Introduction
For over 50 years, the Richins family has searched for the christening records of Henry Richins, our first common ancestor. So far, the christening date has eluded all our researchers. Henry’s [LDS] Temple Index Card gives his birth as April 9 1769 at Rodbury. We have been unable to find a town or village with the name of Rodbury. There is a Parish called Rodborough, but there was no christening there for Henry Richins.
In the search for Henry, a will was found for a John Richins of Horton who named Henry as a grandson and a son of his son Thomas. This enabled us to discover that Henry’s father was Thomas and Thomas was the son of John Richins, which extended the Richins line back two generations.
John Richins died at Horton, Gloucestershire, England. The monumental inscription at Horton indicates he was born in 1697/1698 and his wife, Ann, was born in 1695/1696. We searched the area for their christenings dates, but did not find them. The first entry we found for them was their marriage at Hawkesbury, Gloucestershire, England.
The entry of marriage listed John Richins of Winterbourne and Ann King from Hawkesbury. We eagerly searched these Parishes for their christenings, but were disappointed, for John Richins was not christened at Winterbourne, nor Ann King at Hawkesbury. We will continue to search for their christenings so as to extend this line.
John and Ann were married by banns, so the announcement of their intent to marry had to be published in both the groom’s and bride’s Parish and both had to be present. This usually took place over a period of four weeks. If the Parishes were some distance apart, it was customary for the groom to take up residence in the bride’s Parish for the reading of the banns in church. This was apparently what John did.
The Parish of Hawkesbury, Gloucestershire, England
When John arrived at Hawkesbury, the Parish contained about 150 homes and had a population of about 598-650 people. The Parish included the towns of Hiley, Trisham, Kilcot, Settlewood, Wast and Hawkesbury.
The eastern part of the Parish lies upon the hill and spreads out into open country. It is called Hawkesbury Upton. The Cotswold ridge divides Hawkesbury Upton from the vale below. The church is located in the vale below the ridge and is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It is a large church with four aisles and a tower on the west end of the church. The church is capped with battlements and parapets as seen on many of the castles. The Reverend John Ryder was Vicar of the Parish.
A note painted on a smallboard at the church reads, “It is desired that all persons that do come to this church would be careful to leave their dogs at home and that all women would not walk in their patterns.” It was customary for the sexton of the church to carry a whip along with his keys to drive dogs out of the church. It was also his responsibility to keep women from walking in patterns—wooden sandals with clogs for walking in damp and muddy places. The women secreted their patterns in some convenient hedge a short distance from the church and retrieved them on their return home.
Sir Bank Jenkinson, a baronet, was Lord of the Manor. He had holdings in other Parishes and chose not to live at the Manor House in Hawkesbury. Left unattended, the Manor House soon fell into disrepair. In his absence, the Manor was probably left under the care of an Overseer. The Duke of Beauford also held land in Hawkesbury. The clergy held some acres and the freeholders, yeomen and farmers held the remaining ground.
In most European countries, the people lived in the towns and commuted to their farms in the country. In England, the farmhouse was usually in the center of the farm and accessed by a narrow lane leading from the main road. Hedges, trees or stone walls divided the farm into fields. Birds, rodents and rabbits found refuge beneath the thorny hedges of berries or wild rose. Poor women made a practice of walking along the thorny hedges where the sheep grazed to gather wool the thorns had snagged. She used this wool to spin yarn for caps, stockings and other clothing.
The stone walls built by the Cotswollers were built without mortar. Each stone was placed so it locked into another stone. Some of the walls have stood for over 500 years. The skill of the Cotswallers has been handed down for generations. It is said they could do anything with the Cotswold stone but eat it.
Winterbourne is southwest of Hawkesbury. John took the Bristol road that went from Bristol to Cheltham. It is about 10 miles as the crow flies, but the winding, narrow roads made it much longer.
John had to leave Winterbourne in early March or late February to be in Hawkesbury for the reading of the banns. One wonders how he traveled—by horseback? By stagecoach? This would take much longer than by horseback because of the many stops. Many people who were fortunate enough to own a horse traveled by cart. Whatever way, he must have been relieved to see the homes and farms of Hawkesbury and know he would soon be in the warmth of a cottage or inn.
There is nothing in the records to indicate in what occupation John was employed. Was he an Overseer who came to supervise some gentleman’s estate? A tenant farmer, who leased land from a landowner? We do know that at his death he was listed as a yeoman.
