WOOLVEN family

[woodfamily]

Hi

I was hoping you could help me with some research.

My ancestor is Henry WOOLVEN (or WOOLVIN, WOLVEN, etc) who born around 1780 in Sussex (according to his entry in the 1841 Wisborough Green census). He married Sarah Shepherd on 30 July 1798 in Bury, West Sussex. Their children were John, Jane, Ann, James, Mary (my direct ancestor), William, Thomas and Rachel. There are death records in Wisborough Green for Henry, Sarah and Rachel in 1847, 1845 and 1841, respectively. I am not sure what happened to the other children.

I am not sure where Henry was born, but there is an IGI entry for a Henry WOLVIN born on 13 July 1776 in Kirdford, Sussex, to Richard and Mary. I have never been able to find a parish record to verify that (a) Richard and Mary existed, or (b) that their son Henry was the same Henry who married Sarah Shepherd. However, the 1774 Sussex poll for does show a Richard Woolven in occupation of a farm in Kirdford (in Arundel rape) - this is a strong clue.

Can you help me work out who Henry's parents were? And what happened to his children?

Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Joel

[swebby]

Hi Joel,

Thought I might start the answer by looking at the burials you mentioned.
Henry Woolven was buried in Wisborough Green 11 Sep 1847 aged 72 years. (This puts his year of birth at 1775).
Sarah Woolven was buried in Wisborough Green 20 Feb 1845 aged 68 years. (This puts her year of birth at 1777).

There are no baptismal records for Kirdford in the SFHG database, so hopefully someone will have some if they exist.

Sean

[swebby]

From the 1785 West Sussex Land Tax:

Place: Kirdford
Owner: William Hoad
Occupier: Richard Wolvin
Lands: His house
Rental: £1 17s

Other areas with a high number of Woolvens at that time include West Grinstead, Cowfold and Henfield.

[swebby]

Using the IGI for the baptism of the first 2 children they were baptised in Kirdford which adds to the evidence that Henry is likely to be from there.

[janan]

Hi Joel

Welcome to Rootschat and thank you for your PM 

Next time I go to the West Sussex RO I will have a dig around and see what I can find - sometime in January.

Jan

[janan]

Kirdford Parish Records

Baptisms
16 Jan 1774 Mary Woolvin d of Richard and Mary
9 Jul 1775 Richard and John Wolvin s of Richard and Mary 'Twins'
13 Jul 1776 Henry Wolvin s of Richard and Mary
6 Jul 1777 Thomas and James  Wolvin s of Richard and Mary 'Twins'
23 May 1779 Ann Wolvin d of Richard and Mary
2 Jul 1780 Sarah Wolvin d of Richard and Mary
2 Mar 1784 Jenny Wolvin d of Richard and Mary  'paupers'

No marriage for Richard and Mary in Kirdford, no banns called there for Richard and no baptism for him suggesting both of them were from another parish originally.

Burials
1 Jan  1778 Thomas Wolvin
9 Nov 1780 Sarah Wolvin d of Richard
28 Aug 1800 John Wollvin inf


No burials for Richard and Mary suggesting they moved away - as they are listed as paupers in 1784 I wonder if there is a removal order for them back to Richard's original parish?

Jan

[suziq]

Hi
I have found what could possibly the marriage of Richard and Mary
23 April 1770
Richard Woolven (bach Kirdford) married Mary Sayers (spinster - Banns) in Henfield

Suziq

[janan]

That looks like a good bet suziq.

Now we just need Joel to come back

Jan

[woodfamily]

Thanks to Janan, Suziq and Swebby.

The baptism records you turned up match what we were expecting, based on unverified notes that another researcher had left for us.

The challenge for us now is to try to find out a bit more about this Richard WOOLVIN and his wife Sarah.

The problem is that there are so many WOOLVINs in the West Sussex area at the time.

Based on the information you have turned up, we expect Richard and Sarah to have been born around 1750 in West Sussex (perhaps in Henfield); they probably had mothers called "Mary" or "Ann" and fathers called "Richard", "John" or "Henry" (based on the names they eventually gave their children). Since they were described as 'paupers' there may well be poorhouse records for them.

I will use these clues as leads ... hopefully you will also pitch in with the detective efforts!