11. CULMER-AUSTEN

Baker Tree 

GEORGE CULMER and MARGARET AUSTEN (11)

 

GEORGE CULMER. We know that Jane Culmer, who married George Minter in Stourmouth, Kent, was the daughter of George Culmer and his wife Margaret. His gravestone in 1692 gives his age as 77.[1] This fits well with the following baptism.

Baptisms. St Peter in Thanet.
1615 Aug 13  George Culmer sonne of John Culmer.

St Peter’s is a parish in Thanet that included the fishing village of Broadstairs. It is 7 m NE of Stourmouth, where he married.

His mother was Margaret Samson.

George was the sixth of eight children, and the third son.

The Culmers go back many generations in St Peter’s, and were an influential family. George’s father was a yeoman.

George was only eleven when his father died in 1626. His older brothers were left a house and land, but George, the third son, was left land only: “5 acres beyond Bremeston towards the cliff.”[2] He was to take possession of this after his mother’s death or remarriage. There is a proviso that George must sell one of these acres to pay his father’s legacies, or two acres if necessary.

Five years later, when George was 16, his mother married again, to the husbandman George Peale.

Following in his father’s footsteps, George Culmer too became a yeoman.

At some point, he moved away from St Peter’s to Stourmouth.

Stourmouth stands where the River Stour once emptied itself into the Wantsum Channe. This had formerly been a broad, navigable waterway, separating the Isle of Thanet from the rest of Kent, but was now silted up.

Stourmouth was surrounded by marshland, and away from major roads. The parish had two villages, East and West Stourmouth. West Stourmouth was the larger community, but George and his family lived in East Stourmouth.

 

MARGARET AUSTEN. There are online family trees that make her the daughter of Willam Austen and Michell Vincet, born in 1616 in Cranbrook. But this is more than 40 m from Stourmouth where she married, and seems very unlikely unless there is supporting evidence.

There are other possibilities within a 5-mile radius of Stourmouth.

In Ickham in 1613 Nov 1, daughter of Robert Austen.
In Littlebourne on 1616 Jan 1, daughter of Richard Austen.
In Wickhambreaux on 1618 Feb 7,  daughter of Richard Austen.
In Ickham, 1616 Jan 5, daughter of Richard Austen.

The two Ickham girls both married there. George’s bride could be either of the other two.

 

Marriage. All Saints, Stourmouth.
1638 Jun 5  George Culmer & Margaret Austen.

Their first child was baptised at St Nicholas at Wade, 3 north of Stourmouth.

Baptism. St Nicholas at Wade.
1639 Mar 8  Mary

From then on, the baptisms are at Stourmouth.

Baptisms. All Saints, Stourmouth.
1645 born Apr 14,  bapt Apr 19  John.
Two online family trees give another two sons,
1645  Stephen
1648  Daniel
The parish register at this point is very badly faded, so this cannot be verified from the online image. But both Stephen and Daniel are mentioned in George’s will.
1649 Jun 29  Jane
1652 born Jan 1, bapt Jan 1 Hannah
1658 Jan 6  George
There are other trees that add: David 1659. Again, we have not been able to confirm this. David does not appear in George’s will.

George and Margaret were raising their family during the Civil War and the Republican Commonwealth that followed it. Curiously, we have not found George’ s name in the 1642 Protestation Return for Stourmouth, though there are other Culmers on the list. Nor have we found him in Preston juxta Wingham, where he lived in the latter part of his life.

The Culmers generally had a reputation for supporting Parliament, but we cannot know how each individual decided.

Kent had a relatively quiet war. It did not see hostile armies marching across it, as many counties did.

The Culmers would, however, have know of the Kent Rebellion in Canterbury, only 10 miles away. On Christmas Day in 1647 there were riots there, triggered when the Puritan Mayor and city officials tried to ban traditional Christmas celebrations.

George and his family were still in Stourmouth for the Hearth Tax of 1664. We have the return for “East Stower Mouth Borough”.[3]
Eleven householders are chargeable. Five have one hearth, three have 2 hearths, George Culmer has 3 hearths, and two others have 4 hearths. Six poorer households are not chargeable. This puts George towards the top end of the social scale.

In 1660, the Stuart king Charles II was given the throne as the country returned to a monarchy,

In 1671, George’s nephew, John Culmer died. He was the son of George’s older brother John. He had become a ship’s pilot in Deal. On 27 Aug, he made an oral will. He appointed his uncle George Culmer one of two overseers of this will. He also left him “ his Cloake then at home with a spott in it”.[4]
John Culmer died the following day.

