|
SAFFRON WALDEN HISTORICAL JOURNAL |
|
The
Churchmans of 16th and
17th century Walden, Wenden and Littlebury by
Tony Fox and Everett Churchman People
of the middling sort were rare in the 16th and 17th century. In the arable
areas of Essex, most people were either farm labourers (i.e. essentially,
peasants) or were part of the small, all-powerful gentry. However, there
was some prosperity in north-west Essex because of cloth production (from
wool), and the value of saffron. The
Saffron Walden area is a good place to look for middling-sort people of
the 16th and 17th centuries, and this is a story of one such family. As
today, two things were certain in the 17th century: death and taxes. Both
create documents. Dr Emmison’s transcriptions of all known Essex
Elizabethan wills include several involving the Churchman family in the
Walden / Wenden / Littlebury area.1 Only a small minority of
people in Elizabethan Essex actually made a will; the average labourer had
insufficient goods to make the costs of probate worthwhile. The survival
of several wills from this family, in itself, establishes their
above-average status; this is confirmed by the few land transactions that
also survive for this family. The
16th and 17th century Churchmans of north-west Essex In
the 16th century, wills were drawn up by those who were
seriously ill. The testator would usually dictate his wishes and, if
illiterate, mark the will with a cross before witnesses. The actual writer
might be a family member, friend or clergyman. In the case of the
Churchman wills, no clergy were involved; this was a Nonconformist family.
Rarely, someone in extremis
might utter their dying wishes which were written down by the witnesses
later; this unsigned type of
will is termed 'nuncupertive'.2 The
Churchman wills of the 16th and 17th century Clearly,
the Churchmans had risen above the labourer class by the 1560s.
The will of William Bonner, 26 January 1558/9, locates his house at
Hatfield Broad Oak as that next door to John Churchman.
Another neighbour, Robert Shrubbe, had the land across the back of
the two properties.3 This
is the first time that we hear about a Churchman in his own house, albeit
on a small plot, in north-west Essex.
Moreover, in 1569, a witness to the will of the Reverend John Jones
(or perhaps Jonne), of Great Wenden was one William Churchman.4 Witnesses
to wills of a clergyman were usually from a cut above the farm labourer. In
1581, Henry Churcheman, a weaver of Great Wenden, made his will while 'sic
in bodye but of good and p[er]fect remembrance'. He requested
burial in the churchyard of St. Mary the Virgin; the building would have
looked much the same as now although the graveyard has been reorganized
(see cover picture). Although Henry lived in a 'tenement' (probably
rented), he also owned a few
freehold houses in his own right. If Agnes, his soon-to-be-widow, would
keep the freehold houses in repair, then their rents were hers for life.
Their son John would take over this property after Agnes died, provided
that he then paid a pound to each of his five sisters (Phyllis, Agnes,
Elizabeth, Amye and Marsye). If
John failed to pay them, then Henry’s brother William was to sell the
houses and divide the proceeds equally between the six children.
This branch of the Churchman family was ascending the social rungs: they owned multiple buildings and had income both by weaving
and from property rentals. Wills
are likely to identify only the reasonably well-off in the 16th
century. However, we hear about one poorer member of the family in the
will of Christian Westley (what finer Nonconformist name can there be?),
dated 7 December 1574. Among her many bequests, she gave sixpence to one
Edmund Churcheman, whom she describes as one of 'the poor folk in
Hempstead'. We know of no other members of the family at Hempstead, and
perhaps Edmund was a 'poor cousin'; another alternative, among
Nonconformist folk, was that he had been shunned. In any case, the legacy
would have been about half a day-labourer’s pay and, while doubtless
grateful for a good pub lunch, this could not have changed his fortunes. Wyllyam
Chyrcheman of Great Wenden signed his will on 10 October 1594.6
Since he was clearly an adult, and unmentioned in Henry Churcheman’s
will of 1581, we can infer that there were at least two branches of the
Churchman family before 1600. The writer consistently uses the letter 'y'
instead of 'i' in personal
names (e.g., Wyllyam’s son is spelled Rychard). Wyllyam’s
house was at the edge of the town, and his will describes it as being 'at
the turning end'. This appears to refer to the ends of the strips in an
open field, where the eight-oxen plough was turned around.
