19.2.8 Spelling Stoneys: The vicars (and other incumbents) of Kettlewell

The spelling of the surname of my Stoney ancestors from Kettlewell, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, changes over time, from the earliest available parish registers and transcripts online from 1600, to the 1800s. My earliest known ancestor in this line is Jonathan Stoney/Stona, my 7xgreat-grandfather, born around 1667 (baptism not found, but marriage of 1702 is online). 

I wondered if these name variations coincided with changes in those completing – or copying – the Parish Registers (vicars, curates, churchwardens). So who were they, and when? And how does that correlate with different spellings?

The earliest Stoney baptisms of interest for Kettlewell at FindMyPast are for the year 1600, as are the earliest burials. The Registers then suffer a gap until 1631 and again after 1639.

Between 1600-1608, the surname is mainly written (and transcribed in Bishops’ Transcripts) as:

·       Baptisms: Staney, Stoney

·       Burials: Staney, Stoney, Stanay

At this time, CCEd | Clergy of the Church of England Database (theclergydatabase.org.uk) shows that the incumbent at Kettlewell was Edmundus Thatham, appointed in 1594 but died in 1604.

The next vicar was Henricus Motley. He was Vicar of Kettlewell from March 1604, after Thatham’s death, until his own demise in 1632.

During this time, there is only one record of interest available: the marriage of Mark Strayker and Agnes Stanay in May 1631. The Bishop’s Transcript – the only online record – shows the vicar’s signature as Rich: Tenant Vicar.

He took over the living on Motley’s death in May 1632. The transcript presumably was therefore made after Motley’s death. 

One of the churchwardens at the time was Christopher Ripley, likely an ancestor of Elizabeth Ripley, born around 1678, who married Jonathan Stona in 1702 (my 7xgreat grandparents).

The ‘Stoney’ records in the Registers of Kettlewell (or transcripts thereof) next available online are baptisms from 1636-1639, marriages 1635-1636 and just one burial in 1636. In all of these, the surname is spelt Stanay.

Tenant was a Cambridge man (Conville and Caius) ordained in 1614. In 1619 he became Rector of nearby Burnsall. Five years later, he is granted dispensation by the King to hold the Vicarage of Kettlewell and Mediety of the Rectory of Burnsall on 4 May 1632, following Motley’s death. By 1637, the copies of the Register are signed by Thomas Motley, Curate (a relative of Henry, perhaps?) – but whether they were written contemporarily or much later is not clear.

The Registers suffer another gap between 1639 and 1662. The first records from 1662 for baptisms, marriages and burials all spell the surname Stanay. This persists until 1668, when ‘Stoney’ appears for the first time in this period, with the baptism of Martinus Stoney in 1675; the marriage of Elizabetha Stoney (to Robertus Ripley) in February 1669 and the burial of Richardus Stoney in the same year.

It is not clear from CCED: Browse Locations (theclergydatabase.org.uk) exactly when Tenant’s time at Kettlewell ended. It suggests that Thomas Motley held the vicarage of Kettlewell from 1670, but he signs the Bishop’s Transcripts of 1665 - 1669, supported by another Ripley churchwarden – this time Thomas, who may be the father of Elizabeth Ripley, baptised ten years later.

His designation here is ‘Minister’, rather than ‘curate’ of the 1630s, so perhaps he had still not yet been granted the living. 

The remaining available records (which also feature gaps in years) through the 1670s-1690s tend to use the spelling Stoney or Staney. The exception is the marriage license for Mary Stonah of Kettlewell to John Shackleton of Keighley in 1672, but this would not have been written by the Vicar, but by representatives of the Archbishop of York.

Baptisms at Kettlewell between 1702-1722 all use the name Stona (as do marriages 1702-1711 and burials 1702-1734). When Thomas Stoney married Frances Widdows in 1707, his name on the marriage license is Stona, while in Boyd’s marriage index it is shown as Stoney.

