10. BELSEY-SALLY

Cory Tree

ROGER BELSEY and ELIZABETH SALLY (10) 

ROGER BELSEY. We find Roger Belsey in the Kentish village of Adisham, 6 miles SE of Canterbur
y.Baptism. Holy Innocents, Adisham.
1645 May 17  Roger sonne of Leonard Belsey.

Roger named one of his sons by the fairly unusual name of Leonard, strengthening the belief that Jother was Mary Sally, sometimes spelt Solley. Roger was the fourth and youngest of their children

Roger’s father was a husbandman when he married, but Roger went on to become a yeoman.

He married a bride with the same surname as his mother, though not, as far as we know, a close relation.

 

ELIZABETH SALLY. Again, this surname is sometimes spelt Solley.
From the date of her marriage, we should expect Elizabeth to have been born around 1647. There are several possibilities.

Elizabeth was married in Wickhambreaux, and marriages usually take place in the bride’s parIsh.
Baptism. St Andrew, Wickhambreaux.
1637/8 Jan 7  Elizabeth daughter of George and Ann Sally.

This would make her 8 years older than Roger, which would be unusual.

Baptism, Holy Cross, Goodnestone by Sandwich.
1642 Jul 6   Elizabeth daughter if Richard and Elizabeth Salley.

Baptism. St Mary the Virgin, Wingham.
1646 Sep 15  Elizabeth Solly. The names of her parents are not given.

Goodnestone is 4 miles SE of Wickhambreaux, where she married. Wingham is  2 miles.

The third is the more likely baptism, but there is no certainty. We have not found more entries for a Solly family in Wingham.

To add to the uncertainty, there are sometimes interruptions to the parish registers during the Civil War, so we shall never be sure about Elizabeth’s origins.

 

Roger and Elizabeth grew up during the Civil War and the Republican Commonwealth that followed it. By the time they married, the monarchy had been restored under Charles II. 

Marriage. Wickhambreaux.
1672 Oct 2  Roger Belsay and Elizabeth Sally 

Their first four children were baptised here.
Baptisms. Wickhambreaux.
1674 Jan 19  Thomas
1675 Mar 1  Mary
1677 Jun 30  Leonard
1680 May 22  John 

The family then moved to Monkton, 7 miles NE, where a final child was born.
Baptism. St Mary Magdalene, Monkton.
1683 Nov 5  Rogerus

The birth cost Elizabeth her life.
Burial. St Mary Madgalene, Monkton.
1683 Nov 12  Elizabeth, wife of Roger Belsey.

Roger and his young family stayed on in Monkton. There is no evidence that he remarried.. He lived long enough to see the “Glorious Revolution” of 1689, when the Catholic-leaning James II was forced to abdicate and his Protestant daughter Mary came to the throne with her husband William of Orange. Roger died three years later.

Burial. St Mary Madgalene, Monkton.
1692/3 Mar 22 Roger Belsey.

We do not have Roger’s will, but we know from inventories that accompanied it that he was Roger Belsey, yeoman of Monkton.