Other lands that Wyllyam held are described as half-an-acre at
Hassoke Well, three rods of land in Fox Hole, one rod in Delve Shot, one
rod abutting Littlebury Field, and one rod 'lying at overthwartlands
leading to Littlebury'. There is no finer description of scattered strips
in the communal fields of Great Wenden and Littlebury than in this will. Wyllyam
makes no mention of any living wife. His son, Rychard, inherited the
house. Wylyam left his
daughters a total of £9 (much more than left by Henry Churcheman, whose
gifts were counted in shillings). However, this money was to be paid from
the rental of another freehold house that Wyllyam owned. Thus, Wyllyam, on
his deathbed, did not have nine gold sovereigns in ready cash. In
1598, Robert Churchman of Takely held three acres of arable, one acre of
meadow, two acres of pasture, and three cottages. These he sold for £40.7
We do not know the family relationship between Robert and the rest of the
Churchmans; Takeley is about 10 miles from Great Wenden. The
Churchman wills go beyond the range of Dr. Emmison’s transcriptions in
the 17th century. On 31 October 1626, Thomas Churchman signed a will with
an extremely long, religious preamble, including an unusual commendation
of his wife (Joanne) to God. Joanne had borne five sons and two daughters.8
They lived at Bordeaux Farm, just to the west of Little Chesterford
(figure 4). In 1600, together with a partner Richard French (perhaps an
attorney or a mortgagee), Thomas had paid £100 to Richard Plommer for
this house, its garden, orchard, 40 acres of arable, 17 acres of meadow,
and four acres of pasture in Walden and Littlebury; Thomas Churchman was
now occupying a small estate, of almost petty-gentry standard. A
similarity in terminology suggests that this may have been the same as the
house occupied by Wyllyam Churchman in 1594: Thomas Churchman refers to
Bordeaux Farm as being 'in North End' (i.e. north of Littlebury), while
Wyllyam had used the term 'at the turning end'. There
are two Churchman wills for 1632. On 27 September, Nicholas Churchman of
Great Wenden dictated his will. His wife was named Mary. Nicholas uses the
Nonconformist term ‘Tabernacle’ in his religious preamble, and notes
that he is writing his will 'considerynge my great age'; evidently, he was
not ill. Describing himself as a 'husbandman', Nicholas held 7½ acres of
arable land in Littlebury and Great Wenden. The eldest son, another
Nicholas Churchman, was left 2½ acres in the open fields of Littlebury,
while Ezekiell, a younger son, got a house in Great Wenden with five acres
of arable. One daughter, Alyce, was left a freehold tenement and its
'close' (i.e., its garden or yard) in Great Wenden. The other daughter,
Mary got three acres of copyhold arable in the two fields called Foxholes
and Hassocks; these sound like an enlarged version of the open field
holdings owned by Wyllyam Chycheman, some 36 years earlier. Mary (his
wife) got most of the household goods. Two animals are mentioned: Ezekiell
got a horse and cart, while a colt was for the daughter Mary. Joan
Churchman, unusually a woman, signed the other will of 1632 on 8 October.9
Joan lived at the 'Northend in the parish of Walden', thus probably not
being Bordeaux Farm at the north end of Littlebury. She is probably Thomas
Churchman’s widow (see above). Joan left £90 in cash alone, as well as
a large number of possessions such as two beds and their bed clothes, a 'presse
cupboard' (for cheese-making), two pewter candlesticks and six pewter
plates. Her second son Robert, was forgiven a debt of £10, while the
third son, Richard, was excused from paying back £4.
Richard received a black cow, and was bequeathed that
quintessential north-west Essex property, 'one rood of saffron ground of
the first sett [i.e., of one year’s planting] which I do hold of John
Lord of West Leys in the parish of Walden' (i.e., evidently copyhold).
Francis Churchman, Joan’s fourth son (a tanner at Duckstreet in 1646)
was forgiven a £6 debt, and received another rood of saffron field, this
time held of John Pomfret of Stortford.
