Smith Family of Earls Colne

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surname/tag: Earls_Colne

This is an overview of the Smith family in Earls Colne, part of the Earls Colne One Place Study

Henry (abt. 1530 - bef. 1607) was the earliest recorded Smith in the parish records. He married Elizabeth around 1530 and certainly by 1536 when she is mentioned in the priory rental^[1] Abraham was their first recorded baptised child in 1560 but there may have been earlier unrecorded baptisms given the gap between marriage and the record of Abraham. His second son Richard was a scoundrel who may have settled down to married life later as a joiner. (Still untangling how many parallel Richard Smiths there were)

Thomas (abt. 1540 - abt. 1600) was a tanner and appeared to dabble in science and medicine, or as the record would have it sorcery! He was fortunate to have escaped any serious charges. His son also Thomas was a Currier and probably built this on his fathers Tanning business. Thomas had 12 children and left a very comprehensive will which helped greatly in filling in some missing gaps.

Edward (abt. 1545 - aft. 1588) was a renegade with a similarly dysfunctional wife. Though they had children, none of them registered beyond their baptism except for Vine who died young and for whom there was no baptism record.

William (abt. 1535 - bef. 1586) Was a cooper, married 4 times. His son probably William was an ale house keeper. According to the Earls Colne project he was also a taylor but this is likely to be a separate William, also married to Ann.

Sources

1. ↑ Colne Priory Rental (ERO D/DPr59) 28Hen8 (Saturday 22 April 1536) document 43300154.