Distillation of HALL enquiries in Huntongdonshire

Given the research/findings of two searches at the Cambridge Archives (Huntingdonshire now being a part of Cambridgeshire), I've tried to put things together here.

My search continues for my earliest known ancestor Edward Hall, who lived in Fenstanton, Huntingdonshire and was buried there. His expected birth date (abt 1760) is based on his burial in 1839 at a given age of 79 years. We also know he was married to Mary (unknown surname), presumably about 1790 as they had a daughter Elizabeth abt 1791 and their first child baptized in Fenstanton was William (my ancestor) in 1794.

The search has included several searches for an Edward HALL in Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire, born in the period around 1760. Records checked include IGI, and having the following parish registers searched in Huntingdonshire: Godmanchester, Houghton and Wyton, Hilton, Hemingford Grey, Hemingford Abbots and Holywell cum Needingworth, St. Ives – these are the parishes that surround Fenstanton. As Fenstanton is close to the county of Cambridgeshire, the following parishes were also checked: Fen Drayton, Swavesey, Papworth Agnes, and Papworth Everard.

Two births for an Edward Hall were found in these areas.

One in 1764 in Hemingford Abbots:
30th Dec 1764, Edward Hall son of William and Margaret.

One in St Ives in 1769:
22nd Feb 1769, Edward Hall son of Edward and Hannah (born 23 Jan 1769).

Hemingford Abbots is closer to Fenstanton, and 1764 is much closer to the date of birth expected for Edward Hall. Supporting this is that a marriage record for the Edward of St Ive’s was found: 28 Apr 1762 HALL, Edward (bac) to CORBET, Hannah (sp), BOTP (both of the parish). Witnesses: John Newman, Jos. Eversden. Edward and Hannah also baptized several other children in the parish of St. Ives: Hannah (1763), Henry (1764), Mary (1766), William (1771), Ellen (1774) and Thomas (1777).

This evidence all points to Edward Hall of Hemington Abbots being the correct one.

Births in Hemingford Abbotts
28th Mar 1761 William Hall son of William and Margaret
28th Nov 1762 Thomas Hall son of William and Margaret
30th Dec 1764 Edward Hall son of William and Margaret
14th Dec 1766 John Hall son of William and Margaret
19th Feb 1769 Hannah Hall daughter of William and Margaret

Edward Hall is bolded above, the middle of five children baptized in the parish to William and Margaret.

Marriage of parents: 1760 William Hall m. Margaret Trice at St Ives.

One way to confirm this is the correct Edward Hall is to assess whether an alternative Edward Hall marriage or death occurred in the parish.

The following burials recorded in the parish of Hemingford Abbotts:
20 Apr 1795 Hall, John, son of Margaret and William
10 Dec 1804 Hall, William, aged 77
30 Jun 1815 Hall, Margaret, aged 87

No related marriages were recorded in Hemingford Abbots. William and Margaret were clearly the parents of Edward and his siblings, and John died in 1795, aged abt 29.

William Hall (abt 1727 - 1804) was clearly well known in the district as the records for the parish of Hemingford Grey note:

8 Dec 1804 Old William Hall died

No other burials or marriages were recorded for the family in Hemingford Grey.

The Huntingdonshire Marriage Index (1754 – 1836) was checked to see whether there was any record of William and Margaret’s other children marrying.

1786 Hall, Thomas of Hemingford Abbots to Warboys, Sarah at St. Ives
1787 Hall, William of Hemingford Abbots to Austin, Hannah at Hunt All Saints/St. John

The marriages of several Hannah Halls were mentioned but none in Hilton or the Hemingfords. Hannah Halls were married in Woodwalton in 1788 and in St. Ives in 1793 and 1796.

So all four sons of William HALL and Margaret nee TRICE are accounted for, though Hannah’s fate is less clear.

What of their father William HALL? Given that William Hall died in 1804 aged 77, he was born about 1727. The Hemingford Abbots registers reveal the following baptisms and marriages:

Marriage:
William HALL to Jane Randall 11 Nov 1717 at Hemingford Abbots
Baptism:
2 Nov 1718 Susana Hall, daughter of William and Jane at Hemingford Abbots
20 Jan 1720 William Hall, son of William and Jane at Hemingford Abbots
14 Apr 1723 William Hall, son of William and Jane at Hemingford Abbots

Marriage:
?
Baptism:
18 Aug 1726 William, son of William and Mary at Hemingford Abbots

So William HALL senior married to Jane RANDALL, and they had three children – Susana, William and William. It appears that the two William’s died, as in 1726 William had another child with Mary, a son William baptized on 18 Aug 1726, which fits perfectly with the expected date of William born abt 1727. Several marriages of William Hall a Mary in the period 1723-1726 exist in Huntingdonshire, but burials records for Jane Hall nee Randall should help narrow this period.

I have to fill out some of these records by contacting the Huntingdonshire Records again – I may be able to learn the occupations of Edward (1764-1839), William (1726-1804) and William (?-?)by getting baptisms of their children, ascertaining when they died, and

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As an aside, the death of Edward Hall’s brother William, born 1761 and married Hannah AUSTIN in 1787 at Huntingdon may be as follows:

Sourced from
‘Latter struggles in the journey of life; or, The afternoon of my days’
By George Miller
Published by Printed by J. Colston for the author, George Miller, of Dunbar, East Lothian, 1833

"But before we conclude, I shall produce at least one evidence, that however strong and enduring the conjugal attachment has manifested itself on the female side, it has not been altogether unresponded to on the other, — and the instance, that I shall select, a very recent one, is the following, — from the Morning Herald, of Monday, the 5th March, 1832; and taken, by it, from the Huntingdon Gazette : — “Died on the 15th January last, HANNAH, the wife of WILLIAM HALL, of Hemingford, Hunts, at a very advanced age. After the interment of the deceased, her poor, sorrowing, aged husband, grieving at the loss of his long faithful partner, expressed a desire that he might die before the next Sunday passed, and be buried in the same grave with his late wife. — Alas ! (but why say alas !) his frail thread of life snapped asunder, and he was a corpse on the Wednesday following.”