Fay Sampson’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 30 generations. Keep coming back for more.
I have numbered the generations working backwards from my own as (1)
SAMUEL CORY and ELIZABETH BALES (8)
SAMUEL CORY is thought to be the son of Thomas and Susannah Cory. If so, then he was baptised on 14 Nov 1697. He was the tenth of twelve children.
There were a number of Thomas Corys in the Northamptonshire village of Harpole, making it difficult to distinguish between them. Samuel’s father was probably a grocer. If so, he seems to have been a man of some standing. He was awarded the courtesy title ‘Mr’ when he was buried.
Samuel worked for a thatcher.
ELIZABETH BALES. Elizabeth was married in Harpole, so she was either born in the parish or had settled there since. The date of her marriage suggests that she was born around the turn of the century.
We do not have access to the Harpole registers, but those who do appear not to have found her baptism there.
The date of her marriage, however, fits with the following baptism in Great Brington, 5 miles north of Harpole.
Baptism. Great Brington.
1701/2 Feb 24 Elizabeth Bales daughter of Thomas Paine and Elizabeth Bales.
There is a note which says “Bastard father of Noebottle”. Nobottle is a hamlet in the parish of Great Brington. It is only three miles from Harpole.
Thomas Paine was a labourer.
Elizabeth’s baptism is followed by four more children for Thomas Paine in Great Brington. Thomas is now married, but the baptismal register does not give us the mother’s name.
Sometime before her wedding, Elizabeth moved to Harpole, and was resident there when she married.
Their wedding took place in Harpole on 5 Oct 1724.
The following month, Samuel Cory sen married Susannah Harris.
Only two children are recorded for them in Harpole. They had a daughter Mary, baptised in 1726, and a son John, baptised 24 Nov 1730.
John appears to have become a schoolmaster, so Samuel and Elizabeth must have secured a good education for him.
The early 18th century saw a consolidation of England as not only a Protestant, but an Anglican, country. William and Mary were succeeded by Mary’s sister Anne in 1702. There were bills which excluded Dissenters, as well as Roman Catholics, from holding public office, becoming MPs and running their own schools. We do not know the Corys’ religious leanings. In the previous century, Northampton was a strongly Puritan city.
There was some relaxation for Dissenters after the first Hanoverian king, George I, took the throne in 1714. But in 1715, the Old Pretender, James Stuart, son of James II, landed with an invasion force in Scotland. Though the Jacobite Rebellion was short-lived, and the defeated James fled back to France, it heightened the feeling in England against Roman Catholics.
I745 saw a more dangerous rebellion. The Young Pretender, Charles Stuart, seized Edinburgh and invaded England. He got as far as Derby, 50 miles north of Harpole, before overextended communications lines forced him to turn back. No doubt the Northamptonshire militia had been put on a war footing. The following year he was soundly defeated at the bloody Battle of Culloden and fled to France.
Elizabeth was around 50 when she died. She was buried in Harpole on 14 Jan 1750/1 and recorded as “wife of Samuel”. The cause of her death is given as smallpox.
Twenty-two people in Harpole are recorded as dying of smallpox in 1750-51. None are recorded in the years before and after.
Samuel died three years later.
Burial. Harpole.
1754 Aug 19 Samuel Cory thatcher.
His will names him as “Samuel Cory of Harpole in the County of Northampton Labourer.” He probably worked for a thatcher, but was not a master thatcher himself.
He was 55
He made his will on 13 Aug 1754, only days before his death.
Although he is classed as a labourer, he was sufficiently well off to buy a two-bedroomed cottage in Harpole. This he left to his son John.
To his daughter Mary, now married to Samuel Marriott, he left half his linen, except his shirts. His granddaughter Mary Marriott received the bedstead in the “little chamber” (the smaller bedroom) with its bedding.
The rest of his estate he left to his son John, whom he made his executor.
He signs his own name and adds his seal.
The will was witnessed by Joseph Bliss, Thomas Cory and Richd Cory.
Since the value of the estate did not amount to £40, it was not necessary to provide an inventory.
The will was proved on 3 Oct 1754.
NEXT GENERATION: 7. CORY-CHATER
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