This post concerns the Gittins of Dawley (who are my relatives) and also Jane Darrell (who may be related to Kate 'Darrall' who made a previous post).
Here is a link to an article that I wrote for the Cinderloo1821 Committee who, last year, organized a commemoration of the 1821 Battle of Cinderloo: https://cinderloo1821.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/version-2-farmers-and-miners.pdf
From 1610, the article tracks the livelihoods of successive generations of Gittins who evolved from yeoman farmers, through paupers on parish relief, to miners and industrial workers.
Cornelius Gittins (from Dawley) married Jane Darrell (from Little Wenlock) in 1717. Cornelius and Jane were related to the Thomas Gittins who was shot and killed in the Battle of Cinderloo by the Shropshire Yeomanry. Ironically, Cornelius Gittins was a yeoman and also parish clerk.
Section 4 of my article provides an interesting snapshot of the lives of Cornelius and Jane after their marriage. When Cornelius died, a Thomas Darrell was both a creditor to Cornelius and also the administrator of his estate. Robert Darrell (son of Thomas) was the 3rd life on Cornelius's farm lease from Lord Craven.
--John
Kate
Hi there … very good to hear from you. It would be interesting to find out if we have a family connection going back 3 centuries or more. I will attempt to respond to that question in this message.
First, some context. I am living in the USA, and use Find My Past (FMP) for genealogical research. FMP has the parish registers for Little Wenlock (LW) which start in 1689. Apparently, the Bishop’s Transcripts for LW go back to 1638. I do not have access to those, and I suspect that you do not either. Perhaps, somebody reading this post could tell us how to access the LW Bishop’s Transcripts --- that would help us a lot.
Now, on to the fun stuff. My Jane Darrall (b. 1691) is from 2 generations earlier than your Jane (b. 1760). Here are the baptism details for the two of them:
My Jane: Robert Darrall and Mary ?? (no marriage record found)
- Jane b. 1691
- Elizabeth b. 1695
Mary died 1698, Robert married Ann Boycott 1712
- Richard b. 1713
- Robert b. 1715
- William b. 1718
Your Jane: Richard Darrall and Sarah Bayley m. 1757 Little Wenlock
- William b. 1759
- Jane b. 1760
- Sarah b. 1763
- Elizabeth b. 1771
Next, let’s take your Jane back another generation. I believe (tell me if this is wrong) her grandparents are Richard and Mary:
Richard Darrall and Mary Howle m. Jan 1718 Wellington
- Thomas b. 1719
- Mary b. 1721
- Elizabeth b. 1724
- Richard b. 1730
- Ann b. 1734
Richard Darrall (senior) was most likely born before 1697. As I expect you discovered, there is no baptism record for Richard senior anywhere near to LW. Since the LW Parish Registers only begin in 1689, if Richard was born in LW before 1689 (as he probably was) then there would be no record for him. (The Dawley Parish Registers begin 1666, and a Richard Darral was born there 1680 --- but he seems an unlikely match.)
It is a similar story with my Robert Darrall. He was likely born in LW, but too early for his baptism and marriage to be recorded in the surviving parish registers.
But there is a bit more to be said. There were not many Darrall families in LW around 1700 – I would estimate about 3 or 4. So your Richard senior is likely related to my Robert. In fact, it is just possible that Richard senior was born to my Robert and Mary before 1689 as the brother of my Jane.
I think that you and I do have a family connection, but we will not know for sure until we can look at the LW Bishop’s Transcripts.
Please let me know if you are aware of any errors in the above, or if you have any questions. Hopefully, somebody can help us with the Bishop’s Transcripts.
Best wishes, John
Hello John I have requested copies of The Bishops Transcripts for LW from The Shropshire FHS but have received no response. The postal service here has been in disarray but I will check to see if my cheque has been cashed and let you know Yes, Richard & Mary (nee Hawks) were my Janes’ grand parents You may be interested to know Darrells were a well connected aristocratic family going back to the Norman conquest. How did the name migrate to Shropshire?
Hello
The Bishop's Transcripts of Little Wenlock are at Hereford Record Office for 1638 then from 1660 to 1878 but there are many gaps.
Shropshire FHS have a transcript but only up to 1689 when the surviving original parish registers start.
With regard to your request for a copy of the Shropshire FHS transcript that has not been received so far but bear in mind that the post is not being delivered on some days at present.
