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 HERSEY and ?ELIZABETH (9)
JAMES HERSEY. The baptisms James Hersey’s children in Nutfield begin in 1735. From this we should expect a birth date for James around 1709 or earlier. The most plausible one is the following.
Baptism. Ss Peter and Paul, Nutfield.
1700 Nov 7 James son of Thomas and Olivia Hearsey.
His mother was Olive Peirce.
James was the sixth of eight children, though one had died at birth and an older sister died when he was two.
His father was a husbandman. James did not follow in his footsteps, but became a gardener. He may have worked on a garden like the one at the 16th-century South Hale farmhouse in South Nutfield, or he may have been engaged in market gardening.
?ELIZABETH. No wedding has been found for James, and the baptism register names only the father, so we do not know his wife’s name for certain. She may the Mary Hersey who was buried in Nutfield in 1757 or the Elizabeth Hersey who was buried there in 1776.
Mary died before James, and the register does not say that she was his wife, though it names the husband of other women. So Mary may be a single woman.
Elizabeth died after James. The register does not say that she was a widow, nor that she was the wife or daughter of someone else. It does, however, give her an age that, if accurate, means she was born in 1697-8. This would make her two or three years older than James, and thus a possible spouse.
Nutfield is a village on the Weald in Surrey, between Redhill and Caterham.
The couple raised their family here. There is a sequence of baptisms for the children of James Hersey starting in 1735.
Baptisms. Ss Peter and Paul, Nutfield.
1735 Oct 21 William
1737 Jul 5 James
1739 Aug 19 Sarah
1740 Sep 27 Mary
In addition, there is an earlier one in 1722.
1722 Nov 7 James
It is hard to see how this relates to the later ones, with a gap of 13 years. Yet it is too late to be the baptism of James senior.
The population of London grew rapidly in the 18th century, leading to an increased demand for food from neighbouring counties like Surrey. The county’s prosperity grew. This increased transport of food led to better roads.
It is only in the burial register that we learn James’s occupation.
Burial. Ss Peter and Paul, Nutfield.
1760 Feb 8 James Hearsey. Gardener.
He was 59.
The following burial may be his widow.
1776 Nov 5 Elizabeth Hearsey, aged 78.
NEXT GENERATION: 8. HERSEY-BORER
PREVIOUS GENERATIONS: 10. HERSEY-PEIRCE