13. FRIEND-DIXON

Cory Tree

 EDWARD FRIEND and ALICE DIXON (13)

 

EDWARD FRIEND. In 1628 Elizabeth Frend gave birth to base-born son, fathered by Marke Clarkson, in the mid-Kent village of Denton. This leads us to the following baptism.

Baptism. St Mary Magdalene, Denton.
1695 May 2  Elizabeth the daughter of Edward Friend.

The surname appears in the register as Friend, Friend or Frend.

There is only one instance of this surname in Denton before Edward’s marriage. This is the wedding of Alice Fread to Anthony Preston in 1566. The parish registers go back to 1560. We have not found Edward’s baptism. Since he married in 1592, we would expect this register to contain his baptism, if he was christened in Denton, unless he married later than usual.

Edward, however, appears to be the only Friend raising a family in Denton in the late 1500s and early 1600s. Nor have we found the burials of older family members. This makes it likely that he was a newcomer to the village. We have not discovered his baptism elsewhere, either. It was probably in a parish whose records do not go back that far. It is likely to have been in the 1560s, in the early years of Queen Elizabeth’s reign.

Denton lies in a fold of the North Downs, between Canterbury and Folkestone. with hills on either side.

Two years after Elizabeth I came to the throne it was reported that Denton had no curate and the Parson was not resident. It was also said that the catechism was not taught “because the youth did not go to church”. There was no chest for the poor.

The church of St Mary Magdalene is very small. It has one aisle, a chancel and a small square tower at the west end.  Like so many Kent churches, it is built of flint, chalk and mortar.  The present Church, and the one the Friends would have known, is largely of 13th Century construction.

 

ALICE DIXON. We have better luck with Alice. She was married in Denton, and we find her baptism in the nearby village of Goodnestone in 1566.

Baptism. Goodnestone Next Wingham.
1566 Sep 8  Alyce Dixson ye daughter of Humfrey Dixson

We have not found her mother’s name, and we know of just one older sister. Burials for the family have also proved elusive. The family may have moved to a village whose early registers are lost.

Goodnestone is a village 5 m NE of Denton, between Canterbury and Deal. Since she was married in Denton, Alice must have gone to work there, or moved there with her family. A Cicely Dixon, who is likely to be her sister, was also married in Denton in the 1590s, so the latter is more likely.

 Marriage. St Mary Magdalene, Denton.
1592 Apr19  Edw Friend and Alice Dixon.

Edward and Alice brought seven children to the church to be baptised.

Baptisms. St Mary Magdalene, Denton.
1593 Sep 1  Jeonns the sonn of Edward Friend
1595 May 2  Elizabeth
1597 Aug 12 Edward
1597/8 Feb 1  Edward
1599/1600 Jan 16  Alice
1601/2 Mar 21  Thomas
1604 Jun 27  William

By the time William was born, the long reign of Elizabeth I was over. The previous year, the first Stuart king, James I, had come to the throne of England, uniting it with the throne of Scotland. The crown had passed to his ill-fated son Charles I before Alice and Edward died, though they did no live to see the Civil War he provoked.

Burials. St Mary Magdalene, Denton.
1627 Nov 3  Edward Frend

Edward did not live to see the two baseborn children of his daughter Elizabeth.

1631 Dec 9  Alice Frend Widdowe

Alice’s burial is the only event recorded in the Denton register in 1631.