With every good wish for Solstice, Christmas and the holidays, here’s news of an important book recently published on Amazon… a book my mate Benny Coxton in South Carolina has wanted to write for most of a lifetime, published just as he reached his 80th birthday a few weeks ago.
Full of info about the Quaker Wilcocksons of Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire, including some of the data presented here at Wilcocksons Unwrapped… but more importantly, the book shares the results of Benny’s new and comprehensive research into the US records of Welsh Quakers whom migrant George Wilcockson married into in 1719, after he left Cossall in Nottinghamshire for the Welsh Tract of Pennsylvania. George and his wife Elizabeth Powell’s eldest child John Wilcockson (known as “1720 John”) married Sarah Boone, sister of the famous frontiersman Daniel Boone, and accompanied him into the Wilderness.
The book can be bought on Kindle and affordable paperback (with black & white images) here: And “legacy versions” (more pricey with full colour photographs) are available here:
It’s a darn good read folks (I should know, I co-edited – if you’ll forgive the Solstice namedrop!).
Benny is himself a direct descendant of “1720 John” Wilcockson and Sarah Boone – his book includes the fascinating story of how his surname morphed from Wilcockson into Coxton and the lifetime journey Benny has made into his family’s history. He’s already planning a second book!
To cut to the chase – after our years of research, we know that the Boonie Wilcocksons had two main homesteads in Biggin.
The most important was at the western end of Hoonwell Lane, today known as Home Farm Cottage and Springwell.
Attached in the middle at a slight angle, a dwelling-house (Home Farm Cottage) on the right and a large barn on the left (now converted and named Springwell), these two buildings once comprised the main Boonie homestead, inherited by eldest sons down the generations. Listed Building details suggest they were built in the late 17th and 18th centuries but it’s certain they replaced earlier premises.
The secondary homestead was next door but one, eastwards a little down the Lane, known today as Home Farm. It also probably dates from the early 18th century, on the site of previous dwellings. This homestead was once held by an early Wilcockson widow, a couple of times by younger sons (and briefly even by daughters). For centuries, it was routinely described in these terms: “another messuage/house in Biggin with barn, garden, orchard and Fold Yard”. It was often named as Nether House.
Here’s a reminder of their locations on the 1920 map detail:
And here are present-day photos:
Home Farm Cottage
Springwell, the converted barn
Home Farm
So, how do we know
these were Boonie homesteads?
The answer is: detective work, a fabulous supply of manorial records with a few Boonie Wills and an 1887 sales catalogue thrown in.
In that year, Rev William Rylance Melville sold the Boonie homestead (Home Farm Cottage/Springwell) and the ancestral fields that his late wife Susannah Wilcockson James had inherited. The sale ended the Boonie Wilcockson presence in Biggin after 400 years (and possibly centuries longer).
But the key bit of proof that told us which Boonie homestead
was which was this:
5 Sep 1833 Duffield Fee Small Court – BIGGING: George WILCOCKSON farmer
of Biggin has died [otherwise known to us as “Young George” or Miller
George I]. He held the dwelling house in Biggin formerly called the Nether House with garden & 2 small
crofts of 1 acre, formerly in possession of John WARD, then his widow, bounded
on the south by land & property of John BLACKWALL Esq, towards the north
& east by property of Miss Sarah WILCOCKSON & towards the west by
property of James Northage JAMES Esq. The court finds that George’s grandson,
Miller George WILCOCKSON II of Biggin is heir to this holding and he is
admitted tenant. At the same court, Miller George II and his wife Mary (Hoon)
sold this holding for £105 to Emma BLACKWALL of Blackwall in the parish of Kirk
Ireton, who was admitted tenant for her life and heirs.
The name of the dwelling as Nether House and the clear locations of its immediate neighbours – which we were able to check on the 1840s Tithe Maps and Schedules for Biggin and Kirk Ireton – proved that the ‘Nether House’ repeatedly mentioned in centuries of manor court entries was the property and plot now known as Home Farm.
We were left with only one candidate for the other, primary Boonie homestead – that known today as Home Farm Cottage/Springwell. To tie that off for us, the current Listed Building details for those premises say they once possessed a door lintel marked with the name and date of John Wilcockson 1749. The present owner of Springwell confirmed that the lintel had been above one of the pre-conversion barn doors. The only John Wilcockson available in 1749 was “Young John” [older brother of “Young George” mentioned in the 1833 entry above]. “Young John” came into possession of the primary family holdings at age 21 in 1746, the eldest son of his father Biggin-John and mother Hannah Bunting (John’s 2nd wife).
These Boonie direct line holders of the Biggin homesteads, from 1610
John down to Susannah Wilcockson (James) Melville are shown here:
Susannah (“the last Wilcockson”) married Rev William Rylance Melville, Rector of Matlock St Giles
And as for the Biggin fields…
Remember this Tithe Map of 1841 marked up with the pale green fields
that were anciently Wilcockson holdings and sold by Rev Melville in 1887:
Those field names are recorded in manor court entries, a few Wilcockson Wills, the 1840s Tithe Appropriation and the final 1887 Sales Catalogue – that is, from 1607 through to 1887, over 280 years.
Without a doubt, the Duffield Fee Manor Court Books held at Derbyshire Record Office (dating from 1595 to the 20th century) should be awarded our gold star for Wilcockson research. They enabled us to create as solid a line of descent for the Boonie Wilcocksons, the homesteads they occupied and the fields they farmed, as any researchers could hope for.
These manor records will be more fully Unwrapped in fresh blogposts when I return to the task in the autumn.
The Wilcockson quest in the UK is particularly blessed with available sources, especially (as this blog will reveal) Manorial and Quaker records. We can’t say the same about the Boonie Wilcockson early years in America.
Quaker George, the first Boonie migrant from the Biggin families, arrived in Pennsylvania in 1718-19, married Elizabeth Powell from the ‘Welsh tract’ of PA and lived with their several children in frontier conditions. Sadly for descendants, they didn’t maintain unity with the Quaker Meetings so are missing from those records – from all records in fact, until they died in 1739 and 1740. We don’t even know the numbers and names of their children, other than their youngest, five year old Mary, who was taken under the wing of Quaker Philip Yarnall when she was orphaned.
