Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Hilton at Cherry Burton, Beverley, East Yorkshire Riding

Jane Hilton married Robert Gray the younger 6 Jun 1771 at Cherry Burton. Jane was buried at Cherry Burton 13 Sep 1824 being brought there from Etton. That, along with examining all other Gray entries in the area, helps to form the basis of my proof that Jane was the mother of Robert Gray baptized at Holme on the Woods.

Hilton is not that common a name in this area and one of the witnesses at the wedding of Robert Gray and Jane Hilton was Robert Constable Junior. In the IGI there are two possibilities for Robert Constable in a similar time frame to Jane's baptism. One is baptized at Cherry Burton and the other at Beverley. The Constable family is prominent in Cherry Burton with Joseph Constable serving as Churchwarden and two Robert Constables listed as Principal Inhabitants at the beginning of the Transcription of the Cherry Burton Parish Registers by the Yorkshire Parish Register Society in 1903. Searching this particular book on Ancestry does not yield any Hilton names. A visual search of the parish register did not reveal any Hilton names either. The Hilton family did live at Beverley and it is 3.5 miles WNW to Cherry Burton from there.

I located a baptism for a Jane Hilton 1 Aug 1739 at Saint Mary and Saint Nicholas Parish Church in Beverley and the parents were Thomas Hilton and Mary Constable. I have not found any more information on Thomas Hilton or Mary Constable and that will be my research today looking at the Hilton family. The age of Jane Gray was said to be 87 years of age and with a baptism 1 Aug 1739 and a burial 13 Sep 1824 this is a span of 85 years and 1 month. The marriage of Thomas Hilton and Mary Constable at Saint Mary and Saint Nicholas was 20 Feb 1737 so there is the possibility that Jane was a year old or more when she was baptized 1 Aug 1739. There are 56 entries in the Cherry Burton Parish Registers for a "Mary Constable" and I shall read through them all to see if there is anything useful there.


Richard Constable buried 15 Jun 1681
Richard son of John Constable baptized 10 May 1683
John Constable married Mary Wilson 31 Jul 1684
Thomas the son of John Constable baptized 23 Dec 1689

John the son of John Constable baptized 2 Sep 1692
John son of John Constable buried 4 Sep 1692
Mary wife of John Constable buried 11 Feb 1692

Robert the son of Robert Constable baptized 31 Oct 1692

Mary daughter of Robert Constable junior baptized 2 Feb 1697
Mary Constable widow buried 14 Apr 1700
Robert Constable alebrewer buried 23 Apr 1700
Thomas son of John Constable baptized 30 Jan 1707
Mary daughter of Richard Constable baptized 7 Dec 1709
Joseph son of Richard Constable baptized 18 Jun 1714
Richard son of Richard Constable baptized 28 Aug 1715
 Richard son of Richard Constable baptized 30 Sep 1715
Richard Constable buried 12 Apr 1719
John Constable husbandman buried 10 Feb 1723

Robert Constable and Helen Constable both of this parish married 2 Jan 1734 by Banns

Two possibilities for Mary Constable. It would appear that Jane was their only daughter so it is not inconceivable that Mary Constable was older when she married Thomas Hilton. Robert being a witness and he could be her cousin as much as her father or brother. It was an interesting look at the entries for the Constable family and they are a very large family at Cherry Burton. Why marry at Beverley? I suspect it may have been a run away marriage. Jane Hilton was said to be "of the parish" so perhaps her mother at least returned to live at Cherry Burton. I shall continue to hunt out the Hilton family.

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