11. NICHOLSON-BAYNTON

Bray Tree

JOHN NICHOLSON and JANE BAYNTON (11)

 

JOHN NICHOLSON.  Couples typically married in the bride’s parish and brought their children up in the bridegroom’s parish.
John Nicholson was married in 1633 and raised his children in Horkstow, This leads us to the following baptisms.

Baptism. St Maurice, Horkstow.
1610/11 Jan 27  John the son of Gefphrey Nicholson

John gave his eldest son the rather unusual name Geffery, strengthening the belief that this is the right baptism.

John was the older child of his father’s second marriage. He had a younger brother and, on his father’sise,  five half-brothers and sisters. His mother was Elizabeth Huntington, who already had a son from a former marriage when she married his father.

We have no information about John’s occupation. He probably worked on the land.

 

JANE BAYNTON. Jane was married in Appleby, Lincolnshire, in 1633. There are two possibilities there for her baptism.

Baptism. St Bartholomew, Appleby.
1608 Dec 22  Jone daughter of Jervace Bainton.
1611 Jul 3  Jane daughter of Gervis Baynton.

Many of the pages in the Appleby register are illegible. The first girl may have died young, though we have not found her burial.

The names Jone and Jane were interchangeable. Clearly, the two fathers are the same, despite the different spellings.

Jane was the youngest of five children, though at least one had probably died.

We have not found her mother’s name.

Appleby is a larger village than Horkstow. It lies 4 miles SW of Horkstow, on the Roman Ermine Street.

John and Jane grew up in the reign of the first Stuart monarch, James I, but by the time they married, Charles I was on the throne. 

Marriage. St Bartholomew, Appleby.
1633Apr 28  John Nicholson and Jane Baynton 

They brought up their family in John’s parish of Horkstow.

Baptisms. St Maurice, Horkstow.
1635/6 Mar 4  Elizabeth. She was buried in June 1636.
1636 Aug 14  Elizabeth
1638 Aug  Jane
1640/1  Jan 3  Ann
1642/3 Jan 6  Geffrey
1647/8 Jan 19  Gabriel. Buried 24 Sep 1651.

On 18 March 1841/2, all the male inhabitants of Horstow were required to sign the Protestation oath of loyalty to the king and the Protestant religion before the minster and other parish officials. These were the two churchwardens and the two constables. The second of the churchwardens was John Nicholson, who signed with his mark – a rough N. He was the only parish officer not to sign his name. Though illiterate, he was evidently a respected member of the community,

The Civil War between King and Parliament broke out later that year. Lincolnshire was mostly Parliamentarian, but the Earl of Newastle’s Royalist army made significant captures of Newark, Lincoln and Gainsborough. The Parliamentarian defence was led, amongst others by Colonel Oliver Crowmwel, who had not yet achieved his later fame, but proved himself an able military strategist. Eventually, these Parliamentarians linked up with the army led ny General Fairfax on the other side of the Humber. Their combined forces inflicted a decisive victory over the Royalists at Wincleby.

We do not know what part, if any, John Nicholson played in this. He was certainly of fighting age. The Horkstow family would, in any case, have seen, first, the Earl of Newcastle’s occupying army, and then the two Parliamentarian forces making common cause from either side of the Humber.

Such wars were hard on local people. Both sides requisitioned food for their armies. The Parliamentarians were rather more likely to pay for this than the Royalists, but it might be in the form of promissory note, to be redeemed at some later date.

John and Jane lived through the rest of the war, ending in the execution of Charles I, the Commonwealth that followed it under Cromwell, and then the Restoration of Charles’s son Charles II in 1660.

Burials. St  Maurice, Horkstow.
1663 Dec15  John Nicholson. He was 52.
1678 Oct 9  Jane Nicholson widow. She was 67.