5

Monk Tree 

ISAAC HARRIS and MARGARET CARTER (8)

 

ISAAC HARRIS was born in the Essex village of Writtle, just a mile east of Chelmsford. It is picturesque village, with a green and a duckpond, and the Norman church of All Saints. It lies on the River Wid.

Here, Isaac was baptised in 1752, in the reign of George II. He was the third successive Isaac Harris.

For all the baptisms of his siblings, their mother’s name is given as Susanna. In the marriage register she is Sarah Kerr. No alternative marriage has been found for Isaac Harris and Susanna, nor are there baptisms for Isaac and Sarah Harris. We conclude that Susanna is the real version of her name.

Baptism. All Saints, Writtle
1752 Apr 12  Isaac son of Isaac and Susanna Harris

His mother was Susanna Carr/Kerr.

Isaac was the fourth of nine children, though an earlier Isaac had already died.

 

At their marriage, both Isaac and Margaret are said to be of Holborn We have not been able to identify Holborn, other than the one next to the City of London, 40 miles away. It is possible that Isaac went to work there, and returned to his home parish to raise his family,. But is also possible that Holborn is local name now lost.

 

MARGARET CARTER. The same problem applies to Margaret. If she was born in or near Holborn, it is surprising that she would be married in Writtle. Weddings usually took place in the bride’s parish. As with Isaac, she may have gone some distance away to work, but an origin near Writtle seems more likely.

At her burial in 1821 she is said to be 71. The ages of elderly people are not always given accurately, but we should expect a birth date in the range 1746-51. No such baptism has been found in the Writtle area. The nearest is a baptism in the village of Chrishall, between Saffron Walden and Royston in 1751, but this is nearly 20 mile north of Writtle.

Nor have we found a baptism in Holborn. None of those nearby looks particularly convincing.

The Holborn reference appears in only one of the three marriage registers listing this wedding. It is not in the Philimore Marriage Register, which usually says if one of the partners came from another parish

The reference remains a mystery. We may learn more when the parish registers become available.

 

Marriage. All Saints, Writtle.
1773 Oct 28  Isaac Harris bachelor and Margaret Carter spinster both of Holborn.

They had eight children baptised at All Saints. Their first daughter died in infancy, leaving them only with a later Jenny and six boys.

Baptisms. All Saints, Writtle.
1774 Jan 23  Jenny, buried 1775 Aug 13
1775 Jun 3  Thomas
1777 Jun 15  Isaac
1779 Dec 8  William
1782 Aug 25  Enoch
1785 May 1  Jenny
1787 Nov 18  Charles1795 Jan 29  James

We do not have a record of Isaac’s occupation, but his son Isaac Harris junior became the landlord of the Princess of Wales in Writtle.[1] It is likely that the older Isaac was of a higher status than and agricultural labourer.

1800 saw a dramatic event, recorded in newspapers across the country. The Chester Courant of 22 April 1800 reported:

FALL OF WRITTLE CHURCH

“On Friday last, at noon, the North-west comer of the venerable tower of Writtle Church, in Essex, which had shewn for some time past, evident marks of decay, came down with a most tremendous crash. The remainder of the tower, having lost the support of this corner and its buttresses, opened to the eye of the astonished beholder a scene which imagination alone can form. The bells were seen hanging in the steeple, suspended in the shattetered and momentary crumbling fragments of the still venerable pile; the clock revolved in an unusual manner; and thus rested the scene until the hour of twelve at night, about which time the North part of the East and the whole of the West sides, bent to the hand of time, hurling in its course the bells and clock-work, and converted, in an instant, the once majestic fabric into its pristine brittle state. The jangling of the former was, to the inhabitants, a sure token of its total destruction. The body of the church, previous to that moment, had received no damage; but a part of the East side falling upon the roof, forced its way through to the singing gallery, carrying in its course vast sheets of lead; the weight whereof, and the immense force of the stones from the tower, which is about 28 yards in height, dealt destruction in their course, crushing to atoms the gallery, and seats beneath.
   The humble residents of a cottage, near the church very reluctantly quitted their dwelling ten minutes before the fall of the ruins, which levelled it to the ground.”

The tower was subsequently rebuilt more substantially.

Isaac and Margaret lived to see this drama. There is a burial for Margaret in Jan 1821.

Burial. All Saints, Writtle.
1821 Jan 24  Margaret Harris aged 71

There are burials for Isaac Harris in1799 and 1805, but the one that matches his birth date is later in 1821

Burial. All Saints, Writtle.
1821 Jun 24  Isaac Harris aged 69.

[1][1] MS 11936/541/1178205

 

NEXT GENERATION: 7. CLIFT-HARRIS

PREVIOUS GENERATIONS: 9. HARRIS-KERR

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