Joan’s youngest son John was left £6, the bed 'in the apple
chamber', and a black bullock. In spite of this wealth, Joan could only
mark her will with a cross. Three
principal Churchman family members died in the year that London burned.
Edward Churchman of Great Wenden signed his will 9 February 1666.10
He requested burial in the churchyard of Great Wenden, but this
does not necessarily conflict with a Nonconformist belief, because the
17th century Church of England had the monopoly on cemeteries. Edward was
a weaver, and left to his son (another Edward) 'twelve q. saies [rolls of
cloth] and also my working tooles belonging to my trade'. A younger son
Mathew was left an 'examining table' (used to inspect the lengths of cloth
before sealing for quality). Edward had purchased his house freehold from
a certain John Hockly some years before. His wife Phylix received a pound
and their marriage bed, about the same as he left to his daughter Sarah.
Mathew, not Phylix, got the house itself, and two younger children Amy and
John also had a pound each. In
1666, Richard Churchman of Walden had the distress of seeing the death of
his own son, of the same name, only to follow him a few months later.11
Richard Churchman junior died on or about 15 May, and his will is
nuncupertive, suggesting death due to an acute illness, or trauma. Richard
Churchman junior had £24 to bequeath, which went to his brother Robeard
[Robert], and his nieces and nephews when 21 years of age (figure 2). Richard
Churchman senior (will dated 7 December 1666) was a cordwainer (shoemaker)
in Saffron Walden. His house
was left to his surviving son Robert (i.e., the ‘Robeard’ of Richard
junior’s will). His widow (unnamed), a child (Anne), and five
grandchildren (all Robert’s), received £143 in total. The furniture was
divided between them, and Richard’s collection of four brass pots and
kettles, were each individually bequeathed. One intriguing additional
character emerges: it appears that Richard senior had another son John, to
whom he left £20 'if [he] shall come and demand the same in his owne
person'. Perhaps John had gone on great travels, and nothing had been
heard from him for a long time. Anne
Churchman of Wenden wrote her will on 30 April 1684, and is probably the
daughter of Richard Churchman senior, and sister of Richard Churchman
junior.12 Anne was now herself a widow, with three
grandchildren as her only surviving relatives: John, Mary and Elizabeth
Andrewes were all under 21 years old. Anne was evidently a competent
businesswoman. Some years earlier, she had bought a few pieces of copyhold
land and a tenement in Withersfield (about 10 miles south-east of Saffron
Walden). Perhaps that was how she had invested the £40 that her father
had left her. Another, unnamed daughter had died, but she was on good
terms with her son-in-law Ambrose Andrewes, to whom she left her
Withersfield property (and an exhortation to look after the grandchildren
well). Anne had £150 cash which was equally divided among the
grandchildren. Her possessions included a huge amount of linens and
textiles, two silver spoons, a gold ring, a collection of brass pots that
was larger than her father’s, six stools, a 'brass warming pan', a
copper, several pewter plates, several pewter dishes, a porringer, a press
(for cheese), a cupboard, and some beehives. These valuable objects are
shared between the grandchildren and friends outside the family. Anne is
also the first Churchman that we come across making a legacy to charity:
twenty shillings were for the poor of Great Wenden. Today, Anne’s grave
slab is the oldest legible memorial in Wendens Ambo parish church, and
Ambrose’s memorial is high on the wall above. The
last (and longest) will in the series is that of John Churchman, a baker
in Saffron Walden, dated 5 October 1704.13 His wife was named
Mary. After a century and a half, the family was still using the same few
forenames: his children were Robert, Mary, and Anne. John left twenty shillings to 'Mr William Paine, Minister of
the blessed Gospel & Pastor of the Church of Christ (in Waldon
aforesaid) of wch I am lately a member'. This is not the parish church,
which was (and is) dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin. Clearly,
Nonconformists had now achieved a certain measure of toleration. John
Churchman asks 'to be buried in the Yard belonging to the Meeting in this
Towne to wch Mr. Pain apptaineth desiring that my body be decently
interred w[i]thout any oration at the Grave as is usuall'. Here,
then is clear proof that the Walden branch of the Churchmans were Quakers,
and the length of this will (about twelve times that of Richard Churchman
junior) is partly due to the large amount of religious sentiment that it
expresses. John had married
twice; it is unclear which children were from which marriage. John left
his house, near the Saffron Walden Butter Market, to his eldest son
Robert, while land elsewhere within Walden parish was left to his widow.