Mike
Kate
I am interested by your illlustrious Darrell ancestors. Yesterday I read "The History of the Dayrells from William the Conqueror to Victoria" -- now available as an on-line Google Book. A fascinating account of your ancestors' involvement in many well-known historical events.
Referring to Michael Hulme's recent post on "Blist's Hill Markers", is the Daniel Dorral (who erected the marker for his wife Jane) in your family tree?
--John
, Glad you've discovered the Dayrell book....fascinating reading!
There are quite a few interesting characters in the tree:
Elizabeth Darrell: Lady in Waiting to Catherine of Aragon, first queen of Henry 8th and later the mistress of Thomas Wyatt, the poet and courtier. She features in the final Cromwell book by Hilary Mantel.
Littlecote Manor near Ramsbury, Wiltshire is a grand house set in a lovely valley. This was owned by the Darrells(descended from the Sessay branch) and was a favourite haunt of Henry 8th when he was courting Jane Seymour,his 3rd wife. The Seymours lived at Wolf Hall not too far from Littlecote. Her Grandmother was a Darrell from Littlecote and so it was natural for Jane to visit her relatives. Very convenient for the King to just happen to call by!
Jane gave birth to the future Edward 6th. When he became King at the early age of 9 he looked upon the Darrells with great favour and this was really the high point of their ambitions.
The fortunes of the family were seriously reduced when Mad William Darrell inherited Littlecote and spent a life of spending and debaurchry.
meanwhile the rest of the families just carried on as lords of their manors.
a some of the family went off to Bermuda and owned estates and slaves. (horrid)
It would appear my order and cheque have not arrived in Shrewsbury yet. Will investigate further
not sure about Dorral connection
Regards K
Mike thank you for monitoring my messages. As you've probably realised I am not expert in these matters but have just bumbled along all these years.
will investigate Hereford archive
Hope my letter addressed to Mrs Wilford arrives soon
Regards Kate
I have a Daniel Darrall in my tree; born 1797 so too young to be Jane’s husband. His parents were William & Mary and he had 9 siblings.
I have, perhaps foolishly, disregarded any references to surname Dorrel.
Hi Kate,
I looked for Daniel "Dorrel" too. As you say, he is not on your direct Darrall line. I think that he is a cousin to your ancestor William Darrall b. 1759 – but it is a bit confusing.
Daniel was born 1770. Daniel’s parents were Thomas Darrall & Hannah [Meachin], both from Little Wenlock (according to their original marriage record). I think that Thomas’s parents were your Richard Darrall & Mary [Hawks] and Thomas was baptized 31 Jan 1719. However, there is a FindMyPast index record for the death of that Thomas on 3 Feb 1719. Nevertheless, the original LW parish record shows the index to be erroneous. It was a completely unrelated person who died on 3 Feb 1719.
I had always thought that the mold for an iron casting was used many times over. But the casting for the grave marker Daniel erected was highly customized and the mold used only once. It is good to know the marker is part of the Blist’s Hill Museum collection.
Please let me know if you have any success with the Little Wenlock Bishop’s Transcripts.
--John
Your info about the Darralls is far superior to mine! You seem to use various online resources…….which would you recommend? I have only ever used Ancestry.com and the personal plod of going through microfiche in libraries/churches. Thank you for the lovely detail re the cast iron grave marker. Guess that is a sign of some monetary resources…..I have always surmised they were all very poor. Re the bishops transcripts I’m afraid my request has been lost in the post ???? Am currently away but will reinstate my request on our return towards the end of this month.
I used Ancestry until about 3 years ago when I switched to Find My Past. I switched because FMP had many more images of the original parish records than Ancestry.
As you will know, the original handwritten parish records are transcribed into indexes. When you search on Ancestry (or FMP) you are searching through those indexes. However, there may be more information on the original records than are captured in the indexes. So, when you have searched and found an index record of interest, it is helpful to be able to pull up an image with the original handwritten record to see if there is any additional information available.
Things may have changed over the past 3 years, and Ancestry may now have acquired more images of parish records. Also, FMP now allows you to search old newspapers and view images of their pages. Others on the forum may be able to give you a current comparison of Ancestry and Find My Past.
--John
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Hello John, your research is very thorough and ties up with my findings.My Jane Darrall was born in Little Wenlock, Nov 1760. Is this your Jane? I am descended from her brother William, born 1759. The wealth of Thomas Darrall is news to me…..I thought all my ancestors were sons of toil without wills and assets Kate Ps there was a Kelvin Gittens at my secondary school….any relative?