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March Tree

 JOHN SMITH and ELIZABETH LEIGH (9)

 

JOHN SMITH. In 1780, the unmarried Elizabeth Leigh of Brasted in Kent gave birth to a daughter whom she christened Mary Smith Leigh. The second name Smith is a strong clue to the identity of the child’s father. This is confirmed by the will of Mary’s paternal grandfather, Robert Smith, yeoman of Barsted.
“I give and bequeath unto Mary Leigh natural daughter of my son John Smith by Eliz^h Leigh the sum of one hundred pounds to be paid to her arriving at the age of twenty and five years.”

John, son of Robert Smith, was baptised in Barsted in 1759, so he was 21 at the time.

Baptism. St Martin, Brasted.
1759 Jul 12  Smith John ye son of Robert & Jane.

His mother was Jane Cackett.

John was the eldest of three children and the only son. His parents married late, so although John was their first child, his father was already 40 and his mother 36 when John was born,

His father was a yeoman farming at Obriss, where John grew up. The farmhouse is in Brasted parish, but the fields extend into neighbouring parish of Westerham. These are in NW Kent, on the edge of the Weald.

The family rented Obriss, but when John was twelve, his father bought another farm, Styles, neighbouring Obriss in Westerham. When he was 18, his father bought yet another farm, Petleys in the parish of Hever, south of Brasted. John was therefore of a very prosperous farming family, to which he was the only male heir.

 

ELIZABETH LEIGH was “of Barsted” when she gave birth to Mary. There is only one Barsted baptism.
Baptism. St Martin, Brasted.
1770 Aug 12  Elizabeth daughter of Rob^t & Rebecca Leigh.

This would make Elizabeth only 10 when Mary was born. While not impossible, this would be very unusual.

Elizabeth had the baby baptised in Hever, south of Brasted.
Baptism. St Peter, Hever, Kent.
1780 May 25  Mary Smith the Daughter of Elizabeth Leigh of Brasted (base born). By leave of the Minister of Brasted.

The most likely reason for this is that she had returned to her childhood home for the birth. This fits with the following baptism.
Baptism. St Peter, Hever.
1760 Jan 27  Elizabeth daughter of Edward & Ann Leigh.

This would make her a more probable 20 when she gave birth to Mary.
Her mother was Ann Willet.
Elizabeth was the second of their five children.
Her mother died when Elizabeth was seven.

She went to work in Brasted, and had been there long enough for it to become her parish of settlement. She was probably working on one of Robert Smith’s farms when she became pregnant by his son.

Since the father was known, there would have been a bastardy bond signed, probably by Elizabeth’s father, John’s father, and John himself. They would have pledged themselves to pay a sum of money if it appeared that the child would otherwise be a charge upon the Poor Rate.

The fact that Robert Smith left a substantial legacy to Mary suggests that he had a more than superficial contact with her during her childhood.

What happened to Elizabeth after that is unclear.
She may have married.

Marriage. St Martin, Brasted.
1785 Jul 3  Thomas Pain and Elizabeth Leigh both of this parish.
Thomas signs and Elizabeth makes her mark +.
Witnesses: Rob Parless, Sam Waller

This is unlikely to be Robert and Rebecca Leigh’s daughter, who would have been only 15, but Edward and Ann Leigh’s daughter would have been 25, a typical age for a bride.

Or she may have died unmarried.

Burial. Brasted.
1787 Feb 18  Leigh Elizabeth by the Parish buried.
Mary’s mother may have died a pauper, or this may be an older woman.

Thomas and Elizabeth Payne who married in Brasted may be the parents of Charlotte Payne, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth, who was baptised in West Kingsdown in 1786. This is 9 miles NW of Brasted. We have been unable to find what happened to this family after that.

We know more about John Smith’s history. He married three years after Mary’s birth.

Marriage. St Martin, Brasted.
1783 Jun 27  John Smith of this parish & Susannah Outtrim of the parish of Westerham.
Both of them sign, he confidently, she clumsily.
Witnesses: Samuel Walker, Samuel Waller.

John’s mother died the following year.
His father Robert Smith died in 1789.. We presume his younger sister Mary had also died, because there are only three beneficiaries of the will. John’s sister Sarah receives £300, plus £500 to be invested to provide an annuity of £20 p.a. Then there is the truly surprising legacy of £100 to his son John’s natural daughter Mary Leigh. A bequest to an illegitimate granddaughter would be remarkable in itself, but the sum of £100 would be worth over £19,000 in today’s money.  It suggests a genuine closeness between Mary and her grandfather. The rest of Robert Smith’s estate goes to his only son John, who is also made joint executor of his will.

There is no evidence that John shared this closeness with his natural daughter. His own will does not mention her. He may have resented the substantial sum left to her, money that would otherwise have come to him.

Robert’s farms of Stoyles in the parishe of Westerham and Petleys in Hever now passed to John. The family home at Obriss in Brasted was rented.

Although they married in 1783, we have found no baptisms for the children of John and Susanna before John junior in 1791. John senior’s will shows only children born from 1791 onwards, with John junior as the eldest. It may be that Susanna had a succession of miscarriages before bearing live children.

Baptisms. St Martin, Brasted.
1791 May 24  John
1792 Sep 7  Robert
1794 Jan 17  Willliam
1795 Apr 21  Joseph Langridge
1796 Nov 24  Susannah
1798 Nov 23  Thos. This first Thomas was buried in Westerham on 22 Apr 1801.

