23.1 5xgreat grandparents John Windebank & Anne Ewen, Hampshire

 My 3xgreat grandfather David Windebank was baptised in Basildon, Berkshire, in 1827, son of Jeremiah Windebank and his wife Eleanor. A Jeremiah Windebank, with wife Eleanor, appears at Basildon Park, Berkshire, in the 1841 census and again in 1851. He was a publican and gamekeeper, and I have traced his career particularly through newspapers at FindMyPast.

In the 1841-1851 censuses, his year of birth varies from 1782 to 1786; his death certificate suggests a birth year of 1782. There is a baptism transcript for a ‘J son of Jno and Ann Windebank’ in Empshott on 16 August 1780, at FindMyPast; the same record transcribed at FreeREG has the first name as Jeremiah. Assuming that he was born in the same year, this would fit with his age at death of 74 years (actually closer to 75).

His parents (and my 5xgreat grandparents) therefore seem to be John Windebank and his wife Ann who at least at the time of their son’s birth were living in Empshott, Hampshire.

A search for potential baptisms of the siblings of Jeremiah Windebank around 1780 in Emsphott (ie with father’s name John Windebank and mother’s name Ann/e) finds the following four results at FindMyPast:

• ·       Jemima Windebank baptised 19 August 1771 (Father John, Mother Anne)
• ·       Hannah Windebank baptised 21 Mar 1774 (Father John, Mother Ann)
• ·       J. Windebank baptised 16 August 1780 (Father John, Mother Anne)
• ·       John Windebank baptised 17 October 1784 (Father John, Mother Anne).

Ancestry has another family tree for what appears to be the same couple, which includes another daughter, Charlotte, baptised at Empshott on 1 January 1770, derived from the Hampshire Genealogical Society baptism CD. There is also a record in Ancestry’s 1851 census for a Benjamin Windebank, born at Empshott in 1777, although I have not found a corresponding baptism record for him.

A similar search at FreeReg and FamilySearch do not add any further baptisms or information. Unfortunately, there are no images attached to these records, they are transcriptions only.

So far, this would suggest that John Windebank married Ann before 1770, possibly in or near Empshott.

The only marriage found (FamilySearch) for a marriage of a John Windebank to an Ann/e between 1760-1770 in/near Empshott reveals only one result:

John Windebank married Anne Ewen at Hawkley, Hampshire on 19 September 1762

(Another transcription at FamilySearch suggests the marriage took place on 20 September that year. 20 September was a Monday which is less likely, as most working people did not have days other than Sundays off work). Hawkley is under 2 miles from Empshott, so perhaps was Anne Ewen’s home parish, so they married there. But what of the gap between this marriage and the first potential birth of daughter Charlotte Windebank at Emphott in 1770?

There are the following potential baptisms of a John and Ann Windebank at FamilySearch in Hawkley which may be children of the same John Windebank and Anne Ewen:

• ·       Mary Windebank baptised 27 October 1762
• ·       John Windebank baptised 30 November 1763
• ·       James Windebank baptised 27 December 1765
• ·       Anne Windebank baptised 20 August 1767

There is also a burial for Charlotte Windebank, born around 1769, on 14 February 1788, daughter of John Windebank, at Hawkley.

There are no baptisms at Hawkley or Empshott, children of John and Ann/e, before 1762, which would suggest that these are all children of the John Windebank and Anne Ewen who married at Hawkley a month before the baptism of their first known child Mary in October 1762, and presumably moved to – or preferred to baptise their children at – Empshott after 1767. They would appear to have had nine children in all; my 4xgreat grandfather Jeremiah Windebank was their eighth child.

FindAGrave has an image of a headstone for Ann Wife of John Windebank at Hawkley, inscribed:

Sacred to the Memory of Ann wife of John Windebank who departed this life February 10 1822 aged 77yrs.

There is a further inscription at the bottom of the gravestone which is illegible. As she is described as ‘the wife of’, John Windebank is likely to have still been alive at this point.

I have not found a baptism record for Anne Ewen/Ewin around 1745, her likely birth year if she were 77 when she was buried in 1822.

This would mean that she was about 17-18 years old when she married John Windebank and gave birth to their first child shortly after, about 39-40 when my 4xgreat grandfather was born in 1780 and about 44 at the birth of their last know child, son John in 1784.

I have not found a likely baptism for John Windebank around 1740-45 – assuming he was roughly the same age as his wife, nor have I found a burial for him after 1822, although there is a handful of burials for John Windebank in the 1780s-1790s. So for now, both of these 5xgreat grandparents remain brickwalls and, largely, the facts here are unverified.

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