CHEWs around 1700: my brick wall

[Geoff Chew]

Hello,

My brick wall is Thomas CHEW (my 6x great-grandfather), who appears in Aldwincle in 1711, when he marries (at Polebrook by licence) Ann RAND; he starts a line of CHEWs in Thorpe Achurch and Wadenhoe, but there are no earlier CHEWs in that area. In 1711 he had been a widower; I presume his earlier marriage is that between Thomas CHEW of Bulwick and Katharine DEXTER of Bulwick, at St Sepulchre's, Northampton, in 1695. In the late 1600s but not earlier there are a Thomas, a John and a Lucy CHEW at Bulwick. John "CHOW" (thus in the register, but presumably "Chew") is buried at Bulwick, 1699; Thomas, born about 1664 (estimated, no idea where), has a son John at Aldwincle in 1711 and another son Thomas in 1713; he is a churchwarden at Thorpe Achurch from 1733; he dies and is buried at Thorpe Achurch with a lavish tombstone, 8 Jan 1736; his will, mentioning his sister Lucy (at Bulwick, married to the late Richard BRADSHAW -- I can't find the marriage but can find children at Bulwick), is proved 7 Feb 1736. But I have never managed to discover where the family came from, before Thorpe Achurch or Bulwick. Any ideas?

Geoff

[Brisgirl]

Hi Geoff,

My husband has a Chew ancestor from Thorpe Achurch.  Lucy Chew, chr. 6 December 1807 in Thorpe Achurch, daughter of Joseph Chew and Lucy Knibb (married Polebrook 1806), was his g-g-g-grandmother.  Apparently Joseph, a farmer, came from Wigsthorpe in the Parish of Lilford and mother Lucy was from Armston in Polebrook. 

Do any of these individuals ring a bell at all with your own Chew ancestry?  We have yet to go back any further than Joseph.  Have you had any luck in discovering where your Chews came from before settling in Thorpe Achurch?

Regards,
Rachel  (Brisgirl)

[Geoff Chew]

Hi Rachel

Only seen your posting now.  Yes, your Chews are related to mine: I didn't know that Lucy was married, and would be glad of further details. Her father Joseph CHEW (b. 1780, d. Polebrook, May 1836) was a son of another Joseph CHEW (b. 1741, d. Thorpe Achurch, 7 Sep 1804) and a Mary SMITH (b. about 1742, married Thorpe Achurch, 7 Nov 1762, d. Armston, 26 Apr 1825); the previous generation, parents of Joseph b. 1741, were John CHEW (b. 1711, d. Thorpe Achurch, 29 Apr 1784) and Elizabeth RAGSDALE (b. about 1711, married Thorpe Achurch, 28 Mar 1733, d. Thorpe Achurch, 1 Jan 1789; she was the daughter of a Richard RAGSDALE, d. 1737, and an Elizabeth, d. 1729). The previous generation again, parents of John CHEW b. 1711, were Thomas CHEW -- the brick wall I mentioned in my posting -- (b. about 1664?, died Thorpe Achurch 1736) and Ann RAND or RANDS (his second wife, married by licence at Polebrook, 13 Jan 1711, d. 1730). Another John CHEW or CHOW, d. Bulwick, 1699, may have been Thomas's father or brother.

My connection with you is quite remote  as it's through a Thomas CHEW b. 1733 who was a brother of the Joseph CHEW b. 1741 who married Mary SMITH...  Yours is the rich side of the family and mine the poor relations 

If you like to exchange gedcom files, we should perhaps exchange email addresses.

Best wishes
Geoff

[Geoff Chew]

PS: The Armston CHEWs are covered in a book by John Coales, "Twelve Generations: Gleanings from the Coales Family Archives" (Somerton, Somerset, 2002), a big pricey volume available I think only from the author. The Chews intermarried quite a bit with a few other families (e.g. Allens, Tebbutts, Coaleses) who are also covered there. Geoff

[Brisgirl]

Hi Geoff,

Thanks very much for your reply.  I will reply at length by personal message.

Regards, Rachel

[KNIBBetc]

My interest is Lucy KNIBB.  I don't have her baptism but reckon she's the daughter of a John KNIBB and Lucy who had previously married a BELLAMY, she having married John 13 Nov 1785 as a widow.

I'd also appreciate Lucy CHEW's (nee KNIBB)  burial record if anyone has it.  I see that hsband Joseph died May 1836 so presumably in Polebrook parish register unless info from a Will.

Alan Jackson
Host at The K/NIBB/S One Name Study website and mailing list

[Geoff Chew]

> My interest is Lucy KNIBB.  I don't have her baptism but reckon she's the
> daughter of a John KNIBB and Lucy who had previously married a BELLAMY, > she having married John 13 Nov 1785 as a widow.
>
> I'd also appreciate Lucy CHEW's (nee KNIBB)  burial record if anyone has it.
> I see that hsband Joseph died May 1836 so presumably in Polebrook parish
> register unless info from a Will.

Hi

Lucy KNIBB: baptized 18 Sep 1786, Polebrook, daughter as you say of a John KNIBB and a Lucy.
Married Joseph CHEW 6 Jan 1806
Died Armston, Polebrook 13 Nov 1826
Buried Polebrook 16 Nov 1826
Stamford Mercury, 17 Nov 1826: "DIED. At Armston, near Oundle, on Monday last, aged 43, Mrs Chew, wife of Mr Joseph Chew, farmer, leaving a family of 12 children to lament their irreparable loss."
If the newspaper announcement is correct, then Lucy Knibb must have been born a couple of years before her baptism, and that might be suggested also by her being apparently under age at her marriage.

Geoff

[KNIBBetc]

Valuable info indeed and I've only joined rootschat today.

Food for thought though.  I just wonder if she wasn't born a BELLAMY then and baptised a KNIBB after the 1785 marriage.  Or if Mr BELLAMY died sometime previously then another scenario emerges!

Alan

[Geoff Chew]

Hello again Alan

Glad to have been of help.  I didn't mention that the BELLAMYs are one of the handful of families that were intermarrying with the CHEWs, and that a William BELLAMY of Polebrook married a Rebecca CHEW in 1797 at Thorpe Achurch -- the next village. Rebecca was Lucy KNIBB's sister-in-law (she was the sister of Joseph CHEW). I don't have my notes of the Polebrook registers here with me, nor John Coales's book "Twelve Generations", unfortunately -- both would have more details of BELLAMYs.

Geoff