Y-DNA testing however happily confirmed that the eldest child of George and Elizabeth was most likely “1720 John” who seems to have had a weaving apprenticeship with Squire Boone, father of the famous Daniel Boone, and then married Daniel’s sister Sarah. Their descendants and ancestors are, of course, called Boonies.
The story of these interwoven Boone and Wilcockson lives in 18th century frontier America is like a film Western. Full of adventure, tragedy and survival against the odds. But very lacking in official genealogical records.
Chris Robinson, a US Boonie descendant who has researched these families for many years recently summed up the state of knowledge and speculation regarding the final days of Sarah (Boone) Wilcockson in a fascinating article which can be found here.
Isaac Wilcockson
Chris has also recently speculated on the fate of Quaker George’s brother Isaac, who we know was a Cloth Worker resident in Cossall at the time of his father John’s death there in 1718-19. Breach MM Minutes show that Isaac was granted a certificate for travel to America in 1721, though if he went he came back. From 1723, Monyash MM Minutes show him in active unity with them until 1727. He was even a Trustee of the Monyash Meeting House. After 1727 however, no mention has been found of him in any UK records, no burial, no nuttin. The Monyash Friends despaired of trying to locate him. As a result, I thought it likely he made his life permanently in America from 1727 or soon afterwards.
Now Chris has told us this:
“We now believe that Quaker George and Elizabeth (Powell) Wilcockson had sons, including 1720 John; George (ca1730-1785), and likely Isaac (ca1724-1765)–all of whom eventually settled in Rowan Co., NC. What intrigues me though is the presence of another Isaac Wilcockson in Middletown, Bucks Co., PA.
“We know that this Isaac is named in a Middletown MM list of attendees at the wedding of Thomas Goinks in 1731. Years ago, a reference to a Bucks County lawsuit (dated June 17, 1732) was brought to my attention, in which Richard Mountain sued Isaac Wilcockson [Bucks County PA Criminal Papers–Court of Common Pleas]. Joseph Wildman of Middletown, PA was named as a surety in the lawsuit.
“It would be great to know whether any other details regarding this lawsuit still exist within Bucks County records. It is also interesting to note that Squire and Sarah (Morgan) Boone also lived in Bucks Co., PA from 1720 to ca1730–during which time their first child, Sarah (Boone) Wilcockson was born. In ca1730, Squire Boone moved his family to Berks Co., PA. Might Quaker Isaac Wilcockson of Middletown, Bucks Co., PA have known the Quaker Squire Boone family during their time of residence in Bucks County? More food for thought!”
From Biggin to Cossall, to Pennsylvania and beyond – always more to find out.
After finding the new info about Cossall John in the
dissertation at Nottingham Uni Library, Sarah and I fixed the earliest possible
date to visit Notts Record Office in Nottingham to check out the two sources the
dissertation author cited. So we went there exactly a week later on 7 August
2019. Here’s what we found:-
C/QSM/1/22 Quarter Sessions Minute Book 1710-1715.
This provided the evidence that Cossall John registered his
home as a meeting place for Quaker worship. On the
page for the Sessions of 14 Jul 1712 held at Shire Hall als Queen’s Hall, co.
Notts (no page nos.), there is a single line that reads:
Ordered
that John WILCOCKSON’s house at Cossall be Lycensed for Quakers to meete in for
Religious Worship.
Crucially, that record tells us John was resident in Cossall
by April 1712.
Meetings for Worship
Anyone unfamiliar with early history of Quakers may be
interested to learn that it was commonplace for Friends to register their own
homes for meetings of worship. They did this to avoid prosecution for holding
illegal ‘conventicles’. Briefly in 1672, the Declaration of Indulgence by
Charles II allowed this registration of non-conformist meeting places, but that
was soon rescinded and only the 1689 Toleration Act made it permanently legal
for dissenters to hold and licence their own meetings (not so Catholics
unfortunately, who continued for centuries to be untolerated). As the Quaker
movement mushroomed in the mid-late 17th century, they built and
registered formal Meeting Houses as well, but licensing Friends’ own homes continued,
especially in rural areas at a distance from Meeting Houses.
It’s important to recognise that only meetings for worship
were licensed at John’s home, not the Preparatory or Monthly ‘business’
Meetings for which attendance and minutes were recorded. There are no records
of the meetings for worship at Cossall so we can’t know who came along. However,
it seems likely that the few other Quakers resident in Cossall and those who
lived in neighbouring places appreciated this close-by location.
Nearby places, all on the Derbys/Notts border were:
Alfreton, Cotmanhay, Codnor/Heanor (location of
Breach Meeting House), Ilkeston, Ripley, Risley, Sandiacre, Smalley, Sawley, in
Derbys
Breach is approx 8 miles from Cossall, an easy horse ride
away. Nottingham was also about 8 miles from Cossall but the few references in
Nottingham MM records to Friends from these border locations and the appearance
of their names in Breach MM records suggests their usual preference.
For example, from a notebook of burials at Breach (held at
Derbys RO in Matlock, ref. D4734/18/1), we already know that these Friends from
Notts were associated with Breach MM in the 1675-1705 period:
Adrin & Hannah Dawes of Newthorp in Greasley
parish
Thomas Mee of Eastwood
Richard & Rebeka Maltsby of Lambclose in Greasley
Kathrin Death of Newthorp in Greasley
John & Rebeka Bennit of Begerlee in Greasley
Luke Hank of Eastwood
Thomas Right of Newthorp in Greasley
More Notts Friends will be found as we check again into
Breach MM records – but Cossall John Wilcockson’s regular attendance at Breach
in the period we now know he was resident in Cossall is already well-established
(from Breach MM and Derbyshire QM Minutes held at Notts RO):
1712 – At Breach MM on 2 Oct, John Wilcockson was instructed to attend the next QM at Tupton. On 8 and 12 Oct MMs, he was also ordered to speak to a Samuel Johnson, and to a William Potter to prevent him from disorderly walking, also to attend the next QM.
1713 – John Wilcockson was present at Derbys QM in Chesterfield & made report from Breach MM
1714 – 1 April: At Derbys QM at Tupton, John Wilcockson reported from Breach MM that they take care of their poor but that several younger members are marrying out. 5 July: At Derbys QM, John Wilcockson reported from Breach MM that they take care of their poor collections &c but the MMs are small and ‘other things but indifferent’ as previously reported. 30 Sep: At Derbys QM held at Tupton, John Wilcockson & Joseph Farnsworth from Breach MM report they take care of their poor ‘but can give no good account of truths prosperity’.