His daughters Anne and Mary were to receive £50 each upon his widow’s
death. Somewhat suspiciously, John makes his son Robert guarantee these
payments, and authorizes his daughters to take back the house from Robert
if their brother failed to pay them.
John had a second freehold house (purchased of one John Wale) which
was the business premises, containing 'the tooles and implem[e]nts
belonging to my bakeing and maulting office'. However, John Churchman
still kept his hand in the old family business, possessing a 'Boulting
mill, Boulting cloth, Brine partitions screens, shovells, bushells…tooles
and Impl[e]m[e]nts', all of which are used for cloth-making, and were left
to his eldest son Robert. Bequeathed
luxury goods included a silver cup and spoon belonging to his first wife,
both marked 'R. S.', which is probably a clue to her name. The children
received about £60 in total, as well as various keepsakes, such as a gold
ring, or a silver spoon. The gold ring had an inscription: 'Goode neede
and bee a plead' (this phrase suggests that the ring was more than a
century old, and probably means something like 'One needs God, and one
should be a supplicant to him'. What
are the underlying trends in these documents ? Firstly,
during this century and a half, there is a pattern of gradually increasing
wealth in this family. Secondly, as time passes, and while still
associated with the cloth-making trade, the family’s professions
diversify into arable and livestock farming, shoemaking, saffron growing,
baking, and malting. Lastly, the Nonconformist sentiments become more
obvious with time; however, this may be due more to an evolving, more
liberal environment than to any increase in the family’s Nonconformist
persuasions. How
did it all turn out? Commonly,
families achieve prominence for three or four generations, but then
disappear either due to the lack of a male heir (hence the surname becomes
lost), or dispersal of the family assets, and descend again into the lower
classes. What happened to the
Churchmans of Walden? The most remarkable scion was John Churchman, born
about 1665 near Saffron Walden. His older relative, another John Churchman
of Greater Wenden, was a local leader among the Quakers, in whose house
meetings were held. John (the elder) was fined for Nonconformity, together
with Matthew Day of Newport, and Anthony Pennistone (Pennistone was the
Walden Meeting’s archivist, and his records are still in the Meeting
House at Saffron Walden). Furthermore, on 13 January 1661, John Churchman
the elder, with two relatives (Robert Churchman and George Churchman) was
arrested at a Meeting at Hadstock, and imprisoned in Colchester Castle for
a considerable time. Thus, when John Churchman the younger emigrated in
1682 on the ship Amity, it was possibly not only to seek his fortune in the colonies,
but also to live in an environment of religious freedom.
