Crich and Hathersage Wills

Fresh Wilcockson Wills are coming in thick and fast.

Alan Wilcockson, researcher for many years of his Notts Wilcocksons, with earlier origins in the Crich area, has sent through his collection from Derbyshire, adding some for the Hope/Hathersage branch as well.

Click on the newly-updated Abstracts of Wilcockson Wills & Administrations, and you’ll find Alan’s abstracts for:

1553 Joan WYLCOKSON of Wheatcroft, Crich
1554 John WYLCOKSON of Over Holloway, Crich
1564 Robert WYLCOKSON of Over Holloway, Crich
1575 Ranf WYLCOKSON of Wheatcroft, Crich
1591 Anthony WILCOCKSON of Hathersage
1619 Richard WILCOCKSON husbandman of Hathersage
1625 Richard WILCOCKSON husbandman of Over Holloway, Crich
1636 Francis WILCOCKSON the elder of Hathersage
1649 Robert WILLCOCKSON of Over Holloway, Crich
1708 George WILCOCKSON husbandman of Holloway, Ashover
1709 Robert WILCOCKSON husbandman of Wheatcroft, Crich
1725 Zacheus WILCOXON of Wheatcroft, Crich
1731 Francis WILCOCKSON husbandman of Hathersage
1744 John WILCOCKSON husbandman of Toothill, Hathersage
1751 William WILCOXSON of Nether Holloway, Crich

With present knowledge of Y-DNA testing, Alan’s Crich crew appear to be unrelated to the Wilcocksons of Biggin. The Hope/Hathersage lot also seem different (many of them were Catholic, unlike Biggin’s Puritans and Quakers) but living male Wilcocksons of the Hope/Hathersage line are still sought for Y-DNA testing, as also for the Brampton and Cheshire branches, so we can see what’s what.

Sarah Pearson, who descends from Quaker George’s brother Biggin John and has numerous family lines in the Biggin/Heage/Cromford & Bolehill areas, has also sent through her first Will (so far), for Isaac SHORE of South Wingfield, the most recent Will in the Abstracts collection.

Contacting us

We welcome all and any comments, contributions and queries – from Wilcockson researchers or anyone else with interest in their stamping grounds and related families.

The easiest way to contact us is by clicking on the ‘Leave a Comment’ link at the bottom of each post, or by sending a message via the ‘Contact’ link in the top menu. If you provide an email address there, one of us can get back to you easily.

New Wills = New light

In the last post on 5 June, I offered up a first selection of Wilcockson Wills abstracts including some of their married-ins or FANs (Friends, Neighbours, Associates).

More additions have now been made to the Abst racts of Wilcockson Wills document, so click on the link to discover:

1549 Robert MADDOCK yeoman of Kirk Ireton
1556 Thomas WYLCOXSON yeoman of Biggin, Wirksworth
1560 James WYLCOXSON of Heage, Duffield
1560 Margery WYLCOXSON widow of Biggin
1562 Thomas DAYE of Windley, Duffield
1567 Ellis POTTER of Elvaston, Derbys
1575 Agnes DAKYN widow of Wirksworth or Atlow, Derbys
1588 Robert HICHENSON miller of Biggin, Kirk Ireton
1591 Robert WILCOCKSON of Egginton, Derbys
1597 Robert WHITHALL of Sturston, Ashbourne
1600 Thomas WILCOCKSON husbandman of Horsley Woodhouse, Derbys
1600 Robert BEARDSLEY husbandman of Belper, Derbys
1601 Edmund BEARDSLEY of Belper
1610 Jane WILCOCKSON of Alfreton, Derbys
1610 George SOMERS of Ashbourne
1615 John STAINE apothecary of Derby
1623 Laurence MORE tanner/farmer of Ashbourne

Plenty more will be added as we travel along the Wilcockson trail – more married-ins and FANs as well as Wilcocksons – so if you’re not already a follower, click on the “Follow Us!” button to get news of fresh posts and data.

New light on the Boonie brickwall

The Lineage for Quaker migrant George shows that the long-standing brickwall for Boonie descendants is John Wilcockson of Biggin who died in 1610 (which is why we call him ‘1610 John’). We would quite like to know:

where he came from
who his wife or wives were
what happened to the rest of his children (eldest son George inherited everything that mattered, his 8 younger sibs seem to have disappeared)

Fresh light on these unknowns has been cast by abstracting Wills. In 1610 John’s Will, he names George Somers and Lawrence More as his brothers-in-law and I have now found and summarised their Wills too, as you can see in the Abstracts document. Key points to note:

In George Somers’ Will of 1610, John Whithall (a variant of Whitehall) is a witness and also an inventory appraiser.
In Lawrence More’s Will of 1623, he names James Whytehall (ie. Whitehall) gent of Whythalghe in Staffordshire (ie. Whitehough in Ipstones parish, Whitehough being another variant of the Whitehall name). He also tells us his son-in-law is John Rowlandson.

Cossall John the Quaker (great-grandson of 1610 John and father of migrant Quaker George) had close associations with Whitehough in Staffs in the last decades of the 17^th century, which we’ll tell you more about later. From at least 1660, Whitehough was occupied by leading Quaker Robert Mellor, replacing the Whitehall family who had lived there and given Whitehough their name since the 13^th century.

The 1597 Will of Robert Whithall of Sturston in Ashbourne (see Abstracts) tells us he was related to the Whithalls of Whitehough in Staffs.

So now we have strong suggestions that 1610 John was part of a kinship network which included Whitehough in Staffs, not just in the Quaker period but half a century earlier – in the Puritan, rather than Quaker times.

Indications that this kinship network had Puritan leanings come from Lawrence More’s Will. His son-in-law Rev John Rowlandson was one of the most eminent Puritan clergymen in Derbyshire, minister at Bakewell in the Peak. And Ashbourne church had a Puritan preaching lectureship, in 1623 occupied by William Hill, who was asked to preach Lawrence’s funeral sermon.

All of these threads and much more about 1610 John will be examined fully in the next blog posts, so stay tuned!

Key Source 1 : Wilcockson Wills

It’s been a stroke of luck for Biggin Wilcockson researchers that the families always held land and property and, therefore, usually left Wills.

I have begun a collection of Abstracts of Wilcockson Wills and Administrations, including their married-ins and FANs who mention them (Friends, Neighbours, Associates). It is a work in progress and many more will be added in future.

The entries for Quaker George’s direct ancestors are highlighted in pale yellow boxes. Verbatim transcriptions of these Wills will be posted soon, along with commentaries on their contents.

Wilcockson branches

You will see that each entry has a term in brackets after the name. This is to indicate, where we know it, which branch or line of Wilcocksons the person belongs to. I’ll provide a more detailed explanation later but at present we view the various groups as follows:

In Biggin three branches (who we believe to be DNA related):

Billies (a branch with many Williams in it, and Peters)
Boonies (Quaker George’s lot)
Edward/Brampton (probable Billies who moved to Brampton near Chesterfield in the early 17^th century, and proliferated there)

Outside Biggin (who we believe not to be DNA related to Biggin branches):

Crich Wilcocksons (Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire)
Hope & Hathersage Wilcocksons (Derbyshire)
Cheshire Wilcocksons
and Others.

For a more detailed guide to Wills and Probate Courts, click HERE.