1715 – At Derbys QM at Tupton, John Wilcockson reported from Breach MM that they take care of their poor but have no weekday meetings.
1716-18 – John continued to represent Breach MM at Derbyshire Quarterly
Meetings. The last entry found for him was on 2 Oct 1718, probably a few months
before his death (date unknown but administration of his estate was probated in
April 1719).
So, one little line on a page of the 1712 Nottingham Quarter Sessions
minutes opens up all manner of new understandings – but even more intriguing
was the second source reference in the Cossall dissertation that Sarah and I
checked…
C/QDR/1/1 Register of Papists’
estates, 1717-1720.
On sheet 36 of this roll of entries for Nottinghamshire, we found the
Catholic Robert Willoughby Esquire, on 29 April 1717, registering his estates
as required by a recently introduced anti-Papist law, another persecutory
effort by England’s Protestant establishment.
The entry tells us that Robert was leasing his Cossall Manor House to
John Wilcockson at a rental of £60 12s/year, the second most costly lease in
the estate. Here is the full transcript:
To the Clerk of the Peace of and for the County of Nottingham or his Lawfull Deputy.
I Robert Willoughby of Cossall in the County of Nottingham Esquire in Pursuance of a late Act of Parliament Intituled an Act to oblige Papists to Register their Names and reall Estates Doe desire that my Name and Estate of and in the Mannor Messuages Lands and Hereditaments herein after mentioned Scituate being and ariseing in the Said County of Nottingham may be Registred Pursuant – – – – – – –
A true Particular of the Mannor Messuages Cottages Lands and Heredittaments Scituate being and ariseing in the Parishes and Places in the said County of Nottingham whereof I the said Robert WILLOUGHBY am or any other person or persons In trust for me or For my Benefitt or Advantage is or are Seized or possessed or in the Receipt or perception of the Rents or profitts in the severall Possessions of my Severall and respective Lessees by virtue of the Severall Leases or Agreements made by me under the Reservations of the Severall and respective Partys Rents as the Same are hereinafter Severally and respectively mentioned and Expressed (Viz:) –
In Cossall in the parish of Cossall
The Lands hereafter mentioned containing in all about three hundred and Twenty Acres viz’t:
The Capitall Mansion House with the Outhouses Gardens orchards and Severall Parcells of Land thereunto belonging Lett by me Robert WILLOUGHBY to John WILCOCKSON the present possessor at Will, at the Yearly Rent of Sixty pounds and twelve shillings out of which is paid Yearly to the Viccar of Cossall Five pounds and to the Marquesse of Carmarthen a Chiefe Rent of Six Shillings and Eight pence –
A Messuage and Farm with the appurtenances and Lands belonging Lett by me to Elizabeth HALL the present possessor at Will at the Yearly Rent of Seventy one Pounds and Ten shillings –
A Messuage and Farm with the appurtenances and Lands belonging Lett by me to William RADFORD at Will, the present possessor at the Yearly Rent of Forty pounds and Five Shillings out of which is paid to George GREGORY Esquire a Yearly Chiefe Rent of two pounds Seventeen Shillings and Eight pence –
Severall Pieces of Land Lett by me to Richard TURFY the Present Possessor at Will at the Yearly Rent of Eleven pounds –
A piece of Land Lett by me to Robert WOOD the present Possessor at Will at the Yearly Rent of two pounds –
A piece of Land Lett by me to Joseph MOULT the present possessor at Will at the Yearly Rent of Eight Shillings –
A parcell of Wood Ground called Lawn Wood in my own possession value uncertain –
In Attenburrow in the parish of Attenburrow
A Cottage in the possession of Mary SMITH held of me at Will at the Yearly Rent of Five Shillings –
A Croft in the possession of Edward CAWDALL at the Yearly Rent of Fourteen Shillings, he being Tenant at Will –
Of all which said Lands in Cossall I am seized in fee But Say the same are charged with the Portions of my Sisters by the Last Will & Testament of my Father Francis WILLOUGHBY late of Cossall dec’d and say I am Seized in Fee of the premises in Attenborough free from Incumbrances –
Signed: Robert Willoughby
This Entry was duely made by Robert WILLOUGHBY of Cossall Esqr at the Generall Quarter Sessions of the peace for the said County of Nottingham holden at the Shire Hall in Nottingham on Munday the twenty Ninth day of Aprill Anno Dmi 1717 between the hour of Three and Four in the Afternoone of the same day before his Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for the Said County of Nottingham who have subscribed our Names as Witnesses thereto in open Court:
Signatures: ?Fra: Molyneux; Julius Hutchinson; L: Pinckney; M: Musters.
Cossall Manor House
Cossall was tiny in 1712 and it still is. Like Biggin, it has barely
changed over the centuries of its existence. The Manor House (now known as
Manor Farm) was originally moated and traces of the moat exist, as the map
shows
Cossall Manor Farm 2019
Sarah Pearson made a recent visit to this last home of her ancestor
John, reporting that “all that remains of Cossall John’s house (I think)
is the front elevation. It looks like the original building has been modernised
inside. It has been extensively extended as well.”
While other buildings in Cossall have listed status, sadly the Manor
House does not.
With permission of the owners, Sarah took photos of the house and the view that Cossall John would have had from his front door in 1712-19:
View of Cossall fields from Manor Farmhouse, 2019
Yet more questions
£60/year in rent was serious money in 1717. At the probate
of his estate in 1719, John was described as a Yeoman, so his status was top of
the farming league, close to minor gentry. But we have no inventory for him and
very little evidence of his income sources.
It appears that in 1712 when John most likely moved to
Cossall, his son Biggin John took over the main family lands and homesteads in
Biggin and lived there with his new wife Phebe (Taylor), paying his parents a
‘pension’ of £10/year. It also seems logical that in 1712 the rest of Biggin
John’s sibs were at Cossall with their parents:
Eldest child Ann, aged 25, married Quaker Jonathan Greene of Yorkshire at Breach in 1713/14 when she was described as ‘of Cossall’.
Dorothy, aged 22, married Quaker John Bower at Breach in 1715
Isaac, aged 20, was described as a Cloth Worker of Cossall in 1719 when his father’s estate was probated, perhaps nearly at the end of his apprenticeship in 1712
George was aged 17 – the age to be mid-apprenticeship.
