Jottings on my Family History

John Curling and Mercy Long, married at St Lawrence Thanet 1693/4. Part 1 – Who was John Curling?

By LucyAnn Curling & Clive Boyce

Charles Cotton provides the basis for many of the family trees published on John and Mercy Curling and their descendants in The History and Antiquities of the Church and parish of St Laurence Thanet in the County of Kent, published 1895. The relevant part of Cotton’s record is:

…William Curling married in 1651 Ann Maxted who was living in 1660, by whom he had issue one son and two daughters; his Will is dated 1660, and proved in 1662 at Canterbury; of the daughters Elizabeth and Ann nothing is known, but the son John Curling married Mercy Long on the 17^th January, 1693, by whom he had eleven children. In 1713 he built North Chilton House, which, though modernised, and with wooden transoms and mullions is yet standing as the farm-house. The old house at Chilton ………..was called South Chilton House, it stood at the opposite corner of the road, diagonally, in the garden behind the present Chilton Tavern, and also belonged to the Curlings, some of whom continued to reside there until it was demolished at the commencement of the present century.

John Curling made his Will Feb. 27^th, 1720, which was proved in 1721 by Daniel his son, sole executor. Of his eleven children, six were daughters, of whom Mercy married George Osborne of Lidden, near Dover; Elizabeth married William Harnett of Spratling Street, in the parish of St. Laurence; Ann married Henry Belsey, of Coldred Walsingham; Mary married Peter Harnett, and Margaret married Capt. Martin Read; Jane died unmarried, before her father. Of the sons, John Curling married Elizabeth Kirby of Thanet; Daniel Curling appears to have succeeded his father at Chilton; Alexander Curling married Mary Rainier; Thomas Curling seems to have died unmarried; and William Curling married Ann Shepherdson.

The registers of many of the East Kent parishes are now available online via Findmypast and with the help of this very convenient facility we aim to confirm and perhaps extend Cotton’s findings.

Current Findings

The marriage of William Curling to Ann Maxted was on 27 September 1651 at St Lawrence (page 116 of the Composite Register for St Lawrence).

Cotton identified three children: Elizabeth, Anne and John and we can add their baptisms from the St Lawrence register:

Elizabeth 17 Jan 1653 90*

Ann 7 Jan 1653/4 176*

John 6 Mar 1658 181*

*page of Composite Parish Register form Findmypast.

It appears that there were at least two more children baptised at St Lawrence:

Mary 28 Aug 1656 179* see also Familysearch.

Sara 16 Oct 1660 184*

The name Sara is very indistinct in the Register but consistent with Sara as transcribed by Familysearch.

We can confirm that John Curling married Mercy Longe at St Lawrence 17 Jan 1693/4 (Composite Register, page 357): The marriage was by licence (ex Canterbury Marriage Licences which indicates that John Curling was a mariner aged 22 (ie born about 1671) and his bride, Mercy, was 21 (born about 1672). If John’s age is approximately correct then William cannot be his father as Cotton states. According to Cotton, William made his will in 1660 which was proved in 1662. William’s son John appears to have been baptised in 1658 which would make him 35 rather than 22 on marriage. Alternatively if his age is correct he would be born well after his putative father’s death.

Moreover we can rule out William Curling’s son John as the spouse of Mercy Long as he died as a child in 1665 and was buried at St Lawrence on 20 Nov. The Parish register (page 255) very clearly shows him as John son of William Curling. Familysearch has the burial of John on 20 Nov 1665, son of William (correct) but also as son of John (wrong).

There are two baptisms both at St Lawrence which fit the age on John Curling’s marrrriage licence:

28 Dec 1671 son of John and Anne

15 Aug 1669 son of George and Anne

Now the plot thickens: there is a marriage of Ann Curling widow of William Curling late of St Lawrence to John Curling of St Peter in Thanet, maltster, widower at St Alphege in Canterbury 19 June 1662, Robert Maxted of St Lawrence afsd bonds (ex Canterbury Marriage Licences). The reference to Robert Maxted is significant.

Familysearch has the marriage but not the bride’s christian name. The transcript of the St Alphege parish register (page 80) also has the bride’s christian name missing. The parish registers from Canterbury Cathedral Archives as on Findmypast seem to have only the transcript and not the original parish register.

There appear to be three children from this marriage: Daniel 1663, Jane 1665 and John 1671. The baptism for John on 28 Dec 1671 fits exactly with the birth year of John Curling who married Mercy Long.