A yeoman was a gentleman farmer who owned a small estate in the country. He was classed under the Gentry, Squires and Clergy, but above the tradesmen, shopkeepers and working class. Yeomen were required to defend their country from invasion and riots. Since most owned horses, they would form a cavalry, called yeomanry. The work yeomanry had the connotation of being true and faithful. So we see that John Richins belonged to an upper class.
Life in England changed under the explosion of the Industrial Revolution—first, water-powered mills replaced the hand looms. Weavers who had earned their living by weaving at home were put out of work and angrily marched against the mills, intent on destroying them. However, they failed to stop the progress of the emerging industrialization. Then steam engine revolutionized the mills and factories. The water-powered mills had difficulty keeping up, so industry began centering around cities rather than country streams.
As people sought work in villages by the mills and factories, housing became scarce. As a result, small cottages were divided to accommodate several families under very crowded conditions. Some found shelter in people’s attics and some even lived in cellars. The crowded situation resulted in unsanitary conditions, which fostered the rise and spread of epidemics and plagues.
Villages grew into cities as mills and factories sprung up along the streams used to power them. Stagecoaches began to run between larger cities to better facilitate the transportation of merchandise and people, but the roads were not suited for such traffic. Better roads were in dire need.
New farming methods were introduced, so agriculture began to flourish. Turnips were introduced to feed cattle during the winter months, which was a great benefit to the farmers, such as John and Ann.
George III was King of England, but he was not universally liked. Many thought he had blundered in handling the American Colonies, who were fighting for their independence. During all the changes, Hawkesbury and Horton, being farming communities rather than industrial centers, were left quite untouched.
Marriage and Family
After John’s arrival at Hawkesbury, the Vicar read the banns for several weeks. Since no objection was voiced against the marriage, John Richins and Ann King entered the roofed gate of the church exchange their wedding vows on March 29, 1722. As with most couples, they would have nervously approached the altar where Reverend John Ryland performed the wedding ceremony. There were probably friends and family members to witness the marriage.
When the ceremony concluded, the church bells rang out to announce their marriage.
Church bells were an important part of the church. They rang to call people to church, to announce a wedding or a holiday, such as Christmas. They tolled mournfully for a death and clang vigorously to give warning of fire or flood, or other emergency.
John and Ann made their home in Hawkesbury, where they lived for 20 years. All their children were born and christened in Hawkesbury. On March 29, 1723, they celebrated their first wedding anniversary and were making plans for the arrival of their first child. The baby was due in July. Most parents in those days desired their first child to be a boy—an heir to carry on the family name. Babies were born in the home with the help of a neighbor or midwife. It was also the practice for girls to go home for the birth of their first child.
Fourteen months after John and Ann had spoken their wedding vows, they proudly presented their son and heir to the Vicar for christening July 18, 1723. Reverend Ryland took the baby in his arms and holding his head above the font, sprinkled the baby’s head with holy water and christened him John after his father.
The stone font had a hollowed-out basin that stood upon a pedestal secured by a base. A lid covered the holy water and in times of epidemics and plagues, the font had to be locked to prevent people from taking the water, believing it would heal the sick.
The christening, or baptism, took place soon after the birth of the baby, especially if the baby did not seem strong and healthy, for it was taught that a child who died before they were baptized would never be able to live with God. What an unjust God they were taught to believe in! What torment the parents must have suffered when their babies died before they could be christened.
Two years after the christening of their son John, a daughter was added to the family and she was christened on May 13, 1725 and given the name Mary. There was no set rules for spelling, so the parish clerk wrote down the name as it sounded to him. Since the families could not usually read or write, it was left in the hands of the clerk to record the name as he felt it should be spelled. So we find the Richins children with surnames spelled in several different ways: Richings, Ritchins, Richins, Richens and occasionally, Hitchins.
In the year 1727, two boys were added to the family. Our ancestor Thomas and his brother William were christened on November 22, 1727. They were apparently twins, although not listed in the records as such. This made a family of four children in less than five years. We can imagine Ann had her hands full, as everything was done by manual labor. The laundry was scrubbed by hand; the clothes and sewing done by hand with a needle and thread; wool was washed, corded and spun into yarn and then knitted into stockings, caps and sweaters.
Meals were cooked over a fireplace with a swinging iron arm. A kettle of food was placed on the hooked end and swung back over the fire to cook. The oven was built next to the chimney. Water was carried from a well for the laundry, scrubbing and cooking. There was a lot of hard work in life during those times.
