Perhaps one of my greatest discoveries of this past year was the correct spelling of the surname of the wife of George Lywood. Listed as Canham for all the years that I have been researching; finding it to be Lanham has been a breakthrough. I discussed my breakthrough earlier in the year as it was a random search that disclosed it to me:
http://kippeeb.blogspot.ca/2015/05/52-ancestor-challenge-benefits.html
Doing the search for the surname Canham and ending up looking for Lanham was a completely random happening which yielded great results. Then entering the corrected surname into my tree at Find My Past was an avalanche of new results permitting hopefully the linkage back to the father of Elizabeth Lanham as Joseph Lanham/Lannum. The marriage of George Lywood and Elizabeth Lanham 18 Jul 1780 at West Harnham fits so clearly into the records for this family. Their children were baptized:
Jane Lywood (no baptism found), married James Tyneham 9 Aug 1797 at West Harnham
John baptized 22 Jan 1784 at West Harnham
George baptized 7 May 1786 at West Harnham (my ancestor)
Elizabeth Lanham could be baptized 12 Aug 1754 at Melksham daughter of Joseph Lannum and Elizabeth Willmore/Wilmar. They themselves were married 22 Sep 1752 at Melksham. Elizabeth was a widow at the time of her marriage.
This Joseph could be the son of Joseph Lanham (clothier) and Hannah Grimshire and they were married 30 Jun 1695 at Amesbury. I have not yet found a baptism for either Joseph or for Hannah who was buried 30 Sep 1739 at Melksham. A Joseph (possible son of Joseph and Hannah) married Agatha Stevens 3 May 1728 at Bradford on Avon. There was a Joseph Lannum baptized 17 Sep 1729 at Melksham son of Joseph and Agatha Lannum. Do these all link together? I had a match on AncestryDNA with another Lywood descendant and I wrote to mention my latest find. He checked it out and came back with "In agreement." But now I would like to look at it in more depth.
Now for a little geography just to make sure that all of these places are in a reasonable distance from each other. The search engine at Find My Past revealed these possibilities to me and I now need to give them a longer look.
Melksham where an Elizabeth Lanham was baptized is 30 miles from West Harnham but Bradford on Avon is closeby Melksham. Amesbury is close to West Harnham. Is it practical to think of Elizabeth as being baptized at Melksham in 1754 and married to George Lywood in 1780 at West Harnham? The marriage of Joseph Lanham and Hannah Grimshire (grandparents of Elizabeth) at Amesbury lends credence to this possibility. Hannah (married at Amesbury) is buried at Melksham where they are living at that time.
Can I find a baptism for Hannah Grimshire? There is a baptism for a Hannah Grimshire 12 Oct 1678 at Amesbury daughter of Thomas and Hannah Grimshire. That would have her only seventeen years old when she married Joseph Lanham at Amesbury and 61 if this is her burial 30 Sep 1739 at Melksham. There is a Thomas Grimsheere married to Hannah Jarvis 25 Nov 1677 at Amesbury. Hannah appears to be the only baptism for this set of parents. Interesting that the spelling of the Lanham name is that at Amesbury but at Melksham one finds Lannum and Lanham.
Another interesting commonality is in the naming of the children of Joseph Lannun (baptized 17 Sep 1729 at Melksham son of Joseph and Agatha Lannum and married to Elizabeth Willmore/Wilar 22 Sep 1752 at Melksham) all baptized at Melksham:
Elizabeth Lannum no baptism found but buried 20 Jan 1753 at Melksham
Elizabeth Lannum baptized 12 Aug 1754
Agatha Lannum no baptism found but buried 7 Jul 1756 at Melksham
No other children found for this couple. Elizabeth would have been sixteen years of age when her father was buried 6 Apr 1770 at Melksham.
