17.2 6xgreat grandparents John Wales & Mary Riches, widow

When my 5xgreat grandfather Aaron Wales was ‘examined’ by the poor law guardians of the Parish of Holt, Norfolk, on Boxing Day 1791, he claims that he was born at Harleston [Redenhall with Harleston] of lawful parents ‘under a certificate from Carlton’ (‘On the Parish’ by Jane Hales and edited by Susan Yaxley, 1994). His baptism did indeed take place in Harleston in 1769, where he is shown as son of John Wales and his wife Mary.

The ’certificate’ mentioned possibly relates to his or his parents’ settlement in Carlton [Carlton-Colville] at some point after his birth.

Carlton-Colville is “a parish in the hundred of Mutford and Lothingland, in the county of Suffolk, 3½ miles to the S.W. of Lowestoft, its post town, and 137 from London by rail, or 110 by road. It is pleasantly situated on a height near the sea-coast, on the S. side of the river Waveney, and is about 1½ miles from the Mutford station on the East Suffolk railway. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Norwich, value £345, in the patronage of W. Andrews, Esq. The church is dedicated to St. Peter, and is an ancient edifice with square embattled tower and south porch. …The old register was destroyed by fire, so that the earliest date is about 1715. The Wesleyans have a chapel in the village, and a National school was erected in 1843. Sir Samuel Morton Pete, Bart., is lord of the manor." Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)

In his examination, Aaron Wales also says that he was apprenticed in 1784 to John Riches of Holt by ‘the director and acting Guardians of the poor for the Hundred of Mutford and Lothingland’, which would suggest that Aaron Wales’ family had settled at Carlton-Colville near Lowestoft by then.

The Genealogist and FindMyPast both have a transcription from Boyd’s marriage index for his presumed parents John Wales and widow Mary Riches. The wedding took place at Mendham, Suffolk, on 12 June 1763, around six years before their son Aaron Wales was baptised. John Wales is described as ‘of Redenhall’ in the record. Unfortunately I have not been able to find a digital copy of the register online, so we have only various printed transcriptions to rely on.

A search for births/baptisms of the children of a John Wales and his wife Mary in or around Mendham or Redenhall with Harleston at FindMyPast and Ancestry reveals:

·       Ann Wales, d. of John and Mary, Thornham, 17 Jun 1764 (this couple had a son baptised in 1761 in Thornham, so have discounted them as prior to the 1763 marriage, and wrong parish).

·       Mary Wales, d. of John and Mary, Redenhall with Harleston, 25 Dec 1764

·       Samuel Wales, son of John and Mary, Redenhall with Harleston, 8 May 1767-8, born 8 March

·       Aaron Wales, son of John and Mary, Redenhall with Harleston, 9 Jul 1769

·       John Wales, son of John and Mary, Redenhall with Harleston, 28 Dec 1771

·       Susanna Wales, d. of John and Mary, Redenhall with Harleston, 7 Jul 1775

·       Thomas Wales, s. of John and Mary, Lowestoft, 9 Feb 1779 (buried Oct 1779)

There are also children baptised in Redenhall over the same time period, children of Peter and Elizabeth Wales, and James and Elizabeth Wales, possibly relatives of Aaron’s father John Wales.

Although the widowed Mary Riches seems to have been living in Mendham at the time of the marriage, the couple appear to have set up home in John Wales’ home parish of Redenhall with Harleston, two miles away over the Norfolk border. A much later directory shows that the two areas had merged by late Victorian times:

HARLESTON, Norfolk “is a market town on the borders of Suffolk, head of a county court district and polling-place for the Southern division of the county, and station on the Waveney Valley branch of the Great Eastern railway, chiefly in the parish of Redenhall, that part of the parish of Mendham which is in the town is now added to Redenhall for parochial purposes, and on the north bank of the river Waveney, 19 miles south of Norwich, 10 north-east from Diss and 99 from London, in Depwade union, Earsham hundred, rural deanery of Redenhall, archdeaconry of Norfolk and diocese of Norwich. The church of St. Mary situated, in Redenhall, about a mile from the town, was rebuilt by Thomas of Brotherton, Duke of Norfolk, and is a very handsome gothic edifice . . . The register dates from the year 1558." [Kelly's Directory for Cambridgeshire, Norfolk & Suffolk (1883) - Transcription copyright © E.C. “Paddy” Apling]

After the births of five of their children in Redenhall with Harleston, they seem to have moved to Carlton-Colville near Lowestoft, where their last child, Thomas, was baptised on 9 February 1779, and buried there that October. Aaron Wales would have been about nine years old at the time. It is possible that their previous parish of settlement was Carlton-Colville and that they were removed back there from Redenhall with Harleston after daughter Susanna was baptised in 1775.

NROCat (Norfolk Record Office) has an index entry for the settlement of John Wales, his wife Mary and daughter Mary (PD 295/110/305). This is dated 3 December 1764 at Redenhall and Harleston, their parish of residence, and records that their ‘certifying parish’ was Carlton-Colville. Their daughter Mary was baptised on 25 December 1764, so it may be that her birth prompted this record in the poor law register to ensure that she didn’t become chargeable to the parish of Harleston if her parents were unable to support her.

Mary Riches was a widow (w.) when she married John Wales in 1763 in Mendham. A search for a Mary marrying a Mr Riches before 1763 produces no obvious results. Her son Aaron Wales, b1769, was apprenticed to a John Riches, Patten-maker of Holt, in 1784 and it is possible that he was a relative of her first husband. However, there are no likely marriages of a Mr Riches to a Mary in Holt either, so her maiden name and origins are likely to remain a mystery for now.

A Mary Wales was buried at Lowestoft in November 1779, one month after the burial of her presumed son Thomas. Her age at death is given as 47 (transcript), which would indicate a birth year of around 1732. It would seem quite late for her to have given birth to Thomas, and may be a mis-reading of '41' (b1738). I have not found any records other than baptisms for Aaron Wales’ siblings born in Redenhall with Harleston; they may have died young or married (in Suffolk or Norfolk) or been apprenticed like their brother.

As Aaron Wales was apprenticed in 1784 by the guardians of the poor of Mutford and Lothing, it is likely that his father John Wales had also died by then. Unfortunately I have not found a likely burial record for him, and have no idea what his occupation might have been. Without Aaron Wales’ examination, we would have had very little information about his early life and parents at all.

For the sources mentioned in bold, see blogpost: MyRoots: Lesly's family history: Sources and resources: A quick view