My ancestor Elizabeth Winfield came from Ewelme in Oxfordshire. The Winfields (who were also known as Wincott and Wingate in the C18th and early C19th) were a large well respected family of agricultural labourers in the village and quite well documented. One rather romantic account has them as the descendants of servants of a de la Pole Duke of Suffolk who brought them down from Wingfield in Suffolk when he married Alice Chaucer, Chaucer's grand-daughter and heiress of Ewelme. It also says that they were Roman Catholics and that one descendant (born 1866) could remember the family forsaking the old religion. I've never given any of this much credence.
My Elizabeth's parents were William Winfield (married as Wincott and born c 1758) and Elizabeth Morris (baptised 1759) who married in the neighbouring parish of Swyncombe in 1781. But I have been looking at a marriage on the IGI between a William Wincott and an Elizabeth Morrice in 1775 at Bri(gh)twell Prior Roman Catholic Church which is very near Ewelme. The IGI also has baptisms for John and James Wingate in 1783 and 1785. There are no parents names but the christian names and dates coincide with the elder sons (that I know of) of William and Elizabeth.
I know a couple would have to marry in a CofE church in this period but how likely is it that a couple would marry in a RC church in 1775 and in a CofE church in 1781? There just *seem* to be several coincidences
My Elizabeth's parents were William Winfield (married as Wincott and born c 1758) and Elizabeth Morris (baptised 1759) who married in the neighbouring parish of Swyncombe in 1781. But I have been looking at a marriage on the IGI between a William Wincott and an Elizabeth Morrice in 1775 at Bri(gh)twell Prior Roman Catholic Church which is very near Ewelme. The IGI also has baptisms for John and James Wingate in 1783 and 1785. There are no parents names but the christian names and dates coincide with the elder sons (that I know of) of William and Elizabeth.
I know a couple would have to marry in a CofE church in this period but how likely is it that a couple would marry in a RC church in 1775 and in a CofE church in 1781? There just *seem* to be several coincidences
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