By the time Margaret and George died, they had moved to Preston next Wingham, just south of Stourmouth.  Preston is a long straggling village along the course of the Little Stour. It was surrounded by farmland and orchards.

It was here that Margaret died, but she was buried in Stourmouth churchyard.

Burials. All Saints, Stourmouth.
1680 Dec 7  Margret the wife of George Culmer of Preston.

Three years later, George remarried, to the widow Elizabeth Andrew(s). Although both were of Preston by Wingham, they married in Canterbury. This was probably because they had gone to Canterbury to obtain a marriage licence.

Canterbury Marriage Licences.[5]
Culmer, George, of Preston n. Wingham, yeom, widr, and Eliz. Andrew, s.p. w. At S M Bredin, S George, or S Mildred, Cant. May 24, 1684
In some records her surname is Andrew, in others Andrews.
The church they chose was St Mary Bredin.

Marriage. St Mary Bredin, Canterbury.
1684 May 24  George Culmer Yeoman Widower of Preston by Wingham and Elizabeth Andrews Widow of Preston by Wingham.

George made his will and testament on 3 July 1691.[6] People often wrote their will when they saw death approaching. George says he is in “reasonable good health”, but because of the uncertainty of life, he is making his will now, disposing of “that small estate the Lord hath lent me”,

The witnesses were Robert Howgill, Peter -owell or Norvell) and Thomas Norvell.

He lived on for over a year. He, too, was buried in Stourmouth.

Burial. All Saints, Stourmouth.
1692 Dec 26  George Culmer of Preston.

His gravestone says that he died on 22 Dec 1692, aged 77.,

His will was proved on 14 Jan 1692/3.

In this will and testament he describes himself as “George Culmer of Preston next Wingham in the County of Kent yeoman”.
He leaves his burial to the discretion of his executor, and appoints his son John as sole executor.
If his wife Elizabeth outlives him, he leaves her “all such household goods as she brought me in marriage which my will is my Executor shall quietly and peaceably let her have and enjoy to her own use”.
To the poor widows of Preston he leaves 40s, to be distributed at the discretion of his executor.
He leaves his son-in-law George Minter one shilling, and his daughter Jane, George Minter’s wife, £10.
To his five grandchildren who are children of Richard Saffery and George’s late daughter Hanna he leaves one shilling each.
To his sons Stephen and Daniel he leaves £10 each.
Stephen and Daniel also receive “one half of all my bedding linen brass pewter and other household stuff not before given to my wife to be equally divided between them”. The other half is to go to his executor to pay his debts, legacies, funeral expenses and probate. For this, his executor also receives his stock, cattle, crops, bonds and securities, not otherwise disposed of.
In addition, Stephen will receive an annuity of £9, to be paid half yearly. This is to come from “my messuage or tenement wherein I now dwell with the barn stable buildings yards gardens orchards and lands arable and pasture thereto belonging “. There is about 50 acres in Preston now put out to rent. If the annuity is not paid, Stephen or his heirs have the right to enter the land and seize what is necessary,
Daniel receives a similar annuity.
The house, outbuildings and land in Preston are to go to his grandson, George, son of George senior’s son John, when he reaches the age of 21. Should he die before then, it is to go to his grandson George, son of Daniel, again at the age of 21.
Any surplus after paying the annuities will go to his son John, until his grandson comes of age, if he keeps the buildings in good repair.
When one of these grandsons comes of age and inherits, George’s son John will receive an annuity of £9, paid half yearly.
If both the grandson die under 21, the lands and buildings are to be shared equally among his three sons John, Stephen and Daniel, and the annuities will cease.

When Elizabeth died, 15 years later, she was buried, not in Stourmouth, but at Preston-next-Wingham.

Burial. Preston-by-Wingham.
1707 Aug 29 Elizabeth Culmer.

 

[1] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/186745839/george_culmer
[2] Archdeaconry Court of Canterbury. PRC 17, Book 64, folios 308-309. Transcribed by Noël Scriver.
[3] Gent Family, https://gentfamily.yolasite.com/stourmouth—the-place.php
[4] Consistory Court of Canterbury will. DCb, PRC 32, Book 54, folio 669. Transcribed by Noël Scriver.
[5] https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Canterbury_Marriage_Licences/pqSMbJVB8gEC?hl=en&gbpv=1~[6] Archdeaconry Court of Canterbury will in 1690. PRC17/78/171 or PRC16/325. Transcribed by Noël Scriver.