Between 1699-1741, the incumbent was Henricus (Henry) Birch. He signs the Bishop’s Transcripts during this period, including this, in 1719:

In 1741, John Currer was appointed Vicar of Kettlewell. An Oxford man (Brasenose) he was ordained in 1726, when he was appointed Curate of Kettlewell, so he had already been serving the parishioners of Kettlewell for fifteen years by the time he took over the living. He died in 1760, having served the parish for 34 years. The surname Stoney was used consistently on baptisms between 1743-1760, on marriages between 1743-1759 and burials 1741-1759. There were, however, occasions in 1755 when the name is written Stona:

• ·       The marriage of Mary Stona to Leonard Calvert (where the name is first written Stona, and then Stonay by her signature)
• ·       The burial of Jonathan Stona (also written Stone in one transcript)

John Currer signed the transcripts and put his name to marriages during this time, so the change in spelling is unexplained.

 

Following Currer’s death in September 1760, a new Vicar was appointed, who had a familiar name: William Tenant, possibly a relative of the earlier incumbent, Richard Tenant. He was Vicar until 1786, and the few records available during his incumbency mainly used the spelling Stoney, with one exception:

• ·       Baptism in 1776 of William natural son of Mary Stoney (in the register) and of Mary Stonah (Bishops’ Transcript) – my 3xgreat grandfather

It seems then that the variation in spelling of the surname Stoney is broadly related to the different styles of the vicars (and other incumbents) of the time and, probably, the fact that surnames did not become ‘standardised’ until well into the 19^th century, as literacy increased. In earlier centuries, names were often written as they were heard, and subject to variations in accents as much as anything.

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

19.2.7 Stona/Stoney family of Kettlewell; 7xgreat grandparents?

My presumed 6xgreat grandfather John Stoney was a Yeoman of Kettlewell with Starbotton in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He was baptised there in 1703, son of Jonathan Stona. From his will, written just before his death in 1771, we know that he had two brothers, James and Robert. In his will he says:

“...whereas by reason of the abovementioned devise of my freehold estate it may happen that my brothers Robert Stoney and James Stoney may come to be disturbed in the possession of the dwelling house that they now inhabit I do hereby declare that at the time of erecting thereof it was agreed between my said brothers that in consideration of the expense which they were at therein they should hold the same during their joint lives and the life of the longer liver of them quietly and without any form of claim from me or mine which said agreement I do hereby solemnly confirm ...”.

This suggests that the two brothers lived together in a different house to that bequeathed to his ‘dear wife’ Ann Pawson for the duration of her widowhood (and subsequently to pass to his son Jonathan Stoney).

North Yorkshire County Archive has documents catalogued as part of a collection relating to property conveyances and other transactions in the Manor of Kettlewell, purchased by William Bolland in the 1700s. This collection includes a conveyance of property bought from James Stoney in 1796: Conveyance (L & R) and assignment | The National Archives. This states: “Also Bellhead close and the woody grounds adjoining (12 ac.), two closes in the West Field, close called Mary Scar purchased by William Norton from James Stoney”. Was this the brother of John Stoney, disposing of property some twenty years after his death in 1771?

A search at FindMyPast for a marriage at Kettlewell or nearby within 10 years of 1703, when John Stona was baptised reveals two records, seemingly of the same marriage, but with a disparity between dates. The first, on a page of the Kettlewell Register with the heading ‘Marriages 1701’ says:

Jonathan Stona & Elizabeth Ripley married ye fifteen September 1702

The second, a Bishop’s Transcript headed ‘A true copy of our Registrs of our Parish of Kettlewell from March ye 25^th 1702 to March ye 25^th 1703 is as follows … Marriages’ places the marriage clearly in 1702:

The first entry is:

Imp: Jonathan Stona & Elizabeth Ripley married Septembr 15^th.

In the absence of any other records, it seems that my 7xgreat grandparents may have been Jonathan Stona and his wife Elizabeth Ripley, married two years into the 18^th century in Kettlewell, and ten months before the baptism of their eldest child, my 6xgreat grandfather John Stoney.

What other records can be found relating to this couple and their children?

