re; Elizabeth Walton and Anne Hill
David Leedham
Hi All
I’m currently writing ‘The Shellakers of Lyndon’ and so I am checking and re-copying my original source data.
Consequently the other evening I spent a couple of hours in the Leicestershire and Rutland Records Office trying to find more details of the two wives of Richard Shellacres; Elizabeth Walton - married in Melton Mowbray on 11th Dec 1715 and also Anne Hill – married in Loddington on 27th Dec 1727 (after the death of Elizabeth in 1725).
Elizabeth Walton of Burton Lazars (or Lazarus as it says in the records)
· The parish records for burials in that village are only available from 1813 onwards - So a dead-end with that one.
· Although I did find a ‘John Walton’ recorded on 21st May 1719 as a signature on one page of the accounts book of the Churchwardens, Constables and overseers for that village. As this village has a population of less than 200 souls John Walton may have been related to Elizabeth and possibly, as he has a level of status at that time, her father (as opposed to her brother).
· No further research planned.
Ann Hill Walton of Loddington
The parish records are relatively complete but I found FOUR baptisms for girls named ‘Ann Hill’, produced from two couples both having children across roughly the same time-period; Thomas & Anne plus Richard and Hannah. (I’m guessing Thomas and Richard Hill were possibly brothers)
Below are their children of the two couples.
Thomas Hill and Anne
Joanna 30th July 1682.
Mary Feb 8th 1684
Thomas Nov 25th 1687
Elizabeth 12th Sept 1690
Ann 30th Dec 1692 – must have died as next child bore the same name Buried Jan 2nd 1893
Ann 8th July 1694
Richard Hill & Hannah
Richard Jan 30th 1685
Margaret Oct 17th 1687
Ann Jan 26th 1688 – must have died as next girl bore the same name – Buried March 28th 1689
George may 2nd 1690
John Oct 15th 1693
Ann 19th Feb 1696
As you can see, two of the ‘Anns’ can be eliminated as being the wife of Richard as they died in infancy but that still leaves two possible suspects, one born in 1694 and the other in 1696. These girls would have been around 33 or 31 respectively in 1727. Richard Shelacres was baptised in Feb 1686 and was 31 when he married Hill so both of these ‘Anns’ remain likely suspects.
So which Anne Hill married Richard Shelacres in Loddington on Dec 29th 1727?
Let’s look at the children of Richard Shelacres and Ann Hill. Their children were Hannah (bapt. Feb 1727), Richard (bapt. Nov 1730), Francis (bapt. Dec 1733) and Thomas (bapt. May 1737).
This seem to reveal that Hannah was born 10 months before the wedding! But on re-examining the whole page of the records it is a ‘Lady Day to Lady Day’ issue – the record of their wedding on Dec 29th is under a list headed ‘Lady Day 1726 to Lady Day 1727’ – in other words, from 25th March 1726 to 25th March 1727. So the correct date of Richard’s wedding to Ann Hill was on 29th Dec 1726 and not 1727. This reveals on her wedding day she was very pregnant.
OK, back to the names of the children ….as the first two children born were named Hannah & Richard I think it is a pretty fair assumption that Ann Hill was the daughter of Richard & Hannah Hill and not Thomas & Ann (I know we have a boy named Thomas in the list but it’s the ‘Hannah’ that swings it for me)
CONCLUSION:
There is a far greater probability that Richard and Hannah Hill are the parents of the Ann Hill who married Richard Shelacres in Loddington on the 29th Dec 1726 and around four/five weeks later gave birth to their first child, a girl who was named Hannah after her maternal grandmother. And therefore the aforementioned Richard and Hannah Hill are my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents.
Richard Hill was buried on 13th October 1721 around 5 years before his daughter’s wedding.
Incidentally when I search through the Loddington records I came across an unusual one but not sure on the surname ….
“John Aasso of the Kingdom of Angola, a Negro. Baptised September 13th 1694”.
Regards
David