David was aged 13 – nearly the usual age for apprenticeship to start.
We have no record of David’s adult occupation but we do know
that George, once settled and married in Pennsylvania, was a Weaver, as
apparently was his son “1720 John”, most likely apprenticed to his
future father-in-law and weaver Squire Boone. With son Isaac also described as
a Cloth Worker, it does appear that weaving and cloth were in the Wilcockson
bones. Puritan William Wilcockson who migrated to New England in the 1630s, and
thought to be from Biggin originally, was also a Weaver.
Perhaps Cossall John was a Weaver too, as a dual occupation with smallholding (by the look of the 1717 Papists’ Estates entry, he didn’t have much land with the manor house in Cossall). An inventory for him might have told us he owned looms. But it’s not beyond the realms of imagination to picture the old Manor House providing plenty of room for weaving work to be carried on by the whole family and perhaps other craftsmen too. And that might help to produce the dosh for a £60/year rental, though it seems pretty certain to me that income from land and property somewhere must have been part of the mix too.
And Quaker George?
We all want to know where George was before he migrated. The latest info about Cossall suggests he might have been there with his parents and sibs, perhaps completing a weaving apprenticeship.
For me personally, the fact of a very narrow date-window for
George to marry Elizabeth Powell in PA in 1719 (when he was about 24) leaves me
theorising that he probably made a visit or visits to America in the 2-3 years
before then, giving him chance to become acquainted with Elizabeth, perhaps
returning home to see his father before his death and to gain the clearness
certificate from Breach MM. A goodly number of Quaker neighbours and potential
kin were already settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania from the 1680s, so
George would not have lacked welcome and hospitality there.
This is a rich area for more research in America, Wales and
England! But for the moment, we still don’t know where Quaker George was before
he migrated. Sorry folks.
All Boonies know that Quaker George Wilcockson took with him
to Pennsylvania a ‘clearness certificate’, proving he was free to marry his
intended, Elizabeth Powell. The certificate stated that George’s father was
John Wilcockson of Cossall in Nottinghamshire.
The question has always been: why Cossall? It has never made
sense, with no visible connection to John’s previous life and locations.
But new light has suddenly dawned.
On 31 July, two of us from the Wilcockson research group (Sarah
Pearson and I) visited Nottingham University Library Manuscripts and Special
Collections (NULMS for short), which holds the enormous ‘Middleton Collection’
– the family and estate papers of the Willoughby family who built Wollaton Hall
in Nottingham and owned next-door Cossall.
Up to the last hour of the day, we rooted fruitlessly
through rentals, surveys, leases and deeds. No sign of any Wilcocksons. As a
last resort, I checked a dissertation the archive staff suggested, though they
warned it was mostly about coal-mining so we had few hopes:
Cossall and the Willoughbys
1500-1700 – The acquisition and exploitation of a manor, by C M Whyld (June
1987, towards the Certificate in Local History)
And look what we found on page 71:
“The Compton census of 1676
revealed two recusants (at Cossall), which seems low, and two dissenters out of
40 of age for communion. One of the dissenters was probably Daniel Marshall,
described as a Quaker when buried in 1698. In 1685, as an old and poor cottager
on the waste, he was spoken for by Francis Willoughby and allowed to remain for
a small payment. There seems to be some sympathy between the Catholics and the
Quakers since in 1717 John Wilcockson
was leasing the manor house from Francis’s son Robert. In 1712, John Wilcockson’s
house was licensed as a meeting house for Quakers.”
Note that the sources for
these statements about Cossall John were (1) the 1717 Register of Papists’
Estates; (2) Nottingham Quarter Sessions records for 1712. Both documents are
held at Nottinghamshire Record Office.
Air-punching, dancing and whooping resulted. There was also
disbelief and we had to keep re-reading the paragraph.
Let’s expand on this a little.
Cossall is tiny, a dot in the Nottinghamshire landscape.
Even now it’s quite hard to find. It was a chapelry in the parish of Wollaton and
we know from Churchwardens’ Presentments that chapel and parishioners were
badly neglected by the Rectors at Wollaton over decades.
The Willoughby lords at Wollaton Hall were zealous
Protestants – but their cousins at Cossall were stubbornly Roman Catholic. In
the tiny chapelry of Cossall, both Catholics and Quakers were singled out for
punishment in the persecution period before 1689’s Toleration Act:
AN/PB 305/41 presentment, 26 Apr
1670 – present Richarde Disney husbandman, a popish recusant, for standing
excommunicated; John Kirby, husbandman,
a Quaquer for standing excommunicated; John
Martin husbandman and Joane his wife, both of them Quaquers, for standing
excommunicated.
AN/PB 305/689 presentment,
Cossall, 13 May 1679 – present Danell Marshall
(tailor) Quaker for standing excommunicate.
AN/PB 306/342 presentment,
Cossall, 20 Nov 1684 – present Francis WILLOUGHBY jnr gent & his wife for
recusants; Daniell Marshall tailor
for standing excommunicate.
AN/PB 306/399 presentment,
Cossall, 27 Oct 1685 – present Daniell Marshall
tailor for standing excommunicate… Mr Francis Willoughby jnr for being a
recusant.
These extracts are taken from
the comprehensive index of Notts Presentments available in the NULMS online
catalogue of Archdeaconry of Nottingham records.
Earlier in the day, Sarah had pointed out rental records to
me that showed how Francis Willoughby extended kindness to ageing Quakers in
Cossall, including Daniel Marshall, allowing them cottages at tiny rents. We
also knew that Cossall was a chapelry where very few tithes were payable. And,
from Breach Monthly Meeting minutes, we had seen references to Nottinghamshire
Quakers from parishes next door to Cossall who were members of Breach rather
than the equally-close and more likely Nottingham MM – for example Luke Hanks
of Eastwood.
In other words, when we wonder ‘why Cossall?’, we now have
some answers:
The risk of harassment and fines for Cossall
Quakers’ non-payment of tithes was close to nil – because it’s almost certain
they had none to pay
No interfering Anglican priest at the chapel
An influential landlord sympathetic to Quakers
Other Quakers resident in Cossall and nearby, at
least some of whom attended Breach MM alongside Cossall John and his family
We know from records of Quaker ‘Sufferings’ that Cossall
John was fined for non-payment of tithes both in Staffordshire and back at
Biggin in 1710 and 1711. We also know that the magistrates in Nottingham at
this time were persecutory of Quakers to the point of psychopathy. What
sensible Quaker would want to attract their malignancy through involvement in
Nottingham MM when Breach was just as easy to get to from Cossall?
