Baptismal entry for William Couper - 27th Feb 1675/6 at Uttoxetter St Mary's

[david1701]

Hello,

I wonder if anyone can please offer some help and advice regarding the wording of this baptism entry from 27th Feb 1675/6 in the Staffordshire Baptsms record set on Find My Past, from St Mary's, Uttoxeter.

It relates to William, the son of Thomas Couper - and it is the latter part of the entry that I am unclear about. it appears to read something like "of ye Woods and baptised..."

A little later on the same page of the Register there is the entry for a marriage of "Thomas Coupe of Leigh Parish and Anne Wood" - who were married on 12th April 1676, and I believe Thomas may well be my 8x great grandfather, as I think he is the father of Nathaniel Couper who was baptised at St Mary's Uttoxeter on 27th Feb 1678 (scanned entry also available on FindMyPast).

The baptismal entry for Nathaniel does not give his mother's name - but if his father, Thomas, is the chap who married Anne Woods a couple of years earlier, then this points to his mother being Anne, nee Wood or Woods.

It is intriguing that there also appears to be this mention of "Wood" or "Woods" on the baptismal entry for William Couper - just a couple of months before Thomas and Anne married.

Is it likely that William was born out of wedlock to Thomas Coupe (Couper?) and Anne Woods? I realise this is just speculation on my part - but it would be good to have other people's views on what the baptismal entry for William actually says.

Hopefully others will find this matter of interest - and I eagerly await your comments and suggestions.

David

[trish1120]

I may be wrong but to me it says of ye wood/s end.

[Wayne N]

Looks like Wood with a colon ( : )

[trish1120]

I see the bapt of Nathaniell 27 Feb 1678/79.

Unfortunately there are lots of bapts St Marys with Father Thomas Couper/Cowper/Cooper 1661-1679

[rosie99]

Looking at the 's' in baptised I would agree with Trish that it is Woods end

[Bookbox]

The baptism entry reads:

William y^e son of Thomas Couper of y^e
Wood=end baptized y^e 27^th day

The mark = was used where now we would use a hyphen, so 'Wood-end'.

[hanes teulu]

Robert Plot's 1686 work "The Natural History of Staffordshire" includes a map which shows 4 x Woodend in Staffordshire. Attached is a snippet of 1 of the 4.

Would "Wood-end" be "Hanbury Woodend" or thereabouts?

[AlanBoyd]

Brilliant find HT!

Added: there is still a Woodend there, just south of Hanbury.

[david1701]

Many thanks to all who have responded. I agree, it looks like "Woods end" or "Wood-end".

But does anyone have any suggestions as to why the place was stated for this baptism, but not for any others on this page? (I haven't checked any nearby pages - my next task!).

Also, although I note that there is indeed a Woodend just south of Hanbury (thank you hanes teulu & Alan Boyd) - it is 8 miles or so from Uttoxeter, so no obvious reason why the baptism would take place at St Mary's.

But in light of the above it looks as though my thought that the entry might somehow be referring to a future wife - Anne Wood - is just wishful thinking.