In 1791, the parish paid John Smith the rent for Edward Fuller and for his wife/widow until 1795; He provided wood for Fuller until 1807. Presumably the Fullers had fallen on hard time and had to be supported by the Poor Rate. They were apparently tenants of John.

In 1799 John bought Birds Mill from Christopher Dalton. He occupied it until his death in 1816.

Birds Mill, now known as the Corn Mill, is at Four Elms, a hamlet midway between the villages of Brasted and Hever. It was one of two water-driven mills in Hever parish. The accompanying house is known as Mill Cottage, where the miller and his family lived. It dates from the early 17^th century, but the present mill building is thought to have been constructed around 1800. This is just the time when John Smith bought Birds Mill. It appears to have replaced an earlier building.

The mill pond was fed by a stream from the north-west and a mill leat channelled the water from Elms Brook, which still runs past Four Elms Inn.

Later, we find John and Susannah’s sons John and Robert recorded as both farmers and millers.

In 1799, George Hoare, husband of John’s sister Sarah, died. The widowed Sarah came to live with John and Susanna, together with her young son George. Three of her younger children had died in infancy.

Two more sons were born to John and Susanna.

Baptisms. St Martin, Brasted.
1800 Jan 5  Richard
1802 Apr 30  Thomas

From 1802 until his death in 1816, John owned and occupied the farm of Mount Noddy, otherwise known as Neals in Hever parish.

As his father’s executor, John would have to keep track of his natural daughter Mary’s movements, so that he could pay her the legacy when she reached the age of 25 in 1805. Shortly after that date, we see a sudden upsurge in the fortunes of Mary and George Belsom. George moved from being an agricultural labourer to a butcher. John had evidently paid the bequest, and Robert’s substantial legacy had a life-enhancing effect on the couple.

In 1811 we again find Mr Smith paid from the parish rates, this time for faggots and highway rates for Thobalds and Cronk £1-4s,

In 1814, John Smith was himself an Overseer of the Poor, responsible for disbursing the Poot Rate.

In his final year, 1815-16, we find him as a Surveyor and Churchwarden. He signed the overseers’ accounts eight times that year; he had previously only signed once in 1796.

Later that year he died. He was buried, not in Hever, where he lived, but in the adjacent parish of Chiddingstone.

Burial. St Mary, Chiddingstone.
1816 Nov 25  John Smith. Hever. 57.
Chiddingstone is less than two miles east of Hever.

John Smith, yeoman of Hever,  made his will on 14 Nov 1816, a fortnight before he died.
He made his wife Susanna and his elder sons John and Robert trustees for the management of his estate. He entrusted to them his farms of Stoyles in Westerham and Petleys in Hever with all their buildings and lands, now in his own occupation or that of Christopher Cronk, Thomas Collins, Thomas Wells, William Smith and John Holland. They are to sell these and invest as much money as will purchase £500 of stock in 4% consoles of the Bank of England to provide an annuity of £20 pa to his sister Sarah Hoare, who is now living with him, for the duration of her life. After her death, the capital sum of £500 is to be paid to her son George.
The rest of the money from the sale of Stoyles and Petleys is to be shared between his children John Smith and Robert Smith, Susanna the wife of William Ashdown, William Smith, Joseph Smith, Richard Smith and Thomas Smith in equal shares. If the two youngest, Richard and Thomas, have not attained the age of 21, their shares are to be invested for their benefit until they come of age.
He directs his wife and his sons John and Robert to hold his other lands and buildings of Noah’s or Mount Noddy, and Still Lands or Birds, and to maintain his farming business for the benefit and support of his wife Susanna and such of his children as are not able to support themselves, as long as Susanna remains unmarried.
Should she remarry, her role as Executrix and trustee ceases. Instead of her previous maintenance, she is to receive an annuity of £30, to be paid half-yearly, from the proceeds of Mount Noddy and Birds.
Following her death or remarriage, John and Robert are to sell Mount Noddy and Birds and all John’s household furniture and implements, household linen, woollen and plate, the money to be divided equally between his children.
He appoints Susanna, John and Robert as his joint executrix and executors.

[“Noddy” is a local word for “slag” and was doubtless related to iron ore working.]

.The will was witnessed by Jno Wills, John Zeal and Will Saxby.

It was proved in London on 23 Jan 1817.

Unlike his father’s will, John’s makes no mention of his natural daughter Mary Smith Leigh. Mary was now aged 36 and married to George Belsom in Caterham.
His wife’s Susanna’s annuity of £30 pa, should she remarry, is a far from generous sum, even in 1816. In today’s money, it would be about £3,666.
The impression we have is that John did not share his father Robert’s generous nature.

History repeated itself in the next generation. The following year, Ann Cheal, spinster, was pregnant by his son John Smith of Hever, farmer, who also appears to have fathered Susan Wood’s child.

John and his father Robert had themselves sired children out of wedlock. It was an all-too-common story: a farmer or a farmer’s son taking advantage of a young woman whom they had no intention of marrying, and who probably worked on the farm.

 His wife Susanna did not remarry. She was also buried at Chiddingstone in 1844, aged 83.
Burial. St Mary the Virgin, Chiddingstone.
1844 Jan 29  Susanna Smith. Cowden. 83.
Cowden is 3 m south of Hever. Most likely, she had moved there to live with one of her children. 

 

NEXT GENERATION: 8. BELSOM-LEIGH

PREVIOUS GENERATIONS: 10. SMITH-CACKETT

10. LEIGH-WILLET

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