A search at FindMyPast and Ancestry for baptisms (and burials) for children with the surname Stoney/Stona between 1702-1725, with father Jonathan Stona/Stoney, reveals the baptisms of ten children – and the burials of some of them:

1.       John son of Jonathan baptised 4 July 1703

2.       Elizabeth daughter of Jonathan baptised 16 September 1705

3.       Jonathan son of Jonathan baptised 6 June 1708

4.       Robert son of Jonathan baptised 19 August 1710

5.       Joseph son of Jonathan baptised 8 March 1712 (buried 24 September 1718)

6.       James son of Jonathan baptised 21 November 1715

7.       Margaret daughter of Jonathan, Yeoman, baptised 16 March 1717 (presumed dead <1718)

8.       Margaret daughter of Jonathan, Yeoman, baptised 30 March 1718 (buried 11 Oct 1718)

9.       Ann daughter of Jonathan, baptised 28 March 1720

10.   Mary daughter of Jonathan, baptised 31 Dec 1722

There are other Stona/Stoney menfolk baptising children at Kettlewell around the same time, who could be the brothers or cousins of Jonathan Stona. Austin/Augustin Stona/Stoney is recorded as the father on seven baptism records between 1702 and 1721. He was buried in 1733 as ‘Austin Stona of Kettlewell, Labourer’.

Thomas Stona is the father shown on five records, although some of these say ‘Thomas Stona Junior’. His daughter Isabel was buried in 1708, and his wife Isabel in 1709. Thomas Stona Junior was buried in 1710, his presumed father ‘Thomas Stona Yeoman’, in 1719.

Three baptisms show the father as John Stona (one of them as John Stona Junior). Judeth wife of John was buried in 1725. There is also a burial for John Stona in 1721, who may or may not be the husband of Judeth – as she isn’t shown as ‘widow’.

The surname is variously spelt Staney, Stannay, Stona, Stonah, Stonay, Stoney between 1600-1800, with some variations taking place as those completing or copying the Registers – vicars, curates, church wardens - changed.

I explore this - and point out the gaps in the Registers available - in this blogpost.

I have not found any marriage records for John Stoney’s brothers Robert and James, mentioned in his will. They appear to have died in 1781 (Robert) and 1805 (James), so both lived long lives. Apart from John Stoney, the only other sibling for whom I have found a marriage record is Mary Stona, who married Butcher Leonard Calvert in Kettlewell in 1755, and had three daughters with him before dying in 1766.

Intriguingly, there is an apprenticeship record for a Jonathan Stoney, possibly the brother of John Stoney, for 1725 (FMP) or 1730 (The Genealogist). He is shown as son of Jonathan Stoney of Kettlewell, and a premium of £20 was paid for his apprenticeship to Edward Anderson of Whitechapel, Middlesex, Attorney. He would have been between 17-22 at the time. He may not have relished being an Attorney in London; there is a burial record for Jonathan Stona, Yeoman, at Kettlewell, in 1754. These may be different people, but I have not found a likely burial record – or any other record – for Jonathan in London.

TNA Discovery has a catalogue record for the will of Edward Anderson, Gentleman of Whitechapel in 1765, some 40 years after he took on Jonathan Stoney as his apprentice. Potentially, this is the son of that Edward Anderson, Attorney. TNA also has a record of clerkship of Edward Anderson Junior to Edward Anderson Senior in 1743.

My 7xgreat grandparents Elizabeth Ripley and Jonathan Stona married in Kettlewell in 1702. I have not found a baptism record for Jonathan, so do not know who his parents were; there are records for Stoneys in the area going back to the mid-1600s, and at least one branch of the family (George Staney, who married in 1675 in Rilston) moved to Ireland in the 1680s, founding a dynasty there with some wealth and property, and not a little scandal. There is, however, no indication of where in this family Jonathan Stona/Stoney fits.

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There is a baptism record for an Elizabetha Ripley at FindMyPast. She was baptised on 3 November 1678, daughter of Thomas Ripley, at Kettlewell.

If this is the correct person, she would have been 24 years old when she married Jonathan Stona.

Interestingly, one of the Church Wardens who signs the copy of the Register is one Thomas Stoney, possibly a relative of Jonathan Stona (Uncle? Father?). Under the marriages listed on the same page is one for Thomas Stoney and Isabella Ripley, in February 1678.

A Thomas Ripley married Helen Heeles at Burnsall on 1 May 1665 – if these are Elizabeth Ripley’s parents, they had been married over ten years by the time she was born.