In any case, the Amity arrived in the Delaware estuary on 3 August 1682, and John
Churchman the younger quickly became a leading Quaker in Nottingham,
Pennsylvania. The
passengers on the Amity also
included Thomas and Sara Seary (Cerie) and their children Hannah, Richard,
Mary, and Miriam. Seary was a farrier, and died in 1683, shortly after his
arrival in America. In 1696, John Churchman married Hannah Seary, now 20
years old, at Philadelphia. They had ten children, and joined William Penn
in settling the 'Nottingham Lots' near Chester, PA, as well as
establishing the 'The Brick Meeting House' in Chester. This meeting house
is still in use today, and the 300th anniversary of William
Penn granting the Nottingham Lots to the Friends was celebrated there in
September 2001, with several of John’s and Hannah’s descendants in
attendance. Members
of the Churchman family migrated elsewhere in North America for various
reasons. Many could not swear an oath of allegiance, and Virginia did not
require this, while Pennsylvania did. Others were shunned in Pennsylvania
for various infractions, including marrying non-Quakers. Moving to North
Carolina / Eastern Tennessee, Texas, the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma),
Arkansas, Missouri, and Indiana, these Churchmans generally left the
Society of Friends for other Protestant churches. Three
of John Churchman’s ten children, John, Thomas, and William, also had
sons to carry on the family name. John Churchman (born 1705) was a
surveyor, and then became a famous Quaker minister whose travels in
America and England are chronicled in a published Journal. This
minister’s son George, born 1730, was also a land surveyor and many maps
of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware bear his name. George
Churchman’s son, John Churchman (born 1753) was a surveyor and
scientist. In 1790, his book, Variation Chart or Magnetic Atlas, and a Stereographic Projection of
Spheres, on a Plane of the First Magnetic Meridian, on a new plan,
claimed to solve the problem of longitude by using variations in the
earth’s magnetic field. His correspondence on this theory with Thomas
Jefferson, then Ambassador to France, is in the University of Virginia
Library, and he was elected to the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences
for this work. However, John Churchman was eventually expelled by the
Society of Friends for business irregularities, and he died during the
ocean crossing from England to America, in 1805. The
descendants of John Churchman the emigrant have maintained their
middle-class status in America. They include scientists, engineers,
teachers, businessmen, and doctors. In spite of losing his sight when aged
18 years, William H. Churchman (1818-82) founded the Indiana Institute for
the Education of the Blind in Indianapolis, retiring as its superintendent
in 1879. Vincent Tapp Churchman (1824-1872) graduated from Virginia
Military Institute, and became a prominent Virginian physician. Francis
McClintock Churchman (1833-91) was a noted banker; his beautiful home,
named 'Hillside', stands today just outside Indianapolis. Vincent T.
Churchman (1867-1941) was surgeon and President of the Churchman Eye and
Ear Hospital, Charleston, West Virginia. In 1999, a website for the
Churchman family was established. Listed are 956 persons with the
Churchman surname, and about 7200 descendants of John Churchman, the
emigrant from Saffron Walden, are known.14 Meanwhile,
many Churchmans stayed near Walden. In the 1700s, Robert Churchman was a
master baker and was an officer of the town corporation. Fortuitous
marriages into the Essex gentry were made, and Churchmans appear in the
18th century wills of the Ruggles family of Willingale Spain. In the 19th
century, Churchmans in Saffron Walden were also described as mealman or
cordwainer (shoe maker); whether this still counts as ‘middling sort’,
however, is debatable, because shoemakers were often as poor as common
labourers. However, other branches of the family did well: for example,
Sir Samuel Ruggles-Brise paid a substantial dowry for a female member of
the family. Today,
one business in Wendens Ambo bears the Churchman name. The local telephone
directory lists another twelve Churchmans. In Walden, Wenden and
Littlebury, whether they bear the Churchman name or not, there must be
many more, so far unidentified, descendants of this family of 16th century
weavers. NOTES 1.
The late Dr. F. G. Emmison’s volumes of Essex
Wills are an achievement in Elizabethan history unequalled in any
other English county; the volumes were published by the New England
Genealogical Society and the Essex Record Office (ERO). The wills referred
to are (Emmison volume/number): 1/690, 1/876, 2/713, 3/726, 4/567, 5/116,
5/695, 5/1051, 6/37, 6/878, 7/528, 8/518, 8/606, 10/182, 11/327, and
11/797. No. 7/528 is ERO D/ACW 3/268. No. 10/182 is ERO D/ABW9/158 (but see note 8 below).
ERO D/ABW 51/56, D/ACW 10/190, 11/275, and 17/225, D/ABR 8/61, and
11/372, and D/ACR 12/48 are Jacobean, Stuart or Queen Anne. The two fines
referred to are Vol. VI, 149, CP25(2)/138/1750 and 165, CP25(2)/139/1756:
the former provides the name of Robert Churchman’s wife, Rose. This was
an era when spelling was entirely phonetic; this family spelled their
names Churchman, Churcheman and Chyrcheman, or, rather, those to whom they
dictated their wills did. © Tony Fox
& Everett Churchman |
|
SAFFRON WALDEN HISTORICAL JOURNAL |