Ancestors of Mandy Willard

Joseph PETTITT (c1710-1773)

and Margaret KING (c1711-1803)

Joseph Petit and Margaret King were my 7x Great Grandparents.  (Click here to see their place in my pedigree chart.)  They married on  29 January 1733/4 at the parish church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Wadhurst, Sussex.

Joseph Pettitt’s date and place of birth/baptism are unknown, to me.  No possible baptism has been found in the East Sussex Record Office baptism index.  Joseph was a yeoman of Wadhurst.  His will was dated 25 February 1772 and proved on 9 November 1773.  I have checked the Wadhurst burial register and could not find his burial between the dates of him making his will and it's proving.  In his will he mentioned wife Margaret and their 3 children.  He appointed his wife and son Thomas as executors of his will.  At the time of his death he was living at Bosbridgehill Farm in Wadhurst.  He also then held Baldocks in Wadhurst which was occupied by Thomas Baldwin, a Blacksmiths Shop in Cousley Wood which had been occupied by John Ballard and land in Cousley Wood which he had recently purchased form Thomas Waterhouse.  (Click here to read my transcript of his will.)

Margaret King was born about 1711.  She died aged 92 years and was buried on 13 June 1803 in Wadhurst.  Her surname in the burial register was recorded as Pettit.  I have checked the East Sussex Record Office Baptism Index and there were no possible baptisms for Margaret.  The IGI records that a Margaret King was baptised on 10 February 1711 in Milton, Kent, the daughter of William King and Margaret.

Joseph Pettitt and Margaret King had 3 known children:

1. Elizabeth Pettitt, my 6x Great Grandmother, was baptised on 15 December 1734 in Wadhurst.  She married Robert Strickland in 1752 and they had 9 children.  (They have their own page.)

2. Thomas Petit was baptised on 16 January 1736/7 in Wadhurst.  He married Mary Markwick in 1764.  (They have their own page.)

3. Margaret Petitt was baptised on 25 November 1739 in Wadhurst.  She died before 1771.

   As Margaret Petit she married Fullagar Reed on 23 April 1761 in Wadhurst.  As a widower Fullagar married Jemima Wallis on 26 September 1771 in Wadhurst.

   Fullagar was a wheelwright.  He was buried on 28 November 1771 in Wadhurst.  The following was found in the A2A web site:

   "Deeds of four cottages on the north side of Cousley Wood Street, purchased by Emma Benge in 1908

   On 27 and 28 March 1751 Sharpe sold part of the property to Michael Monk of Wadhurst, cordwainer, for £30; it was described as ... Monk and his wife Sarah sold the property for £115 10s. to Fullagar Read of Wadhurst, wheelwright.  It was described as ... A messuage formerly an oasthouse with a new-erected end or building adjoinging with a garden, close or yard (1/4 a) occupied by Monk and Christopher Russell; the house with the well now belonged to Joseph Sharpe's widow.  A messuage, formerly an oasthouse, with the newly-ereted end or building adjoining it, with a garden, close or yard (1/4 a) at Cousley Wood (S: road through Cousley Wood to Lamberhurst Down: W: land of William James; N.E: land of Matthew Boorman), occupied by Jemima Read and Thomas Barham, before Michael Monk and Christopher Russell, with the right to draw water at the draw-well of the messuage of Matthew Boorman, before Joseph Sharpe.

   On 24 and 25 June 1793 Thomas Pettit the elder of Wadhurst, yeoman, sold the property for £95 to Thomas Barham of Wadhurst, wheelwright, who had married Jemima, Fullagar Read's widow, at Wadhurst on 4 January 1792.  On 26 June Thomas and Jemima Barham mortgaged the property for £100 at 5% to Edward Hilder of Burwash, miller.  Jemima was buried at Wadhurst on 22 July 1796 and Thomas Barham (who had been baptised at Wadhurst on 18 October 1748, the eldest son of Nicholas Barham and Elizabeth Greagsby), was buried there on 26 November 1808.

   By 1822 the property had descended to Thomas Barham's nephew Nicholas Barham of Wadhurst, wheelwright, the eldest son of his brother Nicholas Barham (d.1807), baptised at Wadhurst on 17 May 1785.  On 1 June 1822 Barham agreed to sell the property to John Tompsett of Wadhurst, farmer, at a price to be settled by Robert Willsher, Thomas Parker (replaced by George Bond) and Jeffery Austen.  In July and August 1822 detailed pedigrees of the Read and Barham families were prepared, copies of register-entries obtained and an affidavit in support made by Thomas Barham's youngest sister Ruth Damper, then a widow, of 12 Jubilee Street, Brighton.  On 27 August 1822 letters of administration of the estate were granted to his son Joseph Read of Salehurst.

   On 31 August 1822 Nicholas Barham and his wife Elizabeth were joined by the mortgagee Edward Hilder of Burwash, farmer, to convey to John Tompsett and his trustee John Baldock of Burwash, gent, for £200, of which £110 18s. was paid to Hilder ther mortgagee.

   The property now consisted of four messuages, occupied by Nicholas Barham, Thomas Baldock, James Woodgate and Thomas Stapley; [blank] Crosley's land lay to the west, and Alfred Boorman's to the north and east."

   Fullagar's widow Jemima went on to have a relationship with his first wife's brother!  She then married Thomas Barham.

   Fullagar and Margaret had 3 known children:

   1. Joseph Reed was baptised on 5 February 1762 in Wadhurst.  He was mentioned in his Grandfather's will of 1772.  He married Frances Martin by banns on 12 April 1784 in Ticehurst.  He was then a carpenter and wheelwright and she was a mantua-maker.  They were both of Ticehurst.  The witnesses to the marriage were John Squire, Margaret Stickland, Sophia Bethells and Jane Turner.

      Joseph and Frances had 2 known children:

      1. Thomas Reed was baptised on 28 August 1785 in Ticehurst.  He may have married Mary White by licence on 15 April 1806 in Etchingham.  Their marriage licence was dated 9 April 1806 and issued by the Archdeaconry of Lewes.  He was then a bachelor of Salehurst aged 21 and upwards and she was a minor aged 20 and upwards of Etchingham.  Mary married with the concent of her guardian Pierce Harris of Etchingham.

      2. Fanny Reed was baptised on 28 March 1787 in Ticehurst.

      Joseph may have married for a second time by licence dated 1 January 1816, to Emma Mepham.  He was then described as a widower aged 52 and upwards and she was a widow aged 48 and upwards and they were both of Salehurst.  Surety for the licence was provided by Joseph himself and John Ellis a farmer of Salehurst.

   2. Margaret Reed was baptised on 10 January 1764 in Wadhurst.  She was mentioned in her Grandfather's will of 1772.  Margaret married John Stickland on 21 February 1781 in Ticehurst.  John and Margaret were cousins.  He was the son of Robert Stickland and Elizabeth Petit.

   3. Samuel Reed was mentioned in his Grandfather's will of 1772, but I could not find his baptism in the Wadhurst registers.

KING          PETTITT