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)
HENRY LAMB and MARY CRAY (9)
HENRY LAMB. Henry was married in Sandwich in 1704. This makes it likely that he was born around 1679.
No baptism has been found for him in Sandwich. There were Lambs in the Sandwich registers up to 1644, but then a gap of 60 years before Henry’s wedding. This makes it very unlikely that he came from a Sandwich family.
There is possible baptism in Bekesbourne. This is a village SW of Canterbury and 9 miles from Sandwich. The distance is not excessive, but it means we should treat this result with caution.
Baptism. St Peter, Bekesbourne.
1679 May 25 Henry son of John Lamb by his wife.
The Bekesbourne register sometimes names the mother, sometimes not. We know from other baptisms that John’s wife was Elizabeth. She may be Elizabeth Kennett of Sheldwich, on the other side of Canterbury, who married John Lamb, but again the distance of 11 miles makes this uncertain.
There is no evidence of this Henry dying young or raising a family in Bekesbourne, so a move to Sandwich is possible.
If the Bekesbourne baptism is the right one, then Henry was the youngest of four children.
MARY CRAY.
Mary married Henry Lamb in Sandwich in 1704. Weddings usually took place in the bride’s parish. This makes the following the likely baptism for her.
Baptism. St Peter, Sandwich.
1676 Nov 19 Mary the daughter of John Cray by Mary his wife.
Her parents’ marriage has not been found, so we do not know her mother’s maiden name.
Mary was the fourth of six children.
Her father was the town crier.
Sandwich was one of the original five Cinque Ports. But the harbour became so silted that it is now two miles from the sea. It had already ceased to be a significant port in the Lambs’ time.
“From its exceeding low situation, on what was once the bed of the sea, bounded by the present haven, or creek, on one side, and a vast quantity of wet and damp marshes on the other sides of it, this town cannot possibly be healthy, or even a desirable place of habitation. It is in shape an oblong square; the houses are old fashioned and ill built, and the streets, which are in general but narrow and ill–convenient lanes, little adapted either for carriages or even horses; an exception to this, however, is High-street, which is of good breadth, and much better built. “ [1]
Henry Lamb and Mary Cray married 6 May 1704 at St Peter, Sandwich. Both were of this parish.
This was a year after the Great Storm of 1703 that caused a terrible loss of life and ships.
Baptisms. St Peter, Sandwich
1705 April 15, Mary, daughter of Henry Lamb and Mary
1706 Dec 22 John
1708 Dec 22 Ann
None of the children seems to have died in infancy.
Henry Lamb was buried at St Peter’s on 10 Mar1727
If we are right about his baptism, he would have been 48.
On 9 Nov 1729 the St Peter’s burial register has the interment of “Widow Lamb poor” . The register does not give her first name, but there are few Lambs in Sandwich at this time, so this is very probably Mary.
She may have descended into poverty as a result of her widowhood. Or it may be that the family were always on the edge of it.
[1] https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol10/pp152-216
[2] https://www.british-history.ac.uk/sites/default/files/publications/pubid-425/images/fig5.gif
NEXT GENERATION: 8. FROST-LAMB
PREVIOUS GENERATIONS: 10. LAMB-KENNETT