John Cowtley and Mary Pateman

John Cowtley (b. 1670), bachelor, married Mary Pateman (bap. 20 Mar 1669 at St Dunstan's), spinster, daughter of Thomas and Mary Pateman, at the church of St James Duke's Place, Aldgate, City of London on 18 Nov 1691.

Apparently, this tiny little parish church was a very popular place to get wed during the 17th century. Some 40,000 marriages were recorded as having taken place here between 1644 and 1691. Described a "Aldgate’s own version of Gretna Green", it was famous for performing irregular marriages. It's clear that St Dunstan's, Stepney was their home parish, so it's perhaps reasonable to surmise that John and Mary's marriage in this parish was one of the irregular ones, for whatever intriguing reason (that the records don't explain). 

John and Mary had two daughters baptised at St Dunstan's:

1. Susanna Cowtley b. 24 Aug 1692, Susanna daughter of John Cowtley of Ratcliffe, Brewer's Servant and Mary bap. 28 Aug 1692 at St Dunstan, Stepney (at 4 days old)
2. Elizabeth Cowtley b. 3 Oct 1696, Elizabeth daughter of John Cowtly (sic) of White Horse Street, Labourer & Mary bap. 4 Oct 1696 at Saint Dunstan, Stepney (1 day old)

Found no further records of John or Mary Cowtley nor of their deaths.

Mary's parents, Thomas and Mary Pateman - the record of their marriage isn't available, so I don't know Mary's maiden name, nor when or where they were born, but they were the parents of seven children, all baptised at St Dunstan's, Stepney, during the reign of Charles II. This pair of my 9x great-grandparents lived through the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London.

1. Thomas Pateman bap. 20 Aug 1663 - Buried 19 Jan 1665
2. Elizabeth Pateman bap. 2 Sep 1666 - Buried 25 Jun 1668
3. Mary Pateman bap. 20 Mar 1669
4. Sara Pateman b. 18 Dec 1672, bap. 22 Dec 1672
5. Elizabeth Pateman bap. 2 Sep 1675
6. Thomas Pateman b. 4 Mar 1677, bap. 5 Mar 1677. Buried 4 Nov 1678
7. Susanna Pateman bap. 18 Jan 1680

The baptism of Thomas in 1663 says son of Thomas Pateman of White Horse Street, Porter; Elizabeth's baptism in 1666 again specifies daughter of Thomas Pateman, Porter of Ratcliff and Mary; Mary's baptism in 1669 also lists her father as Thomas Pateman, Porter and their address again as White Horse Street; Sara's baptism says she was 4 days old; Elizabeth's baptism in 1675, once more lists her father as Thomas Pateman, Porter of Ratcliff; The baptism of Thomas Pateman in 1677 tells us that the child, son of Thomas Pateman, Porter of Ratcliff, was 1 day old and finally, Susanna's baptism specifies her parents are Thomas Pateman, Porter of Ratcliff and Mary. 

The burials, also list them as children of Thomas Pateman and Mary.

Daughter Sara Pateman married David Dalgardno (sic) on 26 Nov 1704, at St Dunstan's, Stepney. They had a daughter, Mary Dalgarno, bap. 9 Sep 1705. The surname Dalgarno appears to come from Midlothian, Scotland.

Mary Pateman, wife of Thomas Pateman, Victualler of Cannon Street, Wapping, was buried on 9 May 1716, in the Parish of Stepney.

Richard Benbow and Elizabeth Cowtley

St Dunstan & All Saints, Stepney
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © John Salmon - geograph.org.uk/p/3477077
This beautiful church is often spoken of as the Mother Church of the East End. It is, of course, one of the 'Oranges and Lemons' churches, ("When will that be/ Said the bells of Stepney").

Richard Benbow, listed as 24, which would suggest birth year of 1690, of Ratt. (Ratcliff), Bricklayer, son of Richard Benbow and Grace Beer, married Elizabeth Cowtley (bap. 4 Oct 1696 at Saint Dunstan, Stepney), daughter of John Cowtley and Mary Pateman, on 18 Sep 1714 at St Dunstan's, Stepney. Elizabeth was said to be 21, but she was then a minor, at only 18.

A transcript of a London Apprenticeship Abstract lists that Richard - who would then have been the correct age of 15 - son of Richard Bendbow (sic), Stepney, Middlesex, bricklayer was apprenticed to William Mart, Grocers' Company (Worshipful Company of Grocers). Why he was apprenticed to a grocer when he clearly came back to bricklaying, we'll never know.

Less than six months after the wedding, on 4 Mar 1715, under Burials in the Parish of Stepney, was the burial of Richard Benbow, Ratc[liffe], Bricklayer.

Richard and Elizabeth's only child:

1. Elizabeth Benbow, b. Sunday, 15 Jul 1716 - posthumously - bap. 5 Aug 1716 at St Dunstan's, Stepney (at 21 days old), listed as Elizabeth [daughter] of Richard and Elizabeth Benbow, Ratt, Bricklayer.

I cannot [yet] say what happened to Elizabeth Benbow (née Cowtley) or whether perhaps she remarried. There are surprisingly too many records of Elizabeth Benbow to isolate the relevant ones without more clues.

Richard's brother, James, also listed as son of Richard and a Bricklayer, later left three houses to Richard's daughter, Elizabeth Travally, his niece. From this alone, I think 'bricklayer' in their context means a firm of builders doing quite nicely, rather than a bunch of jobbing brickies living hand to mouth.

It has been claimed that Richard Benbow's father was John Benbow even attributing a baptism on 7 Nov 1693, at St Paul's, Deptford - which was the baptism of the son of then Captain John Benbow. One very good reason not to accept the 1693 baptism is because that child (already the 2nd child the Admiral had named Richard), was buried in Jan 1694. 

A third Richard was born to Captain John and Martha Benbow in 1696. Still not unreasonable at the same age as Elizabeth Cowtley. If that had been relevant, it would have made the infamous Admiral my 8x Great-Grandfather. But, of course, it's not true. Whoever originally attributed that baptism for 'our' Richard was - as is so often the case - grabbing the nearest available record, just because. 

The above marriage of Richard and Elizabeth is even considered as being that of the Admiral's son in this biography of Bravebenbow and I can see why. When the Admiral's son John Benbow died in 1709, he left a legacy, amongst others, to his brother Richard, however, when the Admiral's widow died, in 1722, Richard was not mentioned, from which it could be assumed he had died between those dates, which entirely fits with 'our' Richard above. 

Having had misgivings that a bricklayer could be a son of an Admiral the crucial proofs are Richard's apprenticeship, which names his father as Richard and the fact that 'our' Richard's father was a Quaker. None of the baptisms would be the right ones, because Quakers don't practice baptism.

All that notwithstanding, clearly the Admiral was very keen to have a son named Richard for some reason, so we might assume this was a family name. The famous John Benbow was born in 1653; Richard Benbow Sr, Bricklayer, was born around 1659. At the very least they were contemporaries and we know that they lived within the same parish; Benbow is hardly a common name so there could still be a familial link and given the mere six year difference, it isn't inconceivable for John Benbow and Richard Benbow Sr to have been brothers - I just can't produce a record to prove it.