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The parish church of St. Michael the Archangel, Braintree, Saturday, 6 February, 2010 Photo available for reuse under this Creative Commons licence. |
Robert Hockley (b. ~1723) married Mary Watts (b. ~1727) at St. Michael the Archangel, Braintree, Essex on 17 Jul 1754. (There is a possibly relevant baptism of a Mary Watts on 23 Jul 1730 at Braintree, St. Michael the Archangel, the daughter of Thomas and Judith Watts).
This Robert and Mary Hockley brought up several children, all of whom were baptised at St Mary the Virgin, Great Dunmow:
- Robert Hockley bap. 20 Apr 1755
- Mary Hockley bap. 23 Oct 1757
- Daniel Hockley bap. 21 Jan 1760
- Elizabeth Hockley bap. 28 Dec 1763
- William Hockley bap. 16 Feb 1766
There's one further child attributed to this couple, Mary Hockley bap. 28 Jan 1770, also in Great Dunmow. Mary would have been 43, so it isn't impossible, but I don't believe anyone would name another child Mary in 1770, when Mary, born in 1757, was then still very much alive. The child baptised in 1770 is listed as being the child of Robert and Mary Hockley, but is this really their child? My feeling is that it's far more likely that daughter Mary gave birth to an illegitimate child at 13, with the grandparents baptising the child as their own to bring her up, given the real mother's extremely young age.
Robert Hockley was buried on 25 Oct 1796, aged 73 (which would suggest a year of birth of 1723). The burial record lists his occupation as Weaver.
Mary Hockley died allegedly aged 88 and was buried on 1 Jan 1815.
- Mary Hockley b. 1757 married William Lammas of the Parish of St. Mary Whitechapel at St Mary the Virgin, Great Dunmow on 13 Apr 1779. There are no records to substantiate this, either in Dunmow, or London, but I believe the William Lammas apprenticed to Robert Hockley, Tailor and Draper in 1799 could have been their son.
- Elizabeth Hockley b. 1763 married John Moss on 9 Apr 1782. They appear to have had a son William Moss bap. 20 Feb 1788.