Sunday, 30 March 2025

Richard Wilton and Mary Robinson

St Mary, Sawston - East end
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © John Salmon - geograph.org.uk/p/4970953

Richard Wilton (b. 1737), son of Henry Wilton and Martha Douse, married Mary Robinson on 30 Mar 1762 in Sawston, Cambridgeshire, where there are records of Wiltons, going back to the early 1600s, still to research. 

Richard & Mary had four children, all baptised at St Mary's Church, Sawston.

  1. Elizabeth Wilton bap. 4 Jul 1762
  2. Henry Wilton bap. 30 Oct 1768
  3. Stephen Wilton bap. 25 Dec 1777
  4. Hannah Wilton bap. 7 Jun 1779 (buried 17 Aug 1779)
They also had a daughter, Martha Wilton (for whom I found no baptism record), who I only know exists because Henry Wilton (b. 1868) mentioned her as his sister, Martha Root (Martha Wilton, who had married John Root, on 25 Jan 1791 in Sawston, Cambridgeshire) in his Will in 1839. 

Mary Wilton, wife of Richard, died and was buried on 10 Apr 1780.

Richard Wilton, Widower, was buried in Sawston, Cambridgeshire, in 1797.

Sawston, Cambridgeshire is notable as one of the very few industrial villages in the county that take advantage of the clean water supply, one of the principle industries being leather. There are two sites in Sawston which support or have formerly supported Tanning facilities and there may have been leather-workers in the parish in the Middle Ages. This very likely explains why Henry Wilton (1768) and his nephew, Henry Wilton (1809) became saddlers and my 3rd great-grandfather, Richard Wilton, a harness maker.

The River Cam (or Granta) near Sawston
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © John Sutton - geograph.org.uk/p/2860358

John Cook and Sarah Burdett

Broughton church, Saturday, 9 August, 2014
Photo available for reuse under this Creative Commons licence.

John Cook (bap. 25 Apr 1742 at All Saints’ Church, Pytchley), son of William and Mary Cook, married Sarah Burdett (bap. 21 May 1744 at St Andrew's Church, Broughton), daughter of Henry Burdett and Mary Baker, at St Andrew's Church, Broughton on 30 Mar 1772.

John and Sarah Cook appear to have had seven children:
  1. Mary Cook bap. 11 Oct 1772 at St Andrew's Church, Broughton
  2. William Cook bap. 2 Aug 1773 at All Saints’ Church, Pytchley
  3. Elizabeth Cook bap. 24 Jan 1775 at All Saints’ Church, Pytchley
  4. John Cook bap. 16 May 1776 [1]. Buried 9 Jan 1777, in Pytchley
  5. Sarah Cook b. ~1779. Buried 16 Aug 1779, in Pytchley [2]
  6. John Cook bap. 26 Dec 1781 at All Saints’ Church, Pytchley
  7. Sarah Cook b. ~1783 in Pytchley, Northamptonshire [3]
[1] Yet to see baptism record for John Cook in 1776.
[2] Allegedly, church records state 1780. Transcript at FMP says 1779.
[3] Yet to see baptism record for Sarah Cook in 1783.

John Cook died on 26 Aug 1813, aged 70-71, in Pytchley, Northamptonshire and was buried, on 29 Aug 1813 in All Saints Churchyard, Pytchley. It is clear from the fact that there's a headstone, that he must have been a cut above the average labourer. Listed in the Northamptonshire And Rutland Probate Index, John Cook's will lists his occupation as a farmer.