So it’s easy to imagine the conversations at Breach and in Friends’
homes about how to escape those attentions. Quite a few of the Breach Quakers
chose migration to Pennyslvania. But the Notts Friends would also have talked
of the supportive landlord at Cossall and the freedom from tithes, an easier
option for an ageing John Wilcockson, especially as he could register his own
house there for meetings for worship.
So, if we now understand ‘why Cossall?’ a little better, there are still other questions, perhaps most importantly to US Boonies – did Quaker George live there too? And how did Cossall John afford the Manor House???
For the assistance of Boonie Wilcockson descendants who are unfamiliar with Biggin or Derbyshire, I hope these maps will help.
First, eyes right to see Biggin’s place in Great Britain as a whole (pretty central):
And within Derbyshire, Biggin (coloured red) was in the large Wirksworth St Mary parish (coloured yellow). Again pretty central. You can see that Biggin was a bit of a tail tagged on to the parish, and some distance from the parish church. No surprise that Wilcocksons often used the nearer Kirk Ireton and Atlow churches instead. Map copyright of Derbyshire County Council, reproduced with permission of Derbyshire Record Office.
In 1843, a Tithe Map of Biggin was created. In the one you can see below, all the fields known for certain to have been held by Wilcocksons at that and earlier dates have been coloured in. There’s a key to the colours at the top of the map. Billie Wilcocksons (whose fields are coloured orangey-pink) also had significant holdings in Kirk Ireton, north of their part of Biggin. Boonies had just one or two small holdings in Kirk Ireton, and also in Hulland to the south. Over on the east is another Boonie holding, acquired in 1757 – Biggin Mill (coloured green).
The numbers shown on the Tithe Map refer to a written Tithe Schedule of 1841 giving details of homesteads and field names, their owners and tenants. More details in future blogs about the immeasurable value of the Tithe Map & Schedule to Biggin Wilcockson research.
Below is a close-up of Biggin (from a 1920 map) showing the string of Wilcockson homesteads from east to west. On the far west, Home Farm Cottage is now two properties: Springwell (a conversion of the old barn) is on the left and Home Farm Cottage to its right – the two are joined at a slight angle to each other. Over at the eastern end, you can see a small property tucked in beside Old Farm, today known as Old Farm Cottage. Both premises were once held by the ‘Billie’ Wilcocksons.
The Unwrapped spotlight is turning next to where the Biggin Wilcocksons lived and farmed. For many centuries. From medieval times until 1877.
Out of all the family lines I’ve researched, this one is unique. Not only did the families live for 500 years or more in the same small hamlet but they seem to have always had their dwellings on the same plots, even if new homes replaced old ones along the way.
They held the same fields in the hamlet too, split between two or three branches (Billie, Boonie and Edward) from the time when the undetermined common ancestor shared them out that way, most likely in the early 16th century. After that, they sometimes added a few fields or sold some but, once the Edward line (tanners and glovers) departed to Brampton near Chesterfield, Billies and Boonies each held on to a solid group of fields until their lines in Biggin died out.
I’ll now endeavour to show which homes and which fields the
Boonies held until the 19th century – and how we know about it, the many
sources and records we have available.
Because these are the other remarkable facts about Biggin:
the hamlet’s fields (small ones with hedges around called ‘closes’) have
remained almost identical since they were first carved out of the old royal
hunting forest called Duffield Frith (‘frith’ is an old word for forest) – and because
of the plentiful manor records that exist, we can follow the field names
throughout the centuries, up to the 1840s tithe schedules and beyond.
Most rural locations in England went through ‘Enclosure’ at some point, usually in the 18th and 19th centuries, when large communal fields were carved up into smaller closes, changing the layout and field names of each community for ever. But Biggin was ‘enclosed’ from its birth out of Duffield Frith before the 12th century (when it was called ‘Newbigging’). So its field names have lived on to the present day.
The next blogpost will include maps to show where the Boonie homes and fields were located in Biggin.
If Wilcocksons settled in Newbigging when it first formed (though without a fixed surname for a few centuries) they were there for around 800 years. Even if they moved in after their surname was established, that would be 500-600 years of settlement in Biggin.
The biggest mystery about 1610 John is his children.
In his Will, written on 1 February 1609/10, John names nine
of them. They are not recited by age but the probate documents granting tuition
of the minor children to widow Ann/Amy (ie. all of them except George) lists
them in this order:
George –
eldest son, evidence suggests he reached 21 in 1607 or earlier, so perhaps born
c1585-7. He receives all of his father’s real estate plus 6s 4d.
Thomas
– named as 2nd son, receives £4
John
– named as 3rd son, receives 20 shillings, who’s to be “kept to
learning”. Possible baptism at Kirk Ireton: John WILCOCKSON christned
Octob 8 1592 (no parents named). Possibly buried at Wirksworth: Jhon WILKOCSON
sepult 13 of September 1614 (so c21, but there are other Johns to fit).
Dorothy
– eldest daughter, receives a third of father’s household goods when 25
Elizabeth
– the next oldest daughter, also receives a third of the household goods when
21. Possible baptism at Kirk Ireton: 14 Mar 1595/6 – Elizabeth WILCOCKESON
christned (no parents named, but a indicates they were of Wirksworth
parish). It’s also possible she married William WEBSTER at Kirk Ireton on 17
Sep 1620.
William
– named as 4th son, appears to receive only 3d
Joseph
– receives 6s 4d when 21. Possible baptism at Kirk Ireton: 14 Aug 1606, Joseph
ye son of John WILCOCKSON of Biggine. Likely burial at Wirksworth: Joseph
WILKOCKSON sepult 14 of January 1622/3 (so c17).
Ellen
– receives 6s 4d when 21.
Sarah
– receives 6s 4d when 21. Possible baptism at Kirk Ireton: Mar 1607/8, Sara the
daughter of John WILCOCKSON
The first time we have definite sight of father John in
Biggin is in Wirksworth Manor in 1584 and for the first time in Duffield Frith
in 1587. A possible birth date of 1585-7 for eldest son George would correlate with
these sightings. So there’s a reasonable suggestion that John married in about
1583 and came into his holdings then too. Which leads to a possible birth date
for John of about 1560. If true, he would have been about 50 when he died.
