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Evans problem!!

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  • Evans problem!!

    I've been trying to unravel the parentage of OH's ancestor Susanna Evans for some time!

    She married William Lamb from Huntingdon (baptised 10 May 1730) on 28 July 1751 in Tottenham. That is fairly straight-forward! So I assume she was born around 1730. They settled in Huntingdon.

    A couple of years ago I found out by Googling that she was one of four sisters.
    Miscellaneous collections: legal papers - City and County of Swansea

    The eldest sister was obviously Ann Evans, who married William Bassett.
    She died without issue and William remarried. She was an heiress and when William died her property seems to have gone to the widow.

    Ann's sisters and husbands challenged this and the case went to Chancery. I obtained the papers - about 26 pages! from Neath for about £13. They are pretty complicated.

    On Tuesday I got a copy of her will when we went to the National Archives at Kew. I have just finished transcribing it. Before Ann Evans married William Bassett an Indenture was drawn up (a prenuptial agreement):
    "...an Indenture made previous to and in consideration of my Marriage with my said Husband bearing date the seventeenth day of April in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy six and made between the said William Bassett of the first part the said Ann Bassett then Ann Evans Spinster of the second part and Herbert Mackworth and James Gwyn Esquires of the third part I have Covenanted and agreed to convey settle and assure all and singular my freehold messuages tenements Ffarms Lands and Hereditaments in the several counties of Glamorgan and Brecon..."

    I'd love to find the original Indenture - it might tell us how she came into all this property - which apart from the farms etc also comprised "collieries and coal mines"!!

    Ann and William Bassett married on 18th April 1776 at St Clement Danes Westminster. She must have been in her 40s, I would have thought.

    My reason for thinking this is her sisters' marriage dates:
    Susanna Evans and William Lamb 28 July 1751 Tottenham
    Jemima Evans and John Kent 25 Dec 1752 Saint George Mayfair
    Mary Evans and Richard Hobbs 18 July 1747 Saint George Mayfair

    As Ann Evans was the sister with the property I would assume she is the eldest.

    I can't find baptisms or parents for these sisters. I have googled a lot and there appears to have been a prominent Evans family in the Neath area which married into the Mackworths. I have found 2 Herbert Mackworths. However, both look fairly well-to-do. I'm wondering if the Evans sisters were related to the Mackworths in some way - perhaps an offshoot branch.

    I think I'm going to have to contact the archives in Wales to resolve this one. There are so many Evans families that I can't work out who their father was. :F

    Footnote: The sisters obviously had some success because when Susanna's husband William Lamb died he mentioned his property in Wales.
    Elizabeth
    Research Interests:
    England:Purkis, Stilwell, Quintrell, White (Surrey - Guildford), Jeffcoat, Bond, Alexander, Lamb, Newton (Lincolnshire, Stalybridge, London)
    Scotland:Richardson (Banffshire), Wishart (Kincardineshire), Johnston (Kincardineshire)

  • #2
    Bear in mind that the eldest sister may not have had the same mother. And the property might have been left to Ann from her mother's family.

    I do sympathise. My husband is an Evans. The Welsh side are a nightmare, they have half the surnames that his London lot have and they are completely unimaginative with first names. We've got Evan Evans, William Williams, Thomas Williams, William Thomas, Mary Jones who marries an Evans, becomes Mary Evans, their daughter is Mary Evans who marries a Jones.....
    ~ with love from Little Nell~
    Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

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    • #3
      I sympathise too, some of my lot are called Watkin (not watkins !!!). THis is so frustrating, as the majority of censuses and other documents call them Watkins. They weren't too imaginative with their names either, having Morgan Watkin, David Morgan Watkin, Thomas Watkin, Watkin Watkin !! The only one who has a "rare" name is Elias. Oh, and then, when my direct ancestor left Wales in 1861, he changed his name to WatkinSON, and so did the rest of his family !!!

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