John Northey (1757 - 1816)

Born 1 Jan 1757 in Germansweek, Devon, England

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Pengelly) Northey — married 24 Feb 1782 in Germansweek, Devon, England

Husband of Grace (Pengelly) Northey — married Jan 1796 in Plymouth, Charles the Martyr, Devon, England.

Descendants

Died 1816 at about age 59 in Germansweek, Devon, England

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Biography

John Northey Jr was the oldest son of John and Marjery Northey. According to the land lease signed by his father in 1776, John Jr was born in 1758, but his tombstone suggests 1756. In 1776 he moved to Hennard Gifford - a farm tenement in the manor of Southweek in Devonshire with his parents and two brothers - Thomas and Nicholas.

Beside the farm of Hennard Gifford, a small village of Hennard Mills had developed around a fulling mill and a grist mill. This village consisted of seven tenement houses around a village green, with varying amounts of land for each house. The entire village and land was less than 15 acres in size. Neither mill was in operation in 1776, but history records the presence of a mill in this location in the Domesday Book of 1086. The manor of Southweek is also recorded as early as 1086.

John Northey Jr married Elizabeth Pengelly May 28, 1782, and they lived in a temement house in Hennard Mills called Hockadays. It appears that this land was part of the Hennard Gifford farm lease signed by John Northey Sr. in 1776 as yearly taxes or rent was 6 shillings and paid by John Northey Sr. Before John Jr and wife Elizabeth could live there, a house had to be built.

Houses in Hennard Mills were typical tenement homes - a thatched roof on a cob wall. The single roomed house had a cobbled floor, doorway, windows and fireplace. The cob walls were a mixture of dung, mud and straw. The barn was connected to the rear of the house made of similar material. Most houses has a loft over the main house as well as the building for animals. The houses were usually quite sturdy and warm as long as the roof was kept in repair.

Hockadays tenement was 7.3 acres in size - 6.2 acres taxable - and consisted of 6 fields, an orchard and garden. When his father died in 1803, his family lived on Hennard Gifford.

John Northey Jr and his first wife Elizabeth Pengelly raised 5 children - John, Elizabeth, Mary, Thomas and Richard - before Elizabeth died April 25, 1791. John was left with 5 children - the youngest being under a year old.

Elizabeth Pengelly was the daughter of John Pengelly who also lived in a tenement house in Hennard Mills. Grace Pengelly was a younger sister, and she and John Northey Jr began a relationship. Church law banned many marriages between men and women according to certain relationships. One such banned marriage was between a man and his wife's sister.

Grace Pengelly gave birth to a son on Dec 2 1792 called William Pengelly. She later gave birth to another son, James in 1795. She and John Northey went to Plymouth and were married on January 4, 1796 in what was called a clandestine marriage - legal in law, but frowned upon by the church. Their son born in 1795 was baptised James Northey July 3, 1796. A sister Grace Northey was born in 1800 and died in 1802.

John and Grace Northey lived in Hockaday tenement until his death Jul 2, 1816, and her death December 13, 1816. In John's will of 1816, he left 5 shillings to each child from his first marriage to Elizabeth Pengelly - all children were married with families by 1816. To his son William Pengelly he left a house and garden in Hennard Mills commonly known as Mills' House. After the death of his wife Grace, all possessions left were to be evenly divided between his son James and grandson Richard Odures - son of his daughter Elizabeth from his first marriage.

John Northey Jr was buried beside his two wives, who were sisters, and baby daughter in the cemetery in Germansweek Village, parish of Germansweek.

Sources

1. https://gen.plagge.org/individual.php?pid=I5743&ged=plagge.ged
2. Marriage: "Devon, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1920"
   Indexes created from Anglican Parish Registers held at South West Heritage Trust; Taunton, Somerset, England
   Ancestry ca Record 62287 #761174
   John Northy marriage to Grace Pengelly in Jan 1796 in Plymouth, Charles the Martyr, Devon, England.
3. Marriage: "Devon, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1920"
   Indexes created from Anglican Parish Registers held at South West Heritage Trust; Taunton, Somerset, England
   Ancestry ca Record 62287 #149944
   John Northey marriage to Elizabeth Pengelly on 24 Feb 1782 in Germansweek, Devon, England.

https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~milchron/genealogy/northey.htm#a_s1