We have established that Ann Maxted married William Curling in 1651 and we know William died about 1660 so it is very likely that she was the Ann Curling, widow of William Curling, who married John Curling in 1661. Ann Maxted was baptised at St Lawrence in 1633 daughter of Robert Maxted and she had a brother Robert baptised in 1632. It is likely that Robert Maxted who underwrote the marriage bond for her second marriage was either her father or her brother.

We know from the marriage licence of John Curling and Anne Curling that John was a widower so had been previously married so the next question is who was his previous wife.

There is a marriage of John Courlinge to Ann Gilberd at All Saints Birchington on 23 Aug 1656 (ex Joan Leary from the KFHS CD of Birchington marriages). Margaret Bolton writes: John Curling’s marriage to Ann Gilbert was recorded in the Birchington parish register as having taken place on 23rd August 1655. It would not have taken place in the church but at the residence of the local JP because this was the Commonwealth era and church marriage had been banned. The register has a list of local marriages which were appended unofficially.

Barbara Callcott has found the will of Richard Gilbert (1665) which refers to his loving sister Anne now the wife of the said John Curling, the date of the will is March 1665 almost three years after the marriage of John Curling to Ann Curling, widow so Ann Gilbert cannot have been the first wife of John Curling who married Ann Curling. There are other marriages to consider:

Ann Young 23 Jun 1645 at St Lawrence

Elizabeth Joad 12 Jun 1643 at St Lawrence

Jane Brett 18 Nov 1652 Birchington.

It seems that Cotton was fortuitously right stating that John’s mother was Anne Maxted but he was wrong in deducing John’s father was William and there is very little doubt that John Curling who married Mercy Long was son of John Curling of St Peter, Thanet, maltster, and Ann Maxted, widow of William Curling, and he was baptised on 28 Dec 1671 at St Lawrence. If this is true Cotton’s conclusions on the previous Curling line are wrong and the Curling ancestry is now an open question.

The children of John Curling and Mercy Long of St Laurence, Thanet, married 1693/4

John Curling married Mercy Longe at St Lawrence 17 Jan 1693/4 (confirmed in IGI see also Tyler Index to Parish Registers, 1538-1874 on Ancestry. Findmypast gives Canterbury Marriage Lic).

The History and Antiquities of the Church and parish of St Laurence Thanet in the County of Kent by Charles Cotton provides the basis for most of not all the family trees published on the descendants of John and Mercy Curling. Our aim here is to validate Cotton’s findings. The relevant part of Cotton’s record is:

William Curling married in 1651 Ann Maxted who was living in 1660, by whom he had issue one son and two daughters; his Will is dated 1660, and proved in 1662 at Canterbury; of the daughters Elizabeth and Ann nothing is known, but the son John Curling married Mercy Long on the 17^th January, 1693, by whom he had eleven children. In 1713 he built North Chilton House, which, though modernised, and with wooden transoms and mullions is yet standing as the farm-house.

The old house at Chilton of which we give an illustration taken from a very rare water-colour drawing was called South Chilton House, it stood at the opposite corner of the road, diagonally, in the garden behind the present Chilton Tavern, and also belonged to the Curlings, some of whom continued to reside there until it was demolished at the commencement of the present century.

Cotton refers to the will of John Curling made 27 Feb 1720 without indicating any of the content. In fact the will confirms John’s wife as Mercy and specifies his sons as Daniel, Alexander, Thomas, William and John and his daughters as Ann, Mary, Margaret, Mercy (wife of George Osborne) and Elizabeth (wife of Henry Harnett). John’s wife Mercy was to inherit the estate and at her death or on her remarriage her children Daniel, Alexander, Thomas were to inherit her late husband’s principal property at St Peters; William was to inherit other property in St Peters. Ann, Mary and Margaret were left £100 each. John, Mercy and Elizabeth received 20 shillings each. Daniel was sole executor and was to receive the residue after all the other bequests had been made. It is curious that the bequests were so unequal. Cotton does not refer at all to the will (A97 131) of Mercy Curling of Ramsgate, Thanet widow, dated Nov. 13, 1759 and proved 31 March 1765. This document provides an excellent starting point to validate the family of John and Mercy. In her will Mercy refers to:

