Family History

10 Apr 2023

I discovered that Buckinghamshire Council has a web interface that can be used to search for historic marriage licenses. I remembered that Corby Tew married Joyce Pennell in 1778 by licence so I looked it up. If you click on the groom’s name you can get more details of the licence:

Reference: D/A/M/T/149E
Parish of wedding: Shalstone
Groom first name: Corbett
Groom surname: Tew
Groom Parish: Shalstone
Bride first name: Joyce
Bride surname: Pennell
Bride Parish: Shalstone
Groom age: 22
Groom occupation: 
Groom marital status: 
Bride age: 23
Bride occupation: 
Bride marital status: 
Date of bond: 3 December 1778
Number of items: 2 items

I ordered a copy of this licence.

Also you can search just by surname over a very wide range of years. I also found these entries:

Richard Tew and Mary Hull, 1844:

Reference: D/A/M/T/149F
Parish of wedding: Banbury, Oxon
Groom first name: Richard
Groom surname: Tew
Groom Parish: Hook Norton, Oxon
Bride first name: Mary
Bride surname: Hull
Bride Parish: Banbury, Oxon
Groom age: Groom occupation
Groom marital status: Widower
Bride age: Bride occupation
Bride marital status: Widow
Date of bond: 13 May 1844
Number of items: 1 item

William Lovell and Ann Tew, 1784, Grendon Underwood:

Reference: D/A/M/L/455
Parish of wedding: Grendon Underwood
Groom first name: William
Groom surname: Lovell
Groom Parish: Grendon Underwood
Bride first name: Ann
Bride surname: Tew
Bride Parish: Grendon Underwood
Groom age: 
Groom occupation: Husbandman
Groom marital status: 
Bride age: 
Bride occupation:
Bride marital status: 
Date of bond: 8 December 1784
Number of items: 1 item

I then found that you can order historic wills. Unfortunately, the wills we know about are from Northamptonshire.

I thought I would write down the big open questions we want to answer to extend our knowledge of the Tews

  • When and where was William Tew born?
    • Married Anne Hinson in 1786 in Shalstone, so he must have been been born before 1768
    • The first mention of William is his marriage in 1786 but we don’t know when he arrived
    • Marriage to Anne Hinson mentions he was “of this parish”, as was she
    • There is no baptism of a William Tew before 1784 in Shalstone
    • There are many candidate William Tew baptisms but all are some distance away from Shalstone and we haven’t found a connection to Shalstone for them.
  • Were William Tew’s parents Corbett and Sarah Tew?
    • The only Tew family having children in Shalston at that time was Corbett and Sarah Tew
    • Corbet and Sarah had children called Corbett (1755), Mary (1757), Ann (1765), Thomas (1769).
    • William Tew named his first son Corbett, his first daughter Ann, his second daughter Sarah, his second son Thomas. This fits the traditional pattern, see below.
    • The first appearance of Corbett and Sarah is the baptism of their son Corbett in 1755
  • When and where was Anne Hinson born?
    • Currently we have connected her to an Anne Hinson baptised 1766 in Helmdon, Northamptonshire, daughter of Thomas and Anne Hinson
    • There are various other Hinsons in neighbouring parishes
  • When and where were Corbett and Sarah Tew married and what was her maiden name?
    • Many other people have her as Sarah Allen, but there is no source for this
    • Generally people put the marriage date as 1752 in Shalstone, but this does not exist
  • When and where was Corbett Tew born?
    • Earliest mention is 1755 which implies he was born before 1737
    • There is no Corbett Tew born in Shalstone before 1755 (his son)
    • There is a Corbett Tew born in Plumpton, Northamptonshire in 1726, son of William and Isabella Tew.
    • Many people show his birth as 1717 in Shalstone, one person thinks it is 1714 in Whittlebury, one person thinks it is 1729 in Shalstone (ancestry)
    • Corbett Tew is such a rare name that there are zero others found in Ancestry or Findmypast
  • Were Corbett Tew’s parents William and Isabella Tew from Plumpton?
    • No-one shows Corbett’s parents as William and Isabella
    • William and Isabella also had an earlier son called Coleman who did not survive.
    • There is an Isabell Coleman baptised in 1691 in Sulgrave, Northamptonshire, daughter of Corbet and Anne Coleman. This is the sister of Susannah mentioned below.
    • There is a William Tew baptised in 1682 in Clifton upon Dunsmore, Warwickshire, son of Arthur and Sarah (ancestry)
    • There is a William Tew baptised in 1680 in Banbury, Oxfordshire, son of Thomas (ancestry)
    • There is a William Tue, baptised in 1681 in Eydon, Northamptonshire, son of William and Hannah (ancestry)
    • There is a William Tue, baptised in 1680 in Newbold on Avon, Warwickshire, son of John and Ann (ancestry)
  • Were Corbett Tew’s parents Thomas Tew and Susannah Coleman?
    • Many people show his parents as Thomas Tew and Susannah Coleman
    • There is a Susannah Coleman baptised in 1680 in Sulgrave, Northamptonshire, dau. of Corbet Coleman and Susannah (maybe Ann). This is the sister of Isabell mentioned above.
    • There is a Thomas Tew baptised in 1680, in Paulerspury, Northamptonshire, son of William Tew (and probably Jane)
    • There is another Thomas Tew baptised in 1683, also in Paulerspury, Northamptonshire, son of John Tew (and probably Ann Grimsdick)
    • One of these Thomas’s probably married Sarah Boulton of Hillmorton in 1716/17, in Dunchurch, Warwickshire. This Thomas had children Anne (b. 1718), Elizabeth and Mary (b. 1719) then died in 1721. His wife, Sarah, gave birth to Thomas in 1722.
    • A Thomas and Susannah Tew had a daughter in Whittlebury in 1717. A Thomas Tew was buried there in 1723 and a Susannah Tew was buried in 1744. There is evidence of a Will from 1723 in the name of Thomas Tew so this is likely to be the father, not a son.
    • There is no sign of a marriage between Thomas Tew and Susannah Coleman

The English tradition of child naming is as follows:

  • First son – named after the father’s father
  • First daughter – named after the mother’s mother
  • Second son – named after the mother’s father
  • Second daughter – named after the father’s mother
  • Third son – named after the father
  • Third daughter – named after the mother
  • Fourth son – named after the father’s eldest brother
  • Fourth daughter – named after the mother’s eldest sister

This works perfectly for William Tew and Anne Hinson, who had these children

  • Corbett (b. 1788), first son after William’s father?
  • Ann (b. 1791), first daughter after Anne’s mother
  • Sarah (b. 1794), second daughter after William’s mother
  • Thomas (b. 1796), second son after Anne’s father
  • William (b. 1796), third son after William
  • Mary (b. 1800), already had an Ann, so maybe this is Anne Hinson’s eldest sister?

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