle, Peter SMITH of Stonage notes that John-8 had a son John and 4 daughters; marriages of the daughters are as follows:

 

Ann       m 5Apr1768 John BEDWELL of Felsted at Gt.waltham

 

Elizabeth m10Oct1772 Joseph SHELTON d of John, farmer of Gt.W and wife Hannah deceased (Witham Quakers)

          d20Dec1805 Elizabeth SHELTON of Springfield, wife of Joseph, age 59 [b1747}] (Witham Quakers)

 

Mary      m15Jan1765 James STOCK of Gt.Waltham; wit:John SMITH at Gt.Waltham

 

Hannah     19Dec1768 Simon SNOW bch 24 of Gt Waltham farmer & Hannah SMITH spr 21 of Gt Waltham at Gt Waltham (m.licence)

          m22Dec1768 Simon SNOW of Gt.Waltham; wit Elizabeth SMITH at Gt.Waltham

          B1808 Hannah SNOW  age 61   Gt.W MI [bc1747]

 

They were named in this order in the will, but it is difficult to make this an age order since both Elizabeth and Hannah were born about 1747 and Mary would have been born before Jan 1747 if she were just 18 at marriage. A possible arrangement is: Mary 1745, Elizabeth 1746, Hannah 1747, Ann 1748

 

Celia KEMP has made a lonng search for the baptism of daughter Hannah in Essex parish registers without success.  In view of the quaker burial of Peter SMITH and other members of the family, and the adult baptisms of their cousins, children of Abraham, John's children were very probably baptised in a dissenting congregation or not at all.  By the mid 1700s however many dissenting congregations had ceased or returned to the parish church.  It is not unreasonable therefore that John's son by his second m should be baptised in the normal way:

 

C 10Nov1751 John  s John  & Elizabeth SMITH at Gt.Waltham

 

DEATH

 

John was not noted as deceased in the 1772 m of his daughter, but died before brother Peter nade his will in 1784.  No suitable burial of John found at Gt or Lt Waltham, but there is a possible quaker burial:

 

d 13Jan1776 John SMITH of Forth End, Gt.Waltham.  buried 18Jan at Stebbing Quaker burial ground

 

Two of John's daughters were at Forth End which strongly suggests that the burial is correct:

 

Mary married James STOCK who was a yeoman of Forth End when he made his will in 1827

Hannah married Simon SNOW who was probably of Lavenders at Forth End.

 

Forth (or Ford) End is some miles from the village of Gt.Waltham, and if this burial is really of John-8, it indicates that his brother Peter did not inherit Stonage from his eldest brother.

 

The burial of Hannah may be recorded at Gt.Waltham:

 

B 13Oct1750 the wife of John SMITH

 

probably Hannah was baptised so could be buried in the parish church, but John was not baptised, so buried with the quakers

 

The only sutable burial of Elizabeth at Gt or Lt Waltham or in the quaker records is:

 

B 19Oct1786 Elizabeth SMITH P at Gt.Waltham

 

there is no confirmation that this is the correct burial, and it would not be expected that she would have been a pauper, as the SMITH family were farmers and yeoman and her son and married daughters were near by

 

 

 

 

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