10. REEVE-MARTEN

Lee Tree 

WILLIAM REEVE and IZOTE MARTEN (10)

 

WILLIAM REEVE. William married in South Tawton, just north of Dartmoor, in 1637. This would give him an expected birth date around 1610. The following seems very likely to be the right baptism.

Baptism. Holy Trinity, Drewsteignton.
1606 Jun 1  Wm the son of Benedict & Catharyn Reeve.

With some of the surrounding parishes havimg registers that do not go back that far, we might feel cautious about accepting this as William’s baptism. But William called his first son Benedict. There was a strong Devon custom for a man to name his eldest son after his father. Benedict is an unusual name. There are strong reasons for believing this is the right baptism.

Drewsteignton parish is adjacent to South Tawton.

We do not know his mother’s maiden name.

This is the only baptism for the couple in Drewsteignton. Bendict died in the neighbouring parish of Throwleigh in 1639. Throwleigh’s registers only go back to 1653. It is likely that William had younger siblings born there, whose baptisms are now lost.

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IZOTE MARTEN. We have one possible baptism for Izote.

Baptism. St Andrew, South Tawton.
1614 Apr 3  Izote Marten filia Bartolomei Marten.

There are variant spellings of her unusual name: Izoet, Isott, Isett. Also of her surname: Marten, Martyn, Martin. The most common is Marten.

The problem with her baptism is that there were several Bartolomew Martens in South Tawton, and the early registers do not name the mother.

She may be the daughter of Bartholomew Martin and Mary Tollye, who married in South Tawton in 1602, but there is a gap in the baptisms for children of Bartholomew Marten between 1607 and Izote’s baptism in1614. Some neighbouring parishes do not have registers going back that far. There may be another marriage for Bartholomew Marten in one of these.

The will of a Bartholomew Martyn of South Tawton was proved in 1630. He may be Izote’s father, but there is no certainty of this. She would have been 16.

The will itself was probably destroyed in the Exeter Blitz.

The couple married in the troubled years before the Civil War.

Marriage. St Andrew, South Tawton.
1636/7 Feb 4  William Reeve and Izoet Marten

They began their family in South Tawton.

Baptisms. St Andrew, South Tawton.
1637  Dec 20  Agnes
1639 Jul 21  Benedick

There is then a gap in the baptisms, before they resume in neighbouring Throwleigh. The Throwleigh registers only go back to 1653, so it is likely that more children were born then.

Throwleigh lies on the NE fringe of Dartmoor, with the parish boundary extending up on to the high moor. It is a long, thin parish, stretching east to west, bounded by South Tawton to the north.

Shortly before the Civil War, in 1641, all adult men were required to take the Protestation Oath, pledging loyalty to King, Parliament and the Protestant religion. We find William Reeve on the Protestation Return for Throwleigh. He signs with his mark +. [1] Many of the Throwleigh men signed with their mark, using a wide variety of symbols.

The date shows that the family moved directly from South Tawton to Throwleigh, where William and Izote spent the rest of their lives.

This part of Devon was mostly Royalist. During the Civil War, Throwleigh was among the parishes having a high proportion of maimed Royalist soldiers claiming a pension, compared to its adult population.[2]

We do not know how many of their children were born in Throwleigh before the start of the parish register in 1653. When the burial register starts, the second entry is:

Burial. St Mary the Virgin, Throwleigh.
1653 May 4  Thomas the son of William Reeve.

Thomas was probably born in the early 1650s.

We then have three daughters.

Baptisms. St Mary the Virgin, Throwleigh.
1655/6 Mar 25  Ann
1656/7 Mar 10  Mary
1659 May 5  Elizabeth 

William and Izote  lived through the Civil War and the Commonwealth that followed it. If, like most of Throwleigh, they were Royalists, they would have welcomed the return of the Stuart monarchy in 1660, with the accession of Charles II.

The most likely burial for William is the following:

Burial. St Mary the Virgin, Throwleigh.
1668 Dec 23  Wyllam Reeve

If we are right about his baptism, he would have been 62.

There are two burials for Izote.

Burials. St Mary the Virgin, Throwleigh.
1677 Aug 26  Isott Reeve
1687 Feb 21  Isett Reeve widow.

The second seems the more likely. It is probable that the Reeves would have had a daughter names Izote, born during their earlier years in Throwleigh. The first burial may be hers.

If the second burial is William’s widow, she would have been 73.

 

[1] National Archives. YHL/PO/JO/10/1/86/74
[2] Mark Stoyke, Loyalty and Location. University  of Exeter, 1994.