RootsChat.Com

Greetings from Spain & apologies for not responding more quickly to your interesting information...
Morehayle was the home of the Wenhams in Sussex from the earliest reference in the Visitations & your  information about the litigation with the Needhams provides a one possible positive link between Sussex Wenhams & the owners of Wenham Hall - links which might well have been magnified/exaggerated if the Sussex family had a sense of grievance.....
I wish that I could visit the local Suffolk archives  but it all makes the potential family history very interesting. I got into this when I visited East Sussex archives to look for a Wenham pauper. I didn't know where the poor law records were kept & was initially somewhat surprised when an archivist smiled & suggested looking at the Visitations.... So far I have not only identified a possible link with someone attainted for treason, but there is also the Wenham hung at Execution Dock Wapping for piracy....... Modern relatives are far more ordinary!
Thank you again

it's 5 years since I first looked at this and I am not sure of anyone is still interested but what if......
The 1612 Visitation of Suffolk records that ‘Sir Thomas Brewse m Elizabeth da... of Debnam’. I was originally irritated at the omission of her father's name but googling 'Debnam' produced an interesting possibility/explanation. There were something like 5 Gilbert Debenhams who owned Wenham Hall before the arrival of the Brewse family. Elizabeth's father & brother were both MPs but were also known for their lawless behaviour (Have a look at www.historyof parliementonline for their biographies). Her brother Gilbert was eventually convicted of treason after the uprising associated with Perkin Warbeck 1491-1495. I've seen a suggestion that she eventually paid to reclaim some of the family land....  So.... Was the Thomas who first came into Sussex in fact a DEBENHAM, but quite happy to be known as Thomas from Wenham until that name eventually was accepted as his family name? I've always been surprised that his female descendants married into families with parliamentary & even Court connections, but the men were less prominent. Were they keeping a low profile?
I'd love to know what others think!

 
I do not have an internet connection in the summer months and I cannot trace any reply to you from me but forgive me if I am repeating anything.....
I have recently returned to researching my husband's Hatcher ancestry which seems to get more complicated each time I look at it! Sadly I do NOT now think that 'our' Mary was the daughter of Robert Hatch & Jane Shoebridge. Their daughter Mary seems to have married a William Holden in Biddenden in June 1814 - the clue is a witness James Hatch who may well be Robert & Jane's only other child, a son bapt in 1788. Both Holdens appear to have died in Rye.....
That said, the evidence remains circumstantial so, for the record, 'our' Mary's 3 children appear to be Harriett Hatcher (bapt St Dunstan's Cranbrook on 3 July 1808 - her father is named in an 1811 Affiliation Order as Thomas Sattin)
Mary Ann Curteis Hatcher (bapt in Smarden on 5 July 1812 only a few weeks after the baptism of James), and
James Hatcher (bapt in Maidstone on 5 June 1812 while his mother was apparently in the Bridewell, and named in a Bastardy Examination in Jan 1813 as the son of James Curteis, lab, late of Biddenden but then a private soldier in the West Kent militia).....
Hope the above is of use..... I think that Mary eventually accepted that James Curteis was not going to return and married a John Thatcher (sic) in 1819 - but any additional information would be very welcome!

 ;
Thanks everybody for cheering me up! I've been researching my family tree more or less in isolation for some years and (at the risk of sounding priggish!) I've taken some effort to back up details with documentation. I put some details online recently in the hope of finding information about some brick walls and I was horrified at some of the 'links' that came up...... I am so relieved that others have had similar experiences. Now back to the Ronald/Alexander/Ronald etc Fraser in Ross and Cromarty..... or possibly the Jones in Merioneth. Lots of scope for duplication and error!
 

I think I need some lessons about posting replies.......
I am very grateful to everyone for their rapid replies. I now have some more names to investigate including deciding which Thomas and Mary were the parents of Martha. There do not seem to be any Richards in subsequent generations so I think I will concentrate on Thomas son of William. Thank you again