Surname Saturday: Lavender

I’m not sure yet how this surname of Lavender fits in with my family history, but it is linked to the family of “Digby” Daniel Read whose exact connection with my family I am still investigating.

For those following my blog you will know that I refer to Daniel Read as “Digby” because for a long time I did not know his first name, seeing only Dg or Dy in a document so I gave him that nickname.

Anyway “Digby” Daniel (1731 – 1771) born at Hardmead, Buckinghamshire had a brother called Lavender Read (1734 – 1770) also born at Hardmead, Buckinghamshire (I just so love that name).  I always wondered where the Lavender part came from and have found a few of my Reads have a first name taken from their mother’s maiden name.  So I was thinking that Lavender Read was named after perhaps his mother, grandmother, someone else?

After a bit of ferreting around I also discovered the Will of “Digby” Daniel’s father (also called Daniel) ‘s brother Edward of Hardmead, Buckinghamshire.  Edward Read’s Will was dated 13th March 1733 and proved 21st October 1734.  Edward has three witnesses to his Will and, surprising for me, one of them is Elizabeth Lavender!   So I began to wonder, is Elizabeth Lavender family or a friend and is she or someone in her family why Lavender Read was so named.

Daniel Read senior and his brother Edward had a sister Elizabeth, so I wondered if she had married a Lavender.  But on investigating this further, Elizabeth married Robert Yorke in 1719 at Hardmead, Buckinghamshire so she’s not the one with a connection to the Lavenders.

Daniel senior (brother to Edward and father to “Digby” Daniel) married Rebeka but I have no idea what her surname is.  I have searched throughout Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire and many places in London for Daniel Read senior’s marriage to Rebeka but no luck at all in finding it.  I wondered if she was a Lavender, hence naming one of their sons with that surname.  Still I have no idea.

Daniel senior’s own father was also Daniell Reade and he was born in Moulsoe, Buckinghamshire but he and his wife Sarah Hootton had their children at Hardmead and Daniel and  Sarah both died at Hardmead.  The family are also linked to Emberton, Buckinghamshire so I have searched these places in particular for Lavenders.

After a good few years of searching I am no nearer to finding out who Lavender Read is named after and how the Lavender family are connected to “Digby” Daniel Read’s family.

I’m sure I will find the answer one day, I am a very patient person!! 

Eureka Moments!! Update on “Digby” Read – I know who he is!!

I know who “Digby” Daniel Read is at last after such a looooooong time, isn’t that wonderful!!!!  I am absolutely delighted although I could not have been further from the truth about who he could be and his age.

After a considerable amount of digging and delving and checking this and checking that I came across three related Daniel Reads – Grandfather, Father and Son.  They are all from Emberton and Hardmead in Buckinghamshire, just a little group of them, so the main family was from elsewhere.

Grandfather Daniel was born about 1649 in Moulsoe, Buckinghamshire and died at Hardmead in 1716.  He married Sarah Hootton in 1682 in Gayhurst, Buckinghamshire and they went on to have six children between 1684 – 1692.  One of these children is Daniel who was born about 1687 and he married Rebeka.  I have not been able to find where or when that marriage took place or Rebeka’s maiden name yet.

Daniel and Rebeka had eight children mostly born in Hardmead, but with a little foray into Bow Brickhill, Buckinghamshire where they had a daughter.  One of their eight children was another Daniel. He was born about 1732 in Hardmead and this is “Digby” Read!!!

“Digby” Daniel then marries a local Emberton girl in 1755 and they move away to Bletsoe, Bedfordshire where they have six children.  “Digby” Daniel dies before he reaches the age of 40.  I have not found his death/burial yet but know  his wife is a widow by 1771 as this is mentioned in her Father’s Will.

“Digby” Daniel had a brother, Lavender Read (I just so love his name and he is the only Lavender Read anywhere, so far).  Lavender married a sister of Daniel’s wife and Lavender and Mary moved away also after their marriage but they went to Huntingdonshire.  Sadly, Lavender  like “Digby” Daniel, also dies in his thirties but his wife goes on to remarry.

So, answers to all my original questions.  The Memorandum was done in 1753 with “Digby” taking no part in it, not because he was an old, much respected gentleman who just may have been losing his wits a bit, but because “Digby” Daniel must have been learning the ropes as he was only about 20 years old, so was maybe messing things up a bit!  And being under full age he would not be a party to signing any documents.

There was no family for “Digby” showing in the parish registers because at that time he wasn’t even married yet!  And he wasn’t buried there as he was still a young man, yet to marry and have his family and as it turned out, he moved away to another county anyway, so was no longer in Lower Winchendon.

When he settled at Bletsoe, Bedfordshire he had a farm there so he obviously learned enough to run his own place eventually.

I have now managed to go back beyond “Digby” Daniel’s Grandfather Daniel to Grandfather Daniel’s own Grandfather, Edward Read born about 1600 in Moulsoe, Buckinghamshire.  But since there are only a couple of Reads in Moulsoe and a few in Emberton, it is apparent there are other siblings for Edward and his son Thomas that I haven’t found yet. 

So, still a bit of a brick wall to knock down for yet another Eureka Moment (I hope) to find out exactly how “Digby” Daniel is related to Cozens Read at whose farm he was learning the ropes.  And so it also shows that Cozens Read did not go to Lower Winchendon to help his old relative “Digby” as I originally thought.

The search goes on – look out for another Eureka Moment at some stage as I am sure there will be with the “Digby” Read saga!!!!!

BRICK WALLS!!!

Oooooh, we all seem to come across those awful Brick Walls don’t we?

I don’t suppose any of our ancestors had any idea that while they pottered about with their daily lives they would move or be naughty and get transported or something like that and then leave their descendants searching everywhere to find out what happened to them.

I have been seriously researching for over 20 years now and seem to have many more Brick Walls to knock down than I did even five years ago.  It  seems to me that just when you get the answers to some things they then pose even more questions and bring you right up to a Brick Wall.

I just put my detective hat on (my other half tells me he wants to buy me a deerstalker hat, a large magnifying glass and a curved pipe – a la Sherlock Holmes) because frequently I am telling him “I am on the trail” and then he gets that glazed look in his eyes (you know, the look that those not so interested in genealogy get) when I then tell him what trail I’m on – and it could be one of many!!!