Three years after Thomas and William were born another daughter arrived. She was taken to the church on to be christened on May 4, 1730. The Reverend Potter Cole performed her christening and gave her the name of Elizabeth. Thus far, all of John’s and Ann’s babies had survived and there was a pattern of boy, girl, boy, girl and true to the pattern, a boy followed Elizabeth. It was exactly two years from day that Elizabeth was christened that they arrived at the church for the christening of their son, Richard—May 4, 1732.
Following the family tradition, the next child was a daughter. She was christened on September 23, 1735 and given the name Ann, after her mother. Names were important to families at his time in England. It was an honor to carry a family name that had been handed down for generations. Many times if a child with a cherished family name died, the next child was also given the name to carry it on in a family.
We can often find more than one child in a family with the same name. Some of the early families named two sons the same name and call them “ye elder” and “ye younger” as in John ye elder and John ye younger. Children were named after parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts. In the more wealthy classes, a child could be named after a friend or loved family member who was called a Godfather or Godmother. The Godparents often reciprocated the honor bestowed upon them with a gift to the child. On the Godparents’ death, the child would probably receive a token of money.
After Ann, Sarah broke the family pattern by being a girl instead of a boy. She was christened on September 18, 1738. Ann was 43 years old when Sarah, her last child, was born, making John and Ann the parents of eight children. There were four boys: John, Thomas, William and Richard; and four daughters: Mary, Elizabeth, Ann and Sarah. The family ranged in age from John, about 15 or 16, to Sarah, a newborn.
Horton, Gloucestershire, England
Sometime after Sarah’s christening, the family moved from Hawkesbury to Horton, a Parish just south of Hawkesbury. In fact, it was a deanery of Hawkesbury with a Curate under the Vicar of Hawkesbury to perform the church’s christenings, marriages and burials.
Horton contained about 80 homes and 332 people. It too, lay half in the vale and half on the hill above. The church is half way up the hill and is dedicated to St. James. It has a tower with a clock on the west end. The Lord of the Manor, Mr. Paston, used the rent from two homes and some farmland to keep the church repaired. His Manor house was near the church and the rectory.
John bought a small estate in Horton, which he held under the Lord of the Manor. He apparently prospered, for at his death he had acquired securities, property and over 275 English pounds, which was a goodly sum in those days.
However, not all went well for John and Ann, for their first entry in the church records in Horton was the burial of their first son and heir. Their son John was about 21 years old when he died. There is no indication in the records as to the cause of his death. Rector William Wickam conducted the burial service, which took place on March 26, 1744.
With the death of John, the next son became the heir. Although Thomas, our ancestor, and William were christened on the same day, William must have been born first, as he inherited his father’s property, while Thomas was made the executor of the estate.
The Next Generation
John’s eldest daughter, Mary, was the first that we have any record on to be married. She married Samuel Cook from Hawkesbury. They were married in Horton by banns. After the reading of the banns for several weeks, the marriage ceremony took place on February 22, 1746 and was performed by Edward Draper, who became the Curate of Horton at the death of Reverend Wickam. Mary was a young lady of 21 years.
Mary and Samuel lived at Hawkesbury, where their four children were born. Soon after the birth of their fourth child, Samuel died. Mary was only 32 when she was left a widow. We have not been able to identify her burial date or place, but in her father’s will dated 1776, he listed her as lately deceased.
William, the eldest twin, married a woman named Elizabeth. However, we have not been able to find the marriage entry for them in the church records. Apparently, there were no children born to them. William made a will on March 22, 1794, in which he left all his property to his wife Betty—otherwise known as Elizabeth. He listed his household cottage that belonged to his father, John Richins, which he had leased to William Rodway and Jacob Pride. He also held the property under the Lord and Lady of the Manor in Horton.
William was buried at Horton on January 16, 1801 at the age of 75. Elizabeth proved his will on June 23, 1801.
Their second daughter, Elizabeth, married Thomas Davis, but again, we have not found their marriage record. They named their fist son Thomas, but he died in infancy. Their next child was also a son, so they gave him the name Thomas also. Two months after his christening, his father, Thomas Sr., either became seriously ill or there was an accident, for he died the day he made his will—July 15, 1749.
The will listed him as a “horse-driver,” so this could have been an accident. In the will he named his father-in-law, John Hitchins, his wife Elizabeth, and son, Thomas. He left the messages, tenant garden, orchard and dwelling house in Hawkesbury, called Oakhole, to his wife. The rent from the property was to keep her the rest of her life. She proved the will on July 19, 1749, just five days after his death.
