Ancestors of Mandy Willard

Thomas LILLYOT (c1705-1765)

and Bridget PURVEY (1709-1778)

Thomas Lillyot and Bridget Purvey were my 6x Great Grandparents.  (Click here to see their place in my pedigree chart.)  They married on 10 April 1733 in Woodmancote, Sussex.  They were the 2nd of 8 couples to have married in Woodmancote in that year.  There had been 3 marriages there in the previous year and 2 in the following year.

Thomas Lillyot's date and place of birth are unknown, but possibly about 1705 in Shermanbury.  I believe he was the son of William Lilliot (c1660-1736) and Mary Copper (?-1748) who had married in 1688.  William left a will in 1734 in which he mentioned 5 sons and 2 daughters.  Baptisms for 4 of the sons and 1 daughter have been identified between 1688 and 1703.  Thomas was buried on 13 September 1765 in Woodmancote, by the name of Thomas Lelliott.

Bridget Purvey was baptised on 24 January 1708/9 in Bolney, Sussex.  She was the daughter of Henry Purvey (1665-1711) and Bridget Sherley (1668-1745).  She was buried on 20 December 1778 in Woodmancote, by the name of Bridget Lellyett.

Bridget's elder sister, Sarah Purvey, was also my 6x Great Grandmother.  Sarah married Richard Hoadley in 1732.  Richard died in 1742 and Sarah in 1743, leaving 3 or 4 children aged from 2 to 5 or 7.  Two of those children married in Twinham, the other in Henfield.  Might Thomas and Bridget taken in Richard and Sarah's children?

Thomas Lillyot and Bridget Purvey had 7 known children:

1. Thomas Lillyot was baptised on 24 November 1734 in Woodmancote.  The parish register records that he was baptised privately as “the child as was pretended being sick”.

2. John Lillyot was baptised on 30 January 1736/7 in Woodmancote.  He married Ann Thorpe in 1763.  (They have their own page.)

3. Richard Lellyot was baptised on 16 November 1740 in Woodmancote.    He may have been buried on 14 April 1743 in Woodmancote, but the burial register just records that a child of Thomas Lillyott was buried.

4. Mary Lillyot was baptised on 12 June 1743 in Woodmancote.  Her parents names were not recorded in the baptism register, so she many not have been the daughter of Thomas and Bridget, but they would seem to be the only Lelliott couple in Woodmancote at the time.

5. James Lillyott was baptised on 2 April 1745 in Woodmancote.  He married Sarah Bishop in 1771.  (They have their own page.)

6. Samuel Lillyott, my 5x Great Grandfather, was baptised on 3 April 1848 in Woodmancote.  He married Elizabeth Sergeant in 1770.  (They have their own page.)

7. Charles Lillyott was baptised on 7 April 1751 in Woodmancote.  He was baptised as the son of “Goodman Lillyott”.  Several fathers were named as “Goodman” in the Woodmancote registers and given that Thomas and Bridget would seem to be the only Lelliott’s in Woodmancote, I believe Charles was their son.

Between 1725 and 1755 the Rector of Woodmancote was James Barker.  He very helpfully added a few notes to some entries in the parish registers, especially if someone was from the hamlet of Blackstone.  As for the above Lelliott family, the only note was about the baptism of their first child - no clues as to where they may have lived or Thomas's occupation.  This could mean that they were not living in Blackstone and Thomas was probably a Farm Labourer.

I wonder how Thomas and Bridget came to be married and settle in Woodmancote?  He was most likely to have been born in the neighbouring parish of Shermanbury and she was from Bolney, which is to the north of Woodmancote with Twineham in between.  They were both younger children of large families (Bridget the eighth and last child and Thomas either the eighth or nineth child of nine).  Bridget would have been 24 years old when she married and presumably she had been living in Woodmancote beforehand - might she have been a servant in one of the larger households?  Thomas was about 26 to 28 years old when he married - might he have been a farm servant in the same household as Bridget?  And after their marriage, where did they live?

Number of entries in the Woodmancote registers between 1725-55:

LELLIOTT          PURVEY