G6 Grandparents

Mary Hayward was born in about 1673 and became the second wife of William Bendy, marrying him on 17 Mar 1697 at St Benedicts, Wombourne. She is the grandmother of Mary Shaw, the wife of Thomas Shaw-Hellier. She lived the last thirty years of her life as a widow at Shutt End, Kingswinford and died in 1755. Her will was granted probate in 1758. Continue reading →

Thomas Clifton, a nailer from Halesowen, died about 31 Dec 1729 and left a will, held at Worcester, probate dated 9 Jan 1729/30. He is very likely the grandfather of Job Clifton (1734-1815). Unlike his putative grandson he is literate and signs his will. Continue reading →

Ambrose Birch was buried on 17 Feb 1729/30 in Rowley Regis and left a will, probate 20 Jul 1730. He was the father of Catherine Darby, the great grandmother of Emma Clifton. Continue reading →

Thomas Bissell of Lyndon Green was born in about 1699 and left a will dated 28 Sep 1763 and executed in 1765. Continue reading →

John Thompson was a locksmith from Coseley in the parish of Sedgley, near Dudley. He was probably baptised on 24 Feb 1716/17 and was buried on 27 Apr 1807, both in All Saints Sedgley. This would have made him 90 years old.  Continue reading →

Isaac Whitehouse, a farmer in Coseley in the Parish of Sedgley, was born in about 1711 the son of Joseph Whitehouse. He died in 1786. Continue reading →

Richard Shaw of Cinder Hill in Sedgley left a will dated 5 Jan 1753/4. This gives a number of strong indications that he is the grandfather of the Rev Thomas Shaw-Hellier.  Continue reading →

John Bagnall, the elder, was baptized in St Leonard’s Broseley on 4 Nov 1730. In his will of 1800 he describes himself as a yeoman of Darlaston, some 40 miles to the east. This description though, is a little misleading as it might imply that he earned his living largely through agriculture. We can be pretty sure that the reason he moved to the area was because of the Coal mines that existed or were even opened by him on his land in Darlaston (probably behind Pinfold Street). His sons and grandsons helped build a number of significant Iron Works, first at Gold’s Hill, just west of Walsall, that became a major force across West Bromwich, Walsall and Tipton best known and named after the second generation, John Bagnall the younger, as “John Bagnall and Sons”. Continue reading →

Daniel Shaw was baptized on 28 Feb 1681 on St Thomas, Dudley the eldest son of Oliver Shaw and Alice Jellians. He left a will dated 11 Oct 1739 that describes him as a Mercer of Dudley and names his surviving children as Daniel (bap Nov 1708), James (bap 27 Aug 1710), Frances (bap 15 Jul 1712) and Read (b c1717). This allows us to identify him as the father of James Shaw, attorney and early mine entrepreneur, of Dudley and determine the ancestral lineage of Mary Shaw, wife of Rev Thomas Shaw-Hellier. Continue reading →

Jane Walford married Jeremiah Thomings on 7 Oct 1759 at St Laurence, Northfield to the South West of Birmingham. Jane is almost certainly closely related to the Walford family of ironmongers from Birmingham but it is difficult to place exactly how. 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 →

Alice Harford was the youngest daughter of Thomas Harford, a Quaker, and was born in about 1708. Thomas Harford had married Martha Butler, Alice’s mother, on !8 Mar 1688 in the Society of Friends meeting house in Bristol. The Harford family owned estates in Marshfield in Gloucestershire and either for economic reasons or religious reasons a number of the branches of the family moved to Bristol and took a prominent role in the city’s affairs and in particular with the trade to Virginia and Pennsylvania. Alice had at least five elder siblings. Continue reading →

Robert Amberson Marten was born in Glastonbury in 1699. His father was William Martin, a soap boiler in Bristol. The origin of the Martin (sic) family was almost certainly from the Glastonbury area – but William appears to have married Elizabeth the niece of a Bristol trader and adventurer Robert Amberson in 1678. Robert Amberson Marten was the youngest of at least four children. Continue reading →