If John was born and grew up in the Biggin area, we wouldn’t
know about it from obvious sources: he’d be too young for mention in manorial
records and the three nearest churches have no extant PRs before John’s likely
birth. Kirk Ireton Holy Trinity PRs start in 1572, Wirksworth St Mary’s in 1608
and Atlow St Philip & St James in the 1680s. He could have been married
anywhere, of course. He died in February 1609/10 and was probably buried at
Wirksworth (as he requested in his Will) but close and repeated examinations of
those PRs confirm his burial is not recorded there, and the same is true in
Kirk Ireton PRs.
But the bigger mystery is: what happened to John’s children?
No definite information about them beyond John’s Will has been found, only the
possible baptisms, marriage and burials noted – and those are entirely
speculative.
Widow Ann/Amy
Whenever a father dies leaving a number of children
including infants, it’s logical that his widow will take care of them, and
Ann/Amy at probate in May 1611 was awarded tuition of John’s minor children
(Thomas, John, Dorothy, Elizabeth, Joseph, Ellena & Sara, with William
probably hidden under the Surrogate’s signature, unless perhaps he had recently
died).
We might assume that Ann/Amy and the children lived on in
Biggin, even though George had inherited everything – but his holdings included
at least two dwelling-houses so there was room for everyone and, as we’ll see
next, it looks like Ann/Amy occupied the smaller of the two properties.
It appears, she married twice more.
On 25 April 1622 her son George, in preparation for marrying
his second wife Agnes MADDOCK, made a Surrender in Duffield Fee Court stating
that a second dwelling he held with a barn, garden, orchard and fold yard was
in the tenure of widow Anne STEYNES his mother.
Until a few weeks ago, no marriage had been found for Ann/Amy to anyone named STEYNES (a very unusual name and capable of many variants) but now we have the Will of John STAINE apothecary of Derby, written and proved in 1615 (see Abstracts). The only people he names are his wife Amie (definitely Amie this time) and brother Erasmus STAINE. With the surname so rare, it’s reasonable to surmise this is 1610 John’s Ann/Amy, being widowed again. No children are mentioned. In 1615, at least the three youngest children of 1610 John would still be minors.
So where were they? Perhaps when his mother remarried, George kept these youngsters with him in Biggin? But he was already responsible for his first wife Catherine and her five BONSALL stepchildren from her previous marriage, so it feels unlikely. Maybe William, Joseph, Ellen and Sarah (if all still alive) were with grandparents, or actually with Ann/Amy in Derby, invisible to our eyes.
On 21 Apr 1642, George WILCOCKSON with wife Ann/Agnes and an Anna WARD leased some of their fields to two neighbours for a term of years. Since she’s linked in with George and Agnes, it’s logical to think Anna was George’s mother, still alive in 1642, married and widowed yet again by a WARD. Inevitably, we haven’t found a STAINE-WARD marriage between 1615 and 1642.
Then on 29 Sep 1653, when George and Agnes were arranging a settlement for their son John (Ould John) before marrying his first wife Alice BAGNALL, a claim on some of the property by Anna WARD was allowed, meaning she had the right to keep hold of that part (just for life, with no right to pass it on).
So, unless Anna WARD was a different person, it looks like Ann/Amy survived at least until 1653, 43 years after 1610 John died. If they married in about 1583, Ann/Amy was likely born c1562 and, therefore, extremely old in 1653! 91 or thereabouts. Not impossible but I have long wondered whether Ann/Amy was a second (or even third) wife for 1610 John. This could also explain why he had two brothers-in-law with different surnames and apparently no relationship to each other.
I’m persuaded further towards this theory by the manner in
which John’s son George inherited his father’s property.
The 1607 Surrender
The first mention we see of George in Duffield Fee records (meaning he was an adult at this date) is on 13 August 1607, a mere two months before John confirmed through the manor court that George will inherit his father’s holdings. That Surrender (22 October 1607) states that an Indenture to this effect was made beforehand between John and Ann/Amy on the one hand and son George on the other.
Making an Indenture like this, rather than simply relying on
inheritance in the fullness of time through the manor court or a Will (or both)
is not usual. I’ve seen other examples of Indenture references in Duffield Fee
but they are rare.
A conclusion I’m tempted to draw is this: that son George reached 21 in or around 1607, a point when the question of his inheritance would be a natural concern. If father John had remarried and produced more children (especially sons) or if Ann/Amy was a widow when she married John, bringing along children from a previous marriage, there was a chance they might make a claim for all or part of the holdings when John died. There are many examples in Duffield Fee of squabbles just like this. Securing Ann/Amy’s written and signed-for agreement to George’s inheritance before John’s death would have been a sensible insurance policy.
Devil in the detail
In the 1607 Surrender from 1610 John to his son George, the
individual fields and messuages were specified. A James STORER is named twice
as lately a tenant of two of the messuages, possibly still living in one of
them. The devil in this detail is the abbreviated Latin in old handwriting
which must be unlocked to clarify vital questions such as whether James STORER was
a tenant or a holder[ie.
owner] of the messuages, and whether he was still living in one. Either way,
there’s a possibility that this guy was 1610 John’s first father-in-law or that
John came into some or all of these holdings via the STORER family, rather than
WILCOCKSONs.
It’s par for the 1610 John course that no James STORER has been identified yet in other manorial records, PRs or Wills, though there are plenty of other STORERs around.
The need has now become critical for me to refresh the Latin I learned a half-century ago (and mostly forgotten) as well as the art of advanced decoding of Tudor and Stewart handwriting. Then the early Duffield Fee manor records (all in Latin) at Derbys RO and The National Archives will need checking or re-checking to extract the maximum devilish detail from them, in the continuing search for 1610 John.
Ashbourne is a sprawling parish. Eight subsidiary settlements surrounded the town itself, four without a church and four with chapels:
Newton Grange
Offcote & Underwood
Sturston
Yeldersley
Hulland chapelry – though part of Ashbourne
parish, Hulland was also a manor in Duffield Fee where Biggin Wilcocksons had
holdings.
Clifton with Compton chapelry
Alsop en le Dale (became separate in the late
19th century) – had its own registers from 1701
Parwich chapelry – this was long regarded as an
independent parish and its own registers start in 1640
Out of these, the unlikely frontrunner for our attention is
: Yeldersley, home of the MORE
family, from which sprang Lawrence MORE, 1610 John WILCOCKSON’s 2nd
brother-in-law.
