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Jon

Norfolk has no Oakham but there is Holkham, on the north coast, and also Hockham, closer to Suffolk, where a Thomas TUTTLE, son of William and Elizabeth, was baptized in 1779 (FamilySearch).

William TUTTLE married Elizabeth CHAPMAN at Hockham in 1765 (FamilySearch).

In 1786 Elizabeth TURTLE late CHAPMAN had a daughter named Elizabeth at Walton in Suffolk (next to Trimley) and possibly another in 1788, followed by Sarah in 1791. Coincidence?

Felixstowe FHS has transcribed the membership lists of Walton's Baptist Chapel. An entry dated 2 June 1816 names single woman Sarah TURTLE of Trimley who, after marrying Mr ETHRIDGE, left to join the church in Romney Street, Westminster.

David

Another useful photograph by James W. Howard has now come to light: number 54656, taken on 3 August 1929. This was almost exactly two years before number 58976, making an average of about 2,170 per annum. The rate of production appears to have halved by the end of the 1930s.

The Harleian Society's copies of the Sudbury Archdeaconry marriage licence allegations are also available from the Internet Archive. I've added hyperlinks for these volume numbers:

Vol. 69 - Part 1: 1684-1754
Vol. 70 - Part 2: 1755-1781 with index to parts 1 & 2
Vol. 71 - Part 3: 1782-1814
Vol. 72 - Part 4: 1815-1839 with index to parts 3 & 4

Brides are indexed under both maiden and married surnames but there is no Mary Shippen etc. and the only couple named James and Mary Howlet(t) in vol. 3 were to marry at Brome in 1793.

The Wetheringsett marriage register should state whether the 1797 wedding was authorised by a licence. It may have been issued by a surrogate of the Norwich Consistory Court. The NCC bonds and allegations can be browsed at FamilySearch.org or Findmypast. I don't know how many of them have been indexed.

David

Jon

FreeREG has many Soanes variants from the Halesworth registers between 1653 and 1899.

The latest news I've seen from Suffolk FHS about the Dunwich Deanery transcription is that well over half of the parishes for 1650-1753 have been done and also half of those for 1538-1649. The work continues but may not be completed before images of the original registers are available, if these come online early next year as planned.

David

Hello Janet

Legibility has been slightly enhanced in the attached image by replacing some of the moss with a darker colour using IrfanView but it's no substitute for a better photograph, ideally in strong sunlight from a low angle. Since the earlier posts in RootsChat's Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition forum have resulted in little more than your own explanatory information, perhaps the Yorkshire (West Riding) forum would be worth a shot for a photographer willing to visit the churchyard in Middleton.

Several funerary websites feature a poem attributed to Frances Day (Sarah Frances Day, born 1958?) which seems likely to convey a similar message, although I believe her final two lines would have been unorthodox for Christians in 1846:

Goodbye my family, my life is past.
I loved you all to the very last.
Weep not for me, but courage take,
Love each other for my sake.
For those you love don’t go away,
They walk beside you every day.

Many of those words don't match what is apparent or fitting in the Crowther inscription. I'm sure someone can improve this imagined version:

Dear friends of mine, my life is past.
You supported me to the last.
Cry not over me but courage take,
And love one another for my sake.

David