Fay Sampson’s Family History
This site is a work-in-progress. There is a massive amount to cover. I have included both male and female lines, and some go back 30 generations. Keep coming back for more.
I have numbered the generations working backwards from my own as (1)
ANTHONY READE and SUSANNAH (10)
ANTHONY READE was the eldest child of Anthony Reade’s second marriage. His mother was Anna Shephard.
Baptism. St Clement, Sandwich.
1643 Dec 11 Anthony sonne of Anthony Reade and Anne his wife
He had six surviving half-siblings from his father’s first marriage and a younger brother and sister from the second one. This youngest brother died before his fourth birthday.
Anthony’s father was a maltster. Malted barley is one of the principal ingredients of beer. The maltster converted the starch in barley into sugar, and sold this malted barley to brewers.
We do not know whether Anthony junior followed his father’s craft.
In 1664 we have the burial of Thomas Read of St Peter’s, Sandwich, “viteller”. Nowadays, “victualler” is used for someone licensed to sell alcohol. Earlier, it could mean a supplier of provisions generally. He could be Anthony’s uncle.
This supports the impression that the Reades were above the economic status of labourer. Against that, we have John Reade, who lost a number of children in infancy. He could be another of Anthony’s uncles. A high child mortality rate is often associated with poverty. Anthony junior also lost nearly half his children. As his father’s youngest surviving son, he may not have shared his father’s prosperity.
SUSANNAH. We know from the baptismal register that the mother of Anthony’s children was Susannah. We do not know her maiden name, or when and where they married.
There were ten children of this marriage. Four of them died in infancy.
Baptisms. St Peter, Sandwich
1664/5 Feb 23Thomas
1667 May 5 John
1668 Nov 12 Susannah
1670 Nov 7 Deborah
1673 Oct 1 Jared and Elisabeth
Jared died less than a year later. He was buried on 28 Sep 1674.
Another child Anna was buried on 2 Sep 1675. We do not have her baptism.
1675 1 Oct Anthony
Eleven days after this, Susannah junior was buried. She was not quite seven years old.
1677 Jul 15 Hanna
678 Aug 25 JaredThis second Jared lived only three months. He was buried on 23 Nov 1678
Sandwich had been one of the five major Cinque Ports, defending the south-east coast. But by the 16th century the River Stour was already silting up, restricting access to the sea.
St Peter’s, Sandwich [1]
In the previous century Sandwich had provided a refuge for several hundred Flemish Protestants fleeing persecution in their home country. St Peter’s church, where the Reade children were baptised, bears witness to the newcomers’ generosity. The tower with its onion dome was built in the 17th century in the Flemish style, as is the gable end of the adjacent building.
The Reades would have seen this tower being built.
It was the custom in Sandwich to ring the bell of St Peter’s at 8 pm, signalling the curfew, when householders should cover their fires. It was known in Sandwich as the ‘pigbell’, telling people they could release their animals into the street.
We have not found the burials of either Anthony or Susannah.
It is possible that the will of Anthony Reade who died in 1682 could be his. This Anthony died in St Bartholomew’s almshouse, having no occupation. This sounds far more likely to be his 79-year-old father than the 39-year-old Anthony junior.
The pattern of child mortality was continued into the next generation. The Reades’ daughter Deborah lost seven of her ten children.
[1] https://www.whitecliffscountry.org.uk/Images/Things-to-do/Other/St-Peters-Sandwich.jpg
NEXT GENERATION: 9. FROST-READ
PREVIOUS GENERATIONS: 11. READE-SHEPHARD