Needham's of Syston

Needham’s of Syston

 

The Problem

 

The problem is identifying the head of the family ie his parents and when he was born because there are too many John's, Thomas's and William's and there is little fact to differentiate them from each other. 

 

	Number	%
Thomas	10	13%
William	13	17%
john	8	11%
Other male	14	18%
women	31	41%
Total	76

 Table Baptism up to 1700 for men and women

 

Thomas’s

 

For the whole of the 17^th and 18^th centuries originally 17 families were identified whose head was Thomas. S we can see there are clusters. The first two Thomas;s look as if they were born close to each other around 1616/18. According to the parish rercords each had one child Thomas bef 1616 had a girl and Thomas before 1618 a boy, John

 

Family	First name(s)	date	year	children	span	Children	occupation	male	female
fsys9	Thomas & Elizabeth	bef 1616	1616	1	1637			0	1
fsys10	Thomas & Mary	1618	1618	1	1639			1	0
fsys11	Thomas & Ann	may 1627	1627	3	1649-1652	William, Thomas, Ann		2	1
fsys14	Thomas	bef 1641	1641	1	1662				1
fsys17	Thomas & Katherine	bef 1647	1647	2	1661-1668			1	1
fsys18
fsys19	Thomas & Mary	bef 1649	1649	8	1670-1683			7	1
fsys21	Thomas & Ann	bef1656	1656	4	1672-1689			4	0
fsys27	Thomas & Ann	bef 1679	1670	3	1700 - 1704		labourer	1	2
fsys29	Thomas & Mary	bef 1680	1680	0	1701-1713	Mary, Jane, Eliz, Ann Sarah, Thomas	blacksmith	2	6
fsys31	Thomas & Ann	bef 1686	1686	3	1707-1710	Thomas Mary Ann	butcher	1	2
fsys32	Thomas & Mary	bed 1687	1687	2	1708-1719	William, Mary	taylor	1	1
fsys33	Thomas	bef1693	1693	8	1714-1728	Elizabeth, ThomasSarah, William, Mary, Ann, George, Eleanor		5	3
fsys37	Thomas& Ann	bef 1701	1701	2	1722-1726	Robert, Mary, John		1	1
fsys42	Thomas & Susannah	bef 1721	1721	2	1742-1744			2	0
fsys56	Thomas & Ann	1776	1776	5	1797 - 1812			4	1
fsys60	Thomas & Elizabeth	1793	1793	3	1814-1834		Clockmaker	2	1

 

 

Lets see if we can fit some of the information we have together to enable us to link families

 

We have the will of a Thomas Needham from Syston who was married to a Mary. Thomas was a blacksmith and he wrote his will in Dec 1661. From this we can deduce that Thomas & Mary had two sons John and Thomas and a daughter Mary. The son Thomas lived in Ratcliffe upon Weaks. From the parish records Thomas bef 1618 was married to a Mary had a son, John so it is thought that this Thomas died in 1661 and was a blacksmith. The question that needs answering is where were their children Thomas and Mary born and who were the parents of Thomas bef 1618. Now when does Thomas die. WELL THERE IS A BURIAL OF A Thomas in Sep 1661 but as Thomas bef 1618 doesn’t write his will until Dec 1661 this can’t be him and it’s probably Thomas bef 1616 whose wife is Elizabeth.       Now an Elizabeth sp Thomas dies in Mar 1661 so it looks as if this Thomas and his wife die within 5 months of each other. And there is a second will dated 1661 which indicates this Thomas is a chapman. But like Thomas bef 1616 who was Thomas and who were his parents? There is ann obvious candidate Thomas b 1607 the son of John & Joan. However there is Thomas bef 1616 too consider as John’s son. SO at the moment the jury is out

 

The will mentions a son Thomas, who resides in Ratcliffe on Weake. Looking at the parish records for Ratcliffe on Wreak there are four families whose head is a Thomas:

 

Ratcliffe on Weake	Baptism of parents	families	span baptism	Children
Thomas & Eliz	1653	b1675	1674-1687	Hannah, Tobias, Grace, Sarah, Mary
Thomas & Eliz	bef 1691	tom b1713	1712-1726	Deborah, Thomas Eliza, John
homas & Eliz	bef 1721	tom b 1743	1743-1748	Ann, Thomas, John
thomas& Mary	bef 1737		1758	William

 

 

 

The first family has Thomas and Elizabeth as parents. They have a family of three girls, including a Mary and a boy Tobias. The father, Thomas, was baptised around 1653. Why do I mention these two children. Well, there is a will of a Thomas from Ratcliffe on Wreake who has a son Tobias and a dau Mary; this would apparently identify   Thomas bef 1618 as the son of Thomas b 1653 from Syston. So, this Thomas could be the son of Thomas b 1616 and Mary living in Syston.

 

 

 In Ratcliiffem on Wreake there are two Thomas baptised before 1750

 

Thomas	30 Nov 1713	Thomas & Elizabeth
Thomas	10 Nov 1745	Thomas & ELizabeth

 

 

There is a second will for a Thomas Needham. This is dated Aug 1748 , the testator Thomas, has a wife Elizabeth and a son John plus unnamed other children. We know the son Thomas was born in 1666

 

 

Thomas & Katherine

 

Thomas was a master baker according to his will who baked in Rothley but died in Syston. In he married Katherine Franke in Rothley and they had 2 children: a son William and daughter Elizabeth, who was born & baptised on the 10 Dec  1668. However, it would appear that the event was not a happy one because Katherine died shortly afterwards; there is a burial of a Katherine Needham wife of Thomas on the same day. What a dreadful thing to happen. But Thomas carries on although you must wonder what his state of mind was like. He died and was buried Jan 1674 and probate is granted in Feb 1674/5. So that leaves one living relative, William

 

 More to follow

 

 

Ref Doc

 

Ratcliffe on Wreake (pr)

Families Syston

Linked Families Syston

Leic SYstion Master2019_12_30v2(AUtorecovered)(Autorecovered)