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 JANE (12)
GEORGE MAPES. Our first certain record of George is in the Essex village of Great Waltham, 4 mile north of Chelmsford.
We do not have a baptism for George, but there are burials for George Mapes senior and Alice, wife of George Mapes senior. There are no records of other Mapes in Great Waltham at this time, so there is a good chance that these are George’s parents.
We do not know George’s occupation or status, but his son, George junior, married by licence. This indicates that the Mapes were of somewhat higher status than labourers.
JANE. Because we do not have a record of their marriage, we do not know Jane’s maiden name, or what parish she came from.
We can first certainly identify this couple from the baptism of their daughter Susan and their son George in Great Waltham, where both the parents are named.
This may be the same George Mapes who had children baptised in Good Easter, five miles west of Great Waltham, from 1626 onwards. Here, the mother’s name is not given.
These baptisms end in 1639 and the Great Waltham baptisms begin in 1640. The names do not overlap and the first Good Easter baptism is for a daughter Jane.
There is no record of this George Mapes or his wife being buried in Good Easter.
There are also no entries for Mapes in the Good Easter parish register before these baptisms for the children of George Mapes. This would be consistent with George having moved from Great Waltham, where we believe we have identified his parents, to Good Easter for the first part of his married life.
It would be good if we had the 1641 Protestation returns for Good Easter and Great Waltham. We could then see if there was a George Mapes in both parishes, or only in Great Waltham. But neither of these returns has survived.
If we are right about George and Jane starting their family in Good Easter, then they were probably born around the start of the 17th century.
Baptisms. St Andrew, Good Easter
1626 Feb 13 Jane
1629 Nov 11 Alice
1632 Apr 31 Ann
1633 Feb 11 Elizabeth
1637 Jun 22 Mary
1639 May 18 Joane
Baptisms. St Mary and St Lawrence, Great Waltham.
1640 Jan 24 Susan
1643 Feb 26 George
1646 Apr 21 John
After seven daughters, the birth of a son George would have been particularly welcome.
The Mapes would have been familiar with Badynghams, an Elizabethan mansion, owned by the Constable of the Tower of London, who took Mary Queen of Scots to her execution.
The Mapes were still completing their family in 1642, when the Civil War broke out. Essex mostly supported Parliament.
It is during the war that we have two burials in Great Waltham, which may well be related to George.
1646 Sep 9 Alice wife of George Mapes Senr
1647 Aug 23 George Mapes Senr
There are no other Mapes recorded in Great Waltham this early. This looks like a nuclear family.
Only two years after completing her family, Jane died. She was probably in her late forties.
Burial. St Mary and St Lawrence, Great Waltham.
1648 Jan 17 Jane wife of George Mapes.
George lived another 22 years, probably dying at the age of 70 or thereabouts.
1671 Oct 21 George Mapes
NEXT GENERATION: 11. MAPES-MARSHALL
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