Ancestors of Mandy Willard

Thomas GIBSON (1710-?)

and Ann WENHAM (1716-?)

Thomas Gibson and Ann were my 6x Great Grandparents.  (Click here to see their place in my pedigree chart.)  I believe they married on 23 May 1734 in Ninfield, Sussex, as Thomas Gibson and Mary Wenham of Hooe.  I think her name was wrongly recorded.  Children of Thomas and Ann have been found from 1735, but no children for Thomas and Mary.

Thomas Gibson was baptised 9 July 1710 in Hooe, Sussex.  He was the son of 5 204 William Gibson (1672-1744) and 5 204 Mary Doust.  Thomas was a tenant of land at Brown Bread Street in Ashburnham from at least 1755 until at least 1780.  The same land was occupied by Mary Gibson in 1797.  Thomas was a farmer of Hooe when he bought Northlands at Brown Bread Street in 1752.  He sold that property to the Ashburnham estate in 1759 for £660, and this was probably the land he occupied as a tenant.

Ann Wenham may have been baptised on 20 January 1716/7 in Ninfield, and have been the daughter of Thomas Wenham (1688-?)and Elizabeth Kees (1690-?).  Ann did have a sister Mary Wenham baptised in December 1718, but she would only have been about 15½  at the time of the May 1734 marriage.  I can not be sure that Ann married to Thomas was one and the same as Mary Wenham.

I have checked the Hooe burial register from 1750 to 1812 and could not find burials for either Thomas or Ann.  Nor were they found in a transcript of the Ashburnham burial register from 1750 to 1784.

Thomas Gibson and Ann Wenham had 6 known children:

1. Mary Gibson was baptised on 6 January 1735/6 in Hooe.  A Mary Gibson of Dallington, aged 89 years, was buried in Ashburnham on 10 May 1825.

2. John Gibson was baptised on 14 September 1738 in Hooe.  He was buried in Hooe on 18 September 1738 and the burial register recorded that he was the son of Thomas and Ann.

3. Sarah Gibson was baptised on 10 February 1741/2 in Hooe.

4. Elizabeth Gibson was baptised on 20 February 1743/4 in Hooe.  Elizabeth married Thomas Comber by licence on 25 October 1767 in Ashburnham, Sussex.  They were both then of Ashburnham and Thomas was a bachelor and Elizabeth a spinster.  They were married by the vicar Charles Coldcall.  Thomas and Elizabeth both signed their names.  The witnesses to the marriage were William Colbran (marked) and Richard Butchers (signed).

5. Ann Gibson, my 5x Great Grandmother, was baptised on 10 September 1747 in Hooe.  She married Thomas Bourne in 1768.  (They have their own page.)

6. Lucy Gibson was baptised on 19 August 1750 in Hooe and buried there on 22 August 1750.

A Mary Wenham was baptised on 4 April 1713 in Pevensey, Sussex, the daughter of Richard Wenham and Mary Collier. 

Richard Wenham was baptised on 7 December 1690 in Pevensey and was the son of William Wenham and Mary.  He was buried on 9 July 1767 in Pevensey.

William Wenham married Mary sometime before or about 1685 - no possible marriage in the Sussex Family History Group's marriage index.  He may have been baptised on 30 September 1663 in Westham, Sussex and have been the son of Abraham Wenham.  He was probably buried on 15 December 1719.

Abraham Wenham married Mary Glazier on 1 March 1659/60 in Hollington.  At the time they were both of Bexhill, Sussex.  He was baptised on 28 July 1633 in Westham and was the son of John Wenham.

A John Weenam married Faintnot Browne on 25 July 1622 in Wilmington, Sussex.  Might they have been the parents of Abraham?

GIBSON          WENHAM