William Whitford and Martha Manning

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Parents :      Thomas Whitford and Mary Scott          John and Sarah Manning

William Whitford (b 1745 London, m Martha Manning 1771) 
Martha Manning (1750 Romford Essex)
    William Whitford (b 1771)
    Martha Whitford (b 1772)
    Thomas Whitford (b 1776)
    Mary Whitford (b 1778)
    Mary Ann Whitford (b 1779 Westminster, m Joseph Farr 1806 St George Hanover Square London, d 1859 Southgate Middlesex)
        Thomas Farr (1824 Southgate, m Hannah Martin 1849 Camden Town, London, d 1901 St Kilda Vic)
             Edwin Farr (b 1858 Ballarat, m Louisa Jane Briant 1884 Presb Manse Ballarat, d 1943 Northcote)
                   Winifred Emma Farr (b 1890 Northcote, m Norman Thompson 1918, d 1994 Preston) 

An email from Judy Holmes gave us Mary Ann Whitford's family

The entry in the family bible reads as follows:-
Thomas Whitford Born 22nd August 1710
Married 14th June 1736 to MaryScott, Born 26th July 1707
The following children by her
Daughter Ann Born 4 Dec 1737. Died 23rd Nov 1741 aged 3yr 11mth 20day
Son William Born 13th Oct 1739. Died 2nd Sept 1741 aged 1yr 10mth 19day
Son Samuel Born 1st Dec 1740
Son Thomas Born 2nd Jun 1742. Died 28th June 1823 aged 81yrs
Daughter Mary Born 16th Nov 1743
2nd Son William Born 3 Dec 1745
Son John Born 23rd July 1747 and Died 16 days old
Son James Born 16th Dec 1748. Died 9th March 1752
__________________________________________________________________

William Whitford's children as taken by TW
William, Son of William Born 25th Oct 1771
Martha Daughter Born 22nd Dec 1772
Thomas Son Born 23rd April 1776
Marian Daughter Born 16th Sept 1779
Registered at St Margarettte Westminster
__________________________________________________________________

`    Now there are 2 possibilites whether TW was Mary Ann's grandfather Thomas Whitford b1710, or her uncle Thomas Whitford b 1742.
Thomas Whitford (sen) didn't die until 20 Feb 1792 and he was in London, but I don't know how old Mary Ann and her siblings were when they were 'taken in' and TW(sen) would have been in his 70s.
    On the other hand Thomas Whitford(jun) b 1742 married Elizabeth Head on 11 Apr 1769 (at St Margarets Westminster) but after the birth of his 1st daughter Martha in Oct 1770 took his family to Haverfordwest, Wales. to further his career as a watchmaker, and was still in that town in 1780 when his 8th child Samuel was born.
However, in July 1781 the family had returned to London in time for the birth of another son George and remained in London at No 2 Smithfield bars. So maybe the reason for the family's return was to look after Williams's children.

    Up until now I had always assumed that it was Thomas(sen) that had taken William's children, and that they were somehow the children of his brother. But looking at it now and comparing the dates, it seems to make a lot more sense that it was Thomas(jun) who opted to look after his brother's children.

    There is one IGI record of Martha Whitford b 22Dec 1772, Christened 03Jan 1772 (I think they must mean 1773) Parents William Whitford and Martha. But although the birth date matches for his first daughter I don't know how relevant this record is as the IGI have another record of a Mary Whitford born of the same parents being christened on 08 Mar 1778. Now I suppose that could have been a daughter that died and then the couple went on to to have Mary Ann in Sept the following year. Either way that is the only clue as to the identity of Mary Ann's mother.

Ancestry

has a marriage for William Whitford
    William Whitford m Martha Manning 25 Dec 1771 St Saviour, Southwark Surrey
    Note that our William's first daughter was Martha
However quite a few trees in Ancestry have the 3rd Dec 1745 William with a spouse of Sarah Bramsdon (no marriage date)

LDS

A parent search in the IGI on William and Martha gives
    Martha Female Christening: 03 JAN 1772 All Hallows Staining, London, London, England - This record has a birth of 22 Dec 1772
    Thomas Male Christening: 12 MAY 1776 Spitalfields Christ Church, Stepney, London, England
    Mary Female Christening: 08 MAR 1778 Saint Andrew, Holborn, London, England
Looking for a birth for Martha Manning yeilds
   
Female Christening: 29 JUL 1750 Romford, Essex, England, parents John and Sarah, which looks like her, as the witness to the marriage of William and Martha was John Manning

GR

David Feustell's Tree
    Has Martha married to William Coppen,  b 1751.
            LDS Family search and David's tree shows this couple producing 5 children (Martha William Ann John and Elizabeth) in Romford 1775 to 1791. Martha's maiden name is never given
            Cannot find a marriage for William and Martha in the LDS
Comment LR
     We have to go with The Whitford/Manning marriage. The children tie up with the family bible. The marriage is at the right time.The m,arriage witness ties us back to the Romford christening..
The Whitfords were wealthy (see Thomas Whitford's will), so geography is not such a big obstacle. By implication, the Martha who married William Coppen probably wasn't Martha Manning

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Judy Holmes for kick starting this page

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