There are no wills for Lannum but there are wills for Lanham at Melksham and other places:
Ref No Title Date Name Occupation Community
P1/12Reg/296B Will 1770 Lanham, Joseph Melksham
P1/1843/18 Will, wrapper 1843 Lanham, William Randell Tailor and draper Salisbury
P1/L/257 Administration bond, inventory 1708 Lanham, William Whiteparish
P1/L/487 Will 1770 Lanham, Joseph Innholder Melksham
P2/1806/57 Will, wrapper 1806 Lanham, William Cooper Upavon
P2/1819/64 Administration bond 1819 Lanham, Hannah Widow Bishopstone, South
P2/1820/22 Administration bond, wrapper 1820 Lanham, Edward Bachelor Bishopstone, South
P2/2Reg/99A Will 1550 Lanham, John Martin
P2/L/102 Administration bond, inventory, will 1605 Lanham, Robert Martin
P2/L/111 Administration bond, inventory, will 1607 Lanham, Robert Husbandman Bishopstone, South
P2/L/176 Account, administration bond, inventory 1629, 1630 Lanham, William Martin
P2/L/211 Inventory, will 1636 Lanham, Gabriel Bishopstone, South
P2/L/266 Inventory, will 1661 Lanham, Thomas Yeoman Bishopstone, South
P2/L/345 Inventory [1676] Lanham, William Lace maker Martin
P2/L/384 Commission, inventory, will 1685 Lanham, John, senior Broad weaver Wilton
P2/L/458 Inventory, will 1703 Lanham, John alias George Broad weaver Wilton
P2/L/504 Inventory, will 1712 Lanham, John Cheesemonger Wilton
P2/L/518 Administration bond 1713 Lanham, Joseph Amesbury
P2/L/601 Will 1734 Lanham, Thomas Yeoman Bishopstone, South
P2/L/800 Administration bond 1793 Lanham, Henry Bachelor Market Lavington
P25/1774/4 Administration bond 1774 Lanham, Henry Westbury
P25/1815/2 Oath, will 1815 Lanham, William Tiler and plasterer Westbury
P4/1718/18 Two inventories, will 1718 Lanham, Philip Cooper Salisbury
P5/15Reg/320B Will 1715 Lanham, Mary Spinster Heytesbury
P5/1690/28 Inventory, will 1690 Lanham, Mary Widow Heytesbury
P5/1712/34 Administration bond 1712 Lanham, William Heytesbury
P5/1715/23 Will 1715 Lanham, Mary Spinster Heytesbury
P5/1749/33 Will, wrapper 1749 Lanham, Richard Heytesbury
P5/1756/20 Will 1756 Lanham, Alice Widow Heytesbury
I need to learn more about the Lanham family and why their surname was Lannum at Melksham in the parish records. I did find the Lannum spelling on Family Search. In Find My Past it appears to be Lanham for the same individual. The marriage bond for Joseph Lanham and Elizabeth Wilmar (widow) at Melksham of 1752 lists John Rutty as bondsman. Why are there two wills listed for Joseph Lanham in 1770 at Melksham? Are there two who died in the same year?
Joseph Lanham married at Rowde Hannah Banks of Lacock 23 Aug 1738. Joseph was of Melksham but I am suspicious that his wife Agatha was deceased as no more children after the burial of Agatha.
I also found the Marriage Licence Bonds transcription for Joseph Lannum 3 May 1728 at Amesford with marriage at Bradford. He was a cloth worker living at Amesbury and Agatha Stephens was of Melksham. So it would appear that the Joseph Lannum/Lanham at Amesbury is also the Joseph Lannum/Lanham at Melksham where he was a clothier. Another interesting record for a baptism of Joseph Lanham 6 Oct 1754 at Market Lavington son of Joseph (no other details).
Do I have enough evidence to show that the Joseph Lanham at Amesbury was also the Joseph Lanham at Melksham? It would appear that the marriage bond does give sufficient information. I need to purchase the wills (both are available) although Elizabeth his likely daughter was not married until 1780 so will not likely show any relationship to the Lywood family into which I postulate she married. However did George and Elizabeth meet one is left to ponder but losing her father at 16 years of age probably changed her life especially as that father had gone bankrupt as a clothier in Melksham. If I could learn more about her mother perhaps I could learn more about the daughter and where she was located after her father's death.
I did not yet purchase the wills but will do so eventually.
Ancestry of Elizabeth Lanham:
1. Elizabeth BLAKE
2. Ernest Edward George BLAKE (b 20 Aug 1904) - Eastleigh Hampshire England
3. Edith Bessie TAYLOR (b 1 Apr 1875) - Kimpton Hampshire England
4. Elizabeth RAWLINGS (b 19 Oct 1853) - Enford Wiltshire England
5. Elizabeth LYWOOD (b 25 Dec 1826) - Milston Wiltshire England
6. George LYWOOD (b 7 May 1786) - West Harnham Wiltshire England
7. Elizabeth Lanham (b 12 Aug 1754) - Melksham Wiltshire England
8. Joseph Lannum (b 17 Sep 1729) - Melksham Wiltshire England
9. Joseph Lannum
10. Joseph Lanham
No comments:
Post a Comment