Look for Yeldersley online with a satellite view and you’ll wonder where it is. Like many other townships and parishes in this part of Derbyshire, it is not a nucleated settlement with a central town or village. Instead it comprises fields and scattered farmsteads and seems always to have been so. Surprisingly therefore it attracted rather a lot of people associated with the Wilcockson quest.
Lawrence More tanner
of Ashbourne
We know from his Will that Lawrence died before 20 March 1622/3 (date of the Inventory of his goods). Of course he died then, because there’s a gap in Ashbourne parish register between 1622 and 1629 leaving us without his burial – just as the pages for the 1550s-60s are fragmentary, when he was most likely born so we have no baptism either. His Will says his wife was Jane but no marriage has been found. In this respect, he matches the mystery-level of 1610 John.
Matching Ashbourne PRs with names in his Will, we can see
that Lawrence produced a large family, presumably all with Jane but as no
mothers are named in the baptisms, we can’t be sure:
Helena/Ellen
(bap 15 Sep 1580) married John ARCHER on 24 Feb 1600/1 at Ashbourne
Lawrence
(bap 1 Jun 1586)
Jane
(bap 1 Feb 1589/90) married Rev John ROWLANDSON on 18 Jan 1610/11 at Ashbourne
Thomas
(bap 16 Feb 1591/2)
Elizabeth
(bap 8 Apr 1595) married Anthony WYLDE in 1614 at Ashbourne
John
(no bap found, buried 10 Dec 1595)
Nicholas
(no bap found)
Roger
(no bap found)
William
(no bap found)
George
(bap 26 Mar 1598) – married Elizabeth BAGSHAW, died before his father, probably
at the start of the register gap, 1622-3.
Henry (bap
31 Oct 1600, buried 3 Nov 1600)
Joseph
(bap 8 Dec 1601)
Two more baptisms for unnamed children of Lawrence are entered in the register for 1578 and 1583, so might be for John, Nicholas, Roger or William, or for babies who didn’t survive. Unusually, Lawrence didn’t refer to his children in age order in his Will – perhaps they were in order of preference, his three sons-in-law topping the league.
Although Lawrence said he was of Ashbourne when he wrote his
Will and Yeldersley is not noted as his abode for any of the children’s baps
and burials, the many other MOREs, Lawrence’s relatives, were all in
Yeldersley. Lawrence may have been living there too as the boundaries between
town and townships were fluid. But more importantly, a little digging shows a
line-up of linked names associated with MOREs and Yeldersley.
WHITEHALL – In Lawrence’s Will he mentions a deed he made to James WHYTEHALL of Whitehough in Staffs and son-in-law John ARCHER entailing lands on Lawrence’s youngest son Joseph. This suggests a close, possibly marital, relationship with the WHITEHALL family, who had two main branches, one of Whitehough and Sharpcliffe in Ipstones, Staffs and the other in Yeldersley, where they appear to have been the wealthiest family in Lawrence’s day, resident in the township from at least the mid 15th century. Robert WHITHALL gent in his 1597 Will mentions land he sold to Lawrence MORE and also names his kinsman Robert WHITHALL of Sharpcliffe as one of his Will overseers, confirming the kinship between the two branches. Whitehough in Staffs passed from the WHITEHALLs to MELLORs about 1650, of whom more later. Maud and Helen, two daughters of Aden BERESFORD of Fenny Bentley (close to Ashbourne) married WHITEHALLs of Yeldersley. BERESFORDs, like MELLORs, are tied into the kinship network in Staffs as well as Derbyshire.
THACKER – There were THACKERs in Yeldersley from 1574. George SOMERS (brother-in-law 1) seems to have married Elizabeth THACKER at Ashbourne on 16 May 1585.
LEE/LEES or LEIGH – The LEE family, of long pedigree, was seated at a place called Ladyhole which was in Yeldersley. Alkmund LEE or LEES, of this family, turns up frequently in Duffield Fee records. He was a witness and inventory appraiser for 1610 John WILCOCKSON’s Will. According to the MELLOR pedigree in Glover’s History and the LEE pedigree at Derbys RO, Alkmund LEE married Agnes MELLOR, daughter of Robert MELLOR of Idridgehay and Agnes MADDOCK of Kirk Ireton. The MADDOCKs married twice into the early WILCOCKSONs: Mary MADDOCK married James WILCOCKSON of the Billie branch and Agnes MADDOCK married George WILCOCKSON, son of 1610 John.
PEGGE – White’s
1857 Directory of Derbys says of Sturston (neighbouring township to
Yeldersley): “The families of WHITEHALL, PEGGE and LEE of Ladyhole (all
extinct) held considerable estates in this township.” But other records
show that WHITEHALLs and Ladyhole LEEs were in Yeldersley, another indication
of boundary-fluidity. PEGGEs were eminent in Ashbourne parish, a gentry family
with both recusant Catholic and hot Puritan members. On 23 Apr 1620 at
Ashbourne, Mr John WHITALL married Anna PEGG. Christopher PEGGE was a witness
to the 1610 Will of George SOMERS of Yeldersley, as was Ralph THACKER and John
WHITHALL gent.
MELLOR – Members of the MELLOR families – especially those of Idridgehay and Ipstones – repeatedly cropped up in the WILCOCKSON story, and MELLORs were in Yeldersley too: On 8 May 1567 Edward MELLOR of Yeldersley was buried at Ashbourne. The 1615 Will of Robert MELLOR of Idridgehay recites property he bought from the late George SOMERS of Yeldersley. In the 1560 Will of Margery WILCOCKSON of Biggin, she names her daughter Isabel as wife of John MELLOR.
SOMERS – As we know, George SOMERS and Lawrence MORE are named as brothers-in-law to 1610 John WILCOCKSON in his Will. The three also appear together in manorial records. Though George SOMERS seems to have started out in Idridgehay, he had moved to Ashbourne before his death in 1610. In his Will he says he has two houses, one in Wirksworth (ie. Idridgehay) and one in Yeldersley. His widow Elizabeth (probably nee THACKER) states her abode is Yeldersley when she proves George’s Will.