Thirteen months after Thomas’ death, Elizabeth married Daniel Horwood Parks of Kingswood. The marriage took place on August 20, 1750. They lived at Kingswood and were the parents of seven children. Apparently, Thomas Davis, Jr. did not go to Kingswood with his mother, but stayed with his grandparents. Elizabeth Davis Parks died at Kingswood and was buried there on March 10, 1798, at the age of 68.
When John Richins made his will, he did not list Thomas Davis with the Parks children, nor leave him the usual five pounds he gave his other grandchildren. Rather, he made him an executor, along with his son, Thomas Richins. After they had paid the terms of his will and paid the funeral expenses, they were to divide the remaining money, securities, personal property and household articles between themselves. So it appears he was looked upon more as a son than a grandson.
Richard, the youngest of John and Ann’s sons married Sarah Cooper at Horton by banns on September 25, 1758. The Reverend Edward Draper performed the ceremony. They lived at Horton and were the parents of seven children. Richard lived to be 84 years old. He was buried at Horton on November 25, 1815.
Ann was considered an old maid at age 26 when she married William Canning. He was a yeoman from Bath Eaton. They were married by license, which indicates he was prosperous. Reverend Edward Draper married them in the Parish church at Horton on January 21, 1760. The license listed his age as 36 and Ann’s as 26. One would expect William, a yeoman, to have returned to his estate in Bath Eaton. However, two months after their marriage he was buried in the Parish churchyard in Horton on April 5, 1760. There was no indication as to the cause of his death.
There were only two marriages performed in the year 1760 at Horton and they were both Ann’s marriages. Joseph Cooper, a widower, began to court Ann. He and Ann were married by banns at Horton on December 18, 1760. They were the parents of four children. Their youngest, a son, was only two years old when Ann died. She was buried at Hawkesbury onSeptember 6, 1771.
Sarah, the youngest child of John and Ann, was married to William Rodway from Hawkesbury May 24, 1759. They were married by banns at the Horton church by Reverend Edward Draper. They lived at Hawkesbury, where their five children were born. Two of their children died in early childhood. There were too many deaths of “Sarah Rodway” to correctly identify which date was our Sarah’s burial date.
Ann, who was two years older than John, was the first to leave this life’s existence. She died at Horton on October 1, 1774. The services were conducted by the Reverend Edward Draper and she was buried October 4, 1774 in the Horton churchyard. John had a memorial inscription made to honor her.
Two years later John decided to make a will to divide his estate among his children and grandchildren. His will was dated March 10, 1776. In the will he left all his children 20 pounds in money. Then realizing that William had already received his share of the property, he added a codicil to the will five days later to change William’s share of the money from 20 pounds to 1 shilling. This was the legal amount required by law to be left to an heir to prevent a suit by a family member.
He left Richard 20 pounds in money and Richard’s children, 5 pounds each: William, Thomas, Joseph, Ann, Elizabeth, John and Sarah.
He bequeathed 20 pounds in money to Betty (Elizabeth) Parks and her eight children, namely, Peter, Rebecca, Ann, Elizabeth, Mary, William, Sarah and Thomas Parks: 5 pounds a piece.
To his grandchildren, John, Ann, Elizabeth and Thomas Cook, children of of his daughter Mary (lately deceased), he gave 5 pounds each.
To his grandchildren, Urania, Febe, Tabitha and Seth Cooper, he gave 15 pounds each. These were children of his daughter Ann, deceased. The extra 10 pounds were probably an inheritance from their mother, left in the hands of her father for her children.
He bequeathed 20 pounds of money to Sarah and to each of her children: John, William and Temperance Rodway, 5 pounds each.
To Thomas, our ancestor, he bequeathed 20 pounds besides sharing with Thomas Davis in the remainder of the inheritance. To his grandsons Thomas and Henry, he left 5 pounds each, to be given to them when they reached the age of 21.
lived over a year after making his will. He died, according to his monumental inscription, October 3, 1777 at the age of 80. However, the Parish Register gives his burial date as October 20, 1777, age 80. This is seventeen days after his death. One has to be an error, perhaps the monumental inscription. The Reverend Edward Draper conducted the burial service.
After John’s death, the family began to disappear from Horton. William died without having any posterity. Some of Richard’s family moved to Yate. Thomas disappeared from the records until we found his wife’s burial at Painswick.
So closes the days of John Richins and his wife Ann King Richins.