Other children of this couple (from a search at FMP) could be:

·       Robertus Ripley bapt 6 Jan 1667 Kettlewell son of Thoma

·       Robertus Ripley bapt 10 Sep 1669 Kettlewell son of Thoma

·       Allicia Ripley bapt 13 Apr 1675 Kettlewell daughter of Thoma

·       Willielmus Ripley bapt 23 Mar 1683 Kettlewell [no fathers given in this register]

·       Sarah Ripley bapt 14 Oct 1683 Kettlewell [no fathers given in this register]

An Elizabetha Ripley was buried at Kettlewell in 1683, but is not shown as ‘daughter of’, so may have been the wife of one of the other Ripley men baptising children around the same time as Thomas. There are gaps in the Registers / Transcripts available online so their details may be missing.

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

19.2.6 6xgreat grandparents John Stoney and Ann Pawson: early years?

Previous research shows that my (presumed) 6xgreat grandfather John Stoney married his second wife, Ann Pawson, in 1748 in Kettlewell, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. His first wife, Alice Stainforth, had died two years before, having given birth to four children, two of whom died in infancy. He married Alice in Burnsall in 1736, and was eligible to vote in the General Election of 1741 due to his owning property in Kettlewell, although at the time he was living at Grassington. He is described as ‘of Kettlewell’ at both his marriages, and seems to have lived or worked in nearby villages, including Burnsall, Grassington and Hartlinton Moorside. 

He wrote his will a few days before his death in April 1771, leaving everything to his only son Jonathan Stoney. To his five surviving unmarried daughters, he left a guinea each, and directed his son to allow Ann Pawson to continue living in his ‘dwelling house’ while she remained his widow.

But what of his origins? We know nothing of him before his first marriage in 1736, although from his will we know he had at least two brothers – Robert and James. He was likely to have been at least 21 years old at the time of that marriage, which would suggest a birth year of around 1715. A search at FindMyPast reveals no baptisms at that time in Kettlewell or nearby. There is one potential candidate in the Kettlewell Parish Register some years earlier:

John ye son of Jonathan Stona baptised July ye 4^th 1703

The original register is very faded, but the Bishop’s Transcript is clear:

The surname spelling is of course different, although when his son Jonathan was buried in 1807, his surname is also given as Stona, even though his will clearly shows it as Stoney. There are other Stona records in the late 1600s/early 1700s at Kettlewell at FindMyPast which I explore here.

If this is the correct baptism, then he would have been 33 when he married Alice Stainforth, and about 68 when he died in 1771. Did this Jonathan Stona/Stoney also have sons Robert and James?

FindMyPast has baptisms for James, son of Jonathan Stona, at Kettlewell in 1702 and another James in 1715, and for Robert, son of Jonathan Stona at Kettlewell in 1710. The first James Stona was buried at Kettlewell in 1710, a few months after Robert’s birth. Not conclusive, and more research is needed into these Stonas as there seem to be other families of the same name in Kettlewell around that time.

What of his second wife Ann Pawson? She was probably younger than John Stoney when they married in 1748; he would have been 45 at the time. She is recorded as a spinster in the marriage record; a search of FindMyPast for the baptism of an Ann Pawson at Kettlewell 20 years either side of 1710 reveals only two possibilities:

• ·       Ann & Alice daughters of William Pearson Junior Cordwainer baptised privately 3 April 1714
• ·       Anne daughter of Joseph Pawson Labourer baptised 5 February 1720

The Bishop’s Transcript of the second baptism above gives the father’s occupation as Labourer. I have not found burials for either of these girls as infants. If the second – which has the correct name – is for ‘our’ Anne Pawson, she would have been about 28 when she married John Stoney. There are no marriage records for a Joseph Pawson at Kettlewell. So her parentage for now remains a mystery.

There is a burial record for an Ann Stoney/Stona (transcripts vary) in Kettlewell in 1798, aged 78, which would match the baptism date of Anne Pawson, daughter of Joseph Pawson. She is described as ‘widow of John Stoney’. There is also, however, another burial for Ann Stona, widow of John, in Kettlewell in 1778. The records need more unpicking to determine which of these burials 20 years apart might be ‘our’ Ann.

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