Thomas Linton was baptised in St Peter’s Collegiate Church in Wolverhampton on 15 Nov 1626. His parents would therefore be John Linton and Ann Kempson both of Bilston, who had married back on 3 Feb 1617/18. The Linton’s were probably copyhold yeoman farmers in the area, but Thomas, the oldest son, was born and lived through the Commonwealth and 1689 Revolution.
He married Mary Robbins in November 1654. Mary’s brother William Robbins gives a strong hint in his will that he held Puritan religious views. This is not surprising as Bilston was to become a haven for non-conformity that contrasted with neighbouring and dominant Wolverhampton that was both strongly Royalist in the civil war and through its ecclesiastical independence at St Peter’s Collegiate Church (a peculiar) retained close relations with the Bishop over in Lichfield.
One key piece of evidence about Thomas’s life is given by the ‘List of Inhabitants of Bilston’ taken in 1695 by the local Vicar, Rev Richard Ames. This useful document effectively gives us a census of the township at that date.
It gives the following household detail for the Lintons.
Thomas Linton (died at Wolverhampton of a dropsie, 8th May, 1702)
Joseph, his son
Margaret
Thus we can presume that by 1695 his wife Mary had died, but his two children Joseph and Margaret were still living at home. Joseph Linton has a probable baptism on 1 Aug 1667, but other children do not have recorded baptisms – maybe for non-conformist causes.
To corroborate this, we find Mary Linton, wife of Thomas, is registered as being buried on 21 Feb 1684/85. Coupled with this burial is an entry for a burial on the same day of another Mary Linton, daughter of John. As the vicar notes they share the same affidavit, we can postulate that this is Mary’s namesake and granddaughter. A John Linton is buried in 1685, a year later, and this could be presumed to be their son, for which there is no other record.
Another likely son is Benjamin, who may well have moved to Dudley and served an apprenticeship as a baker there, He married Judith Parkes on 26 Nov 1698 in St Thomas’s Dudley and seems to have returned to Bilston from that date as a Master Baker.
Joseph, who clearly stayed in Bilston, did not get married until after the death of his father. He appears to have had one brief possible marriage to a cousin Dorothy Gibbins in 1706 and than he married Ann Tizack in 1709, the daughter of Huguenots from the Stourbridge area.
In the early 1700’s the children of both Benjamin and Joseph match closely in names, which whilst confusing, strongly suggest that they are siblings.
A further daughter could be Priscilla Linton, named after her grandmother. The only record for her would appear to be the marriage of Priscilla Linton to Richard Hawkesford on 16 Jun 1686. The Hawkesfords are a recurring Bilston yeoman family.
Thomas Linton did not leave an extant will and was buried on 11 May 1702 in St Peter’s
Sources and Notes
- Will of John Lynton, Yeoman of Bilston, PCC Probate 3 Nov 1664, Written 30 May 1639, Buried 25 Aug 1643. (Father)
- Will of William Robbins, written 26 Oct 1668, PCC Probate 1 Jun 1670 (Brother-in-law)
- List of Inhabitants of Bilston, published Joseph Price 1835 (Genuki)
- At this time Bilston’s own church, St Leonards, had limited rights and all marriages and many baptisms and burials were carried out or recorded only in St Peter’s in Wolverhampton. Usefully the register often identifies inhabitants of Bilston.
- Lichfield Marriage Bonds and Allegations (FMP)
- 2 Jul 1706 – Joseph Linton, Bilston, and Dorothy Gibbons, Wolverhampton
- 14 Oct 1709 – Joseph Linton of Bilston, aged 38, and Ann Tizack, lately of Pattingham
- Note: The second marriage licence states that Joseph is a bachelor so either the first marriage never went through or it is a different person. There is no further trace of ‘Dorothy Linton’
- Judith Parkes was a direct descendant of Thomas Dudley of Russells Hall and hence also of Lord Dudley and Elizabeth Tomlinson. Benjamin Linton is thus mentioned in H. Sydney Grazebrook: Junior branches of Sutton alias Dudley family, 1889 (Staffordshire Record Society)
- The Parkes marriage is not the only connection between the Lintons and the Sutton- Dudleys. A 1638 marrage between a John Linton and Dorothy Sutton, would appear to be a much earlier connection. Dorothy is the likely sister of Thomas Dudley of Russels Hall. One descendant of this marriage, a Dudley Linton, was also a baker and this might possibly help explain Benjamin’s apprenticeship/marriage in Dudley. These Lintons lived in Feckenham and eventually Worcester.
- British Country Apprenticeships (FMP, Society of Genealogists)
- : Richard Humphries apprenticed to Benjamin Linton, Master Baker, 1718 Premium £2.