my son John and his 4 children 20 shillings? each
my late son Daniel and his 4 children 20 Shillings each,
my late son Alexander and his 4 children 20 shillings each,
my late son Thomas and his 3 children,
my son William and his 7 children 20 shillings each,
my late daughter Elizabeth Harnett and
her daughter Mary married to William Stock, £5
her daughter Thomasine wife of John Maxted £5
her daughter Mercy married to Thomas Hollands £10
her daughters Ann Harnett and Dorothy £10,
her sons Peter, Henry and John £10.
my late daughter Ann Belsey and her 4 children,
my daughter Mary wife of Peter Harnett a pair of salts, her daughter Mercy another pair of salts,
my late daughter Margaret Read and her 3children £20 each,
my daughter Mercy Osborn share of the residue (with Mary Harnett).

The burial of Mercy Curling at St Lawrence was 14 March 1765 (Tyler Index).

The two wills substantiate most of Cotton’s conclusions regarding the family of John and Mercy. All those mentioned in the wills are covered by Cotton except for Jane who is not included in either will and presumably predeceased her parents (if she was a daughter at all which we have not been able to confirm). Mercy’s will shows that Thomas did in fact marry and had three children and John’s will is clear that his daughter Elizabeth married Henry Harnett and not William Harnett as Cotton claims.

Cotton gives little or no indication of the dates of birth (or baptism), marriage or death of the children. He does give a date of death of John and Mercy’s son Daniel “at the age of 45 in 1715”. This is clearly wrong as Daniel was born about 1700 and married in 1723. We believe the true date is 1745.

Familysearch provides baptisms for some of John and Mercy’s children at St Lawrence:

Mercy baptised 1 Feb 1695

John baptised 27 Jan 1696/7

Elizabeth baptised 4 Nov 1698

Daniel baptised 2 Nov 1700 Tyler had 2 Sep 1700

Margaret baptised 20 Mar 1711

The following birth/baptisms have not yet been found:

Alexander said to be born 1704 There is an IGI submitted bap 25 Jun 1704 St L but to John and Mary (possibly a mistake for Mercy).

William born ca 1715 (from age at death).

Ann baptism not found born1698?

Mary baptism 4 Nov 1698 (Tyler will transcript notes – NB this is the same as Elizabeth).

Thomas there is a submitted record on IGI baptised 3 Feb 1706 St L

Familysearch also provides some of the marriages which support Cotton’s findings:

Ann married Henry Belsey at Lydden 25 May 1723. Find mypast has just 1723 ex Canterbury Marriage Lic.

Mary married Peter Harnett at St Margaret Canterbury 04 Dec 1736. There is also a marriage of Mary Curling to Henry Harnett 04 Jul 1745 at Lydden to explain.

Margaret married Martin Read at Woodnesborough 18 Feb 1733

Alexander married Mary Rainer or Reinier St L 6 Jan 1725 IGI, Findmypast has ex Canterbury Marriage Licences

William married Ann Shepherdson Canterbury Cathedral 9 Nov 1738 ex IGI see also Canterbury Marriage Lic. Not absolutely sure this is the only possibilty.

Daniel married Elizabeth Pamfleet at St Peter 23 Apr 1723 Findmypast just has 1723 ex Canterbury Marriage Lic.

One of the marriages proposed by Cotton can be supported by indirect evidence

Mercy we know from John’s will that his daughter married an George Osborne. The marriage has not been found but the baptisms of Mercy Osborne’s children show he was George Osborne.

Two of the marriages that Cotton proposes that are wrong or in serious doubt:

Elizabeth Cotton concludes that she married William Harnett of Spratling Street, in the parish of St. Laurence. In fact she married Henry Harnett [Tyler note CML Henry Harnett of St. L ba & Eliz Curling same place spr at St. L. 16 June 1720] Findmypast has Canterbury ML 1720 and definitely to Henry. Moreover the children of Elizabeth and Henry Harnett agree with the those cited in Mercy’s will and there are no children for William and ELizabeth Harnett. There is a slight anomaly here as John made his will in Feb 1720 and refers to Elizabeth as wife of Henry Harnett – is this related to the year end change?

John we can find no marriage record for the marriage of John Curling to Elizabeth Kirby nor any children for this couple.

John Curling and Mercy Long, married at St Lawrence Thanet 1693/4. Part 1 – Who was John Curling?

The children of John Curling and Mercy Long of St Laurence, Thanet, married 1693/4

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