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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)
ISAAC CONGREVE and SARAH SPEECHLY (8)
ISAAC CONGREVE married in in the Lincolnshire village of Whaplode in 1775. This leads to two possible baptisms, both in the nearby town of Spalding.
Baptisms. St Mary & St Nicholas, Spalding.
1752 Jun 2 Isaac son of Thomas and Mary Congreve
1753 Jun 17 Isaac s of Thos and Mary Congreve
We have not found a burial for the first Isaac, but we assume that he died.
Nor have we have not found his parents’ marriage, so we do not know his mother’s maiden name.
We first find his family in Crowland Abbey, south of Whaplode. Here, three older sisters were born, though since two of them were named Mary, we assume that the first one died. Their address is Deeping Fen, a large area of marshland, west of Crowland Abbey and south of Spalding. Then come the two baptisms in Spalding for sons named Isaac, ending with a brother Abraham, born a year after the second Isaac.
There are no more baptisms, so we assume that the Mary Congreve who was buried in Spalding in 1755 is Isaac’s mother. He was only two.
His father may have remarried. There is a wedding in 1766 between Thomas Congreve and Mary Burwell. Thomas’s address is Deeping Fen, which matches earlier entries.
Isaac became a grazier, and it is likely that he came from a farming family.
SARAH SPEECHLY. We find Sarah in the nearby village of Whaplode.
Baptism. Whaplode.
1754 Mar 22 Sarah Daughter of John Speechly by Elizabeth.
Her mother was Elizabeth Perkins.
She was the sixth of twelve children, but a number of them died young.
We have no firm information about her father’s occupation, but the Speechlys we know of seem to be farming folk.
Marriage. Whaplode.
1775 Mar 15 Isaac Congreve of this parish Batchelor and Sarah Speechly of this parish Spinster#@
Both sign their names.
Witnesses: Robert Speechly and Ann Chamberlain, who both sign.
Like his father, Isaac began his family south of Whaplode, having children baptised at Crowland Abbey, where the north aisle of the largely ruined abbey church remained in use as the local parish church.
Baptisms. Crowland Abbey.
1777 Nov 8 Sarah daughter of Isaac and Sarah Congreve.
1779 Jun 17 Elizabeth
1787 Oct 23 Thomas
When little Thomas was only two, Isaac died. He was buried, not at Crowland Abbey, but further north at Whaplode.
Burial. Whaplode.
1790 Mar 26 Isaac Congreve Grazier Postland 37
Postland is a hamlet in the parish of Whaplode.
Sarah remarried, to a man who had also been widowed. Thomas Marshall had previously been married to the widow Rebecca Toft. He was a yeoman.
Marriage. Whaplode.
1790 Jul 30 Thomas Marshall Widower of this parish and Sarah Congreve of the parish Widow.
Both sign.
Witnesses: Alison Phillips, Shela Beckworth.
They named their first daughter after Thomas’s dead wife, with Isaac’s surname as a second name.
Baptism. Crowland Abbey.
1792 Mar 22 Rebecca Congreve daughter of Thomas and Sarah Marshall.
An infant daughter Sarah was buried on Apr 28.
Sarah lived into her 50s.
Burial. Whaplode.
1807 Jul 21 Sarah wife of Thos: Marshall (Postland) aged 52.
Postland was the address given when Isaac died. It also appears at the burial of Thomas Marshall.
Burial. Whaplode.
1816 Jul 30 Thomas Marshall Yeoman Postland 67.
NEXT GENERATION: 7. HARDY-CONGREVE
PREVIOUS GENERATIONS: 9. CONGREVE