Alice Finch is listed as the mother of Gilbert Jellians (1624-1700) in a number of Victorian genealogies, based largely on contemporary ‘Visitations’ of the county. She was married to Gilbert Jellians (Snr) on 6 May 1623 according to the parish register of St Thomas Dudley and her only recorded son Gilbert Jellians, the younger, was baptized on 1 Oct 1624.  Continue reading →

Richard Shaw of Netherton, near Dudley, a yeoman, died in 1657, leaving a will that helps build a picture of his numerous descendants. His father was probably Richard Shaw, yeoman of St Edmund’s Dudley, who left a will of 1616. A number of further wills and the parish registers of St Edmunds and St Thomas Dudley help us to build up a detailed picture. Continue reading →

Gilbert Jellians was baptized on 1 Oct 1624 in St Thomas Dudley, the only son of Gilbert Jellians. His father had married Alice Finch in St Thomas Dudley on 6 May 1623. The Finches were an important and well connected family in Dudley at this time and appear to have had a large nail and iron mongering business. The Jellians family throughout the seventeenth century accumulated considerable wealth and status in the town of Dudley. Continue reading →

Oliver Shaw was baptized in St Thomas, Dudley on 5 Sep 1647, the son of Oliver and Elizabeth Shaw. The Shaws were a prominent family in the small town of Dudley – owning land and carrying out a variety of trades. A 1649 levy on the town indicates 162 houses existed in Dudley that were taxed. By 1660 the population of Dudley including Netherton based on Hearth Tax records is estimated at just over 1800. Various Shaws appear on these two tax lists. Continue reading →

Jeremiah Thomings was baptised in Kingswinford on 10 Mar 1733, the son of David and Sarah Thomings. We know a little about him because of the wills of two of his brothers as well as a host of details from various parish registers. Continue reading →

Joseph Warmington was baptized in St Peter’s Hook Norton on 8 Apr 1737, the youngest son of John Warmington and Patience Beale. It is possible to trace a few events in his life but it is patchy and speculative for two reasons. Firstly he seems to have moved around a fair amount and secondly his family were almost certainly baptized in Baptist churches where the records have not been traced. Continue reading →