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)
JAMES HARDINGHAM and MARY SECKER (9)
JAMES HARDINGHAM. We have traced Alan March’s Norfolk ancestors back to John Margerson who married Judith Hardingham in the village of Runton in 1822.
Judith’s grandfather was James Hardingham, who also married in Runton nearly 70 years earlier, in 1753.
James was then of Runton, but we have not found his baptism there. With one exception, in 1700, the records for the Hardinghams in Runton go back only to the mid-1700s. We conclude that James was born elsewhere, but we have not found his baptism.
We have no record of his occupation, but the Hardinghams seem to be at the lower end of the economic scale. The likelihood is that James, like so many other men at this time, was an agricultural labourer.
Runton lies on the north Norfolk coast, between Sheringham and Cromer. The parish consist of two villages: East Runton and West Runton. The 12-th century parish church of Holy Trinity is in West Runton. It is here that the Hardinghams were baptised and buried, and where they worshipped every week.
MARY SECKER. James’s bride was Mary Secker. The date of her marriage suggests that she was the following child:
Baptism. East Beckham with West Beckham
1731 Mary Secker daughter of Mary Secker was born the 28 of September and baptised the 13 Feb.
This pair of villages lies 2 and 3 miles from West Runton, and further inland.
If this is the correct baptism, then Mary was born to a single mother and likely to have grown up in a poor household.
By the time of her marriage, Mary appears to have moved to Runton.
Marriage. Holy Trinity, Runton.
1753 Feb 25 James Hardingham & Mary Secker both single & of this parish.
The couple had eight children baptised at the flint and stone church of the Holy Trinity in West Runton. The building stands on a rise above the coast road.
Baptisms. Holy Trinity, Runton.
1753 Jun 10 Mary. This was less than 4 months after the wedding.
1755 Aug 17 Christopher
1758 Jan 9 Ann
1763 Jan 21 Elizabeth
1765 Nov 24 Martha
1768 Aug 14 Judith
1771 Apr 14 Sarah
1774 Jan 12 Susanna
This was the period when the traditional strip farming was giving way to enclosed fields. Villagers lost their right to pasture a cow or a pig on common land and to gather timber for free fuel. Life became significantly harder. Wages for farm work were low.
Burials. Holy Trinity, Runton.
1782 Jan 3 James Hardingham Aged.
The register at this time describes people as “infant” or “aged”.
1790 Sep 23 Mary Hardingham Pauper.
It is not clear whether this burial refers to James’s widow, who might have fallen into poverty after her husband’s death, or to the first wife of their son Christopher, whose last child was born in 1790.
There is another burial for Mary Hardingham in nearby Blickling on 22 Oct 1799. The widowed Mary may have moved there live with one of her children. But there was a Mary Hardingham bearing children in Blickling in the 1700s, so this is probably not the right burial.
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