These linked names are a mere taste of the kinship networks
involving WILCOCKSONs that operated in the Ashbourne area (especially
Yeldersley) up into Duffield Fee and across the nearby border into
Staffordshire… we’ve barely begun to consider marriage ties yet. There will
be more posts in future about these networks, especially in relation to Puritan
and Quaker faiths.
For now, we can imagine that 1610 John was probably related
to any or all of these networked names and probably married one of them (or
more). We can speculate that he lived and worked in Yeldersley or nearby before
inheriting the Biggin holdings. So further research into John’s origins can
focus on these families’ Wills, manorial and property records and on Yeldersley
particularly, in hope of finding John’s identity clarified.
The most remarkable record I have seen so far in the 60+
Duffield Fee Court Books held at Derbyshire Record Office at Matlock is this
one:
D1404/20 Duffield Fee Court Book (1652-60) – (p96) Small
Court Baron held at Duffield 21 May 1657: DUFFIELD ADMITTANCE – At this Court
it did appeare and was presented by the homage and the Jury, to wit, Gilbert
SOMERS, Anthony BRADSHAW, William ROBERTS, Peter PAGE, Adam MALYN, Henry SWIFT,
Richard ROBINSON, Richard CHATBORNE, Peter PAGE the younger, Willm CHATBORNE,
John NEWTON, John SOWTER and William BLUDWORTH who say upon their oaths that Robert
SOMERS who held of the Lord of the said Mannors by Copy of Court Roll according
to the Custome of the said Mannors to him and his heires for ever, One message
or Tenement with the appurtenances situate & being in Duffield within the
said Mannor and one Croft thereto the said Messuage adjoyneing and one other Croft
there called Baker Croft cont by estimation two Acres and a half late in the
occupation of him the said Robert died before this Court so as aforesaid seized
of the premises and that George SOMERS of the age of xvi yeares and upwards is
the Kinsman and next heir of the said Robert SOMERS to witt the only Son of
George SOMERS his father who was Sonn of Geo: his Grandfather who was Son of
George his Great Grandfather who was Son of Thomas his Great Great Grandfather
which Thomas was Eldest Brother of Bartholomew who was Father of Robert which Robert
was Father of the said Robert SOMERS lately deceased, And the said George
SOMERS the heir then being present in Court did then make choise of Henry NOTON
his uncle to wit his Mother’s brother to be his Gardian dureing his minority
who was then in Court admitted accordingly to be his Gardian and thereupon at
the instance of the said George by his said Gardian the first proclamation was
made of the Premises and Wm SOMERS by Wm FLAMSTEAD his Attorney came &
reclaimed the Premises and did alledge in mainteynor thereof that he only is brother
to the said Robt SOMERS lately deceased by the Father and not by the mother and
no other reclaime was then made, And at the Small Court there specially holden
the 4th day of June 1657 the second proclamation thereof was made
without further reclaime, And at the Small Court there specially holden the 25th
day of June, In the said year of our Lord God 1657, the third proclamation
thereof was made without further reclaime, And thereupon the said Lord of the
said Mannors by his said Steward did grant all and singular the Premises unto
the said George and seizin thereof to the said Henry NOTON his gardian to his
use by the rodd did deliver to hold to him the said George his heires and
assignes for ever by the rents Customes and Services therefore to become due
and of right accustomed according to the Custome of the said Mannors, And for
such his Estate and entry thereinto had the said George did give unto the said
Lord for a fine 30 shillings his fealty was respited and so he was admitted
Tennant.
In family tree terms, here is what the 1657 Admittance tells
us – five generations in one fell swoop, dating back to early Tudor or even
Medieval times:
Thomas SOMERS and his brother Bartholomew SOMERS | | George SOMERS Robert SOMERS snr | | George SOMERS Robert SOMERS jnr lately deceased, who had a | half-brother William by a different father and | apparently no issue | George SOMERS – who married Gertrude NOTON & died young (a 1641 Admon for this George shows he died at almost the same time his son George was born) | George SOMERS aged 16 in 1657, so born c1641 – he had an uncle Henry NOTON (his mother’s brother) – who was young George’s guardian during his minority.
When I found this Admittance years ago, I had no notion that it would relate to the WILCOCKSONs. I saved and shared it on Derbysgen mailing list simply to show what pearls can be found in manorial records. But now, after checking the SOMERS tree a little further we can say that the first of the four Georges (Thomas’s son) is almost certainly the brother-in-law of 1610 John. We can’t make any of the other Georges fit.
Idridgehay
From a book punchily titled “Descriptive Catalogue of Derbyshire Charters in Public and Private Libraries and Muniment Rooms” (1906) available online:
1484. Grant from Thomas Somer, son and heir of Christopher
Somer of Yderychey to Margaret his mother for her life of an enclosure in
Yderychay called Fumycottfeld, which the said Thomas acquired from Thomas
Mellor. Witn. Thomas Alton, William Gambull, Thomas Storer. Dat. 23 June, 22
Hen. VIII. [1530]. (Bemrose.)
1485. Quitclaim from Robert Smythe of Kyrke Yreton, yeoman,
to Margaret, wife of Christopher Somer, of all the lands in Yderychay which he
had jointly with Margaret, lately wife of Roger Bradsha, by grant from the said
Christopher and Margaret Somer. Witn. William Madocke, chaplain, Thomas Parker,
Thomas Brammall. Dat. 23 June, 22 Hen. VIII. [1530]. (Bemrose.)
These references, as well as other Duffield Fee records, show the SOMERS family had an early presence in Idridgehay, a sub-manor of the Fee, neighbouring Biggin to the north-east. In Idridgehay, the SOMERS crew rubbed shoulders with that manor’s wealthiest family, the MELLORs who, along with WHITHALLs of Ashbourne and Ipstones, Staffs, constantly turn up like bad pennies in the Wilcockson story.
Nothing in the 1657 Admittance, nor in the SOMERS family records we’ve checked so far, tells us how George became 1610 John WILCOCKSON’s brother-in-law but we’re keeping eyes open for all the names in this kinship network – SOMERS, MELLOR, WHITHALL, MORE – in search of 1610 John and his wife Ann-Amy’s elusive origins.
A closer look at
brother-in-law no.2, Lawrence MORE of Ashbourne, will be in the spotlight next.
indicates they were of Wirksworth
parish). It’s also possible she married William WEBSTER at Kirk Ireton on 17
Sep 1620.
Wilcocksons Unwrapped 