5
Alan March’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 many generations. Keep coming back for more.
I have numbered the generations working backwards from Alan’s as (1)
GEORGE MAPES and ELIZABETH MARSHALL (11)
GEORGE MAPES. We find the Mapes family in the Essex village of Great Waltham, 4 miles north oof Chelmsford.
Great Waltham is a large village, with the church of St Mary and St Lawrence at its centre. It has the widest nave of any parish church in Essex.
Baptisms. St Mary and St Lawrence, Great Waltham.
1643 Feb 26 George son of George and Jane Mapes.
We don’t know his mother’s maiden name.
George was the eighth of nine children, and the first boy. No doubt his arrival was the cause of great rejoicing.
He was born near the start of the Civil War, in which Essex was mostly for Parliament.
George was only four when his mother died.
ELIZABETH MARSHALL. Elizabeth was “of Much Waltham” when she married in 1664, We have not found her baptism there. The most likely on is in Great Dunmow.
Baptism. Great Dunmow.
1639 Feb 17 Elizabeth daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth Marshall.
This is an isolated baptism. It follows a succession of baptisms in the village of High Roding for children of Daniel Marahall and Elizabeth Wood. High Roding is 4 miles west of Great Waltham.
If this is the right baptism, then she was the youngest in a large family.
The baptism in Great Dunmow seems to be a one-off. Her father was buried in High Roding.
On the negative side, George and Elizabeth did not name any of their sons Daniel. It may be that her baptism was nearer Great Waltham, but has been lost.
George and Elizabeth grew up during the Civil War and the republican Commonwealth that succeeded it. By the time they married, Oliver Cromwell had died and Charles II had taken the throne of his father Charle I.
George and Elizabeth raised their family in Great Waltham, but their marriage took place in Widford, a village 6 mile south. In their marriage licence, the couple were said to be “of Much Waltham”, which is another name for Great Waltham.
Marriage. St Mary, Widford.
1664 Apr 19 George Maves and Elizabeth Marshall both of Much Walthm by licence.
Elizabeth was single when she married.
We do not know why the wedding took place in Widford. Marriages were usually in the bride’s parish. We have no information about what would have taken Elizabeth to Widford, if her pariah of settlement was Great Waltham.
It was more expensive to marry by licence than by banns. This makes it likely that the Mapes were of higher status than labourers.
They would have needed a licence to marry in Widford, since it was not the parish of settlement of either of them.
We know of five, possibly six children.
Baptisms. St Mary and St Lawrence, Great Waltham.
1667 May 1 George
On 27 Apr 1670 there is a baptism for Samuel son of George and Sarah Mapes. The mother’s name may be a mistake. We have no other baptisms for this couple.
1673 Dec 9 Elizabeth
1677 May 30 Samuel. Samuel lived only a few days, and was buried on 2 June.
1678 May 27 Benjamin
1681 Jul 30 Samuel
In 1691, George Mapes of Great Waltham was an executor in the will of J Blatch of Colchester. This could be his son George, but is more likely the older George.
We have not found burials for either George or Elizabeth.
When their son George had children baptised in 1691 and 1697, the father was said to be George Mapes junior. From 1700, he is just George Mapes. George Mapes senior may have did between 1697 and 1700.
NEXT GENERATION: 10. MAPES-BERNARD
PREVIOUS GENERATIONS: 12. MAPES